Travel Tip Tuesday : Traveler Pitfalls
We have all had those nightmare trips or heard friends that have come home complaining and told you story after story about how this happened or that happened on their vacation. Many people I have worked with also tell horror stories.
With a little thought, planning and knowing what you want from your experience, most of these pitfalls can be avoided.
I have compiled a list of some of the biggest mistakes travelers make.
1. Chock Full Itinerary
I am guilty of this one myself sometimes. It is so easy to do, especially when you think you have just one opportunity in your lifetime to see and do everything available in your destination. You don’t want to miss a trick, as they say.
Don’t plan so much that you don’t have the time to sit and savour the moments of watching life go by at a Paris café, or listening to conversations in Italian as you walk around a street market admiring the fruits and veggies.
Loose your regimented ways. If you are having a great time at dinner, but you are getting antsy because the museum you wanted to be visiting will be closing soon- take a breath, stay in the moment and cross the museum off your list. Enjoy your dinner and take a leisurely walk around the Piazza instead. The museum will wait, but life never will. Most of these places will always be there for you to return to and visit again.
2. Booking Group Tours
Some independent travelers make the mistake of planning a group tour to save money or because it is easier to have someone else to show you around. Think again, before you book.
Keep in mind that on a group tour you will be told when and where to eat and when to stop admiring that statue in a museum. This can be very restricting and frustrating to people who are used to marching to the beat of their own drum! Plus, you may not be thrilled to share a bus and breakfast with strangers you don’t know.
3. Travel with Friends
We all have those good friends that we think we could travel with. But, can you really travel with them? Have you spent more than a few hours at a time with them? Have you seen their bathroom habits or how much luggage they normally take with them? Probably not.
Picture this, you and your girlfriend decide to go to a villa in Italy and to save money- you both try to recruit more troops to gather up another eight or so people. So, one girlfriend asks another and so on, and so-on. Now you have a house of ten women and you have never met eight of them. Can you spell d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r?
Once you’re all settled you find one didn’t bring enough cash and wants to just pay people back at the end of the trip, another is an alcoholic, another is loud and crude and dresses like a cheap hooker and yet another likes to sleep until noon and gets pissed when the rest of the house leaves her in the dust to sightsee. This can be a vacation wrecker of the worst kind!
Is it really worth the mind blowing drama and possibly destroying a friendship, just to save a few bucks? Make sure you know traveling companions really well and set some guidelines and ground rules, long before you even plan your trip!
4. Always Speaking English
This one is near and dear to me. Many people (Americans especially) travel to Europe and just expect that locals in a foreign country will speak English. Big mistake!
Not only is this rude, but also unrealistic, especially in smaller towns. There will most certainly be a language barrier in areas away from big cities in Europe. It is best to learn some important phrases in the native language of your destination before you go. Take a pocket dictionary with popular phrases along too. How about a Kwikpoint or an electronic pocket translator
5. Overpacking
Been there, done that, got the T-shirt! I learned my lesson the hard way when I was unlucky enough to lug a huge, heavy suitcase up and down over footbridge after footbridge in Venice. Yet, some people still do it, again and again. I know someone who traveled with over 10 pieces of luggage and paid through the nose to have each concierge moving these suitcases from place to place for her.
Seriously. I don’t think all the clothes I own would fill 10 suitcases, so what do you need all that for on a trip? Who are you trying to impress here? Are you having dinner with Coco Chanel? Doubtful.
You know I am a fan of the carry-on. But if you Can’t. Possibly. Imagine. It. – at least mix and match your outfits to pare down on the stuff you take. Lay everything you think you must take out on the bed and then put at least half of it back. Plan to wash a few things along the way. You’re spine will thank you!
6. Under planning
Almost as bad as over-planning is not doing any planning at all. I get it. Some of you like to fly- by- the -seat- of -your -pants. That’s cool. I am not suggesting that you go out and read enough guide books to write a term paper on your destination, or make a regimented itinerary mapping out every second of your trip. But at least have some idea of where you are going and what you would like to do.
I can’t imagine booking a trip, spending all the money that comes with traveling, and not having any idea what there is to do there.
Just read one guide book, a travel forum, or even ask a friend who has been there for some advice on attractions, restaurants and a general feel for the area.
And don’t leave transportation to chance either. You must have a plan or at least knowledge of the options, in advance for getting to and from the airport or between destinations. There are just some things that require a little prior planning.
Tell me, what mistakes have you made while traveling? What you have learned to do differently? Tell us your story!
