Another lovely idea for a thread
@MARTINE.
I do a lot of things the same and a few extras. So here goes.
Arrive to hotel and unpack. We usually travel in the ski season, which involves lugging around quite a bit of gear as we don't like to use rentals. So I usually have a big bag with ski gear and other clothes, and an overnight bag that I can use later on for shorter trips I make. I especially love Japan with the KuroNeko and other baggage forwarding services for this reason - We try to ski first, and then send all our ski gear to the airport where it stays until we collect it on the way out back home. Technically they will only hold it for 2 weeks, but I have left mine there for 22 days without drama. Once that part is over, I just use the largish overnight bag. And when not travelling to ski, we often prefer to stay in a place for 5 days or so and do day trips in the local area to really get a sense of a place rather than staying a single night and then moving on.
If I remember, I try to take a photo of the room before I mess it all up. I also try to take a photo from the hotel window as I run a series of "view from my room" photos with family and friends. Some are amazing. Many are walls, airconditioners, carparks and garbage bins/skips. I also like to take a photo of the shower plumbing because this varies so much from country to country, and I find the levers, dials, hoses and taps fascinating. Who knew there were so many ways to plumb in a shower!
Ask Hotel reception staff/conceierge for any tips/advice/local hints. I have received some amazing advice this way eg a visit to the Tanah Abang Markets in Jakarta where we did not see a single other non-Indonesian person in a visit of over 4 hours duration, and where we were a tourist attraction in our own right in the amazing local food court - children openly staring, much to the embarrassment of their parents who were more discreetly staring
Next is to go out for the orientation walk/trip on public transport/coffee/snack/people watching/atmosphere soak up that so many others have mentions. Try to get a few useful drinks and snacks in case meals get a bit haphazard (as they tend to do when I travel with Mr Seat 0A).
I also love a supermarket trip. It's practical to stock up for snacks and drinks, but also very illuminating about local culture. For example, the massive massive deli and cheese sections in Germany and the Netherlands. The bakery section in France. The soy sauce aisle (yes a whole aisle) in Japan. The flavours of potato chips in Lao PDR and Jakarta. The date section in Dubai with at least 20 different types of dates, and the same for olives. Trying to guess what the product is and how you use it when you can't read the script of the language (although Google Translate is taking some of that fun away). The supermarket is one of my most favourite things to do.
I also really like to find a coffee shop and plonk for a bit to just watch the people go by. Found this very fascinating in Morocco, Japan, Europe. Especially if you can get away from the more regular tourist haunts to do this.
Oh this is making me nostalgic.