What does it mean to 'do' a destination?

The phrase "I am doing [destination] today" (past tense: "I did [destination]", future tense: "I will do [destination]") sounds funny in English, almost to the point of an allusion to some kind of bizarre eroticism:

"I did Paris last year!"

or

"We will do Paris next year!" (😲 )

A non-native speaker might actually ask:

"What did you do to [destination]??"

So, what do we mean and how do we address it? Let's find out in this article:

Addressing the vulgarity

People will use this expression almost with a straight face. However, it does sound kind of vulgar to people familiar with casual non-business English. Of course, one simply means:

"I got [destination] done and over with last year!"

But that really sounds like:

"I had a one-night stand with [destination] last year!"

This verbiage has become so common that only its awkward phrasing takes some over-analyzing. Still, when someone says it like that, two things also come to mind:

• They have little to no curiosity about the destination
  • only a surface-level willingness to tick off the box of "going there"
  • little to no taste about the quality of attractions they want to visit
    • "(rip-off) ice bar in Iceland? let's do it!"
• They have little desire to spend more time at the destination
  • like a shorthand for "I've already 'done' [destination] and won't 'do' it again!"
    • using a concert analogy: "I don't want to go to a [insert band here] concert again because I've already seen them!"

A better phraseology

Granted, most of the time that we spend in any given country will barely span a few days or even hours. Yet, to avoid treating a place like a cheap passing fancy, we could use a less poignant phraseology:

"I visited [destination] last year!"

or

"I set foot in [destination] last year!"

Those kinds of phrasings:

• offer no promises of seeing the place thoroughly
• don't treat the destination like a "checkbox to tick off"
• leave open a willingness or some kind of interest to go back there again