What’s your non-obvious travel tip that makes every trip better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aggressive hustle hack: “Where are you from? / I’m homeless”

When the aggressive hustle progresses to “Where are you from?” (universal language for “I’m determined to hustle you despite your repeated ‘no thank yous”) we deliver “I’m homeless”.

“I’m homeless” disrupts the aggressive hustler’s hustle rhythm; they don’t expect it. This reliably works for us in the most hustle-heavy locations (Morocco, Egypt, Nepal, India, D Republic, etc…). Caveats are the obvious: you aren’t wearing a hotel wrist bracelet, displaying wealth, etc...

Wow, great suggestion - I hate those “Where are you from?” and now I will be using your hack, thank you!

Great thread - appreciate everyone’s ideas!

Here's one that's even easier. Completely ignore the question! Don't make eye contact and keep walking!! You know they are hustlers - there is no need to even engage with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid any type of gimmicky activities that pose as educational experiences. I include in this category food tours, pasta making classes, any staged activities in which the locals fight each other (Mexican wresting, Thai boxing, Japanese sumo, Bolivian chola wrestling, etc), chopstick making classes, and so many more. What a waste.

I don’t know, our chocolate making class was so fun and yummy.

Yeah, I disagree with this one as well. We love food tours and have done many fun other interactive experiences. It's fine if that's not your thing, but you are not the judge of what is a "waste."

[Anonymous]

I save hiking shoes toward their end of their life to pack for trips. When the trip is over, I donate or toss them, and have room in my suitcase for new things I bought on the trip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I save hiking shoes toward their end of their life to pack for trips. When the trip is over, I donate or toss them, and have room in my suitcase for new things I bought on the trip.

That makes my feet hurt. I will buy new about a month out - so I can make sure they are good for longer hikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone going on the trip picks the one thing they really really want to do. Beach time, museum visit, unique restaurant, etc. Does not matter. You get to choose your one special thing. And we build that activity into the trip. When we go on the trip- there is a blanket rule. No one complains during ANY of the special activities. The kids are really respectful during these activities- I think knowing that everyone gets their turn helps, and knowing that this is important/special to the person who chose it helps. If the trip is longer, we might all get 2 choices.

Love this. We’ve been somewhat doing this, but want to do focus on this more!

[Anonymous]

Never book a day trip the day before flying home. Use that last full day to go back to favorite places or sneak in something you didn't have time to do, and ensures you're near the airport when time to go and don't get unexpectedly trapped a few hours away or overnight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I save hiking shoes toward their end of their life to pack for trips. When the trip is over, I donate or toss them, and have room in my suitcase for new things I bought on the trip.

That makes my feet hurt. I will buy new about a month out - so I can make sure they are good for longer hikes.

Sure, if I'm going on a full hiking trip. But if I'm just doing regular hikes, which is what I do on most vacations, I don't need shoes in new condition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aggressive hustle hack: “Where are you from? / I’m homeless”

When the aggressive hustle progresses to “Where are you from?” (universal language for “I’m determined to hustle you despite your repeated ‘no thank yous”) we deliver “I’m homeless”.

“I’m homeless” disrupts the aggressive hustler’s hustle rhythm; they don’t expect it. This reliably works for us in the most hustle-heavy locations (Morocco, Egypt, Nepal, India, D Republic, etc…). Caveats are the obvious: you aren’t wearing a hotel wrist bracelet, displaying wealth, etc...

I really recommend instead to do one of two things depending on the situation/hustle: 1) either don’t make eye contact and completely ignore (or shake your head, and ignore), and keep walking, or; 2) if you want to be friendlier; say firmly “No, thank you!” +/- smile, (bonus points if you can say this in their local language)!

Those options are much, much better! Why? Because it is so blatantly obvious that you are NOT homeless! And you are also giving away you are American. So it’s either very silly and dumb, or it’s like a slap in the face offensive, and unnecessarily rude. Yes, these hustlers either want to take advantage of you, or at minimum solicit you as a customer - but that’s just how they make a living and depending where you are they might be actually homeless. By trying to ask where you are from they are seeing which language they should to switch to, and if they speak it - and you would be surprised, how many languages some of them know sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a shower as soon as you get to the hotel, this one applies to almost all trips.

