[HN Gopher] 50 Years of Travel Tips
___________________________________________________________________
50 Years of Travel Tips
Author : marban
Score : 212 points
Date : 2025-02-16 09:31 UTC (13 hours ago)
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(TXT) w3m dump (kk.org)
| ghaff wrote:
| I don't agree with all of this though I do think most of it _can_
| be good advice. I did a huge amount of travel, mostly of
| particular styles, latterly when I was working. Still do a fair
| bit though I 'm trying to spend less time on flights and more on
| destinations.
|
| The main thing I didn't see in there although I may have missed
| it or it may have been implied is travel light. You can't always
| go with carry-on pack of some sort if you have varied trips, e.g.
| smart clothing plus hiking kit. But you can probably go lighter
| than you think. I know I'm mostly at lightweight travel than I
| used to be.
| gadilif wrote:
| +1 on traveling light. The author did mention this, too: " Your
| enjoyment of a trip will be inversely related to the weight of
| your luggage. Counterintuitively, the longer your trip, the
| less stuff you should haul. Travelers still happy on a 6-week
| trip will only have carry-on luggage."
| ghaff wrote:
| Ah. Missed that.
|
| It's certainly not always possible if you need real dress
| clothing or real hiking/camping gear. (I've never gotten to
| the point where I can do a month-long trip that includes a
| long distance week-long+ walk along with some fairly formal
| evening wear in a carry-on.)
|
| But you can probably get closer than you think. By myself, if
| I'm mostly just traveling in cities with "business casual" as
| dressy as it gets, I can travel almost indefinitely with a
| 40L travel backpack.
| kjellsbells wrote:
| For men, mixed business/pleasure trips to countries with a
| conservative dress code can be tough (Japan for example). I
| have found that higher quality suits have better fabrics
| that are more able to recover from being stuffed in a small
| space. The problem I have yet to solve is shoes. In the
| West, not only are suits for meetings becoming rarer, but
| dress sneakers are acceptable almost everywhere, and they
| can do double duty for leisure. In Japan I would feel
| underdressed if I wasnt wearing standard black leather
| shoes. Maybe it will change with the new generation. Things
| are certainly lighter than in the early 2000s and 2010s,
| when there was a distinct echo of the infamous Burleson
| dress code[0]. (Though the cultural disdain for tattoos
| still exists.)
|
| [0] https://archive.is/Shp8G
| ghaff wrote:
| The last couple of trips I took to Japan were for events
| with essentially a developer/marketing oriented
| organization and I was able to comfortably get off with
| pretty much business casual. Maybe I wouldn't have felt
| as comfortable for a customer event.
|
| The last trip I really felt I overpacked for with respect
| to train/transit was some time in London, followed by a
| long-distance walk where I really needed everything I had
| with me, followed by an ocean liner return where I needed
| jackets and real dress shoes--which, as you suggest, even
| Rockports aren't _really_ general purpose. You always
| want more shoes than you can reasonably carry.
|
| Wheeled vs. non-wheeled luggage is definitely a tradeoff.
| I lean towards non-wheeled in general and just maybe take
| a few more taxis if the luggage is too heavy to schlep
| around the city a bit.
| baal80spam wrote:
| > If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to
| take you to visit their mother.
|
| Uhh, I really can't imagine this one working well in a Western
| country.
| ghaff wrote:
| Almost certainly would seem weirder in some places or
| circumstances than others. One of those things in the list I
| have certainly never considered.
| vintagedave wrote:
| Once in Vietnam, our cab driver asked if he could pause at
| home on the way. We said yes. So he drove home, his wife gave
| him lunch, we tried it too, met her and his kids and his
| friendly half-street-half-pet dogs, and then went back to our
| hotel.
|
| And I still remember it... whereas I cannot remember our
| other taxi rides!
| eszed wrote:
| A "weaker" version of this is to ask your driver personal
| questions. Obviously stop if they make it _really_ clear they
| don 't want to talk at all, but there's a psychology about
| talking to strangers you know you won't see again that lets
| many people open up in ways they wouldn't in maybe any other
| circumstances. I've
|
| - Seen more baby and kid-milestone photos than I can count.
|
| - Been told a _brutal_ war story by a tow-truck driver in
| Kentucky ( "did you know blood from the liver is almost
| black?") that - though he didn't say it, explicitly - I don't
| think he'd ever talked about to anyone.
|
| - Heard about someone's life's-work in AIDS prevention.
|
| - Learned about the Philippine Civil War from a former airforce
| Colonel. (Highlight: he and his best friend / roommate in the
| military academy chose different sides. They privately promised
| each other that they'd find a way to communicate if their units
| were ever ordered to attack the other.)
|
| - Heard first-hand about the horrifying obstacles the US
| government placed in the paths of Afghani translators (for the
| US Army) trying to immigrate to safety in the US.
|
| - Met a Singaporean former mercenary, who told me all about
| doing private security for illegal gold mines in New Guinea. He
| was very matter of fact (and entirely unrepentant) about having
| indiscriminately shot local villagers and government forces.
| Several of his buddies were killed by bow and arrow in an
| attack during which he cut and ran ("their families are still
| mad at me"). It was all a madcap adventure, as far as he was
| concerned, and then he showed me pictures of his boat.
|
| Looking at that list, I guess don't do it if you don't want to
| be trauma-dumped, but I'm quite socially awkward, so you don't
| have to let that stop you. Most people don't seem to care -
| they have stories they want to tell, and will tell them, if
| you'll listen.
| melling wrote:
| I spent 9 months traveling from Mexico to Buenos Aires with a
| backpack eighteen years ago. Spent most nights in hostels in
| shared rooms for a few dollars a night. It was a great
| experience. Carried a MacBook Pro and a digital Nikon D70.
| Actually had the first iPhone but hardly used it. Do have a
| selfie of myself on a bus somewhere in Central America.
|
| These days I'm taking more expensive vacations in cheaper
| countries. You can go to the Caribbean and stay for $2000 a night
| or go to places like Morocco or Panama on a _luxury_ vacation for
| 1 /3 the price.
| BrandoElFollito wrote:
| 1/3 of 2000 USD is still 650 USD a night. This is quite a
| price.
|
| I am sure that plenty of people can afford it (I could if I
| wanted to) but this is rather expensive when you compare to,
| say a stay in Chamonix (French Alps, a "posh" station) where
| you can have a 65 m2 appartment next to the slopes in high
| season for about 250-300EUR/night.
| ghaff wrote:
| I don't keep track of this sort of thing in detail but I
| usually figure a month-long trip ends up running about $10K.
| Sometimes probably a bit more, sometimes a bit less. Where
| that money goes will vary depending on the type of trip. In
| cities, I usually stay somewhere nice but not top-end which I
| find doesn't buy me a lot incrementally. Don't usually fly
| business unless I use miles for part of it.
|
| No illusions this is penniless student budgeting but it suits
| me.
| navane wrote:
| OPs numbers are weird. Marocco should get you great
| accommodation for a tenth, not a third.
| melling wrote:
| Instead of $650 there's always the AirBnB and living on less
| than $100 a day. When I backpacked I was spending probably
| $1000 a month. I recommend trying both.
