Five Things Travel Has Taught Me

After only one month on the road, is it too early to share 5 lessons? No, I don’t think so. It doesn’t take more than a few weeks before some things are blatantly apparent. Here are 5 ways you can make your traveling life easier:

1. Stick To Your Guns

Travel has a way of stripping you of your confidence. You assume, because you are a foreigner, that you don’t know anything. You also assume, because someone is a local, that they know everything. This was the case when we failed at the Great Wall. Instead of sticking with our guns and taking the bus we knew was correct, we blindly followed a local, and paid the hefty price

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

If you’ve done the proper research, you have every reason to believe that you are prepared. You “simply” need to execute what you know. Along the way there will be obstacles in the form of cab drivers, tour organizers, and other locals with ulterior motives who will try to persuade you to follow their path – but don’t get swept in.

Don’t mistake this as a call to blindly move forward and not heed anyone else, but to prepare yourself so that you can be confident and then follow through to the end.

2. Don’t Leave Until You’re Sure

You’re getting directions from someone, but you don’t quite understand. You think it might be straight ahead and then a right. You leave, because you feel that it’s an appropriate time to end the conversation; the other person has explained it and that’s your queue to move on. But wait, what intersection was it again..?

How many times has this been you?

For some reason or another, maybe to avoid awkwardness, or out of courtesy to the other person’s time, we leave prematurely before we really have clarity on what they said.

But is that really necessary? Wasn’t that security guard just standing there? Did a buzzer go off, indicating that I had to go? Did a large hook pull me off the stage?

In most cases, there is always a bit more time to clarify – what’s an extra minute to know something for sure? Why not have the person write it down, or repeat what they said to double check? Ask a follow up question, like how long it should take to get from A to B. Rarely, are you actually being obnoxious. Often, you are spending one extra minute to save yourself fifteen.

3. Whenever Possible Get The Price

The other day Vicky and I grabbed lunch at a local spot in town. They had pictures on the wall, so we figured it would be OK. The lady handed us a Chinese menu. I motioned to her that that would not be necessary, we’d simply point at the wall.

We got exactly what we ordered. As well as a $13 bill (I know, it’s still cheap, but it’s double what we were expecting, having ordered the same thing at other restaurants).

Why didn’t I just ask the price after we ordered? I could have had her write it down, or point on the Chinese menu what we ordered and did the math myself. There’s just no reason for it, there are options.

So always ask how much.

Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up to be randomly charged.

4. At Times, Fake Understanding

Previously I mentioned that you should always try to get the price. If you travel long enough you’ll soon realize that this isn’t always possible. Sometimes you might be at a local fruit stand, where there is no way for the person to tell you the price except in their own language.

In these instances, I think it’s always best to act like you understand even if you don’t. They don’t know, for sure, that you don’t understand the language, or at least numbers.

The other day, Vicky and I were buying fruits. As far as I could tell, the man indicated that it would be 6 Yuan. I could have given him exactly that, but if you give someone 6 and walk away, you’re pretty much signaling that that’s what you think the price is. Instead I gave him a 10, and waited for change.

He gave me 7 back.

It’s a small tactic I use sometimes, as if to pretend that I don’t have anything smaller and then to wait what and see they give for change. I’ve certainly misunderstood the price on several occasions and I find it’s often lower than I think (some places are surprisingly cheap). Therefore, pretending to know the price and naturally going up to the next increment in bills seems to work well.

5. Be Creative With Words

When you’re traveling in a country with poor English, you’re going to run into lots of communication struggles. The other day I asked our hotel concierge where we could get some fruit. I knew she spoke a bit of English, but she was having trouble understanding what fruit was.

Instead of dwelling on the word fruit, potentially trying to mime out eating an apple, I asked her where I could get a banana. She understood.

Trying different synonyms, keeping your sentences short and avoiding colloquialisms and idioms has worked the most in trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak English well. Be flexible and don’t get fixated on one message. Languages are built with lots of words specifically for the purpose of using them.