What Are Your Best Travel Tips???
 

I would like to know what your best travel tips are - help all of us out and give some imaginative insight! These are probably things some of us would never think of...

Read and learn as much from www.fodors.com/forums as you can!<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Hi<BR>I have brought up today some previous listings of travel hints, useful websites, etc. Just scroll down on the left until you find them, there are 4 or 5 listings brought up this morning.<BR>Or you can find them yourself, plus others, by doing a search here on<BR>&lt;travel tips&gt;<BR><BR>To continue Rex's theme, I'll add<BR>Don't forget to explore all the other areas on this Fodor's website.<BR>There are general tips, electricity explanations, traveling into town from airports, hotel and restaurant reviews, what to pack, etc.<BR>

Go with the knowledge that you are in a foriegn country with foriegn ways and revel in it rather than fight it. Sample all that that country you're visiting has to offer. Allow yourself one trip to McDonald's if you're feeling terribly homesick or confused, they never change.

Don't stress, especially about packing. If you're going to Europe, remember that you aren't visiting third world countries and anything you forget you can purchase there. Grocery stores are wonderful fun to wander around in!<BR><BR>And, again on packing, plastic baggies--everyone says it and it can't be stressed enough--one for socks, one for undies, one for cosmetics, etc. Put the items in, push out the air, toss in the suitcase. When you arrive--toss the bags into the drawers. Makes packing and unpacking SO easy!<BR><BR>

Pack as lightly as possible! Every trip I take fewer clothes and miscellaneous items, and every trip I find things I could have managed without. For my recent 2 week trip to Italy, we took 2 small carry aboard size bags, plus a small daypack.I made a list to pack by, and left it at home in case of airline loss. As soon as I unpacked, I marked certain things off the list, and will save it for next year's trip. Hmmm? Spain or Turkey? I guess I'll just have to keep on reading here at Fodor's.

A few random thoughts...<BR><BR>Pack exactly what you think you need, then go back and remove 1 pair of pants and add two pair of underwear.<BR><BR>Do your homework...research, research, research!<BR><BR>Leave your schedule flexible...the best adventures are the unexpected ones.<BR><BR>Know at least how to say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, excuse me, and bath room in the local language.<BR><BR>If you loose something important, like your passport, go back to the first place you looked. It was there all along.<BR><BR>You will NOT wake up refreshed and ready to go when you land, no matter what you do. But it will be worse if you drink yourself to sleep.<BR><BR>Smile. Relax. Be yourself, but be polite. Remember...you're not a tourist. You're a traveler.

Avoid buying tours and train tickets in advance, you will most probably find better choices at cheaper prices and you won't be stuck with this prepaids. During multiple trips to Europe I have discover that there is always space available in all trains to travel anywhere, anytime, with multiple choices, express, local, first, coach, reserve seats, daytime or nightime, sleeping wagons, one way, two way, a one day, two days or a week pass, and at regular, senior or sudent prices. <BR><BR>About tours, is better to determine which one to take, once you arrive at your destiny. In many ocations you may have found that you have prepaid for the most expensive and the worse tour. <BR><BR>Worse yet, in my experince, I have found out that, you cant visit most principal tourist sites by yourself, at your own pace and best yet, at a cheaper cost. Good Luck! <BR>

Don't compare. Enjoy the differences. The toilets WILL be different, the electricity WILL be different, the food WILL be different. The culture will also be different. In restaurants especially, the waiting staff is not relying on tips to get through their shift, so they don't have to fake being nice to you and saying "Have a good day!" They don't have to jump when you get worried because you've been sitting there for 5 minutes. Relax! Don't take that as being rude to you. They treat their own countrymen the same way.<BR><BR>Don't assume. You're the foreigner, not them. Don't assume they speak English; be polite and learn enough of the language to be able to ask if the person speaks English. It is rude to just start speaking in English expecting that the person knows the language. Be humble. And don't be afraid to laugh at your mistakes.

My first trip to Europe since college is coming up, thanks for all the tips, good advice that made me feel less nervous and more excited :-)

Pack a wardrobe of one color scheme that you can mix and match and dress up or down with accessories which don't take up alot of room...comfortable walking shoes...walk everywhere if you are able to do so and you will discover so many interesting places in the city you are visiting.

Leave your heavy stuff at home - your worries, your preconceived notions, your prejudices, your pessimism.<BR><BR>Take only your light stuff - your sense of humor, your sense of wonder, your joy of discovery, your willingness to try what you've never done before.<BR><BR>A heavy heart will weigh you down ten times more than the biggest suitcase you could pack.

Don't make plans for every single day. Leave a day or two open to take advantage of opportunities that didn't present themselves until you got there. Leave a day open for napping and lazing about if that's what you feel like - it might prevent you from getting sick while on your trip.

Travel during the "shoulder season" (May, September, October). When you get to a town, go to the tourist office and they will give you maps, ideas of what to do (if there's any events going on), direct you to places you want to visit, and book a room for you that meets your price/location requirements. This way, if you get to a town and immediately have a bad feeling about it, you don't have to stay. It can be pretty exciting - and easy - to "wing it". I usually only book the first night's hotel in advance when traveling in Europe.

Elvira, that was lovely. And don't forget to bring flexibility; the ability to roll with the punches will help you keep that positive outlook.

Don't get upset if everything doesn't go exactly as planned. Laugh a lot and adjust to it! If you get lost, it is part of the fun, make it an adventure. Do some research so you have an idea of what you really want to see or do in the time you have. Make sure you have some relaxing time so you are not exhausted when you get home. As someone else advised above, don't leave home without the plastic bags!

I pack clothing I am tired of wearing, and then throw it away to make room for what I have acquired on the trip. I'm not talking about old, torn pieces, but items which still look presentable which I would have replaced soon (white turtlenecks, black shirt); you know, the basics with maybe a slightly frayed collar. This means: No laundry; more room in the suitcase!<BR><BR>Also, wander around (make sure the neighborhood is ok first). We have come upon wonderful sights this way!

Hmmm...I was going to say don't forget your earplugs, but then I read Elvira's post and realized that earplugs are unimportant if you leave/take the qualities she recommends in her post. Well put, Elvira.

MR GO. - thanks for the info, I loved what you said about being a traveler not a tourist! I think that is true for most people on this board.<BR>

One way I have found that had alleviated MUCH stress for me - go out an fearlessly explore a city and don't pay any attention to where you are going until you get there. <BR><BR>If you find yourself hopelessly lost just remember you can grab a taxi and he'll take you wherever you want to go. When I was in Rome last summer I did this, and it made things so enjoyable and much more relaxing.(though I would end up taking cabs not because I was lost, but because I had ventured miles and miles and was too exhausted to traipse all the way back to the hotel...)<BR><BR>In short, don't be preoccupied with getting yourself lost because you will always find away out of it and it might end up being a story to tell!