| notahacker wrote:
| Yeah, $650 per night in Morocco is staying in La Mamounia,
| famous mingling place of world leaders and celebrities with a
| Paul McCartney song named after it...
|
| You can stay in quite a nice palace for a lot less than that
| jajko wrote:
| Are you talking about my flat in Chamonix? :) Those are top
| season prices, one can go much lower and mountains are still
| roughly the same, meaning absolutely awesome and most
| accessible brutal high alpine terrain in Europe, possibly
| globally. Skiing Vallee Blanche is top experience (just take
| helmet at least).
|
| Anyway backpacking is the most intense form of travelling by
| huge margin, the cheaper the better. I did two 3-month trips
| in India & Nepal around 2010, all costs combined apart from
| return flight tickets were around 500$ per month. Best time
| of my life, literally life and personality changing
| experiences that will stay with me till my last breath. No
| plans, just 1 thick Lonely planet book
|
| Adventures don't need to be always positive experiences,
| intensity is what matters much more, the further away from
| comfort zone one gets more impactful the experience is.
|
| Also it feels significantly longer, each time those 3 months
| felt like decades, hard to describe with mere words
| jghn wrote:
| I had a similar reaction. I think of Panama as being one of
| the higher COL areas in that region.
|
| In a lot of areas in the US $650/night is a posh
| hotel/airbnb.
| vintagedave wrote:
| This is great advice. On his 'laser out' approach, I often find
| after travel I am tired and I _really_ don't want to spend hours
| more getting to where I'm really going, so I usually stop in the
| city that I landed in.
|
| But I have a policy: never go to sleep without going to walk in
| the city. That is: never land and sleep. _Always_ absorb some of
| the local environment. Then when your brain knows it's somewhere
| else, then go to sleep.
|
| This has worked to varying degrees. I always wake up with the
| excitement of being somewhere. But once, on my very first trip
| overseas, I got lost and spent three confused hours very late at
| night in a dark 2AM-no-one-around city trying to find my way
| back...
|
| ...but it sure is a good story now.
|
| Which is very much the point of this article's advice. It seems
| to be: optimise for experience and stories.
| susam wrote:
| One travel technique that has worked very well for me takes place
| the day before my trip: using a pre-travel prep-and-packing
| checklist. I created this checklist about 15 years ago and still
| refine it occasionally. This list has three sections:
|
| A) Preparation tasks: Like printing essential travel documents,
| saving a backup to my mobile phone, buying foreign currency,
| activating data roaming, etc.
|
| B) Packing list: Mine currently has about 30 or so items,
| covering everything from the very basics, like toothbrush and
| toothpaste, to the often-overlooked, like reusable ziplock bags,
| microfibre cloths, etc.
|
| C) Last minute checks: These are final tasks to complete just
| before leaving home. This includes double-checking that passports
| are packed, non-essential electrical appliances and lamps are
| switched off, balcony doors are locked, wet waste has been
| properly disposed of, etc.
|
| By the time I step into a taxi or train to the airport, I can
| fully focus on the journey ahead rather than worrying about
| forgotten items. After all, this checklist has served me well for
| the past 15 years. Every item is checked off before I leave home,
| so as soon as I get into a taxi or train, I can relax, knowing
| that nothing has been forgotten.
| ghaff wrote:
| You do get used to it and I keep a travel pile, but, yeah,
| checklists are never a bad idea.
| seer wrote:
| The one thing you _need_ to pack, apart from visa docs required
| for travel, is a credit/debit card. Anything you've missed can
| be purchased on location.
|
| Traveling to rural Vietnam looked daunting and dangerous for
| people from the EU, but once there me and the friend realized
| all the worrying and excessive preparation was for naught. We
| still forgot some things, an hour or two spent at the local
| shops and the problem was resolved. All you need is an accepted
| way to pay and you could get out of almost any reasonable
| situation.
|
| Now would it be cost effective? Surprisingly sometimes yes, but
| even if not it could give you some more stories to tell. Part
| of the fun of traveling is the stories you tell afterwards, and
| no good story starts with "everything went according to plan".
| simonw wrote:
| My father once told me that as long as you have your
| passport, wallet and the name and address of where you're
| going everything else will work out fine. That advice has
| treated me well.
| ghaff wrote:
| Which raises a point that is often lost today. Assume your
| phone breaks, gets lost/stolen, etc. How do you know where
| you're going? Having a printed agenda is a very good idea
| even if you resent the weight of the paper.
| jonasdegendt wrote:
| If that happens, aren't you pretty much walking to the
| closest mobile phone store?
|
| A basic device that'll give you access to the internet,
| mail and maps is basically a commodity the same way a
| toothbrush is.
| harperlee wrote:
| Problem: with 2FA, lost phone = lost access to your email
| and rest of digital life, when on a trip (I'll assume no
| one travels with their recovery keys).
| ghaff wrote:
| I actually do have my Gmail recovery keys with my
| passport though I haven't tested in a while. But from
| reading other comments, I guess I'm pretty paranoid and
| maybe more prepared for a situation where I don't have a
| working phone.
|
| But, if you use a password manager for Google, not sure
| if that does you any good. Honestly, regaining access to
| your various accounts if you need to get a new phone--
| perhaps especially internationally--may be pretty hard. I
| do sometimes travel with an older spare phone but it's
| getting out of support.
| jorvi wrote:
| 1Password handles this problem pretty elegantly because
| of their secret key system.
|
| You can just print out your secret key and stuff it in
| your suitcase / backpack. Its useless for a thief unless
| they know your password too.
|
| You could set an emergency / recovery contact too, but I
| don't know how the recovery flow would go.
|
| Also, an eSIM will vastly complicate your bootstrapping.
| ghaff wrote:
| And an eSIM is all my current phone has.
|
| Not sure how much confidence I would put in getting back
| up and running in an international trip with 2FA vs.
| having paper copies of important info.
| jonasdegendt wrote:
| Yubikeys with a passkey for every major service. One on
| the keychain, a nano one permanently in the laptop. This
| lets you access anything with the key and a password.
| qkeast wrote:
| The thing I haven't figured out (mostly because I haven't
| sat down and done so) is how I'd access mail and such--
| without my password manager on my own phone, I don't have
| access to anything.
| jonasdegendt wrote:
| I have a Yubikey (well, two actually) on my keychain for
| 2FA, gets rid of those pesky apps.
| ghaff wrote:
| I don't universally travel with a laptop.
| dotancohen wrote:
| Why would we assume that the Yubikey or even the entire
| keychain survived whatever befell the telephone that is
| being replaced?
| ghaff wrote:
| What "closest mobile phone store" in many places? I've
| been on a ton of trips where I probably haven't seen a
| closest mobile phone store for a week or more.
|
| My point is that you should try not to be absolutely
| screwed if you're cut off from the Internet. I carry
| physical maps, itinerary, guidebook, etc. You can
| actually travel without Internet access. Of course, you
| can't mitigate any eventuality but I'd certainly argue
| that you should generally be able to move forward without
| Internet, email, or GPS.
