A travel tuesday special – sharing your travel tips

Connecting with others makes travel fun

Last week, I asked the question “what’s your favorite travel tip?” and you responded. So here are a few of the favorite travel tips from readers and bloggers when traveling.

Connecting with people

From Sarah at Honeymoons Blog

Getting an insight into how different culture’s live and involving yourself in their lives is a fascinating aspect of travel. It really makes a trip what it is, living your life by different rules for the duration of your trip can help you understand an array of cultures and traditions. Getting to know people on your travels completely opens your eyes to the rest of the world and makes travelling all the more memorable and tempting!

Whether you are travelling the world, on a business trip, on a family holiday or even your honeymoon – make sure that you interact with different cultures and watch your eyes open to a whole new world!

Learn the language

From Caz at ytravelblog

My tip would then be to make an effort to learn some of the language of the country you are visiting and use it when you are talking with the locals. You’ll discover that they love it and it opens so many doors for conversation and connecting. Don’t worry if you make a mistake, usually it brings laughter to the interaction.

We often use phrases and words from other languages when we meet someone of that origin in our own country. The other day we received a huge hug, smiles and cheers when we greeted a Chinese lady in Chinese. She was a stranger but almost became a friend in that one barrier breaking Nia How.

Make an effort to sit and talk to others, ask about their lives, and make it light hearted fun.

Toiletries and local customs

From Denis at ParlezParis

A few of my favorite travel tips.

1. Leave the toiletries at home.  Go to the store and buy some. have fun with it.  Try something new.  Meet the sales clerk, ask questions.

2. Check local customs before you go.  They may be very different from home. observe the locals and follow their lead.

Be yourself and don’t worry what others think

From Jessalyn at Diary of a Wandering Student

The tip I always try to follow is to take a deep breath, relax, be myself and interact with those around me.  I remind myself that, if I say something dumb, no one’s going to think about it for very long anyway.  And you can’t learn from people and local cultures without opening up, talking and asking questions!

Ziploc bags

From Wendy at ianandwendy.com

We don’t know what people did before ziploc bags.  Large ones for wet clothes/towels/things that might leak, etc., and small ones for snacks/organizing small items.  These can be really hard to find overseas and really, who wants to spend their trip searching for ziplocs?  So it pays to bring them along!

Local authors

From Pola at Jetting Around: City Travel

If I’m to choose one – buy a book by a local author. You will bring the place back home with you and learn so much – from a very local perspective.

The back streets

From Andre Francisco at Just a Rough Draft

My travel tip is that you can easily have as much fun and as much of an adventure walking the back streets of an interesting neighborhood than the paths of a popular palace or temple.  The joy of finding a small shop or restaurant where you can feel like it is your own, if even only for an afternoon, has always been more satisfying for me than taking the same picture of the same statue as everybody else.  And you are more likely to avoid scams and meet someone genuinely excited about interacting with a foreigner.  Get out and explore. Isn’t that what travel is about?

Keep an open mind

From Norbert at Globotreks

My tip is nothing technical or fancy, but is one that has always helped me… always keep an open mind to things you encounter and experience on the road… it will make you a happy traveler and absorb the foreign culture in a better way.

Do you have any other travel tips you would like to share?