#1: Time is Money
Unless you are a full time traveler, it’s likely that when you’re traveling somewhere, you’re trying to get the most out of your time. You want to have the best experiences and you don’t have time to waste. One thing I learned EARLY on in travel is that time is money, and I would MUCH rather have time than money. You may not feel the same way, but in case you do, this was one of my major mistakes that I used as a learning experience.
I booked a shared shuttle from one town in Nicaragua to another. It was cheap, and I never thought to ask a few important questions: does this shuttle make any stops, does this shuttle go to any other towns, how long will this shuttle take? I simply Googled the time it would take from my starting point to destination and assumed that would be the length of our journey. I am sure you can see where this is going…. We ended up losing almost an entire day in Nicaragua because our shuttle picked up and dropped off from multiple cities all day long. I thought we were traveling about 1.5 hours distance, and it ended up taking somewhere between 5-6 hours to get where we were going. I have learned that it is very important to check those details before you take a shared ride anywhere, and often just spend the extra money to take a direct ride. You don’t want to lose a day of your trip because you weren’t careful about the details.
#2 ATM Fees
We have been traveling now for the better part of 10 years, and I still surprised myself with this recent mistake. But, hopefully my mistake can help others, and then it will be all worth it, right? When we travel, we always take out money from an ATM as soon as we get to our destination, which is usually an airport ATM, and usually works out well for us. We mostly use our credit card and have cash on hand when needed. We understand that there are small fees that usually come with this, and we are used to that.
We were not prepared, however, for the extremely high fees in Chile. ATM’s in Chile would only let you take out $200 USD at a time and they charged an astronomical fee, it was something like 30-40 dollars every time. So you were literally PAYING to take out money. Of course, we had some tours planned that were supposed to be paid in cash and this put us in quite a predicament. We made moves and figured things out, but I wish I had been more diligent in looking up fees and things like that prior to visiting a new country. Our next step here is likely going to be to check out the Charles Schwab debit card which has no oversees ATM fees. We haven’t done this yet though, so I will report back when I have some experience with it.
#3 Eating near a major landmark
I think this is a more well known and discussed mistake at this point, but it just serves as a reminder. Generally, you don’t want to eat in the area right near major landmarks, such as the Colosseum in Rome or the Notre Dame in Paris. This isn’t to say that you can’t find good food there, I am SURE that you can. But, it is definitely to say that you should look a little deeper. These areas will often have higher prices and lesser quality. Be diligent when near major landmarks and do your research before eating somewhere. I often find that getting a drink in these areas can be more fun for people watching, but apart from that, just get a drink and move on for the meal!
#4 Take pictures and videos of your car rental
Some people will tell me I’m crazy for this one… but I assure you that I am not. We have had a few incidents over the years with rental cars, and we KNOW these incidents were not our fault, but each time we didn’t have documented proof to clear us. One of the times, we even took photos of the car before driving off but missed a spot and it just so happened to be the area where they told us we dinged the car. Now, in addition to pictures, we take a full video walking around the car, including the roof, wheel wells, undercarriage, and under the bumpers to make sure any and all issues are documented from the start. On our recent visit to Germany, they had a really cool new ‘camera portal’ where a machine did a full body scan of the car as you were driving off the lot. But to be real, I still don’t trust that either. Do yourself a favor and take the 5 minutes to take photos, videos, and report anything you see. This helps prevent any issues that you may have when returning the car.
For more information about car rentals see my post: My Top Tips for Renting a Car
#5 Know what a city or town is like on Sundays and Holidays
I still sometimes forget that Sundays in other countries are just not any other ordinary day, the way they are in America. In many places, things slow down majorly or even close. It can be really disappointing if you only have one day, a Sunday, in a location and absolutely nothing is going on. It is VERY worthwhile to look into this before traveling, and the same goes for holidays. Sometimes, you might think a holiday will be celebrated in a place and it just isn’t. Other times, a country or city might be celebrating a holiday you didn’t even know existed. This can be INCREDIBLE if you discover something awesome (i.e. 1/2 New Year celebration in Croatia or the St Peter and St Paul festival in Corniglia, Italy), or it can be disappointing if the city is essentially closed and the locals are all with their families. It is always helpful to do a quick Google search of your dates before you visit anywhere to see what events, holidays, or celebrations are coming up!
#6 Putting blind trust in a guided tour
This is another one that I am surprised I let happen to me. It wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened, but definitely something to now be keenly aware of. When we decided to visit Patagonia and hike in Torres Del Paine, I decided to let a company book that portion of the trip for us. Searching online, it was difficult to figure out how to make reservations (at least I thought so), and I just figured it would take one chunk of logistics out of the trip for me. In the end, I trusted that they’d curated the best route and planning for us, so I went with it without question. When we arrived for our tour briefing, I realized some things that I wanted were missing, and the route wasn’t as efficient as I thought it should be (remember: time is money!).
Looking back, it was entirely my fault because I should have looked at everything in more detail beforehand. I had to make some alterations on the fly, which worked out but cost us some more money. Always look through an itinerary, the timing, etc. for any type of tour to make sure it is what you want and that it makes sense. If something doesn’t seem to make sense or if you have any questions, reach out to the tour company. Most times you’ll be just fine, but I do believe it is very important to check everything beforehand. Lesson learned!
#7 Not booking in advance
This is not a mistake that I have made or a problem that I have since I am insane and I plan everything very aggressively. But, this is a VERY common problem that I’ve been hearing more and more with travel lately. As things become more popular through social media, blogs, and just generally more information available out there, places become booked up earlier and more often. It has become quite common for places to be booked up several months in advance, or to have reservation systems where you have to set personal alarms to remind yourself to book. Though I try to be as prepared as I can, we still love to just wander and enjoy the most random of places. But it is becoming increasingly more important to have reservations for places that you don’t want to miss out on.
#8 Check where the train/bus etc drops you off in a town
Somehow, I have managed to make this same mistake twice, and now I am sure I won’t make it again. I have twice ridden trains to a town that had the name of the town on the train station, yet when I arrived, there was no town to be found! The first time this happened to me was when I took a train from Nice, France to Eze. The train dropped us off and we realized we still needed to take a bus to get into the actual town. Luckily, the shuttle bus driver was very kind and took a few coins from us and let us ride. The second time, I was going from Rome to Sperlonga, and soon realized that Sperlonga was quite a few miles away from its train stop. Again, we had a lucky rescue again when we were thankfully picked up by our accommodation hosts! Thankfully, both times the kindness of strangers got us out of these situations, but now I make it a point to ALWAYS check a map, and check it again. I make sure that if I am taking a train or bus somewhere, that I know where I will end up and what I will need to do to get to my true destination from there.
If you’re interested in train travel check out my post here: 10 reasons I love train travel
