I recently read a terrific post. The article’s title was “No, It’s Not Your Opinion, You’re Just Wrong.” When you receive travel advise from someone who has terrible assumptions about everything relating to travel, it can be tempting to scream this at them.
You are well aware of the individuals and suggestions I’m referring about. The grandmother is the one telling you not to eat anything from a roadside vendor. Or perhaps it’s the budget traveler who claims that tap water is great and there’s no need to buy bottled water. (This is the same guy who arrives 10 pounds lighter after three days of secrecy.) The inebriated uncle predicts that you’ll end up playing the lead in “Taken” or “Hostel” 2. Even so, Liam Neeson can always come to my aid.
Yes, the majority of individuals who tell you this stuff probably have the best of intentions and are sincerely trying to help. But the truth is that they simply aren’t. It’s not even their opinion, to paraphrase one of my new favorite articles. Most of the time, they are simply incorrect.
Here is a list of typical travel advice that you should not heed. The worst travel advice from 2016 is listed here. Take these advice at your own risk:
1. Women shouldn’t ever go on a solo trip.
One of the most overused, overanalyzed, and nauseating statements in travel is probably this one. Every nation experiences terrible events, including your own. The best piece of advice for individuals anxious about solo female travel is to make sure you’re traveling with common sense. They happen to both men and women. Trust your instincts, pay attention to your surroundings, and avoid taking any risks you wouldn’t take at home.
Sure, traveling alone through some nations might prove to be more difficult for women than for males, and some places do call for extra safety measures, especially when traveling alone. However, that doesn’t imply that women can’t or shouldn’t venture outside.
In actuality, nobody ever really travels alone because the world is a fairly safe place. Along the road, you meet individuals and form friendships.
2. Avoid visiting (insert location here). It is hazardous.
This is the second-most disgusting comment I’ve ever heard about travel, albeit it’s a close second. If I had a dollar for every time someone in my extended family or a close friend said something similar, I would be living comfortably in a plush condo on a cruise ship for the rest of my days (like this woman). I ought to start a donation jar for terrible travel suggestions.
Several family members even phoned my parents and gave them the riot act about being negligent parents for allowing their 18-year-old to travel alone before I left on my maiden trip. Seriously.
I would suggest that you possibly never leave your house if your best suggestion is that we should stay inside out of dread of being abducted, killed, raped, decapitated, or dying miserably.
3. Ride the bus overnight.
You can file taking an overnight bus under “seemed like a fantastic idea at the time.” But in practice, it’s simply plain awful. Theoretically, it’s far more exciting. The plan is to get from one location to another while saving money on a night’s lodging.
Win-win, right? You are utterly mistaken.
It’s been said that overnight bus trips are “nightmares on wheels,” and this couldn’t be more accurate. It’s unpleasant.
You might believe that you’ll fall asleep for the duration of the journey and awaken at your new location the next morning feeling rested and ready to face the day. However, you’ll plead for an early check-in to get into the room when you reach to your new lodging because you hardly slept the night before. Your brilliant plan to maximize the following day is foiled because you’ll just wind up sleeping in and wasting the day away.
The morning staff at the Amsterdam Swiss Hotel managed to make our room ready at 6 am after we draped our exhausted bodies over the lobby furnishings. However, you’ll typically arrive at your destination early in the morning with no chance of checking in until the afternoon.
Eight hours to kill before you’re even permitted to check in while stumbling around in a sleep-deprived stupor? Fun.
4. By no means consume street food.
Nothing will ever be the same in the world as you know it. You will get food sickness and pass away if you eat street cuisine while traveling. As one person put it, this is the “worst piece of travel advice in the history of forever.” I concur.
Let’s face it, eating on the street is far safer than many people would have you believe. It’s quite improbable that you’ll spend the entirety of your trip huddling over a latrine just because you dared to leave the western restaurant and tuck into the frying pans sizzling on the sidewalk.
It’s true that there are numerous nations where you should take extra precautions while selecting your seller. Open air stalls, however, have an advantage over conventional eateries because you can see your food being produced. Locals won’t eat at restaurants that give them diarrhea.
The best, cheapest, and most convenient method to experience local cuisine is through street food, which is also typically the fastest way to understand a nation’s culture.
It’s an affordable way to eat, plus you’ll be exposed to incredible international cuisines. If you’re still unsure, try to find a busy area. Since there is a lot of turnover here, the food won’t have time to spoil.
The money will be handled by one person, and the food will be prepared by another. Carry a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer to use before handling your food.
5. Keep traveler’s checks on you.
Not at all. In fact, do they still produce those?
Traveler’s checks are very pricey, and because it’s 2016 they are very challenging to cash. The majority of banks no longer even accept them for cashing.
