81–90 of 217 posts
With over 50 years of travel, the author still does not recognize the unique privilege he is in, and how inappropriate his tips are for most of the population.
>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.
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.
With over 50 years of travel, the author still does not recognize the unique privilege he is in, and how inappropriate his tips are for most of the population.
What a sad take-away. All tips you give are rinsed through the lens of your personal experience. We don’t need a bunch of disclaimers every time someone enumerates some tips just to appease the “but did he check his privilege tho?” audience.
>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.
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.
Lots of great advice here. But.. >In many parts of the world today motorcycles play the role of cars. That means you can hire a moto-taxi to take you on the back seat, or to summon a moto-taxi with an uber-like app, or to take a motorcycle tour with a guide doing the driving. In areas where motorcycles dominate they will be ten times more efficient than slowly going by car. I would be extremely wary about this. You a…
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…
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.
> If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance.
This is deluded.
> They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking.
Oh I see, he's probably traveling in a very poor country.
> Crash a wedding.
What? No. That's rude.
> You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest!
Oh I see, probably a white person from a rich country traveling in a poor country.
> They will usually feel honored.
I stopped reading and CTRF-F for primae noctis. Disappointed. He had me going.
Whatever you do...
> Crash a wedding. You are not a nuisance; you are the celebrity guest!
With over 50 years of travel, the author still does not recognize the unique privilege he is in, and how inappropriate his tips are for most of the population.
What a sad take-away. All tips you give are rinsed through the lens of your personal experience. We don’t need a bunch of disclaimers every time someone enumerates some tips just to appease the “but did he check his privilege tho?” audience.
Oh please, stop with this victim nonsense. Your personal experience can be personal while also admitting that you come from tremendous privilege.
You can REALLY tell that this "list" was written by a white male.
Luggage tipp: Have exactly one, easy to grab main piece at luggage that goes on your back or on wheels. Have at most one tiny extra piece to carry. The second your luggage exceeds three it becomes a massive hassle: You cannot hold on to things, you will lose one piece and your fun trip descends into a disorganized mess. Luggage which clips together like a storage/day backpack combo is very valuable for this: Your bac…
I love this one https://www.peakdesign.com/products/travel-backpack?Size=45L...
And then get a duffle bag carry-on.
This lets you maximize storage on the cheap “1x carry-on, 1x personal item” plane tickets. No checked luggage; the 45L backpack just goes under the seat in front of you.