| netsharc wrote:
| I remember standing up to board my flight home, putting
| the phone into my pants pocket, except I was putting it
| into air, and it landed on the tile floor of the boarding
| area. The outside screen wasn't cracked, but the LC-
| Display cracked all across the bottom, making the display
| totally black. I usually don't bother having physical
| boarding passes, but luckily I did have it in paper
| format at that point.
|
| Interestingly the phone was still working, it just can't
| show anything. Double-clicking the power button still
| opened the camera app, and I could take pictures by
| pressing the volume down button. And alarms would still
| go off, but holding the power button opened Google
| Assistant and it understood the command "Delete all
| alarms", no unlocking required.
| ghaff wrote:
| My counter to that is that, once you get out of major cities,
| even in the UK, there may be very few opportunities to pick
| up things including pretty routine first aid supplies. You
| probably also don't want to spend the first half-day of your
| vacation doing routine shopping.
|
| So, yes, you can often pick things up but don't count on it.
| If you're adaptable, you can probably manage (perhaps outside
| of some things like medicines) but you're not necessarily
| just walking into a store and laying down your credit card.
| zeroq wrote:
| My counter is if you can't produce it within a day it's
| most likely not a necessity.
| ghaff wrote:
| There's a ton of medical and medical-adjacent stuff (both
| prescription and not) that isn't going to be easy to come
| up with in a typical village or small town. Good to have
| some basic things you can use to rig a backpack strap or
| hole repair. There are fairly essential clothing items
| you may not easily replace on foot in small towns; it's
| raining hard and you left your rain jacket at home.
|
| Sure. If you have wheels, it's probably easier.
| Retric wrote:
| I've gone decades without using a raincoat.
|
| If you're going someplace cold you'll want warm clothing
| and if it's sunny then sunblock is a big deal, but in
| general you don't need much stuff on a trip.
| ghaff wrote:
| My guess is you're not hiking for 10 miles in possibly
| chilly rain in England or wherever. (Or needing a shell
| because of wind.) An umbrella doesn't really work and
| you're probably not wanting to just walk all day
| drenched. In a city, yes, umbrellas are often a
| reasonable alternative.
| Retric wrote:
| I'll happily spend all day wet outside as long as it's
| warm enough not to want a jacket.
|
| Which is why I just get water resistant jackets rather
| than raincoats.
| et-al wrote:
| Two small exceptions to a generally good rule:
|
| - good shoes in certain regions may not be easy to find.
| don't skimp on good shoes.
|
| - not to get into a dirtbag pissing contest about
| necessities, but there were also plenty of towns in
| Myanmar where one couldn't produce a USB-C or Lightning
| cable pre-pandemic
| harrall wrote:
| A few ibuprofen and anti-diarrhea pills can make a world
| of difference, save you from ruining your whole day on a
| potentially short trip, and they take up no space.
| ghaff wrote:
| I have a couple of very compact kits, one of which is
| basically walking/hiking first aid (e.g. blister stuff)
| and the other is the sort of stuff you mention. It's a
| really good idea to throw something like these in your
| bag which weigh nothing, take up no space, and can
| _really_ be nice if you need them.
|
| PSA: The small index card holders (i.e. about an inch
| deep) are really good for these kind of kits as they
| provide some protection.
| zeroq wrote:
| This!
|
| Only other thing I would like to add is CASH.
|
| Not a lot, just enough to keep you afloat when your credit
| card is not cooperating.
|
| You may end up in a place that only accepts cash and there's
| no atm nearby or these that are available won't accept your
| card for some reason.
|
| And it doesn't have to a remote place like Laos or Bali. This
| happens in places like Berlin.
| ghaff wrote:
| Yeah, some cash, debit card, and a backup credit card that
| is hopefully as independent of the card you normally use
| traveling as possible. (i.e. not two Chase cards.) Also, be
| careful that your backup isn't a card you normally _never_
| use--especially internationally. The card companies seem to
| have gotten better about random fraud alerts but they still
| happen.
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| Agreed in general although do your homework first. Some
| countries don't use the VISA/Mastercard payment system.
|
| China is an absolute unbelievable pain due to being largely
| WeChat payment based now and there's a lot of restrictions on
| who can set this up.
|
| https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/16u03k4/how_the_hell.
| ..
| decimalenough wrote:
| WeChat Pay is still a no-go, but you can now set up Alipay
| with any foreign credit/debit card, no need for the former
| rigmarole of account verification with Chinese phone
| number/bank account. And Alipay is accepted basically
| everywhere. (Cash is not.)
| KineticLensman wrote:
| > Anything you've missed can be purchased on location.
|
| Good luck buying a head torch when you find yourself arriving
| at a deserted campsite in the middle of nowhere just as it is
| getting dark.
|
| Or your prescription meds in a country where things aren't
| available over the counter.
| rwmj wrote:
| I have one of these. It also tells me all the things I need to
| turn off / check are switched off in the house.
| Ylpertnodi wrote:
| With the prices of electricity these days I turn off
| _everything_ by remote control per room each time I leave the
| house for work etc. Not even extension cord lights are left
| on, only the very bare necessities - fridge etc remain on.
| danparsonson wrote:
| Ah but the genius of such a list is that it can also cover
| things like closing windows, checking the gas cooker is
| off, watering plants... anything that you might later think
| "did I remember to...?", while flying to Indonesia.
|
| You might have left your fridge switched on, but did you
| close the door properly?
| ghaff wrote:
| With LED lights, making sure everything is turned off
| isn't _such_ a big deal these days. But, while I don 't
| really sweat closing up the house for a day or so, it's
| definitely worth checking things like windows on a longer
| trip. There are definitely a lot of things you normally
| do on cruise control and it's nice to be sure they really
| happened.
| throwup238 wrote:
| Do you mind sharing these checklists? I'd love to throw them
| into my Obsidian notes for the next time I travel. I do it
| infrequently but it's always stressful because it's to visit
| family internationally.
| et-al wrote:
| Make a checklist. Go on trip. Refine checklist by adding
| things you forgot and removing things you didn't need.
| _Iterating on the checklist is key._
|
| Mine is pretty short because it's only about the non-routine
| stuff:
|
| - passport + passport card + visa
|
| - make travel notifications for credit cards (seems less
| needed these days)
|
| - chargers + outlet adapters
|
| - download maps for areas in Organic Maps, bookmark important
| places (don't trust Google Maps' offline maps)
|
| - write down confirmation/reservation numbers and important
| phone numbers
|
| - remove pocket knife from carry-on
|
| - headphones + earplugs + eyeshade
|
| - spare glasses (even an old pair works. yes in Asia you can
| get new glasses in less than an hour)
|
| - do you need swimwear, sunscreen, or a headlamp?
|
| - lacrosse ball to roll out knots (very personal, but 10hr
| flights in a cramped economy seat can put a strain on one's
| back, esp as one gets older)
|
| Again, this is my personal "perennial" travel checklist. It's
| written from my experiences of having a girlfriend break my
| glasses while needing to drive the next morning, and
| forgetting headphones for overnight bus rides.
|
| Similar to susam, I've also started keeping another trip-
| specific checklist (e.g. any items my in-laws want from
| America, or bring 98% DEET for SE Asia). These get deleted
| after the trip.
| harrall wrote:
| Walk through your typical preferred travel day when traveling
| to build a checklist.
|
| "I'm going to be on a plane for 14 hours,"
|
| "I need to get ready for bed at night,"
|
| "I am going to walk through the city"
|
| or "I am doing a wilderness hike."
|
| I only say that because everyone's checklist is very
| different and I think it can be too easy to overpack.
| ghaff wrote:
| >it can be too easy to overpack
|
| I think there are items that have a good size/weight to
| utility if you do end up needing them in a place where you
| can't just run to a store. But you also need to be careful
| not to fall into a "just one more thing" trap because it
| occurs to you something _might_ be useful or even was
| useful in a very specific set of circumstances.
| sneak wrote:
| Don't buy foreign currency. Take it out of the ATM in the
| country, and spend it before you leave. Leave the currency in
| the place it belongs.