And don’t forget to visit My Bella Vita to see what Cherrye’s Travel Tip is this Tuesday!
See ya next week.
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On Creative Minds
Creative minds are a blessing. And a curse.
A creative mind is a scattered, jumbled, caldren of ideas- brewing, churning, boiling over at its best or smoldering at its worst.
Those with creative minds can appreciate how they work.
Ideas come at you with the speed of light, only to pass you by in a flash before total darkness sets in like a bad storm.
With creative minds, it is always ebbs and flows.
A creative minds best friend is pen and paper-always at the ready. You never know when the flood gates will open. And when they do- hold on tight, it's a bumpy ride!
A creative mind is sometimes a hot, disorganized, mess. Scribbled notes litter my purse, my desk, my nightstand and house.
Daily, I scoop up these creative seeds of love and form a pile on my desk and start to sort through, trying to decide if any can sprout into something more.
Those snippits of text of leading you somewhere..or possibly nowhere.
Those small post-it notes, pieces of scrap paper, journal and notebook pages, often folded, dog-eared, torn, crumpled and in dissaray are not legible to any other naked eye. Between the shorthand, scribbles, and scratches is sometimes the same idea written again and again.
Perhaps my creative mind forgot what it wrote?
Creative minds work even in the deep of sleep. Often times they are jolted awake by a dream, of something that sparked an idea.
Creative Minds take inspiration from many places and in many forms.
It could be a movie, a website, a dream, a conversation, a picture or a mundane task like a trip to the post office. Or you could be standing at the kitchen slaving over a hot stove, only to run into the other room and scribble something down on paper, before it leaves you.
Creative minds can drift into space and stare blankly at the computer screen, while having two totally different experiences.
One, a productive, jumbled spinning machine about to crank out ideas or frustrated, writers grid lock.
From the outside looking in, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
It has taken me years to learn how to deal with my creative mind. To understand how it works, and how it sometimes doesn't work. How to harness it or let it have free reign. How to ride the wave or weather the storm.
But, as many other things in life, it is a work in progress. Everyday always brings something new. Life is never stagnant.
I look forward to what my creative mind has in store for me next!
So, do you have a creative mind? When did you know? What do you do with your ideas?
And speaking of creative minds, Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso has one of the most creative minds I know. She invited me to be a Guest Blogger for her today. I'd be a fool to say no, so head on over there this morning to read my post!
Notre Dame de Paris
Enjoy these pictures in and around Notre Dame in Paris. Consider it your own personal armchair tour.
Love Thursday: Lunches with Elke
For the first time in my life I am afforded the luxury of working very close to home and having a dear friend who lives just as close.
That makes for a perfect combination.
She likes to cook and I like to eat, especially her cooking!
So when the phone rings around lunch time and I hear her chipper German accented voice on the other end of the phone, I know what's coming. An invite for lunch. And it makes me smile.
She always fusses, making something homemade.
No Mac -n- Cheese at Chez Elke!!
She even uses the good china. And fabric napkins. And we usually finish with coffee.
And though we only get to visit for about 45 minutes, we seem to chat about everything under the sun, like good girlfriends do.
These lunches are an outward expression of our friendship. They offer me a much needed break in my day, a great meal, a mental escape from stress and a warm fuzzy feeling in my heart.
And dare I say, I return to work, happy. Well, happier.
I look forward to our impromptu lunches, more than you'll ever know. It is nice to know I have a friend like her.
So, this Love Thursday, I offer a toast. To friendship. And to lunches with Elke.
Soon, I hope.
Happy Love Thursday everyone!
And don't forget, tomorrow is the first day to enter the La Cucina Italian Soup contest!! Head on over to Blog from Italy to submit your entry.
Scallops Provençal
Travel Tip Tuesday: Polite Phrases
Trace Your Francestry
Just visit the French Ancestors Web site and enter your name to begin exploring your French roots. They will send you information on your ancestor's year and place of birth in France, along with a personalized travel guide to help you experience the land of your family's past.
How cool is that?
And even though I am sure the German surname Locker, which my family thinks was originally Locher, is sure not to appear in the French Registry, I am hoping that C's name, which was shortened from DeLacey, will not only appear, but will provide us with some concrete history.
Have you ever researched your ancestry? What are the most surprising things you have found?
La Cucina Italiana : Cooking Contest!
I am here to announce some very exciting news!!!
Travel Photo Friday : A Different Perspective
Love Thursday:Lobster Love
My apologies to Vegetarians and Vegans everywhere for what I am about to say.
