Turn a business trip into an unforgettable experience

• Consider tacking a vacation day or night onto a business trip
• It's worthwhile to go see a world wonder even when others may pooh-pooh it
• 10 unforgettable places to visit or things to do in the USA and abroad

Many business travelers spend their free hours inside hotels or don't consider tacking a vacation day or night onto a business trip.

If they stick to the hotel, says James Smart, senior editor of Rough Guides travel guide books, they may miss a chance to transform a humdrum trip into an unforgettable experience.

"After a hard day in a strange city, it's very tempting to just throw yourself down on your hotel bed or prop up at the bar for a few hours," Smart says. "But it's worth making an effort to get out of your hotel. You only live once -- and you might see something you never forget."

At USA TODAY's request, Smart, who edited and co-wrote the Make the Most of Your Time on Earth guidebook, has identified for business travelers 10 unforgettable places to visit or things to do in the USA.

He also put together a list of 10 places for travelers to see abroad.

His first must-see-before-you-die attraction in the USA is the Grand Canyon. From Las Vegas, it's a two-hour drive to the Hualapai Indian Reservation, where a glass-bottomed observation deck called Skywalk extends 70 feet over the rim of the canyon.

In Las Vegas, business travelers can soak in another top experience on Smart's list: a Cirque du Soleil show.

Other unforgettable experiences Smart recommends include:

Listening to a gospel choir in New York's Harlem neighborhood.

Eating key lime pie in the Florida Keys.

Biking the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

One of Rough Guides' mind-blowing experiences abroad is Las Fallas, a wild festival each March in Valencia, Spain.

Other unforgettable experiences abroad include riding the Eastern & Oriental Express luxury train from Singapore to Bangkok, swimming with penguins at Boulders Beach near Cape Town, South Africa, and sitting ringside at a sumo wrestling tournament in Japan.

Many frequent business travelers say they try to make the most of their free time on the road, and many have their own favorite experiences -- some of which are worth revisiting.

Kathryn Alice of Los Angeles says she must take "a side trip" to Jerome, Ariz., "high above Sedona," whenever she travels to Phoenix.

"This quaint artists' town is a historical mining spot with creativity bursting out all over and the Grand Hotel, full of ghosts," says the vice president in the publishing industry.

"Its charm always draws me back when I'm in the area on business."

Alice also cherishes a special place in Costa Rica that she says she was first reluctant to visit after finishing a business meeting in San Jose.

"I got dragged to the Arenal Volcano, which was an hour's mountain drive, and I got motion sickness," she says. "It didn't sound that thrilling."

But, she says, it turned out to be "completely enchanting," with warm water from the volcano and "many levels of waterfalls, natural baths, slides and hidden bars."

The spas there, Alice says, "are one of the Earth's few that are naturally fed by a steaming volcano, and it is magical."

Side visits off a business trip don't have to involve wonders of the world to inspire or offer a diversion, even for the most hardened frequent traveler.

Jay Whittington of Portland, Tenn., says a "very cool" experience was visiting Johnny Appleseed's grave in Fort Wayne, Ind. There are fresh apples every morning on the grave, he says.

And, he says, it's worthwhile to go see a world wonder even when others may pooh-pooh it.

Whittington, who works in the medical manufacturing industry, says he had been told that visiting Niagara Falls wasn't worth the effort. He found it otherwise.

"When I first went, it took me literally an hour before I could take my eyes off the falls," he says. "Such power, such beauty. There's nothing in the world like it."

A BUCKET LIST FOR TRAVELERS

Some top places to visit from Rough Guides' Smart.

In the USA

• The Grand Canyon. Explore on foot, hover in a 'copter, wander along the Skywalk or explore Havasu Canyon. It's hard not to be stunned into silence.
• Cirque du Soleil. The acrobatic Canadian circus troupe's shows are a jaw-dropping Las Vegas must-see.
• Key Lime pie. Drive from Florida's Key Largo to Key West, sampling sugary delights as you pass sand bars and mangroves.
• Gospel in Harlem. Head to the likes of the Abyssinian Baptist Church on Sunday morning for a heavenly choir and heartfelt worship.
• Graceland. Go to Elvis' Memphis home for a mix of ornate furnishings and modest backooms. It sums up the man and his genre-busting music.
• Californian wine country. Quaff wine, revitalize your senses in a spa and eat at one of the region's many gourmet restaurants.
• Witness power on Capitol Hill. Washington is dominated by monuments and museums, but government is surprisingly accessible. Tour the White House and Supreme Court.
• Catch a game at Wrigley Field. The iconic home of the Chicago Cubs. There's arguably no better place to watch a baseball game.
• Bike the Golden Gate Bridge. Rent some wheels and pedal across the awe-inspiring 8-mile stretch where San Francisco Bay meets the Pacific.
• The Bourbon trail. Meander the hills of Kentucky while learning about and sampling one of America's true spirits.

Around the world

• Play with fire at Las Fallas. The Spanish know how to party. And this festival in Valencia in mid-March is the noisiest, with gunpowder, alcohol and giant burning dolls.
• The home of pizza. You can get pizza anywhere, but Italians say Naples has the best. The ovens are hot, toppings simple and the taste sublime.
• Seoul's night markets. South Korea's capital really never sleeps. Head out late for shopping, karaoke, seafood and tasty pancakes in Dongdaemun and Gwangjang markets.
• Cruise Kerala's backwaters. Kerala, in southwest India, has epic theater and wonderful food. But it's also famous for its tangle of waterways. You can explore on a ferry with the locals or on a luxury barge with cushions and lanterns.
• Ride the Eastern & Oriental Express, Singapore to Bangkok. The three-day journey is one of the last remnants of opulent colonial travel. Be waited on by butlers, eat haute cuisine and relax in comfortable cabins as the scenery turns from skyscraper to palm plantation.
• Walk London's hidden highway. The Regent's Canal, which stretches past chic Maida Vale and Regent's Park to the revitalized docks of East London, offers a wonderfully different way to see the city.
• The real Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Get underneath the high-rises and Vegas-style attractions by chartering a dhow (traditional sailing vessel) down the city's saltwater creek, a trading lifeline for centuries.
• Swim with penguins at Boulders Beach, South Africa. Half-an-hour's drive from Cape Town, a colony of 2,500 penguins swim and sun.
• A sumo tournament, Japan. Sumo wrestling is an age-old sport. Watching a rikishi hoist a huge opponent and carry him out by the belt is nothing short of astonishing.
• Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Legally scale an international landmark that offers stunning views of the Australian city's Opera House, historical and business districts and North Shore suburbs.

Source: Make the Most of Your Time on Earth ($29.99, published by Rough Guides)