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| Why?
| ghaff wrote:
| ATMs probably tend to be a better deal but for $100-200
| amounts probably doesn't matter much. Whether you spend
| your leftovers at the airport depends on if you're
| reasonably certain you'll be back. I keep pounds and Euros
| but I have way too much of other currencies which between
| COVID and employment changes, I'll probably never use.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| Agree. I have _everything_ on it after one memorable trip where
| I forgot to pack any socks.
|
| The pre-trip to-do list is also really useful - e.g. all the
| things that need charging before I go.
|
| My list has subsections for specialised trips such as camping,
| wildlife experiences etc. On one camping trip I inventoried
| everything that came out of my car when I got back. This
| spotted a couple of things that I probably wouldn't have
| remembered for the next trip. Over the years I created a box
| full of tent-things that I can just lift into the car when I
| load up.
| ghaff wrote:
| It's not perfect because every trip is often a bit different
| but compartmentalizing stuff that _usually_ goes together
| (OK, I don 't need my UK plug adapter if I'm going to
| California) helps a lot without having a checklist of _every_
| item. You want your essentials first aid kit, your standard
| chargers kit, your misc travel kit... goes a long way.
| MiguelVieira wrote:
| I have a spreadsheet that I clone and edit each time I go on a
| trip. So if I go camping, skiing, to the beach, etc, I can look
| at my old checklists, find a similar one, then clone it and
| tweak it for my upcoming trip.
| jraby3 wrote:
| I use multiple packing trips. One for solo (generally) business
| travel. One for me and my wife traveling. And the last one is
| for me wife and kids.
|
| It works really well and the lists are significantly different.
| swat535 wrote:
| I've stopped caring about packing.
|
| Now I only pack the very basics, medication, laptop and
| chargers toiletries for shaving etc and a few clothes. Anything
| else I will most likely purchase or won't need at all. I avoid
| checking bags, just a small carryon and my backpack.
|
| To me the more important items are travel requirements, road
| conditions, directions, etc.
| flippyhead wrote:
| I have a corollary: when I head out of my
| apartment/hotel/whatever, I assume I could be gone for a
| night or two -- you never know what will happen! This doesn't
| mean you need to lug around a bunch of stuff, but just enough
| basics to make it so you can easily say YES! at forks in the
| road that might require you to walk too far to get home that
| day, or stay overnight on a boat, or be out very late with a
| new group of friends. A toothbrush, change of underwear, and
| warm cost-thing, sunscreen, etc. Optionality is easy to
| prepare.
| jltsiren wrote:
| I've started to prefer small checked bags over large
| carryons. Boarding a plane is more pleasant when you don't
| need overhead space for you bags. And you don't need special
| travel versions of stuff to get around carryon restrictions.
|
| The backpack should also be small. I find 20 L the ideal
| size, but your needs may be different. If your backpack is
| too large, you'll be taking more unnecessary stuff with you
| everywhere at the destination.
| triyambakam wrote:
| The split in sections is really useful!
| rwmj wrote:
| _> Getting an inside tour is the ultimate travel treat. How about
| a factory tour,_
|
| Yes, I'm glad I did some factory tours in Japan, they were really
| interesting!
|
| Link is to archive.org since JETRO seem to have taken down the
| site during the pandemic and not put it back up again:
| https://web.archive.org/web/20190407170023/jetro.go.jp/en/in...
| hermitcrab wrote:
| We did a very interesting tour inside a Swedish iron mine. It
| is a shame more big factories and industrial sites don't do
| tours. I'm sure a tour of massive mining quarry would be much
| more interesting than the standard tourist attractions.
| programmertote wrote:
| >Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity
| guest! ... They will usually feel honored. You can offer the
| newlyweds a small token gift of cash if you want. You will be
| obliged to dance. Take photos of them; they will take photos of
| you. It will make your day and theirs. (I've crashed a wedding in
| most of the countries I have visited.)
|
| That will only work if a white tourist wedding crashes in a poor
| country. That will not work if I (as a brown-colored southeast
| asian) do it.
| pocketarc wrote:
| Yeah, a few of these items sound a lot like "white tourist in
| poor country".
|
| Like the one about asking the taxi driver to drive you to his
| mom, like holy cow that's creepy. Imagine asking an American
| Uber driver "hey drive me to your mom's" and see how they'd
| respond.
| trinix912 wrote:
| It doesn't even have to be the US, that already wouldn't go
| well in Eastern Europe. Such things can be seen as extremely
| disrespectful and are a sure way to get a punch in your face
| in some places.
|
| Lots of these tips seem like what you'd hear from someone
| regularly traveling someplace like Egypt, where the taxi
| drivers will openly tell you about their life/family/etc.
| fortran77 wrote:
| Say anything related to a person's mother in Russia and it
| will be seen as an insult.
| magneticnorth wrote:
| Extremely white, somewhat gendered as well.
|
| I travel alone as a woman a lot, and while it's not as
| dangerous as many people fear, I'd never ask a taxi driver to
| take me to (potentially) his private residence in a random
| neighborhood in an unfamiliar city.
| astura wrote:
| Just imagine this interaction from the mom's perspective.
| (Because the author sure hasn't!)
|
| You're minding your own business just doing laundry or
| whatever and your adult son just shows up to you house
| totally unannounced with a foreign stranger in tow looking
| for you to cook them a meal. Come on, that is really rude!
|
| Like, it's clear this guy thinks the mom is a total NPC in
| this situation. It takes some serious delusions of grandeur
| to think the mom is "happy" about this interaction.
| pocketarc wrote:
| > a total NPC
|
| Honestly, I think that is a great way to describe what
| bugs me most about this list. It's the idea that other
| people are there for your entertainment.
|
| Like: 'Go to a cemetery. Look for sacred places. People
| live authentically there.'
|
| Like really. Why are you going to a place to watch people
| grieving for your entertainment? What -is- this list?
| After 50 years of traveling? This mentality is what he
| has to show for it?
| kmoser wrote:
| Presumably the driver knows their mom well enough to
| determine how she would react, or call ahead to be sure.
| If it still blows up, blame the driver, not the passenger
| who initiated the request.
| mvdtnz wrote:
| A taxi driver in a poor country is doing what he needs to
| do to get paid, probably with a bit of a tip. That
| doesn't make this interaction ok. It's exploitative and
| RUDE!
