Recreational Travel Tips

[JaredL]

I'm probably not the most qualified to start this as a lot of others have no doubt travelled a lot more than I have. I was thinking about traveling the other day and decided to start a thread with some general tips.

FWIW I studied in Seville, Spain for a semester and travelled around Spain during that time. I also went on something of a whirlwind tour of Europe hitting several major cities the summer before my senior year of high school. So I have a solid amount of experience here, but not as much as some. Hopefully a lot of others add their thoughts to this thread.

Here are some general thoughts/tips.
<ul type="square">[*] Decide explicitly what you want out of your trip and plan accordingly. Want to meet some cool local people and get a feel for the culture and vibe of a new place? Then spend a lot of time in very few places (and see some other tips below). Want to see as much [censored] as possible that you can't see at home? Obviously you should opt for going to more places and spending less time in each place. Want to see nature? Then don't go to a huge city that doesn't have it, even if it's a "must visit" place. It's your trip, not the general public's nor the Travel Channel's. Unless you're goal is to impress people, don't worry about what will. If your goal is to impress people, that's fine, you should plan accordingly and try to get in as many so-called must-see things as possible as well as odd or impressive things. Figuring out what you would like to get out of your trip and planning accordingly is by far the most important thing in this post.[*] This is personal preference, so you may not wish to follow it. If you are planning a large trip across Europe/Asia/some country with several cities etc. and considering adding or removing a city or site err on the side of going to too few cities and spending more time in each of them. (note: much of my advice goes this direction, I would be interested to hear from people who prefer the sprint approach) From experience, it's hard to get a feel for or appreciate a place if you're only there for a day or two. In many places, hitting the must-sees alone takes up a couple days as they are usually not located in just one part of town. If you just hit up those sights you are going to leave having seen some nice buildings, a nice museum or two, and maybe a nice park or something. You will maybe go out at night. Also, if your trip is of any reasonable length going to a new city every day will begin to get tiring after a couple weeks or so and you will get much less out of it. If you have the ability to relax and just spend a day hanging out that can help a lot.[*] Be flexible. It is much more enjoyable to be able to spend extra time somewhere or leave somewhere early. There are several reasons you may want to stay: you are getting tired and want to relax for another day, you have met some cool people, you like the place a lot more than you thought and want to spend more time exploring it, and you want to spend some time in surrounding areas or see other things you weren't aware of when you made the plans. You may want to leave early if the city didn't meet your expectations, you just didn't like it, or something like weather issues. Also, this may be a bit too flexible for some, but you will meet a lot of other travelers. It can be great to have the ability to hang out with some good people and even be able to go to other places with people you meet. Note that there can be disadvantages to having a flexible schedule, it can be more expensive and some people like structure.[*] Talk to locals. They tend to love to talk about their cities. They will tell you all kinds of places you can visit, many which can't be found in guidebooks. They will also tell you stories about the history of their town and give you a much better feel for the area than if you just walked around and didn't talk to anyone. People will be quite responsive if you are polite and seem legitimately interested. If you don't speak a language very well, do what you can and they will usually appreciate the effort and try to talk to you. Also, in tons of places people speak English well and absolutely love to be able to practice on a real native speaker. If you are not as outgoing and are somewhere for several days just find a local bar that is smaller and preferably off the beaten (tourist) path. Go there for a few days in a row and try to make a bit of small talk with the bartender. By the third day you'll likely be at least introduced to some others there.[*] One place where talking to locals will really help is restaurants. IMO, restaurants for locals are better than restaurants for tourists pretty much everywhere - they have to be to stay alive. If you don't know much about where to eat in a city, if you at least try to get away from one of the touristy areas you are much more likely to find better food and a better, less crowded atmosphere.[*] As for how to dress etc. I think there are two approaches - give a [censored] or don't. Blending in a bit, or perhaps I should say not standing out as much, is going to be a less comfortable. Sticking out like a sore thumb will get you funny looks from people and perhaps a bit more of a risk of getting pickpocketed etc. Again, do whatever you want.[*] Again this is based on preference, but avoid traveling with a big group of people from your country. Big tours are good for people who want to see as much stuff as possible, so if that's your goal ignore this. Otherwise, it will get in the way of meeting other people and you will in general be able to "soak up the area" (whatever that means) less with a lot of people. Also, it can be a huge pain in the ass to travel with a lot of people, especially if you all want to stick together. This will lead to people getting angry with each other and will lead to you packing in a lot more stuff per day in order to not displease people. Basically, having a lot of people in a group goes against my whole philosophy of having a nice relaxed, flexible, trip and meeting interesting people.[*] As a foreigner, your attractiveness will go up, probably by several points. If you are single, take a shot at girls who wouldn't give you the time of day at home. Your odds are pretty good.[*] Try to find things to do instead of just things to see. If you can, plan to go to a bullfight or even something more standard like a play or a soccer game. This could also include things like playing a pickup game with people if you happen to run into one. They may be things you do at home, but doing them in a foreign country will be a new experience that could easily be among the most memorable of your trip. At some point, especially if you are taking a whirlwind style trip, you will get a bit tired of seeing museums etc. so doing something different will be a nice change of pace.[/list]

That's all for now, I'm sure I'll think of more. I would highly encourage others to add thoughts, or discuss some of my suggestions.

Jared