International ATM networks are now the most practical means to access your money when traveling, so make sure you have a few backup cards on hand in case of emergency. Another smart move is to keep a concealed supply of money in your favorite currency.
Divide the contents of the bags’ pockets into distinct groups. You should only ever have your primary credit cards and one to two days’ worth of cash on you. You will have emergency finances if something is misplaced, stolen, or lost because you won’t have lost all of your money.
6. Avoid flying to a location where there are many terrorism concerns.
I am grinning wryly. Recently, separate assaults in Tunisia, France, and Kuwait resulted in the deaths of more than 60 people on three different continents. The Kenya mall shooting in 2014 left several tourists injured, and during the past year, there have been attacks throughout the globe in Belgium, Australia, and the United States.
Unified terrorism is a reality. Staying “right here in the US of A” isn’t a surefire way to prevent a terrorist strike, either. Terrorism is rampant in 2016, and it affects everyone.
Knowing what you do, do you? You still travel. Extremist actions shouldn’t stop you from doing what you do.
Not traveling itself is harmful. Life itself. In general, the world is a secure place. Simply check that your insurance policy covers terrorism. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is this.
7. Delay taking the kids out of the house until they are older.
They won’t remember it anyhow, after all. Why did you spend so much cash?
First of all, even if they are too young to remember, children can pick up a lot of knowledge from traveling. The best travel experiences can often be had while traveling with kids. They frequently learn more from it than from formal schooling about the world.
While you might find the idea intimidating, parents really travel with their children on a daily basis. Some parents choose to travel full-time while homeschooling their children. In actuality, nine members of this one family travel full-time.
8. Why travel to another country when you can go to the Disney imitation? It’s riskier.
I’m not going to respond to this with any respect.
9. When you arrive, make a hotel reservation.
This visitor is burdened by a 40-pound rucksack and spends the entire day pacing the streets of Rome looking for the last available bed. You’ve already checked in, taken a free walking tour of the city, eaten some delectable street cuisine, and possibly even taken a sleep during that time.
Being adaptable with travel plans is something I fully support, but I could never bring myself to do this.
10. Take use of your youth.
Of course, this is excellent counsel. Without a doubt, you ought to take advantage of your youth, ability, and opportunity. However, this suggestion has a fault in that it implies that traveling becomes exponentially more difficult as you age and infinitely more limited as you approach middle age.
Therefore, even while you should live in the moment and take advantage of the chance to travel if you are still young, don’t assume that you missed the chance to travel just because you won’t ever be 22 again.
11. Have no faith in anyone.
You will learn through travel that there is kindness in the world. The true force that propels humanity is kindness.
You’ll regain trust in the ties that bind people when you travel. You will learn that strangers are frequently nice, generous, and helpful, and your faith in humanity will be restored.
Travelers with plenty of experience will tell you that they frequently become the object of people’ kindness and unrequited love. When you depend on the trust of a stranger, believe your instincts.
As always, using common sense will keep you safe. However, you’re in for a very solitary trip if you approach your travels overseas with the mindset that nobody can be trusted.
12. Include clothing for each season.
Oh, no way. Carry clothes that are adaptable. The individual who advises you to pack more clothes so you won’t have to do washing has obviously never traveled.
To begin with, washing clothes overseas is simple and usually just costs a dollar or two. You can learn to wash your possessions by hand.
In addition, packing too many garments will make your bag heavier, which can cause you more problems on long overland travels and with excess luggage charges. Take it from the woman who, in order to avoid paying an EasyJet overweight bag fee, brought 10 pounds of garments onboard a flight from Prague to Milan.
13. Traveling costs a lot of money.
For further information, see “How To Travel Cheap: The Ultimate Money Hacking Guide For International Travel.” Because it is a falsehood to claim that you need a lot of money to travel.
14. Leaving your insurance at home.
Anyone who advises you to do this is a terrible person. If you find yourself in need of an airlift out of the Amazon, you must mail him or her your $50,000 bill.
One of those things you never want to appreciate the importance of is travel insurance. But if you do need to use it, you don’t want to look back and regret ignoring its significance.
We spoke with a seasoned adventure traveler who had five instances of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She has been involved in violent protests, wars, political upheaval, and coups in a number of different nations. On a Rhine river trip, one visitor lost his vision, and another required sutures after an Asian air conditioner launched an attack.
So be sure you receive adequate and comprehensive coverage. When anything goes wrong, you shouldn’t have to worry about paying for it or receiving insufficient care because your insurance didn’t cover it.
Remember that hospital expenses can be astronomical (even in underdeveloped nations) and could leave you deeply in debt. But occasionally, it may be an option to travel without insurance, depending on the nation you are visiting.
Originally posted on Mapping Megan, this article.