| eldaisfish wrote:
| some are entirely incorrect. Lack of hygiene is a real
| problem in tropical countries. Pretending that all food
| everywhere is equal is some crazy level of white, sheltered
| nonsense.
|
| I would never recommend that anyone eat anything uncooked in
| a country like India. You are asking for digestive woes.
|
| Much of this "list" is BS.
| decimalenough wrote:
| No, that one is accurate. Street food is usually made to
| order and has high turnover if you pick a popular stall,
| which means it often is safer than touristy restaurants
| that rely on snaring a couple of visitors a day and thus
| has food sitting around for much longer. I spent 1.5 years
| in Thailand and the only time I got sick was from a fancy,
| touristy seafood place in Koh Samui.
|
| You still have to use common sense though. The water/ice
| used in street food is often sus, so anything uncooked is
| best avoided, and you probably don't want to get your
| _larb_ from the lady who keeps her raw minced meat in an
| open bucket marinating in the sun.
| ghaff wrote:
| I think you're agreeing. Typical cooked "street food" is
| probably fine (and I've done many times); uncooked may
| not be.
| datameta wrote:
| Yeah, while I did like the Laser-Back strategy of going to the
| most remote location first and meandering back to the departure
| city, reading the names at the bottom shows only one phenotype
| of person wrote/edited this.
| astura wrote:
| I can't even imagine having this sort of attitude where you
| think that your presence is like a "celebrity guest" for
| strangers and and will be "making their day." You. Complete
| strangers.
|
| Like, how does one have such an inflated sense of importance?
| And feel absolutely no shame in writing it out for the world to
| see.
|
| Delusions of grandeur.
| notahacker wrote:
| tbf there are certain parts of the world where if you're
| young and white and friendly you absolutely do get the
| celebrity treatment, including wedding invitations[1] and
| especially a lot of photo requests. There are also parts of
| the world and families where a foreign guest unknown to most
| people there would be extremely awkward even if they had a
| genuine connection with one of the party.
|
| I'd have gone to the wedding of the daughter of the Indian
| chap who sat next to me on a bus for a couple of hours the
| day before if there hadn't been logistical issues, because
| the invitation was genuine and I'd have been able to have
| proper conversations with the wedding party and feel like I
| was there for more than just free food and music. I don't
| think he needed me to make his day though :)
| titanomachy wrote:
| It depends on the place. I've definitely been to a couple
| places where people were very excited to meet me (a large
| white man), practice their limited English, parade me around
| to their friends, and ask me about where I live.
|
| I was constantly expecting them to want something from me in
| return, but it never happened. Actually they would often
| insist on giving me things. This has happened to me probably
| four distinct times. It's obviously more likely to happen in
| small towns that don't get a lot of tourists, and also more
| likely to happen in countries without white people.
|
| I imagine this might not generalize to people of all races.
| It also helps to have an outgoing personality.
|
| Of course, in tourist hotspots people are probably vaguely
| annoyed by your presence (or specifically and intensely
| annoyed, like in Barcelona apparently) and will either ignore
| you or try to sell you things.
| jghn wrote:
| Even if one finds themselves in such a situation, they
| should allow the locals to pull them in, instead of pushing
| themselves on the locals.
| ArlenBales wrote:
| This guy is Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired
| magazine. I guess he thinks people will recognize him?
| flippyhead wrote:
| I crashed a literal Greek wedding (in Greece!) once, waaaay out
| in the countryside, and I can confirm they were really super
| glad to have me.
| simonw wrote:
| These are the best travel tips I've seen anywhere - surprising
| and unconventional and I can see why each of them would work.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| Lots of great advice here. But..
|
| >In many parts of the world today motorcycles play the role of
| cars. That means you can hire a moto-taxi to take you on the back
| seat, or to summon a moto-taxi with an uber-like app, or to take
| a motorcycle tour with a guide doing the driving. In areas where
| motorcycles dominate they will be ten times more efficient than
| slowly going by car.
|
| I would be extremely wary about this. You are so much more
| vulnerable on a bike. And you won't even be wearing proper
| protective equipment. Even if they lend you a helmet, it is
| unlikely to fit properly and don't know how many times it has
| been dropped or involved in a crash. Also the most common
| injuries to motorcyclists are to the legs, and I doubt they will
| be lending you boots or biking trousers.
|
| No thanks!
| keyme wrote:
| 2 years ago when backpacking in East Africa, I went from "there
| is no way I'm ever doing this" to taking nothing but those
| moto-taxis ("boda bodas") even for 40 minute inter-city rides
| with a 12KG backpack on my back. No helmets to speak of. Except
| maybe in Rwanda.
|
| Part of the learning experience of such travel, is to see
| firsthand how the locals of these places perceive the risk. How
| they manage risk in general, and what is the "value of a human
| life" for them as compared to our western perceptions.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| The combination of poor road safety, lack of protective
| equipment and lesser health care if anything goes wrong does
| not make it an attractive option for me. Each to their own, I
| guess.
|
| Context: I used to have a motorbike. I always wore full
| protective equipment. Full face helmet, leather, gloves and
| boots. But I realize that is less practical in a hot climate.
| throwaway290 wrote:
| There is no "the locals" usually. It sounds a bit
| condescending, like the article. If people look different
| than you it doesn't mean they are all the same. People have
| different life situations. Maybe even in your home country
| too.
|
| If you go somewhere on a moto taxi in Bangkok all those taxis
| and fancy SUVs you see are not silly foreigners who are
| scared of motobikes, they are also locals who manage risk.
| astura wrote:
| Exactly!
|
| I grew up in the US.
|
| I grew up in a family where drunk driving was totally
| normal. Car wrecks happened with regularity. As a child I
| road with my parents while they were drunk and actively
| drinking. I road in the bed of my dads pickup truck while
| he was speeding on backroads while drunk. I never wore my
| seatbelt until I started driving. One of our cars growing
| up didn't even have seats, cuz my dad took them out. My dad
| would slam on the breaks while driving down the highway and
| everyone would go flying.
|
| I always wear my seatbelt now. I would never would drive
| drunk now, or even slightly buzzed. I would never expose
| children to that sort of environment. My parents are awful
| people.
| sneak wrote:
| I will never ride a bicycle or motorcycle or scooter in any
| location without a helmet.
|
| Those that do so are simply stupid. It's 2025. Helmets are
| such a ridiculously high cost/benefit ratio.
|
| It's like not using a seatbelt, or smoking cigarettes.
| Totally insane, knowing what we now know.
|
| Doesn't matter if it "isn't done here". TBIs work the same in
| Bangkok as Boston.
| et-al wrote:
| > _Part of the learning experience of such travel, is to see
| firsthand how the locals of these places perceive the risk._
|
| Sorry, but this is a just financial decision by locals and
| not a philosophical treatise on the value of life. Once
| people have enough money, they'll opt to take the car-taxi,
| doubly-so if their child is coming along. It's fun for
| backpackers and I'm glad it got you out of your comfort zone.
| decimalenough wrote:
| It's not quite that straightforward. Obviously the calculus
| changes when you can afford alternatives, but all social
| classes in Bangkok and Jakarta can and do take
| motosai/ojeks if they're in a hurry and the traffic (for
| four-wheelers) is completely jammed like it usually is.
