Someone Wants To Know, “What Is Your Most Obscure Yet Vital Travel Tip?” And 30 People Chip In

No no, some of us fit in as much as possible because it's the only time we'll be able to afford that trip. I can sleep and eat pizza at home.

Each to their own, we love seeing as much as we can. Our saying is "we can sleep on the plane home".

I dunno, this sounds like a nightmare to me; I'm not paying 100 or 200 € per day to sit in a soulless room and do things I can do for free at home and even there I don't enjoy them that much🤷‍♀️

Wrong. Every minute spent in the room during the day is money lost. It doesn't matter if you had 5 hours of sleep the night before and travelling was tiresome. The correct way to explore the city, the hotel etc. is to do it when your head is hurting, your eyes are falling into your mouth and the only thing you can focus on is the desire to sleep. Also, you must do the exploring with someone who walks slow, needs breaks all the time and throws a tantrum if you want to sleep or you don't pretend to care about whatever they are saying, so that a 2 hour walk will take 3.5 hours (which is not a waste of time even if you barely enjoy it)

I hate sitting in the hotel room when my family (husband and 3 kids) go on vacation! We get up early and don't come back to the hotel until 10:00pm!

especially the nice clean ones in airports or malls. Once you get to city streets they tend to be vile.

This is my rule everywhere. Pass by the bathroom at home? Might as well stop by because you're coming back in 30 minutes.

This must have been posted by an 'elderly' person like myself. We KNOW the 'bathroom' thing!!!!

Paris was amazing for this. The pre-dawn bird song near Sacré Coeur is beautiful.

I'm having problems to wake up for free breakfast in hotels during my holidays :D

Firemen around the world are always great to hang out with Viva los Bomberos!

The fish market in Venice on a frosty morning is incredible

agreed, took a few extras on a family trip to the tropics, my niece hated sunscreen, would immediately jump in the water after it was applied, as expected she got burnt (she was 5). Couldn't put on her regular summer clothes, i was able to make her outfits out of my cloth sarongs (as opposed to the see through ones).

AND, perhaps more importantly, they can be used to cover your hair, legs or shoulders when required to enter certain religious sites throughout the world

I agree with everything here except for "as a blanket". Those are sooooooo thin. As a blanket is a bit much 😄

Use a sarong as a towel?

Not just for women.

Great tip :) I love to check local most popular flavours of chips and sweets - for example I've recently found out that Greek oregano chips are super awesome and I have never seen this flavour in my country!

The best places to find souvenirs and gifts are grocery, stationery, and hardware stores. We all have a few basic needs but every country solves them differently. I have two jars of Italian baby food on my kitchen shelf: rabbit and horse. (I introduce them to friends as "blended bunny" and "pureed pony")

Agreed. I get a kick out of seeing the different flavors available for common items, such as chips, sodas, etc

I love finding the local equivalents of dollar stores.

The most beautiful oranges I've ever tasted was from a local supermarket in Barcelona.

Also, have everyone in your party take photos of all your passports. That way, you have a photo and ID information of everyone in your party if something happens.

Trying to speak THEIR language is courteous and most app appreciate the attempt, even if they speak English. I carried an English/German dictionary while there visiting my sister. Youngest nephew was fluent and helped me with pronunciation. The shop keepers also gently corrected me. They truly appreciate the effort and the fact that you don't EXPECT them to speak English.

Never use your hotel safe - it ain't safe!!

For those who don't have a hotel safe: have a separate secure pocket on your person that won't be stolen if your bag is.

Same with Medical Cards, etc. even car registration forms - if left in the car they are with the thief who steals the car - just keep a copy, marked COPY, in the glove compartment in case of a police stop.

Any random person approaching you in any city that you do not live in is generally a scam. The trick is to change your dress style to look more local. For example, if you come to SA (americans, germans), wear your backpack with ONE strap, get rid of the oversized shirt, and lose the socks in your sandals. Jeans, t-shirt, converse, regular socks, regular fedora or baseball cap with no markings, single-strap over right shoulder, hand on strap. No fannypacks/moonbags.

I didn’t know about this at all. Great tip

Soooo have you fallen for any?

I also take a few of the hotel business cards from the front desk, it usually has their address and front desk phone so I can hand them to the cab drivers.

Or just use Uber. When I was in a former soviet country I just switched google translate to Russian and read out what it said. Driver seemed ok and got me to the right place.

There is such a thing as google translate. Just type in what you want to say and show them the translation.

Every time we went to China, we had to stepover in Beijing because we had just missed the next flight by an hour. At the hotel they always gave us a reusable bag with their info on it so we could shop and have a bag and we could tell the taxi driver where to drop us off at the end of the day. Turned out we didn't need it because a guide and professional driver were provided.

'There is always a half eaten pastry or something' - nope.

Depending where you are, a water bottle. The water from the fountains in Venice is clean and free. Same for Barcelona. Always double-check, but if the place you're visiting has a lot of drinking fountains and they're actually used, carry a water bottle with you and refill freely.

Not smart to zonk out on an airplane. In an emergency you may not have enough brain available to get out of a hazardous situation

Melatonin kills the jetlag.