"You can always go back."
 

I think I'll write a book entitled "You Can Always Go Back," especially for inexperienced travelers who want to jam 6 cities into a week.

It will remind people that unless they're departing from the East Coast, they will be zonked by jet lag to a greater or lesser degree. (From where I live in eastern Washington, the time difference will be nine hours, and the flight will cross the entire United States and then the Atlantic Ocean.) I'm no good at all for the first day and am still not entirely up to snuff until about the third day.

It will have a chapter on the fact that one can't count the flights from the U.S. and back as part of those 7 sightseeing days and that one has to allow half a day to a full day to check out of the old hotel, travel to the new city, and check into a new hotel. Remind them that they can always come back to see what they missed the first time.

It will tell them to consult a guidebook and not to expect someone else to tell them what to see.

I will strongly suggest that they bring only a 22" suitcase.

There will be a chapter on what to wear, including a subsection entitled "No, you can't wear a bikini top and shorts into St. Peters" and 'another "Wear comfortable shoes even if they're ugly."

Also a chapter on hotels--that you get what you pay for. You probably won't find a nice hotel in London for 100 euros. There will be no swimming pools, hot tubs, probably no air conditioning in the hotel, unless it's one of those soulless business hotel.

Food will be different. If you don't like the food, suck it up--or go to the nearest McDonald's. You'll find plenty of them quite easily.

Don't bring dollars and expect to get a good exchange. Don't use a pre-paid card. They're generally a rip-off.

If you can't afford to pay $5..00 to get 350 euros out of an ATM, you can't afford to take the trip. Again, suck it up.

A chapter on terminology: Don't use the expression "a trip of a lifetime." Don't refer to yourself as a "noobie" or a "foodie." Don't say that you need "advise" (verb), when what you mean is that you need "advice" (noun.)

There! I feel better. I'll undoubtedly think of more later.

I feel better, too.

My own pet peeve is people who plan activities every fifteen minutes with no thought to how things work in the real world, particularly transportation problems owing to accidents, labor actions, or on railways in the UK, the "wrong kind of leaves on the line".

Peg..I knew you'd come through..put me down for a copy to "lend" to friends you've targeted so well. Hope you inlude my #1 peeve...."Gawd! Read a map! Paris is not a day's ride to Dubrovnik..suck it up!"

Maybe you should entitle the book Suck it Up.

I agree with all of the above except one item. I see no need to pack everything I need for a 3 week trip into a gym bag.

I need fresh, clean clothes, outfits for a variety of purposes, and like to take my own toiletries and medical kit and ...

So I always check a bag. Sometimes 24" and sometimes 26". Have never had one lost or delayed in more than 90 trips to europe. (Although they are always conspicuously marked.)

I think not having what you want with you is a mistake. I don't wash things in a sink, and I see no purpose in paying a hotel $12 to wash a pair of panties that only cost me that to begin with.

And have never had any trouble finding a cart or a bellman to haul the bags around. (Caveat: we almost always travel by car - unless just doing 2 major cities. And I'm strong enought to lift the bag onto the train easily if need be - although I always prefer to have a man to do so.)

I strongly agree that people (whose native language is English) should not ask for "advise". And would love it if they would learn to spell itinerary. (I have collected 17 different misspellings. Why not say schedule if you're not sure or your computer doesn't have auto spell check?)

Now - about maps - everyone should get one!

Maybe you should add a chapter for those travelers who aren't able to go back as it turns out...there are a few of those folks around these days.

I agree, Dukey... there are lots of folks who really can't go back.

Right on, Dukey and Grasshopper...in my many decades of extensive/intensive worldwide travel I never thought I'd be one of those who really can't go back. Now it's true. My dear wife can no longer travel except for very restricted local stuff. Luckily and happily, in our views we pretty much "did it all" as they say.
stu

how about a chapter on pre-planning your trip and not counting on tour guides to do it for you. these are the same people that complain that they felt too rushed and were annoyed the guide was speaking in 4 different languages

You also need a chapter on "languages of the World" or no, not everyone will speak English.

I thought about the spelling of itinerary after I'd posted. Wow! 17 misspellings. Surely a record.

I traveled with my sister for 8 years, but now she's unable to travel because of physical limitations. We both love to read the trip reports she did for our last couple of trips, so that she can re-live them. I don't like to think about a time when I won't be able to travel,

My big problem with anything larger than a 22" is that it's too heavy for me. It's a struggle to get it into the overhead on the train or plane, and hauling it up stairs isn't a lot of fun, either. It is easier when I travel by car, but I don't always do that.

