{"id":188860,"date":"2025-02-03T10:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=188860"},"modified":"2025-02-03T10:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:36:07","slug":"how-to-do-a-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/leisure\/how-to-do-a-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Do a Museum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

Over the Christmas break, our family took a trip to New York City. While we were there, we visited two of NYC\u2019s most famous museums: the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History.<\/p>\n

We had a great time but found the experience pretty overwhelming. There\u2019s a lot of great art and exhibits in these museums, and they\u2019re freaking huge. After spending a couple of hours at each museum, we were all pooped, though we hadn\u2019t even scratched the surface of these cultural institutions.<\/p>\n

It got me wondering if I could improve my approach to visiting a museum. What was the best way to do one?<\/p>\n

I knew just who to ask to get the answer to that question: Nick Gray<\/a>. Nick was on the AoM podcast a couple of years ago to discuss his book <\/a>The 2-Hour Cocktail Party<\/a><\/em>. Besides encouraging people to host short cocktail parties, he\u2019s spent part of his career as a private museum tour guide in New York City and has led hundreds of tours. The man is passionate about museums. One of his life\u2019s slogans is: \u201cMuseums are F***ing Awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hopped on the horn with Nick to get tips on how to get the most out of your next museum visit. Here\u2019s his field-tested battle plan.<\/p>\n

Preparing for Your Museum Visit<\/h2>\n

Download the museum\u2019s app.<\/strong> Nick told me that most big museums these days have their own app that you can use to enhance your visit, so check if they have one before you arrive. Many of these apps provide interactive maps as well as self-paced tours right on your phone. For example, the Museum of Natural History\u2019s app<\/a> has a map that can help you navigate its 1.2 million square feet. This would have come in handy on our visit; we got lost trying to find our way from the space section of the museum to its human history area.<\/p>\n

Consider joining a tour group (but don\u2019t be afraid to ditch it). <\/strong>I asked Nick if he recommended signing up for a guided tour at a museum. He told me that guided tours can make the experience more enjoyable, but he did provide this surprising caveat: \u201cIf you decide to join an in-person guided tour, you need to think about it like a magazine. Just like you can pick up a magazine and put it down without finishing it, you don\u2019t need to stay with a tour for the entire time. Feel free to leave that tour if it\u2019s no longer serving you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick did advise that you should leave with tact and grace. Just sort of fade away without making a big scene of it. Like an Irish goodbye.<\/p>\n

Pack like you\u2019re going on a day hike.<\/strong> A museum visit is more physically demanding than most people realize. You\u2019re going to walk about two miles during a typical two-hour visit at a large museum. One of the biggest mistakes Nick sees people make is underpacking for their visit. He recommends you gear up for a museum visit like you would for a day hike or a trip to an amusement park. His essential packing list:<\/p>\n