51–60 of 217 posts
I like his list of recommendations for apps and websites. Are there any other recommendations? FlightAware Google Maps and Translate Booking.com Seat61.com
Maybe Expedia too though I often make the final reservation directly
One of the OSM mapping apps. I use MapOut
TripAdvisor and Yelp are "OK." Often better than nothing.
Various carrier or hotel chain-related apps depending on your preferences
A couple of tips from my own experience. -Have a checklist, so you don't forget stuff. -Packing cubes make packing a bag much easier. -For long flights with a stopover (e.g. Europe to NZ) you can stay in a transit hotel in the airport terminal. This means you don't have to go through immigration, security etc. So much easier than having to travel out to a hotel. -I have found Airalo to be quite good for local data es…
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With the prices of electricity these days I turn off everything by remote control per room each time I leave the house for work etc. Not even extension cord lights are left on, only the very bare necessities - fridge etc remain on.
Ah but the genius of such a list is that it can also cover things like closing windows, checking the gas cooker is off, watering plants... anything that you might later think "did I remember to...?", while flying to Indonesia. You might have left your fridge switched on, but did you close the door properly?
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The one thing you _need_ to pack, apart from visa docs required for travel, is a credit/debit card. Anything you’ve missed can be purchased on location. Traveling to rural Vietnam looked daunting and dangerous for people from the EU, but once there me and the friend realized all the worrying and excessive preparation was for naught. We still forgot some things, an hour or two spent at the local shops and the problem…
This! Only other thing I would like to add is CASH. Not a lot, just enough to keep you afloat when your credit card is not cooperating. You may end up in a place that only accepts cash and there's no atm nearby or these that are available won't accept your card for some reason. And it doesn't have to a remote place like Laos or Bali. This happens in places like Berlin.
>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…
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.
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.
"People in other places are not saints. You might get cheated, swindled, or taken advantage of. Paradoxically, the best way to avoid that is to give strangers your trust and treat them well. Being good to them brings out their good. If you are on your best behavior, they will be on their best behavior. And vice versa. To stay safe, smile. Be humble and minimize your ego. I don’t know why that works everywhere in the…
> If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. Uhh, I really can't imagine this one working well in a Western country.
- Seen more baby and kid-milestone photos than I can count.
- Been told a brutal war story by a tow-truck driver in Kentucky ("did you know blood from the liver is almost black?") that - though he didn't say it, explicitly - I don't think he'd ever talked about to anyone.
- Heard about someone's life's-work in AIDS prevention.
- Learned about the Philippine Civil War from a former airforce Colonel. (Highlight: he and his best friend / roommate in the military academy chose different sides. They privately promised each other that they'd find a way to communicate if their units were ever ordered to attack the other.)
- Heard first-hand about the horrifying obstacles the US government placed in the paths of Afghani translators (for the US Army) trying to immigrate to safety in the US.
- Met a Singaporean former mercenary, who told me all about doing private security for illegal gold mines in New Guinea. He was very matter of fact (and entirely unrepentant) about having indiscriminately shot local villagers and government forces. Several of his buddies were killed by bow and arrow in an attack during which he cut and ran ("their families are still mad at me"). It was all a madcap adventure, as far as he was concerned, and then he showed me pictures of his boat.
Looking at that list, I guess don't do it if you don't want to be trauma-dumped, but I'm quite socially awkward, so you don't have to let that stop you. Most people don't seem to care - they have stories they want to tell, and will tell them, if you'll listen.
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…
The one thing you _need_ to pack, apart from visa docs required for travel, is a credit/debit card. Anything you’ve missed can be purchased on location. Traveling to rural Vietnam looked daunting and dangerous for people from the EU, but once there me and the friend realized all the worrying and excessive preparation was for naught. We still forgot some things, an hour or two spent at the local shops and the problem…
China is an absolute unbelievable pain due to being largely WeChat payment based now and there's a lot of restrictions on who can set this up.
https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/16u03k4/how_the_hell...
Though in recent years lounges are getting overcrowded.
I like his list of recommendations for apps and websites. Are there any other recommendations? FlightAware Google Maps and Translate Booking.com Seat61.com
I find TripIt pretty indispensable even if I'd love to give "notes" to the designers Maybe Expedia too though I often make the final reservation directly One of the OSM mapping apps. I use MapOut TripAdvisor and Yelp are "OK." Often better than nothing. Various carrier or hotel chain-related apps depending on your preferences