I Shouldn’t Have Waited That Long to Go Overseas
Traveling abroad is a great way to experience the world, but for some reason I waited until I was 30 to make my first trip. But I’m glad I did: it immediately confirmed the fallacy of most of my assumptions about the world.
Tourist attractions remain attractions no matter where you are
When I think of tourist attractions in the US, I usually think of long lines, overpriced food, crazy ticket prices, and a lot of people. For some reason I thought that everything would be different in Europe. I was wrong.
The lines to the Anne Frank House, Van Gogh Museum and Pergamon Museum are intense, even if you walk during off-peak hours. If I wanted to visit all the most famous places, I would spend 50% of my time in lines.
It didn’t take long to realize how much time I would be wasting if I decided to see these places. Yes, they are legendary and a pleasure to visit, but was it worth the time? In most cases, no. So, I started looking for other attractions. The Bauhaus Museum in Berlin rarely requires waiting and is incredibly exciting. KattenKabinet is an absurd wonderful little cat museum in Amsterdam. But more importantly, just walking around the cities turned out to be much more interesting than standing in line. In total, it was about 100 miles of walking in two weeks. The walk led to amazing bars, abandoned amusement parks, and all the other stuff I would never find on a tourist map.
I am not suggesting anyone give up the museums they want to go to. Just get ready for these lines and give yourself the freedom to wander around town a little blindly. What you find on an aimless walk is often just as interesting.
The world is not as scary as you think
With youth comes a little recklessness, and if you’re lucky enough to travel when you’re young, the thought of not speaking the language and constantly getting lost is encouraging. This is terrible for an adult. But this is not nearly as scary as I had previously imagined it in my head.
Everything on international travel is a little intimidating for the first time. If you think too much about clearing customs or figuring out the transit system ahead of time, you will panic. However, once you actually find yourself in such situations, they are not that scary. In Europe at least, you’ll find signs that tell you exactly where to go, how to call a taxi, how to unload your bag for a security check, and everything else. In fact, I was less confused about airports and public transport in Europe than in most of America. Signs are specially designed as a kind of “international language” and are easy to understand at a glance. It’s easy to figure out at this point, so don’t worry about it beforehand.
Likewise, most of the tips for traveling abroad have all sorts of fear-stirring junk. Rick Steves pushes the money belt like he has it in reserve, and it’s easy to find messages that talk about the dangers people take advantage of. Of course, robberies do happen and a lot of people will try to take advantage of you, but it doesn’t seem to be happening any more than in the US. Do you wear a money belt when you visit Times Square? If not, then you probably won’t need it in Amsterdam either. Pay attention to your surroundings and act with common sense. If I felt like I was in a tourist area with heavy traffic, where there might be pickpockets, I put my wallet in my front pocket. If I was worried that someone was overpaying for something because I was a tourist, I did not buy it. If I felt like I was wandering into a bad part of the city, I would either get out quickly or dive somewhere with a lot of people and call a taxi.
But this is all beyond the essence. In most cases, people are not ready to get you . In fact, unless you are wearing a safari hat, khaki shorts, knee-high socks and sandals, taking selfies at every national monument, people won’t even know you’re a tourist until you open your mouth. Pay attention to the world around you, but don’t let it get in the way of your enjoyment while traveling.
You get in the habit of asking for help
Nobody likes to look stupid, but it’s almost impossible when you’re in a country you’ve never been to. The good news is, as long as you smile about your stupidity, looking stupid is not as bad as you think.
I spent a lot of time on vacation lost and confused. On the streets, I was turned away because I did not understand the grid, and I frowned at the restaurant menu. I quickly realized that in order to have a good time, I needed to suck my pride and ask questions.
The advantage is twofold. First, when you ask questions, you get answers and you can move on to finding what you want. But you also meet people. One afternoon I was trying to figure out a beer menu in a bar in Amsterdam and asked for help. The bartender was very helpful and chatty. He also volunteered to find places to dine, quirky museums to go to, and a few lesser-known attractions worth visiting.
This type of information is much easier to come across in a conversation than when you ask a blank paragraph for suggestions. People love to be experts, and when you make them feel that way, it’s easy to talk to them about anything.
I also brought this lesson with me. We like to think that we are the center of the universe, but no one pays so much attention to you . It’s much more comfortable for me to look stupid these days. I just don’t feel stupid while doing this.
You don’t need to be multilingual
Before mobile phones and computers, traveling the world meant carrying phrasebooks, learning the basics of a language, and fighting regional dialects just to order food. While this is still useful and necessary in some parts of the world, you cannot be expected to learn a language for every country you have ever visited. You can get by with less these days if you maintain respect.
As we said earlier , living in a foreign country when you don’t speak the language is not that difficult. When you’re in a restaurant, you feel a little silly pointing out a menu item that you can’t pronounce, but it works. Language translator apps can fill in a lot of gaps as well, but don’t rely on them too much because you will end up just staring at your phone all the time. Otherwise, a little bit of politeness, awareness and modesty go a long way. Apologizing for not speaking the language and asking politely for help are all you need.
And it’s not just the language barrier. It is also worth paying attention to the basic customs. In Berlin, I found that most restaurants have no owners and you just sit down yourself. I also found that they usually wanted me to pay for the table in advance rather than pay for my server. In Copenhagen, they had a special credit card and often did not accept Visa, so I quickly realized that I needed cash, or (perhaps frustratingly) asked if they took Visa before I ordered to avoid any freezes … These small differences take some getting used to as well as language barriers, but if you pay attention to what the locals are doing , you will learn a lot.
Budgeting your trip is easier than it sounds
The main reason I never traveled when I was younger was because the price seemed overwhelming. Airplane tickets combined with room and board for a couple of weeks seemed to take half my annual salary. But while it is definitely a luxury, it is not as outrageously priced as I expected.
We’ve covered all the ways to save money while traveling, from the best flight booking sites to accommodation . In my case, I went off-season (but still in the not-too-chilly month of May) to keep tickets cheap, and booked accommodations through Airbnb that I shared with my traveling companion. I also found that most of the estimated travel expenses are useless because they account for all kinds of expenses that I didn’t care about. In the end, all I was concerned about was flights, accommodation, and food. I was traveling with a small backpack, so I didn’t buy souvenirs, and the aforementioned long lines kept me away from the most expensive tourist attractions. In general, my total budget was $ 2,500, which I put on a debit card and used exclusively for travel. It’s still a decent amount, but a reasonable amount to save up for a two-week vacation abroad.
It can also be done even cheaper by staying in hostels rather than Airbnb, using public transport instead of taxis, and spending money on food every step of the way like I did. But in the end it was a vacation, so I didn’t want to think too much about money on the way. If you can get a debit card solely for this kind of travel, I recommend it because it lets me know exactly how much I’m spending and how much I have left in my budget without thinking about it.
Of course, there are other obvious benefits to travel. You will learn about other cultures, experience new things, and see buildings older than the United States. it would be when I was younger. Even if all my expectations were not met.