Jim and I love walkable cities. Sometimes we have a specific destination in mind, but usually we just turn on random streets as we explore and see what we see-no end point in mind. The act of exploring and discovering is why we travel.

It's how we randomly stumbled across the “Stencil Painted Birds” here in Mérida, Mexico.

The artist's name is Guillermo S. Quintana from México City and he stenciled as many as 500 birds around Merida in 2014.

The artist's stated goal was “to remind people of nature, to look up at the sky, to think of creatures other than themselves.”

I guess there was a bit of an uproar back when he painted them—some called it vandalism of their property and quickly painted over them. A few of them are still around and I've had a lot of fun looking for them as we explore the corners of the city.

The birds are all different colors and contrast with the background wall. Some are in low corners, some up high. I even spotted this one painted inside some decorative wrought-iron.

This love of exploring and discovering is why oftentimes we don’t ask friends for the can’t miss things to do in a city; we want the excitement of finding our own favorites and stumbling across things like these painted birds. We hate to miss out on something really great, of course. But I like the feeling of discovering a place, and the truly “can’t miss” places… well, we’re not likely to miss them anyway! And who doesn’t love feeling that you’re seeing something few others have? It's something we weigh everywhere we go: how much research do we want to do on “things to do?” Sometimes I'll ask our slow-travel friends, “What is the one favorite thing you experienced?” instead of getting a list of ten favorite restaurants or top five museums. One of the benefits of slow travel is taking the time to find the gems yourself. In fact, it’s the follies, foibles, and wrong turns that sometimes turn into the fondest memories. I don’t need to know where the best ice cream shop in town is, because I can take my time and try them all to find out myself—and justify eating ice cream every day!

I definitely want to hear all about others’ experiences of a place: the amazing places seen, outstanding food eaten, the stories born out of their very own want and need to explore. But I don't need to replicate their trip for myself.

Your trip should be uniquely yours to have and to share. Go! Explore! Adventure away!