For more specific circumstances, the smartest hack I've stumbled on is if you have a late flight home from vacation, instead of trying to find a locker for luggage or kill the better part of a day at the airport, hire a guide for the last day. Get picked up in the morning *with all of your luggage* and do whatever you're doing that day (in Thailand we tacked on a day trip to Ayutthaya and a visit to an elephant sanctuary, and still made it back to the airport with time to check in, eat and shower in the lounge). Your luggage is secure, you get a full vacation day instead of just a travel day, and you get to hand the reins to someone else. And they'll never let you miss your flight because they get a tip!

I've read all 12 pages (so far) of this thread and this is one of the better, actually non-obvious tips.

Agree, it’s something that could work out phenomenally, but another person posted “never do a day trip before departure so you are not stuck somewhere away from the airport”. I think both are valid, good tips to consider, it depends on where you are and what your options are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m always fascinated by the little habits experienced travelers develop, the things that never make it into travel articles but make a real difference.

For those of you who travel a lot, whether for work or serious vacations, what’s the one non-obvious thing you do that consistently makes your trips better, easier, or more enjoyable?

Not destination-specific, more like personal systems, habits, or small things you always do that most people wouldn’t think of. Examples of the kind of thing I mean: a packing trick, airport strategy, hotel habit, planning approach, or something you always bring that ends up being invaluable.

Curious what the seasoned travelers here swear by.

When going abroad and arriving in the morning, I always get a hotel room for the night before, so I can go right to the hotel and shower/change clothes before heading out. My goal is always to stay up until a reasonable bedtime locally (i.e. about 9 p.m.).

Excellent tip.

I’ve thought about doing this but don’t you need to check out of the hotel at 11AM or 12PM and only get room for a few hours (unless you are staying at this hotel the next night)? And do you let hotel know in advance that you won’t be there in the morning? Some hotels are weird about that.

I meant to write, do you let hotel know in advance that you won’t be there until morning.

I’m a new poster who also does this, and yes I let the hotel or air bnb host know that I will not arrive until the next morning. It’s never an issue with the air bnb, and with the hotel I usually need to do an online check in on the official check in day (I still give them a heads up and ask them to note it, who knows if they typically do).

This is very important advice! Let them know you are arriving in the morning! It’s not uncommon to be somewhere in the fine print that they are not obligated to hold a room past midnight, and they will charge you as a “no show” nonetheless!

[Anonymous]

use ai! i've used it to make packing lists for specific places, provide tons of curated recommendations, even a kid-friendly overview of a country to learn about.

[Anonymous]

Backpacks instead of rolly carts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Backpacks instead of rolly carts.

I mean roller bags.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aggressive hustle hack: “Where are you from? / I’m homeless”

When the aggressive hustle progresses to “Where are you from?” (universal language for “I’m determined to hustle you despite your repeated ‘no thank yous”) we deliver “I’m homeless”.

“I’m homeless” disrupts the aggressive hustler’s hustle rhythm; they don’t expect it. This reliably works for us in the most hustle-heavy locations (Morocco, Egypt, Nepal, India, D Republic, etc…). Caveats are the obvious: you aren’t wearing a hotel wrist bracelet, displaying wealth, etc...

I really recommend instead to do one of two things depending on the situation/hustle: 1) either don’t make eye contact and completely ignore (or shake your head, and ignore), and keep walking, or; 2) if you want to be friendlier; say firmly “No, thank you!” +/- smile, (bonus points if you can say this in their local language)!

Those options are much, much better! Why? Because it is so blatantly obvious that you are NOT homeless! And you are also giving away you are American. So it’s either very silly and dumb, or it’s like a slap in the face offensive, and unnecessarily rude. Yes, these hustlers either want to take advantage of you, or at minimum solicit you as a customer - but that’s just how they make a living and depending where you are they might be actually homeless. By trying to ask where you are from they are seeing which language they should to switch to, and if they speak it - and you would be surprised, how many languages some of them know sometimes.

Yes. “No thank you” / “Ignore” when that works. Obviously. We are however on a “non-obvious” thread, hence the edge case situations and non obvious response.

Consider yourself fortunate if ignoring and “no thank you” has always worked for you. It might be the case some of us have traveled ourselves into situations where ignoring was not effective.

But we agree . The obvious things you mentioned will obviously work in most cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Backpacks instead of rolly carts.

I don’t get the whole backpack phenomenon. I did that when I was 22 and it was fine. But now that I’m older I have no interest in carrying a relatively heavy weight on my back walking miles through airports or from train stations to my hotel. I can fit everything in a carryon with wheels and it is a much more enjoyable experience for me.