What is the best tip/piece of info you learned on this site?
 

What is the best tip, piece of advice or information you have learned on this site?

Browse and search first.

Then, ask questions.

how to use the Swiss online timetables.

It made it very easy to plan our days from point to point during our upcoming two week trip. This included buses and gondolas. Making hard copies to take along each day was a plus.

I am a fairly new Fodorite and I have learned that the best tip is to be very specific in how you word your "title". For example, don't just type "Itinerary help"- state for which city or area and what kind of advice you want. Example: "Does this driving itinerary between ____ and ____ seem doable?" versus "Driving in Germany"

Also, for the best advice, don't just ask if you should go somewhere or what to do there! Do your OWN research first, decide what your OWN preferences are, and only then post and see if another traveler can make suggestions between two hotels, for a specific restaurant in a specific city, etc.

Lastly, the breadth and depth of knowledge here is amazing- it seems someone will always know something about what you are asking!

I've learned so much from Fodor's that I couldn't even begin to say what was the best. If it hadn't been for this site, I wouldn't have known to watch for DCC in Ireland. I wouldn't know nearly as much as I do about rental cars or cell phones overseas. And then there are the specific recommendations I've gotten for hotels, B&Bs, restaurants, and on and on.

As I said on my latest trip report, the posters on Fodor's have made me a much more informed traveler. And that, in turn, leads to much more enjoyable trips.

That the last two digits of a Paris postal code tell you the arrondisement number.

Any place recommended by ira ((I)) is a good bet.

Don't eat yellow snow.

Too many to mention, quite honestly. I've planned many trips on this site.

However, one tip does stick out in my mind. Bob the Navigator told me how to get into Sunday Mass using the side entrance door at the Duomo in Florence.

It is no easy job to choose the best tips and ideas on this site but one of my favorites was to contact BETS ( Budget Europe Travel ) when I was having train reservation issues. I met LInda who was absolutely awesome. She taught me about the system and which trains to reserve and managed to get me set up for anything that I needed and she spent endless hours finding out info for me. That tip brought sanity back to my trip planning. We are leaving in 11 days and we will be gone for a month. For now my biggest worry is that trusty 21 inch suitcast which I have packed at least 5 times!.

ira and janisj are the best,but dont critisise Antwerp or miriam will be after you!!

Damn! Logandog, I was going to say that!

I guess it was all the help I got from a local, when planning my trip to Lesvos. Where else.....

After 5 years on Fodors, I have learned so many valuable and heloful things. One important thing is to double and triple check Ira's advice on certain things and certain areas, because I have found from experience that the advice given is not always based on personal experience/knowledge, but more on the need to reply to every single question regardless, and thus sometimes is less than accurate.
It's so important to do your own research to substantiate things.

That we are not too old to travel (74 and 79)...and that our kids are worrying for nothing...

Thank you, hdm.

I don't think that I deserve such high praise. :-]

((I))

> because I have found from experience that the advice given is not always based on personal experience/knowledge, but more on the need to reply to every single question regardless, ....<

Good Lord, BS,

Give a guy a break. :)

Unless I had some deep-seated need to respond to every question, would I be wasting time responding to this remark?

((I))

Hi ira, :) :),
I rest my case,lol
(unless you need me to give a few examples, I'd be happy to, but I haven't got the time today-too busy in my garden!)

justairports.com

Oh, and a great chocolate shop in London from cmcfong as well as all the posts about the Oyster card. I think I finally "get" it.

Oh come on, ya'll. Ira is my hero!

organizing things in 2 gallon ziplock bags. it makes changing hotels a very easy thing to do! I used to spend half my vacation packing and unpacking, and avoiding more than a one-stop vacation.

like others, i cannot name one exact tip, but i have the confidence to know that if i have a quirky question or concern, someone out there has "been there and done that" and chips right in to clear up ordinary, and not so ordinary, travel confusion!

(which makes it all flow so much better)

thanks to all the fodorites who have ever helped me out. i try to reciprocate as much as i can.

To read any and all that gard has posted - amazing maps, etc - and everyone else's tips - I read something about the big baggies and I have jsut assembled all my "cities info", incl. hotel and restaurant info, reservations and local maps and such into large baggies that I can just pull out and then store after use, or throw away. Working out wonderfully, keeps everything so organized, yes I was born in September-haha-have lovely travels, all
Leslie

Well, there have been so many good tips and pieces of advice here, that I can't even begin to think which were the best.

