Holiday photo assignment and prep - help please!

[andrewlwood]

I'm going on holiday with my fiancé next week to Tuscany. I've been feeling quite uninspired with the photos I've been taking recently - they're all a bit formulaic and samey. Three questions:
How do you get out of a rut and challenge your thinking/creative process?
How do you prepare for photos in a place you don't know, and in which you will only be for a couple of days (we like to stay in different places)? The love of my life is not a photographer, so it's not a photography holiday per se - will need to work around that fact!
Anyone got any interesting photo assignments or themes I could work with? Hoping to get some good landscapes, and some town/village shots.

Thanks for the inspiration - this is my big holiday this year and I'd really like to come back feeling like I moved my photography on...

[bransom]

A couple of things have helped me in the past:

Relax. When I'm away from the day-to-day grind, I feel much more creative. I'm an art director so I'm supposed to be creative all the time but deadlines tend to burn me out after a while.

Take a really light, simple camera ... maybe something with a fixed lens. The idea here is that you force yourself to step away from the technical challenge (and shoulder burden) of lots of gear. Yes, you'll occasionally think to yourself, "Man, if I only had ________ with me." Well, you don't so you'll have to step back and let your creativity take over.

Get a good night's sleep. It's easier being creative when you're not exhausted.

Hope this helps...