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50 Years of Travel Tips

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Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#141

Post by titanomachy »

venturator wrote: post #136
ferngreen wrote: post #121

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!

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.

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?"

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#142

Post by jorvi »

ghaff wrote: post #131
harperlee wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

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 in…

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#143

Post by jraby3 »

susam wrote: post #18

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: Min…

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#144

Post by jghn »

titanomachy wrote: post #138
astura wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 t…

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#145

Post by fortran77 »

trinix912 wrote: post #55
pocketarc wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

Say anything related to a person's mother in Russia and it will be seen as an insult.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#146

Post by fortran77 »

dageshi wrote: post #132
JKCalhoun wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 so…

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.

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#147

Post by decimalenough »

eldaisfish wrote: post #84
pocketarc wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#148

Post by decimalenough »

et-al wrote: post #85
keyme wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

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.

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#149

Post by decimalenough »

titanomachy wrote: post #141
venturator wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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?"

"People travel to change themselves, but they only change the scenery."

Re: 50 Years of Travel Tips

#150

Post by kmoser »

astura wrote: post #103
magneticnorth wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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 del…

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.
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