I grew up in a family of travelers and explorers. Mom would send, through snail mail, for brochures and maps of the places we were headed (Yes, it was pre-internet accessibility). Although I now use the internet to plan our travels, one of the things I remember most, and to this day still do, is that my parents would stop and ask the person at the registration desk of the hotel for his/her favorite, non-chain restaurant. Even when we were en route somewhere, we steered away from the chains. She would also ask what they, and the waiters/waitresses at the restaurant, thought shouldn’t be missed and if they had been to the attraction. In many cases, it led us to the important, but sometimes little visited, points of interest.