The Golden Rules of Travel

No matter if you are a newbie or old veteran to the wonderful world of travel, there are just a few things that you need to do to make sure that you things go as smoothly as possible.

Follow every item below, and I assure you, things will go better.

1)  Be Redundant – Always have a toiletry bag packed, stocked and ready to go.  Don’t swap out what you have in your bathroom, just keep a separate set.  Also, have a gadget bag with extra power adapters, batteries and cables.  If you get it from Ebay the cost is very minimal, and you never have to worry about missing anything on the road or tearing up stuff perfectly placed cables in your home set up.

2)  Do Not Rely on Electronics – Keep a print out of key phone numbers and travel reservations.  As things get more dependent on technology, it is easy to be lazy and just assume you can “pull it up” on your phone or tablet.  But … electronics are prone to being buggy, running out of batteries, and not having internet access.  Be safe and spend a few minutes to even write down (you remember how to use a pen, right ?) some of the real important stuff.

3) Communicate Cheaply – It is incredible how phone providers can get away with gouging their customers when the roam abroad. The will hit you with per day roaming charges, higher rates per minute, and data and text rates that are enough to cost as much as your airfare. First thing you must do is disable data roaming on your Android or Apple phone. Do this before you land and connect to the foreign network, or the first thing your phone will do when you power up, is try to find a data connection (which sets in motion a whole bunch of painful charges)
So, what to do ? Rely on prepaid cards, IP based phone services (Skype, GTalk, etc), IM chat programs, and Internet Hotspots. I will post a full Blog entry on details on how to get a full mobile phone (high speed data and voice) experience for very cheap while overseas.

4) Talk local – Even though most languages have hundreds of thousands of words, in day to day communication, you really only need about 10 to 20 words to get by. Always carry a small note card with words for stop, yes, no, hotel, hello, goodbye, thank you, receipt, check, beer, etc. You will be surprised that if you are able to communicate these simple phrases, how much you will accomplish. Also, most hotels have a “get back home” card you can give to the taxi driver. This has the hotel name, directions and contact info in the local language. Never leave your hotel without it and pick one up when you check in. Very useful once you mastered the local word for “beer”.

5) Adventure! – As long as you have a way back to your hotel, a mastery of a small set of local vocabulary and a data/voice line to get support and help …. dive right on to the local scene. Business travel has a tendency to keep you trapped in the “comfortable” channels of western life. That is no fun, and you will not get to experience the diversity and exciting culture all around you. Be daring, fit in with the locals, try to stretch your boundaries and soak up all the culture you can. Not only will you build experiences and bar stories to tell your friends for years to come, you will have a much better understanding and insight into the lives of your customers, vendors and colleagues.
Ignorance is NOT bliss … it is just the fuel to perpetuate intolerance, which in the end leads to more sadness.

Enjoy … you can always sleep on the plane ride back!

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