| throwaway290 wrote:
| Lots to disagree about like
|
| > The list of most coveted cities to visit have one striking
| thing in common--they are pedestrian centric.
|
| if your coveted places are mostly in Europe/Japan. Los Angeles,
| Chiang Mai (or any city in most SEA) etc are the opposite of
| pedestrian centric. Do you like multi hour walks in heat among
| pollution and traffic or stray dogs to get to a nice coffeeshop?
| Yeah. Public transport is broken and literally everybody who
| lives there uses personal transport.
|
| (He then goes to contradict himself and recommend unsafe moto
| taxi)
| dpb001 wrote:
| It took only one long solo wait at a crosswalk in Chon Buri to
| convince me that it was worth paying about 3 USD to travel
| about 6 blocks. Traffic yielding to a single pedestrian is a
| quaint notion and as you say a lone farang seems to be a soi
| dog magnet.
| ghaff wrote:
| Some SE Asian cities are OK except for the heat/humidity like
| Singapore, Penang, and Hong Kong. But, yeah, most of the big
| SE Asian cities are pretty horrible to get around and
| certainly aren't pedestrian friendly except very locally.
| hermitcrab wrote:
| A couple of tips from my own experience.
|
| -Have a checklist, so you don't forget stuff.
|
| -Packing cubes make packing a bag much easier.
|
| -For long flights with a stopover (e.g. Europe to NZ) you can
| stay in a transit hotel in the airport terminal. This means you
| don't have to go through immigration, security etc. So much
| easier than having to travel out to a hotel.
|
| -I have found Airalo to be quite good for local data esims.
| ghaff wrote:
| >-Packing cubes make packing a bag much easier
|
| I agree in general. Underwear and socks are always in one
| packing cube and I carry a lightweight mesh laundry pag.
|
| In addition, I have a few small kits I pretty much always carry
| in addition to my document folder. Need to replenish (and cull)
| from time to time but it makes the checklist a whole lot
| simpler for most trips.
| strangelove026 wrote:
| https://maya.net/ is just as reliable and cheaper in my
| experience
| Tinos wrote:
| Great read but I must say I completely disagree with:
|
| "the best way to avoid [[getting cheated/swindled]] is to give
| strangers your trust and treat them well. Being good to them
| brings out their good. If you are on your best behavior, they
| will be on their best behavior."
|
| As someone who's lived in London for 20 years, if you trust and
| treat everyone well you will lose all of your money, your watch,
| and phone. Unfortunately, those looking to cheat you out of
| something have become extremely common and totally remorseless!
|
| I get that the author is probably referring to locals but these
| days it's impossible to tell who's a local trying to be kind and
| who's trying to distract you to reach into your bag.
|
| Maybe I'm being unnecessarily pessimistic about strangers but i
| guess that's what London does to you haha
| rawgabbit wrote:
| I like his list of recommendations for apps and websites. Are
| there any other recommendations?
|
| FlightAware
|
| Google Maps and Translate
|
| Booking.com
|
| Seat61.com
| ghaff wrote:
| I find TripIt pretty indispensable even if I'd love to give
| "notes" to the designers
|
| Maybe Expedia too though I often make the final reservation
| directly
|
| One of the OSM mapping apps. I use MapOut
|
| TripAdvisor and Yelp are "OK." Often better than nothing.
|
| Various carrier or hotel chain-related apps depending on your
| preferences
| rawgabbit wrote:
| On a related note in Europe I tend to use their taxi apps
| instead of Uber. In Paris I used the G7 app because official
| taxis could use the HOV lane while Uber cannot. In Italy, I
| use the Freenow app as I found their taxis very affordable.
| ghaff wrote:
| Yeah, Uber plus whatever the relevant local transit apps
| are I should have mentioned. Thanks for the G7 app
| recommendation as I'll be in Paris in a couple months.
| Don't normally take taxis much there but good to know.
| kingkongjaffa wrote:
| Yeah Freenow/Uber/Lyft tend to vary in popularity and
| availability across Europe and even US states. ( I feel
| like I took Ubers in Chicago and Lyfts in Boston )
|
| Usually just looking at that taxi area in arrivals at the
| airport you can figure out which app is the one most
| supported.
| ThinkingGuy wrote:
| I've found Wikivoyage is usually a good source of info, though
| the quality of the articles varies depending on the location.
| QuiEgo wrote:
| Apps: Airline, hotel, rental car company. TripAdvisor.
| FlightAware24, Loungebuddy, Terminal Buddy, At Your Gate.
| Microsoft Translate with offline language downloaded. Kindle,
| Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Hulu, plex, etc. with offline
| downloads. Google Maps with offline maps downloaded.
| orf wrote:
| > Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity
| guest!
|
| Urgh. Really?
| danparsonson wrote:
| >... I've seen absolutely no correlation between where you eat
| and whether you have intestinal problems...
|
| Add to this one: always make sure your hands are clean before you
| eat. A little bottle of sanitiser will do wonders for your health
| in areas with poor sanitation.
|
| Otherwise, one tip I would like to add - when in doubt, do as the
| locals do. Especially useful when you can't read signs.
| padiyar83 wrote:
| "People in other places are not saints. You might get cheated,
| swindled, or taken advantage of. Paradoxically, the best way to
| avoid that is to give strangers your trust and treat them well.
| Being good to them brings out their good. If you are on your best
| behavior, they will be on their best behavior. And vice versa. To
| stay safe, smile. Be humble and minimize your ego. I don't know
| why that works everywhere in the world--even places with "bad"
| reputations--but it does."
|
| This just got me! Its so true. That's been my experience too.
| ngneer wrote:
| I have a feeling that male and female travel experiences may
| differ in this regard. "To stay safe, smile." seems pretty
| naive to me. Clearly, the author is male. I would proffer
| "always have an exit", "do not walk into something you cannot
| walk out of" and "do not stray too far from the crowd".
| cldellow wrote:
| Yeah, the author seems to be writing for a white male
| audience in some regards.
|
| My wife and I host bicycle tourers when they pass through our
| town. One was Thomas Meixner, an East German who started
| travelling the world on bike when the wall fell. He's visited
| something like 120 countries and biked 250,000 km.
|
| My wife asked him if he thought a solo woman could do what he
| did in the places he did it. He tactfully changed the
| subject.
| notahacker wrote:
| Even for white males, whilst it might help convince people
| you're one of the nice backpackers and not the rude
| backpackers or defuse situations caused by your faux pas,
| being trusting absolutely doesn't get you any sympathy from
| who make a living out of scamming or robbing tourists. Sure,
| escalating probably isn't the best way out either and the
| minor annoyances that cost you a dollar might be best
| overlooked, but switching your guard off is a terrible idea
| in a lot of parts of the world
| ww520 wrote:
| One thing I didn't see mention is the utilization of airport
| lounges. It really helps to relax before boarding.
|
| Though in recent years lounges are getting overcrowded.
| ghaff wrote:
| I really appreciated airport lounges when I was flying a lot,
| especially when there were long connections or delays. I don't
| have mine any longer given I'm trying to make fewer but longer
| trips. And, as you say, they've gotten overcrowded in many
| cases. They don't also really help much for early AM departures
| which are what I'm doing a lot of the time. These days, $400+ a
| year is better spent on other travel amenities.