I do wash things in the sink. My sister took a great picture of our room in Rome with my socks and underwear hanging from every horizontal surface. I don't think I do without anything I need.

Jet-lag kills me and I travel light. Most of the time we stay in apts., so washing is not a problem..
If I need something we did not bring( an umbrella, for example)
I buy it.
Don't make itineraries or mind the ATM charges. I NEVER wear ugly shoes.

Johnny, the solution to the problem of others not speaking English is simple. You just speak louder.

I do enjoy countries more where I speak the language--Spain, Germany, and of course the U.K. and Ireland.

Oh, I left out a chapter: "Use the internet instead of asking these fool questions."

I remember how pleased I was when hotels began to have websites, and I could check out a hotel, read reviews, make reservations, find out about weather, etc., on the internet, instead of calling or writing or just winging it and taking my chances on hotel availability.

How about it can be a nice, even great, restaurant, hotel, perched village, you-name-it, w/o having to be the very best in the whole wide world.

<i>Remind them that they can always come back to see what they missed the first time.
Don't use the expression "a trip of a lifetime"</i>

Although most Fodorites travel to Europe repeatedly,for many people a European trip is a once in a lifetime experience. It really is their "trip of a lifetime," as cliched as that may sound.

Know why you're going to a place rather than asking "What are the top, don't-miss sights in ____?"

Don't book your flights before you've figured out exactly where you're going, how many days you'll need in each place to see what you want to see, and how much time it will take to get from place to place. A cheap fare is not a good deal if you then have to spend time and more money getting to where you really want to go.

I recommend two chapters specifically about using Fodors forums:

"We are not your travel agent" that would encourage people to do a minimum of research before starting a thread that asks the same questions that have been asked and answered a jillion times.

"How to compose a first post with a useful title." I can't count the number of times I've responded to the OP with the usual questions: When is this trip? How many days is this trip? What is your budget (in numbers, not vague adjectives)? Recent awards for least useful thread title: "Where to begin?" and "Europe Summer 2012"


And an inclusion to Pegontheroad's chapter on terminology, never refer to California as Cali. :-)

Here's one that will ruffle some feathers:

If you hire a tour guide, even a private, highly compensated one, you're on a tour, not traveling independently!

Another chapter to add. 'How to be gentile with posters asking these perceived foolish questions.'

On a trip to Italy , in our Bologna apt. the electricity went out...we made a few calls to some English speaking contacts but the electrician who came spoke no English

my Italian is at the intermediate level, but words like : " one could smell the wire burning",
"we don't know where in the building the breakers are" , " what will happen if we use the washing machine and the iron at the same time", were not in my vocabulary.
ALWAYS carry a small dictionary !

Oh, NO! You have started the book that I have been writing in my head for ages.

One more: If you have asked the forum to plan your trip to wherever and have 43 responses, come back to let us know whether the responses have been helpful and how they have affected your plans.

Ah, yes, the dictionary. Reminds me of the time I went into a Japanese pharmacy with my little Japanese/English dictionary and pointed the the symbol for pain, and then to the symbol for menstrual cramps. What a lifesaver that little book was!

Oh, I left out a chapter: "Use the internet instead of asking these fool questions."

Thank you for that! And for this whole thread.

Folks, if you can find Fodor's you can do some basic research. Really.
And don't wait until the week before you leave to ask US about cheap hotels & restaurants.

And yes, please do not use Cali, ever,thank you.

Carry on.

Some of these posts are a little sour. And Peg, it sounds like what you meant was just "don't bring a suitcase that is too heavy for you to handle" which is a more reasonable dictum.

Dick, (Iris)old friend... >>>'How to be gentile with posters<<<

I'm sure you meant "gentle", eh.

Peg..one last peeve..the OP who asks some serious, and maybe not so serious, questions, gets dozens of responses..and he/she never returns..just fades away wthout so much as a thank you..never to be heard from again. This happens all too often.

Jean's peeve is mine: people who say they are going to _________ and want to know what there is to do there.

Why on earth go there if you don't know why?

This may not be gentle or sweet, but I do not get why a person would want to go to a place if they don't know what they want to do when they get there.

Peg, please include this topic in your book. And in case you want to know, I hate sweet and gentle reading.