But one does stick out in my mind: quite often, it is cheaper to rent an apartment in big cities such as Rome and Paris than stay in a hotel. I tried in both places and it worked perfect.

And now a secret: I wrote a short article about renting and staying in an apartment in Rome and it was published in a Travel magazine here in Brazil (in "A Próxima Viagem"). Probably, the fact that my brother is the Chief Editor of the magazine helped some...

Wow, poster must have been just waiting and waiting for the opportunity to malign Ira, smiley faces and all. Ira the nerve of you to give horrible awful advice, let's have a boldfaced box at the top of each pg warning about you.

To just do it! Seriously, I don't think I'd have worked up the nerve to go without reading this forum and everyone else's experiences. And that solo is okay. And that you can plan all you want, but sometimes unplanned makes for the best adventures.

Three things come to mind: Count your items you're carrying when you are waiting to board. Example: coat, purse, neck pillow, poster tube. 4 items. That way it's always an easy check to make sure you have everything.
Second: A "gripping" novel. I think that was a St Cirq piece of advice. Too many times I have taken a book I 'need to read' and haven't been able to get into it. Down time is a lot easier when you can't wait to get back to your book.
Third: New pajamas. Wonderful way to end your tiring day.

Oh, and also to don't overpack with things that you can get and use there.

I had never heard of the Scavi tour before reading about it here.

At the risk of getting jumped on, I have to come to Bella's side on this, as I have called Ira to task several times on this issue. Ira is most helpful, expecially when it comes to train questions. But his advice is not infallible and I, too, take issue with the fact that much of it is not based on personal experience. Sorry Ira...I certainly do not mean to offend but I have to second the advice given above that many of your posts should be checked for accuracy!! That should be the case with every "fact" posted here, but I think that many people, especially the less-seasoned travelers here, take Ira's word as gospel, not realizing how little time Ira has spent in several of the regions that are frequent subjects of his posts....

Again, I hope I have not offended with my frankness...

Renew your passport early
Pack light
Use ATM machines

...oops, actually i knew those things before I got to Fodor's
;-)

Discovered Bob the Navigator and used his advice to help us with Italy in 1999. The hotels he sent us to were exactly what we wanted. Thanks!

Also in Rome, I learned about Albergo del Senato here.

One of the highlights of my recent visit to Shanghai was my stay at Le Royal Meridien, a new hotel recommended by a poster on the Asia board. Other great tips have been the names of private guides including Francesca Caruso in Rome and Kong Lin in Beijing. And the Africa board has amazing detailed information on the game lodges.

And that is just for starters....

Prego Bob !
We Bobs need to stick together.

Do your research first, then ask questions, then do additional research to verify the answers.

If you don't do that, then you have only yourself to blame when things go wrong.

No matter how much you plan, how much advice you get, etc., things can still go wrong. Don't let it overwhelm you.

Don't expect strangers on the internet to know what is best for you. Don't believe that just because 100 people say "this is THE place to be" that you will love it. Know yourself well enough to be able to ignore advice that doesn't meet your needs.

There's always two sides to any story. Learn to see where you went wrong and put disagreements in perspective.

Prem fares and Morgan's details on how to buy the tickets on line....a big thank you!

"That the last two digits of a Paris postal code tell you the arrondisement number."

Thanks suze...I didn't know that. You really do learn something new everyday at Fodors. When I think of all the past trips that could have been better planned had I known about this forum. Guide books are great but it's so much more helpful to get a broader perspective from fellow travelers here.

Actually, nobody here is infallible so Ira shouldn't be singled out.

Plus what one person thinks is terrific, another will think is the pits. One person can have a wonderful experience with a site/hotel/restaurant/apartment & another can have a horrible one.

StuDudley helped me save over $300 in airfare to visit France this summer when he suggested flying into Brussels rather than CDG.

I am doing a multi city ticket, flying to BRU, taking the TGV to Avignon then departing out of CDG at the end of the trip. Of course it isn't money actually saved, just spend on things more fun than airfare...

a funnel, paper coffee filters and coffee... most rooms in the uk have electric kettles... voila coffee!

>Actually, nobody here is infallible so Ira shouldn't be singled out.<

Thank you, carrybean

((I))