| mglz wrote:
| Luggage tipp: Have exactly one, easy to grab main piece at
| luggage that goes on your back or on wheels. Have at most one
| tiny extra piece to carry. The second your luggage exceeds three
| it becomes a massive hassle: You cannot hold on to things, you
| will lose one piece and your fun trip descends into a
| disorganized mess.
|
| Luggage which clips together like a storage/day backpack combo is
| very valuable for this: Your backpack might be comically large,
| but you can haul all your stuff with free hands. At your
| accomodation, you can leave the large bag and continue on your
| day pack.
|
| Free hands are critical when travelling by train or bus, or if
| you just wanna get a snack and drink.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Get a 45 liter backpack with one single massive compartment.
|
| I love this one https://www.peakdesign.com/products/travel-
| backpack?Size=45L...
|
| And then get a duffle bag carry-on.
|
| This lets you maximize storage on the cheap "1x carry-on, 1x
| personal item" plane tickets. No checked luggage; the 45L
| backpack just goes under the seat in front of you.
| ghaff wrote:
| Osprey also makes a good one. Sometimes I need to check
| something bigger especially if I have a long walk planned but
| I usually use an Osprey Porter 40Lish (may be a newer line I
| haven't tried). Yep. Big compartment and use some organizing
| cubes/bags.
| contingencies wrote:
| Prefer
| http://web.archive.org/web/20211126054838/https://artoftrave...
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| The entire 50 years is showing here. Seems like some of these
| tips are good, and some are awful because they're outdated. Don't
| crash random weddings if you're not able to pay your way out of
| trouble. Sketchy plans do result in kidnappings. Truly
| professional tour guides are wonderful assets that will 10X both
| your trip and your knowledge in any city.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| True. Had a friend head to Central America to surf (I don't
| recall which country). The first cab he hailed took him to an
| alley where others were waiting and he was robbed of his
| passport, cash.
|
| End of trip.
|
| Please don't interpret this as my painting the whole of Central
| America as dangerous. This is anecdotal but perhaps a
| cautionary tale? I suspect if he had not grabbed a cab but
| rather found a bus or some other sort of mass transportation
| his whole trip could have turned out wonderfully.
| dageshi wrote:
| That just sounds like terrible luck to be honest.
|
| Catching a cab from the airport in a new country after a
| flight is a pretty common thing to do no matter where you're
| going. Depending on flight length you might well be too tired
| to really navigate public transport in a new city in a
| foreign language.
|
| There's not a lot to learn from that.
| fortran77 wrote:
| In certain countries I will always ask the hotel to get a
| ride for me from the airport, and I will not hail a random
| cab.
| flippyhead wrote:
| Nope nope nope, With a decent head on your shoulders you can
| safely do all kinds of unusual that idiots would otherwise end
| up very troubled by. I've known plenty of people that get
| themselves into trouble through foolishness and folly, while
| more wise operators finds only un-regrets. Like how in the
| winter some people freeze to death and some people ski, you
| know?
| deadbabe wrote:
| I noticed their list of travel accomplishments doesn't seem to
| include things like "been robbed at gunpoint in South America",
| "had passports seized in Southeast Asia", or "sexually assaulted
| in an Eastern European hostel". All of which I've experienced.
|
| Travel, while fun, can also be very dangerous, especially the
| further you get from being a wealthy straight white male. Be
| careful and try to avoid thinking you're a main character for
| whom nothing can go wrong.
| j7ake wrote:
| With over 50 years of travel, the author still does not recognize
| the unique privilege he is in, and how inappropriate his tips are
| for most of the population.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| What a sad take-away. All tips you give are rinsed through the
| lens of your personal experience. We don't need a bunch of
| disclaimers every time someone enumerates some tips just to
| appease the "but did he check his privilege tho?" audience.
| j7ake wrote:
| > To stay safe, smile.
| datameta wrote:
| Right. This reads like a person who doesn't realize their
| ethnic visage is plot-armor, or that smiling maybe works
| for a different reason than they think it does.
|
| Doesn't read as friendly in most places (we're talking out
| of context on the street), it reads as aloof or
| menacing/unknown factor. Being a white male with confidence
| takes care of the first assumption and leaves the second.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| You might have to be a traveler who has been in a bind to
| appreciate that one, because it's absolutely true that
| being friendly can disarm a bad situation.
| eldaisfish wrote:
| telling people to crash random weddings? Telling people that
| all food is hygienic?
|
| Oh please, stop with this victim nonsense. Your personal
| experience can be personal while also admitting that you come
| from tremendous privilege.
|
| You can REALLY tell that this "list" was written by a white
| male.
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| So what if it was?
|
| All of our tips are always aimed at people in a similar
| position. Just consider how your travel tips don't even
| apply to most of the world who can't travel.
|
| This just sounds like sour grapes to me. Like getting
| worked up because someone didn't start with a land
| acknowledgement.
| skulk wrote:
| Nah, they're totally right about this one. When you
| exploit the global power imbalance in your favor, at
| least acknowledge what you're doing before dishing it out
| as general advice.
| devchix wrote:
| This guy is proud enough of his tips that he's sharing it. God
| help the person who sits next to him on any of his trips.
|
| > If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to
| take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the
| chance.
|
| This is deluded.
|
| > They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into
| a local's home, and a very high chance to taste some home
| cooking.
|
| Oh I see, he's probably traveling in a very poor country.
|
| > Crash a wedding.
|
| What? No. That's rude.
|
| > You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest!
|
| Oh I see, probably a white person from a rich country traveling
| in a poor country.
|
| > They will usually feel honored.
|
| I stopped reading and CTRF-F for primae noctis. Disappointed. He
| had me going.
| mmkos wrote:
| Here are mine - go and do something that excites you, whatever it
| is. Also, be respectful of the local culture and have common
| sense, et voila.
|
| Whatever you do... > Crash a wedding. You are not
| a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest!
|
| I stopped reading here. PLEASE don't do this. It's extremely
| disrespectful.
| antiquark wrote:
| Am I the "odd man out" for not wanting to travel, and not
| enjoying it when I do?
| ghaff wrote:
| Almost certainly not. I used to work with someone who had to be
| practically strong-armed into working down his vacation days
| because he didn't like traveling and, aside from a couple of
| local-ish hobbies, got bored sitting around home.
|
| I probably got a bit over my travel comfort limit for a while
| hitting about 160 days/year at peak (including vacation) but I
| certainly wouldn't criticize anyone for whom that's not their
| thing.
| lawgimenez wrote:
| Anyone got tips when traveling with kids?
| datameta wrote:
| I would imagine that is practically a separate category of tips
| mvdtnz wrote:
| Don't.
| Gud wrote:
| I travel 300+ days a year for work. For two years I didn't have a
| place to live because I was traveling so much. I've been doing
| this for 7 years now.
|
| 1) use uber, unless public transport works well(Nordic countries,
| Switzerland).
