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Top Travel Mistakes And How To Avoid Them
“A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything new,” said Albert Einstein. As travelers, we couldn’t agree more. Travel is an art, the more you do the more you learn. And even when you think you are an expert in travelling, you never know when the life may surprise you with a twist in your next travel. So here we decided to make list of the most frequent travel mistakes that people make:
1. Wasting Time in Transit
That tops the list as most often people ignore this crucial point. There is no point in travelling to 1000 kms far destination with just 1 night of stay. Making the most of your trip means spending less time in transit and more time relaxing at your destination.
2. Choice of Hotel
That’s the second most often made mistake. Getting something for free is the best way to save money. When you choose a hotel with freebies like breakfast, Wi-Fi, and parking, the savings can really add up. With a little planning, you can save on restaurants, spas, etc. by taking coupon deals. Also be flexible on the dates of travel. Returning home on a Monday or Tuesday is far cheaper than on Sunday.
3. Crowd Travel
That is the BIGGEST travel mistake people make. Going to Goa on New Year’s Eve is not at all fun with rest of the world. Travel during peak season is way more expensive and less enjoyable as compared to low season when you get cheap room tariff and more space to enjoy your trip with less people around to make you mad.
4. Over packing
Packing light and packing right is the mantra of smart travel. Take everything small so that you have some space left for souvenirs.
5. Time between connecting flights
Leaving a window of at least an hour and a half between connecting flights will significantly drop your chances of missing your flight or having your luggage lost.
6. Location of your hotel from the city center
When travelling choosing a more expensive hotel that’s in the centre of the action can be a better financial decision in the long run than staying out in the outskirt suburbs and spending money and time on transportation. You can use time you save to explore — or just recharge in your hotel room.
7. Trusting “near city center” descriptions
“Near city center” is like a Bible verse — open to vast interpretation.
When you find the money you saved on your “near city center” hotel is being spent on 30-minutes rides and outrageous taxi fares, you know you’ve committed one of the cardinal sins of travel.
8. Trying to do too much in one trip
Many people say, ‘I just want to do one night in this and one night in so-and-so.’ Slow down! What they don’t realize is by the time you either load all the bags into the car, drive, and park, or you keep all the bags onto a train, you don’t have that much of a day left. Allot a minimum of three days for visiting major cities and you’ll end up with a richer vacation that includes time for simple pleasures. The same goes for multiple activities. Make time for wandering around.
9. Eat As Locals Do
No one wants to get sick on vacation, but why travel all the way to Thailand or Mexico and not eat the local food? The locals don’t like food poisoning any more than you do. If you see a crowd in restaurant, consider the place good and assume you’re going to be fine.
10. Check In or Carry On
You never know when you might be forced to gate-check your hand luggage. Place your jewelry, iPad, camera, house and car keys, medication, and anything else you can’t live without in a thin pack or pouch inside your carry-on so that, if you must surrender your carry-on to a flight attendant at the last minute because the overhead bins are full, you can remove the smaller bag and keep an eye on it beneath the seat in front of you.
11. Assuming your passport is valid until it expires
You checked the expiration date on your passport to make sure it proceeds the date of your flight home, but you forgot that certain countries—China, Russia, and the U.A.E., among others—require that passports be valid for six months past the date of your flight home, and 26 European nations require that passports be valid for three months past.
12. Not buying something you like as soon as you see it
You think you’re going to circle back to that shop. Or you think you’ll see a cheaper, better version somewhere else. You won’t. That lovely hat or those beautiful necklaces you didn’t buy? Now not having them will haunt you for the rest of your life. When you see something you like, just buy it and live without regret.
13. Over Depending on guidebooks
Guidebooks are great — we use them all the time — but it’s best to pull just one or two suggestions per day from a guide and not design your whole trip. Keep room for trying new things.
14. Obsessive photography
The obsession/obligation to document every street scene, statue and starter course kills the spontaneity of travel. Before you know it, you have 700 pictures on your camera comprising old buildings, blurry sunsets and plates of food. Congratulations. Your trip is now defined by low-quality images on a camera that, trust us, nobody back home wants to spend 20 minutes scrolling through.
15. Not checking visa requirements before departure
It’s a nightmare come true when you get turned away at the ticket counter on departure day because you didn’t realize your destination country requires citizens of your lovely country to secure a visa before travel.
16. Credit Card Blocked
If your credit card company notices charges from different areas of the country, or the world, they might just put a hold on your card in order to prevent fraud from occurring. It’s a good idea to call each of your credit card companies to let them know you’ll be traveling so this doesn’t happen.
Reading through these as I’ve been writing this has had me smiling to myself, remembering many of our travel mis-adventures and mishaps.
