When planning for a big international vacation - I basically copy the itinerary of several touring companies and then run it by chatGPT. We also watch several youtube travel vlogs about it to get a good idea of the anthropological history of the place, flora and fauna, customs and religions etc.

+1000 on booking a hotel room the night before and having it ready when you come in on a redeye or any long haul. Workout, shower, breakfast, nap. Perfect. Ready for a nice dinner and sightseeing that afternoon/night. Nothing worse than wondering a city after a redeye.

ChatGPT if your arrival airport has a day use hotel. We have found that to be a lifesaver for a shower and food before heading into a busy city. Everyone feels better. They are usually $100-150 for 9am - 5 pm

Anonymous wrote:Carry on and personal item only.

Layers.

Clothing that you can wear more than once.

Shower before bed.

If in hotel, try to book one with breakfast.

Excruciatingly plan on what you’ll do.

Once on vacation, prioritize the important activities and do the others if you have time.

Don’t rush, it’s ok if you don’t do it all.

If you’re on vacation for a while, the accommodation in the middle of the trip should have laundry machine and dryer.

Make sure accommodations are nice, clean and safe. Don’t go overboard as you’ll be out all day.

Sometimes, especially in Europe, the grocery stores have great prepared meals. Eat those.

The whole carry on only thing is very situational / destination dependent. And I am not wearing dirty clothes. Excruciatingly planning everything is anything but relaxing.

I'm so glad I took a trip with a friend and her family when our kids were 6 and 8 years old. It worked out so well that we've done about 6 international trips together.

I like the mom energy. It makes planning things easier. We have different priorities - she's more of a foodie so has looked up all the restaurants online and made reservations. I'm a hotel/airbnb person so I scout all that out.

We end up in nicer places, doing better things.

But the biggest plus are two things - the day is what the day is. My husband and kids dont want to plan the trip and want me to. But if it was just us, when I said, we had to leave the Airbnb at 9 to make the xyz, there would be pushback. DH would say, "let the kids sleep" or have to do a work email. Miraculously, when it's a group, it all just happens. The kids really like hanging with the other kids. If someone is sick or has to hang back for a work thing, the group can go out.

And there's someone else who can use Google Maps.

It’s probably obvious now, and may have been obvious to others: don’t fly out of BWI during shutdown.

My method of getting rid of pests is to say, in the local language, I don't speak English. When they reply in their local language, I say I don't speak that language. By that time, I;m getting a side eye. and they are moving one.

The one time that didn't work, a few people were putting "free" bracelets on my kids so I loudly started talking about how this was a scam and what to watch out for.

Look up "you tube common tourist scams in XXXX" and you'll get the idea.

That thing with the bracelets is to get the parents close to the kids and the guys so someone can distract while someone else steels.

I too keep my toiletry bag stocked with everything (in sizes that can go on a carry-on).

I also have a set of charging cords/plug exclusively for the toiletry bag (labeled so it always goes back).

Anonymous wrote:After my phone got stolen in another country, I now bring a second unlocked phone that I have WhatsApp and uber downloaded on.

Such a good tip! I wish I had given one to my DS before he went abroad for the semester.

Travel alone

Ps I always pack a laundry bag - I have 2 kids and it's easier to have 1-2 and packing home, I use 1 suitcase for all dirty clothes and 1 for any clean. I also find the more time spent packing to go, the easier it is to pack home - the set up and planning makes more efficiency you can say. I also often pack dresses or 1 piece v 2 clothing items per outfit when possible. Also, some old stuff I may not mind throwing out so no need to take space on return esp if I'm planning on shopping a lot.

Practical pricing perspective, try to book direct with everything but booking.com is my preferred vendor otherwise.

For flights, always play with pricing: one way/RT/from NY going to Europe and CA going Asia. If you must stop anyway price out the hub to see if better price. SFO/LAX for Asia and JFK for London are typically competitive pricing. Use points to fly NS from here to those markets you get a better overall deal often v trying harder to fly for less out of local airports.

When I plan, I look at everything I want to do and draw up itinerary. Next is configure with best priced flights to get dates. Next is hotels. Next is any specific activity I need avail for. I book all at once meaning I get everything aligned prior to booking so I'm sure this itinerary works in all ways - I do not piece meal.

For packing, I try really hard to carry on - even 3+ wks - the last thing I want to do is check in luggage but that may be me. I enjoy convenience of having everything with me and no heavy lifting traveling.

Briggs and Riley is my go to carry on as their compact sys for me is best - never been able to pack more in a carry on!

I always bring one of my reusable grocery bags -- one of the packable totes that rolls up/fastens very small. I carry it in my crossbody bag.

I travel for work semi-regularly, and especially when I'm in Europe, it is really handy to have a bag that I can use for shopping, whether that's a stop into a tiny grocery or drug store, or for souvenir shopping. Plastic or paper bags aren't always readily available, and the reusable bag means I blend in a little bit more/look like a local, rather than a tourist carrying around a couple of shopping bags. It has long handles, too, so I can sling it over my shoulder and still have my hands free.

I'm homeless.

You slay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

How can ignoring not be effective? If you ignore someone and continue to walk around/away from them they will give up on you and look for another target.

And target you are. Which SHOULD be obvious but obviously, isn't!

All these people who suggest smiling and saying "No thank you" are not street smart nor travel savvy. These types of responses are exactly what they are looking for to either scam you or have one of their associates pick your pocket/belongings while you are distracted.

Agra train station. Or the guy in Morocco who wasn't taking ignore for an answer after several weeks.

"I'm homeless" translated to "F*CK OFF."

He understood this. And the guy f**ked off. Him f**king off was preferable to me playing a deaf mute in his presence.

And target you are. Which SHOULD be obvious but obviously, isn't!

I'm homeless.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

How can ignoring not be effective? If you ignore someone and continue to walk around/away from them they will give up on you and look for another target.

And target you are. Which SHOULD be obvious but obviously, isn't!

All these people who suggest smiling and saying "No thank you" are not street smart nor travel savvy. These types of responses are exactly what they are looking for to either scam you or have one of their associates pick your pocket/belongings while you are distracted.