|
| 2) lock everything expensive up in the hotel safety box,
| otherwise eventually your shit will get stolen
|
| 3) have multiple methods of payment with you, leave one on the
| hotel.
|
| 4) I travel mostly with my wife who does not travel light. Most
| of the advice in the linked article is really general lifestyle
| advice. I have 100 kilos of luggage in my hotel apartment. If
| there's a will, there is a way.
| ghaff wrote:
| >lock everything expensive up in the hotel safety box,
| otherwise eventually your shit will get stolen
|
| Depending upon where I am, I have mixed feelings about this. In
| many hundreds of days of travel, I guess I've been lucky enough
| not to have valuables stolen, but then I take some care not to
| leave them in plain sight. On the other hand, I'm positive I
| would forget something in a hotel safe as I have in a hotel
| closet.
| yakshaving_jgt wrote:
| I've been travelling the world most of my life. I think I can at
| least partially attribute my survival thus far to never having
| asked a taxi driver if I can meet his mother.
| alistairSH wrote:
| I'd add... - Learn to travel light. You don't need more than ~4
| days of clothes - laundry soap exists. Dragging large rollers
| around old cities is not fun.
|
| - Checklists for prep. I have one for plane travel, one for
| backpacking, and one for travel by RV. Nothing unexpected on any
| them, but helps me avoid asking myself "did I pack the phone
| charger?" Or "do I have sunscreen?"
|
| - Give yourself options - I like to list out things to do, maybe
| 4-5 for a location/day, but only really plan to do 2-3 of them.
|
| - The old adage about no bad weather, only bad clothing is true.
| And the natural light after an evening rain is usually really
| nice.
| ghaff wrote:
| Especially for mostly casual city-type stuff, you don't need a
| lot and it can be washed in a sink or whatever. Stuff getting
| really muddy on hiking trails gets harder but you can often get
| laundry done. (My last long distance walk in the UK I had
| laundry done a couple of times.)
|
| Where it gets harder is when you need different type of
| clothing (especially bulkier clothing) for different legs of a
| trip.
| jeffrallen wrote:
| Tip: your passport does not exist the morning of a trip, even
| though you packed it the night before. Touch it before leaving
| the house, and you manifest it into being.
|
| This tip is especially important when coupled with another thing
| I always say: as long ans I have my passport and a credit card,
| every other forgotten thing is no big deal.
| ferngreen wrote:
| Say my good man! Why don't we visit your mother? We can secure a
| filial obligation for you and an authentic experience for me! By
| the way, is your sister getting married anytime soon? I have a
| small cash token to offer in this regard, I think it will be most
| welcome!
| venturator wrote:
| No kidding. The undercurrent of colonialism -- this exotic
| world is made for my conquest! - feels pervasive and somewhat
| nauseating as described here.
|
| Western obsession with travel leads to overtourism and a
| fixation on "novelty". There's nothing wrong with a relaxing
| vacation but we must all learn to be content with our day to
| day existence to unlock true happiness.
| titanomachy wrote:
| My version of his advice would be "if a stranger invites you
| to a party, don't turn them down."
|
| Also, your comment reminds me of this classic SNL skit:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwlC2B-BIg
|
| "If you're sad now, and you get on a plane to Italy, the
| 'you' in Italy will still be the same sad you from before!
| Does that make sense?"
| decimalenough wrote:
| "People travel to change themselves, but they only change
| the scenery."
| titanomachy wrote:
| > In 53 years of travelling with all kinds of people, I've seen
| absolutely no correlation between where you eat and whether you
| have intestinal problems, so to maximize the enjoyment of local
| foods, my rule of thumb is to eat wherever healthy-looking locals
| eat.
|
| An interesting one. Tracks with my experience, although I have
| far less data. I've gotten sick a few times, but not after the
| sketchy meals that I thought would do it.
|
| However, my guide in Nepal warned me not to eat certain things. I
| always listened to him, and I did not get sick on that trip. He
| seemed to be speaking from experience guiding other white people.
| Ekaros wrote:
| These are very good tips to do just before or just after your
| trip. Or why not even following weekend:
|
| > If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to
| take you to visit their mother.
|
| > Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity
| guest!
|
| The first one specially is likely good option after you leave the
| airport on the way home. And the second one is good practise to
| do when you are not on vacation. Find the wedding venues in your
| local area and hit them.
| gk1 wrote:
| Fantastic list. Brings back many memories.
|
| Regarding the "recharge" vs "engage" trips: If you're restless
| like me then you'll probably feel most recharged after a trip
| that fully engaged you. Because you can't think about work when
| you're busy navigating your way through a rural and foreign land,
| speaking with strangers, and straining to learn just enough of a
| new language to get around.
|
| The "laser-back" tip is 100% on point. I came to know this
| intuitively but I've never seen it put into words. One caveat I'd
| add there is: if it takes >20 hours to get to your first
| destination, give yourself time and permission to just chill on
| the first full day there.
|
| Also I want to strongly endorse the "carry-on only" tip. More
| than that, I suggest backpack only. Your options and
| opportunities for spontaneity increase significantly when you can
| just swing a backpack ever your shoulder and go. It also forces
| you to live with less, at least for a time, which in turn teaches
| you that actually you don't need all that much to get by. Then
| you return home and question why you need a closet full of
| clothes.
| hujun wrote:
| one tip of the list I can't agree more is the www.seat61.com for
| train ticket, especially if you travel in Europe, where train is
| the most convenient way to travel between cities/nations but man
| is it such complex system, there are so many different rail
| companies and lines, this website gives a clear instruction on
| options, price and where to buy the ticket
| cadamsdotcom wrote:
| So many people got enraged enough about one or two tips to
| comment on them, to the exclusion of all else.
|
| Do yourself a favor.
|
| Copy paste the article's text to somewhere you can edit.
|
| Delete the tips you don't agree with.
|
| Read the article without them.
|
| Now take note of what you do notice.
| werealldevo wrote:
| Plenty of great advice that, in its essence, is: "Be water, my
| friend."
| mvdtnz wrote:
| > If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to
| take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the
| chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy
| entry into a local's home, and a very high chance to taste some
| home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick
| rarely fails.
|
| Wow. What a creep. No thank you.
|
| > When visiting a foreign city for the first time, take a street
| food tour. Depending on the region, the tour will include food
| carts, food trucks, food courts, or smaller eateries. It will
| last a few hours, and the cost will include the food. You'll get
| some of the best food available, and usually the host will also
| deliver a great introduction to the culture. Google "street food
| tour for city X."
|
| No, you will get the mid eateries that pay tour guides to bring
| tourists. They pay tour guides because the locals know not to go
| there.
| QuiEgo wrote:
| I would add: learn how to say at least "hello," and "thank you"
| in the local language, and a few other phrases. Even if you
| butcher it, the fact that you tried goes a long long way.
| vitaflo wrote:
| The "14 days is too many" rings true in my mind. My wife and I
| did a 2 month road trip several years ago and I distinctly
| remember around the two week mark we went from having tons of fun
| to worn out and ready to just go home.
|
| The weird part is as we pressed on and got past week 3 I felt
| like we could be on the road indefinitely and be absolutely happy
| never returning home. There is def a lull around the end of week
| 2 for some reason.
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