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Maxabout.com > Tips
Are Your Immunizations Up-to-Date?
- Be sure to consult travel medicine experts before engaging in international travel! Immunizations and prescriptions for preventative medications can help to ensure a healthy trip.
Avoid Voice Mail Problems
- Don't assume you will be able to tap into your voice mail from foreign pushbutton phones. Telephones have 'accents' and what works in the U.S. may not work from England. Have a back-up plan in place or take a portable tone-imitator.
Be Organized
- While in any country that you can't read the language ... and you are using your charge card to get the best currency rate ... write on the charge slip right away the amount, items, date, and place of purchase so YOU can read it when the statement comes at the end of the month. Makes for a lot easier bookkeeping. Many times the ink is so faint, you can't read what it says in any language.
Be Safe - Drink Bottled Water
- Unless you are traveling to Canada from the US, it is usually not safe to drink the water. The water is safe to the locals who are used to it. This doesn't matter if you're a resident of Ukraine of the UK - to residents the water is safe, but not to travelers. All water contains different sets of microbes and mineral deposits, even in the US. If you aren't used to a country's drinking water, then you may get sick just because it is different. Be safe, buy bottled water cheap at the supermarket.
Cheaper Rail Passes
- When traveling in Europe, it is cheaper to buy individual rail passes if you are only going to one or two countries, instead of buying a Eurail pass that covers eighteen. The individual one, such as the Swiss Pass or the France Rail/Drive, can give you much more for a better price.
Check Your Room Before You Decide to Stay
- When traveling to many third world countries, before paying for a room, make sure to look at the room first. Along the same lines, take a quick tour of the hotel before deciding to stay. Even though some of the hotels may be nice on the outside, what is on the inside is not always up to your standards.
Do You Have the Insurance You Really Need?
- Travel Insurance? Do you have yours? Many people assume their travel insurance covers them while they are outside of their home country. But they do not realize that they need new or additional coverage to protect them against things like medical evacuations, sudden and unexpected emergenicies, terrorism, etc. Be proactive and research your insurance needs before you travel outside of your home country.
Have Fun with the Locals
- My philosophy of travel includes giving something back to the places and people I visit while traveling. Sometimes it's just a laugh (playing my jaw harp on the roads in Bali to a growing crowd had old women holding their sides) or a game (an outside faucet and some balloons easily translated into a heated game of catch with local kids in the park in Batopilas at the bottom of Mexico's Copper Canyon). Rubber animal noses helped pass many an evening in the little guest houses in Nepal while trekking there 8 years ago. With some paper and crayons we made masks and had our own little halloween party. It wasn't just the kids who got involved either! I figure if I'm traveling to have fun I might as well share some of that with locals as well!
Hire a Student
- When you're planning to visit bazaars, but you don't like to be hassled by vendors all the time, here's a tip: pick out one of those so called students that offers to guide you around. Make clear to him you want to walk and look around but don't plan to buy anything. You pay him a little amount of money, he'll keep the vendors off, and you won't get lost in these dark, narrow streets (that all look the same)!
Is It Really Bottled Water?
- In a restaurant, ask for a bottle of water UNOPENED. Have them open it at the table, and you can be sure you won't get local water ... bottled.
Learn the Language
- There are not many countries where the people aren't absolutely delighted for you to try out their language. If you use just the word for 'thank you', they'll be impressed. If you know more about their language, even if you are not fluent, you'll find yourself learning more about the real people, not the ones shown to us in movies. They are exactly as curious about us as we are about them.
Local Flora Can Live in the Shower
- Most people know to ask for unopened bottled water when traveling in areas where the drinking water is not safe, but they may not realize that it's all too easy to get sick from ingesting water while showering, even if trying to keep one's mouth closed. The solution: Always keep mouthwash in your mouth while showering. It will help you remember to keep your mouth closed, and the antibacterial agent in it will help purify any water that gets in anyway (e.g. through your nose). A friend told me this, and I've tested it on several foreign trips, including to India - where I used to get sick at least once each trip. Since doing this, I haven't gotten sick.
Need Directions?
- When visiting a foreign city, carry a matchbook or postcard with the name and address of your hotel, which you can show to taxi drivers or when asking directions. This is particularly important in countries like Greece, where the alphabet is different.
Pack Items to Give Away
- I've been working as a guide for 18 years. When I've taken folks to developing countries they kind heartedly wanted to give money or candy to the local children. Over the years I've returned to places where a traveler used to be able to wander down a street and not be swarmed by children begging for sweets or change, whereas now that has changed.
If you're inclined to contribute to the local population, bring items to donate to local social service organizations. I bring boxes of pencils and paper and give them to a local school. Boxes of rubber gloves, or medical supplies can be dropped off at a local clinic. Tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes are far better to leave behind than decaying teeth! When children approach you on the street, ask them why they're not in school. As long as children can support their families by begging they will continue to do so. An education will benefit them much more in the long run. If they can't pay for school (which is necessary in many places) find out where they accept donations for scholarships.
How we choose to travel and the decisions we make while doing so do make a difference! We are incredibly kind and generous people and it is not easy to see poverty and need and not want to help. Handing out a treat or money only gives both parties a quick fix.
Pay Phones and Credit Cards
- Don't use foreign pay phones that only take credit cards. I was charged $400 for a 40-minute call home from Italy!
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