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!
50 Years of Travel Tips
121–130 of 217 posts
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
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.
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#123>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…
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.
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 :)
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 me…
My counter is if you can't produce it within a day it's most likely not a necessity.
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.
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
>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.
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#126> 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.
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#127Here 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.
[deleted]
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
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.
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
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, i…
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.
[deleted]
Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips
#130These 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.