Another chapter to add. 'How to be gentile with posters asking these perceived foolish questions.'
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How do you know they are not Jewish?

Very enjoyable thread. I was one of the ignorant ones that posted a dumb question about what I could cram into London into 3 days (I had booked a Cosmos tour for a month). My DH had a stroke and then lost his job and I had to cancel my "once in a lifetime" trip that I had been waiting and saving all my life to take.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise (just the trip cancellation). I took one comment that "ira" posted that said basically, if you want to do so much in London why don't you just spend all your time there? I was offended at first and then re-evaluated the comment.

I planned a budget conscious trip the next year for 11 days and spent my whole time just in London and went alone. It was fabulous. He was right.

I've saved for three more years and am going to Paris in September. I posted a crazy long list again - and have now whittled it down. Fodorites give great advice - even if you have to post it over and over, ad nauseam.

Oh, and I vote for "Suck it Up" for a title too!

There will be children on the plane, there will be large people and there will be delays. Choose your attitude carefully.

That could be a whole chapter right there.


Yes, there may be a time when we really won't be back but we say, "we'll just have to come back" anyway.

If they are asking "Is this Itinerary nuts?" The answer is yes, then I read it.

Oh, mogsovana, have a wonderful time!!!! Paris is just amazing. Just walking around is such a pleasure.

My father and my brother passed away before they could go back. In fact most of the people around me cannot go back one another time. I refrain from making "do it next time" comments unless I really know their circumstances. One might need to see the evanescence of the life of the loved ones before one realizes the value of what might turn out to be a fleeting travel opportunities in front of him.

greg, I don't tell people to do it next time, because of course we humans are not promised another day.

I do however, object to the phrase "trip of a lifetime." I really think it is placing very unrealistic expectations on a mere trip to consider it the best of your lifetime.

Besides, why is a trip to Europe weighted with such a load? Why not a trip to NJ, or Vietnam, or the Alamo?


Horizons tend to expand when we travel, and although I haven't been to Egypt or Japan or Australia, I don't think I'll call my possible trip to any of those place my "trip of a lifetime." Why not? Well, when I go to one place, I find I want to go to some place else.

I never stop planning, although I'm sure that someday I'll stop living.

It seems to me that to say "trip of a lifetime" would place limitations on me that I don't want.

This is a pretty serious post on a fairly lighthearted thread, but I wanted to say why I object to that damn phrase.

greg..if you read my post above, you'll see why one never knows whether he'll be able to go overseas again. Now I can't.

Hey Stu and Aduchamp1; Perhaps I'll keep you guessing!! YES, gentle. P.S. I can't understand the spelling error as I had my G and T withour the G.

tuscan, good post. I don't like "trip of a lifetime" either. Some people have had trips of a lifetime going to the grocery store.

A friend met her husband there years ago, wearing sweats and uncombed hair.

"I never stop planning, although I'm sure that someday I'll stop living." Words to remember.

I just got home and already have been putting together my next trip.

It could have been:

Gentle

Gentile (Jews and Mormons use the same word to describe someone who is not of their religion. Although I do not know about Mormons, but the Jews also have more colorful words for that. And if you are alta cocker like myself and a baseball fan, there was a ballplayer named Jim Gentile.)

Genteel-a word rarely heard any more.
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I do not have a problem with a trip of a lifetime as some others but with qualifications. We have many relatives and friends who have never been abroad. One friend is terrified of flying but when he retires will find some boat that will take him back and forth to Europe where they will spend three months. It will truly be a trip of a lifetime.
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My biggest gripe is that people are too friggin serious about their trips. It is supposed to be fun. I guess defintions of fun vary but most trip reports read like their constipation medicine did not take effect. And their questions and attitudes reflect that constipation. They think they must have a prescribed good time.

Only 17 misspellings of itinerary? That's nothing. I've collected 33 so far!

Shoes do not have to be ugly to be comfortable. I routinely take at least 3 pairs of shoes but prefer 4 pairs. I use a 24" suitcase which I check and a carry-on. I'm working on whittling that down to a 22" and a carry-on.

I did go to Guatemala for 11 days with a carry-on only but my father had died there and my sister and I had to retrieve him. That certainly was the "trip of a lifetime" as I have no plans to do something like that again :).

Half the fun of a trip for me is the research. I start planning my next trip pretty much as soon as I arrive home.