Travel Tips

After spending two weeks in Italy, I have come up with my very own list of does and don't while traveling. I gleemed these from first hand experience, of watching loud obnoxious Americans in a foreign country. I tried to be invisible, and then tried to talk with a British accent. Didn't work. It's hard to hide an American anywhere. Here they are in no particular order.

1. You are the visitor. This is NOT the USA, so don't expect it to be. Imagine standing in your mother-in-laws house...would you criticize the food, the furnishings and the service? You would get the silent treatment for sure.
2. Smile alot.
3. Learn to talk with your hands...pointing left and right is universal. Be careful what finger you use.
4. Don't pack anything in your suitcase you couldn't just walk away from. Things do get lost.
5. Order food off the menu you can't pronounce. (see #3 for pointing directions)
6. Go down a road even if you don't know where it goes. The maps will drive you crazy anyway.
7. Keep smiling.
8. Wrinkles in clothes are ok. No clothes in some places are ok.
9. Board the correct train car, and look for your seat. There is a reason your ticket has numbers on them. It's easier than lugging luggage through cars looking for the right seat.
10. Buy small gifts to take back, especially flat ones. Chocolate always works.
11. Stop looking at the map and look around.
12. Taxis are a good thing. Especially when you are lost late at night. (see #16)
13. Eat at McDonalds at least once.
14. If you think your lost, you probably are. In fact, as soon as you get off the plane assume your are, until you board the plane to go home.
15. Keep medicines in your carry on. (see #4)
16. Take a business card or address of where you are staying. After a long day of walking around, you can hand it to the taxi driver to return you back to where you started. (see #12)
17. When walking, turn around and see where you've come from. The view is different. (see #11)
18. Don't be timid about asking directions, even if you can't speak the language. (see #7)
19. Always give your seat up to an older person...esp. a woman. Kindness is understood in all languages.
20. When crossing a busy street, shadow a local.
21. Do not buy souvenirs from a man with shifty eyes, holding a black folder with rolex watches for 19.95 euros.
22. Pat the dogs.
23. Eat grapes off the vine.
24. Bring postcards from your home city and write thank you notes.
25. Make copies of your passport and any credit cards and leave them at home. Also put a copy in your suitcase.
26. Take a first aid kit for every scenario. Even if you don't use them, someone else might need help.
27. When hand washing items and hanging them out to dry...make sure they don't blow away and end up on someone's roof...esp brightly colored undies.
28. If they indeed relocate, ignore them and buy more in the next town. (see #27)
29. Think of round-a-bouts as lazy susans. There is no need to exit until you are sure which way to go. Going round and round is no big deal.
30. When driving, know the signs for one way and do not enter.
31. Don't talk loudly. Americans are very loud.
32. Aways get to your accomodations in daylight.
33. Don't ever let the gas tank go below 1/2.
34. Take your phone and make sure its for international calling..... even if its for just an add on for one month
35. Take a watch with an alarm, and forget the travel kind. Learn how to use it before you leave.
36. Eat mexican food in a foreign land. It will surprise you to experience what they think is authentic.
37. Do not take books to read. They weigh a ton. Take magazines that you can toss out.
38. Buy a piece of original art from a local artist. Make sure it calls your name before you buy it.
39. Airports are a great place for last minute gifts.
40. If you've used an internet cafe change computer pin numbers and passwords when you return.
41. Do not wear new shoes. If you do, make sure your have bandages. (see #26)
42. Do not stand in an open piazza and talk bad about the surroundings (see #1)
43. Leave your address book at home and jot the info you need on a small piece of paper.
44. Bring a cheap rain poncho.
45. Do not drink carbonated drinks during the flight. The bubbles get into your intestines and expand.
46. If you are a woman take sanitary supplies, even if you think you are in menopause and don't need them. They are very hard to discribe or point to, when you can't speak the language.
47. Don't exchange all your foreign money when returning. When luggage is loaded, and you've passed the security screening, flights do get cancelled and you could be out of luck.
48. Better to be stuck in an airport than a dark hotel.
49. Touch ancient old buildings. They do speak to you.
50. Always travel with plenty of clean underwear. (see #27, 28, 46)