One of the best ways to get to know a new place for me – other than heading out the door and just walking where the road (and my current mood) might take me – is to sit in a cafe or a pub and just watch people. Of course engaging with them is even better, but even when I’m in company someone, or a group of people, will invariably catch my attention, and so I watch them.
Whether that’s from subconsciously finding ways to not get bored when traveling, an interest in people or a combination of both, it always makes being somewhere more interesting, It’s something I realized in my teens, and have kept in mind to this day, I can be at the worst venue with the worst music and the minute I find someone I can focus my attention on, there’s no place I’d rather be. Whereas great music but a lack of (to me) interesting people would give me the feeling that something was lacking.