Five travel tips; five travel “don’ts”

Last summer the Italian newspaper La Repubblica asked me to spell out five travel tips, as well as five travel “don’ts” for the coming year. This is what I told them:

Five tips for going on vacation

  • Travel to cheaper parts of the world, like Southeast Asia or the Middle East. Your money will go farther in these kinds of places.
  • Travel in the local economy instead of using international corporate hotels and restaurants. This will not only benefit local economies, it will also save you money.
  • Turn off your cell phone, and don’t check your email too obsessively. You’ll enjoy your destination better if you wean yourself from the kind of communication technology that ties you to home.
  • Meet new people, local people and fellow travelers alike. People are more interesting and memorable than landmarks and monuments.
  • Use your guidebook for general cultural information, but don’t treat it like a holy book. Use local information and tips from other travelers to augment what you learn from your guidebook.

Five travel don’ts

  • Don’t micromanage your itinerary. Leave plenty of free time for your travels to be spontaneous.
  • Don’t try and pack too many destinations into your vacation or vagabonding journey. Better to experience one city for five days than five cities in five days.
  • Don’t limit your travels to “tourist zones,” which are full of predictable sites and overpriced amenities. Make a point of getting off the beaten path, even if this just means taking a walk in a residential neighborhood 15 minutes from the tourist attractions.
  • Don’t forget to learn a few words of the local language, and study the local customs. Even if you don’t become a linguistic or cultural expert, local people will appreciate your efforts!
  • Don’t set limits as to what your best travel experiences will be. The best travel experiences usually happen by happy accident, so be ready to go in unexpected directions on the road.

La Repubblica also asked me to list five of my own unmissable vagabonding-moments from 2007-2008. In no particular order, I mentioned experiencing the 2007 “White Nights” in St. Petersburg, Russia; spending the 2008 New Year on Copacabana Beach in Rio with a million happy Brazilians; hanging out with gentoo penguins in the Falkland Islands; going to Havana to learn to dance salsa and instead learning how to play the Asturian bagpipes with my new Cuban friends; and showing my 60-year-old parents around Paris and Prague in 2007.

Posted by | Comments (6)  | August 10, 2009
Category: Vagabonding Advice


6 Responses to “Five travel tips; five travel “don’ts””

  1. Gregory Hubbs Says:

    Great tips as always. Quite an impressive eclectic list of personal highlights. I am really enjoying reading “Marco Polo Didn’t Go There” and plan to review it once I get some help as our site continues to grow in traffic (not that you need my review…) Reading the ultra-light but fun “The Geography of Bliss” as a nice contrast to your thoughtful stories. I hung out with what seemed to be a million penguins once, but they did not appear quite as happy as Brazilians in Rio–but who knows? Apparently the Swiss are some of the happiest people in the world…

  2. Christine Says:

    Thanks for this post. I especially appreciate what you had to say about making time during travel for interacting with people and the value of memories made through these connections. In our busy and technology-driven daily grind, we often lose sight of how interdependent we are with one another. “A humble give-and-take between real people breaks through false independence. It acknowledges interdependence: you need each other and the gifts each can provide…,” “You acknowledge that you are not self-sufficient–that you need the support a phone call brings, the encouragement a compliment gives, the understanding an intimate conversation involves, the warmth a hug provides.” [Space for God, Don Postema (1983)].

  3. Travel-Writers-Exchange.com Says:

    This is great advice. Some people may find it difficult to turn off the cell phone and not check email. Getting out and meeting the locals is a great idea because it gives you the chance to get the “real story” about people and places. You can’t believe everything you read, see, and hear.

  4. Rod Smith Says:

    A piece of advice someone gave me when I started traveling – always bring twice the money and half the clothing you think you’ll need.

  5. malia Says:

    I couldn’t agree more with these!

  6. paul coey-archer Says:

    many people set so much store by thier material goods and find it hard to enjoy themselves without the phone or t.v.