Further to my last, there are times when you can "risk" going out exploring. Sometimes, our passengers are at a destination to attend a specific function and you know with a fair degree of certainty that you are unlikely to get a callout until at least a certain time.
On my last trip to Beijing for example, I took a taxi from my hotel in the centre of the city out into the countryside around 1.5 hours to visit the Air Museum (very interesting BTW). So you can occasionally have some flex to safely explore further afield than the 30 minute limit. You just make sure you have a contingency plan i.e. arrange with the other pilot to collect your kit from your room if there's a callout and meet them at the airport etc.
It's not necessary to sit around your hotel all the time.
Cheers,
Amiri01