What You Should Skip When Traveling To A New Destination

Author: Priyanka Saxena on May 28,2020

There are plenty of travel bloggers who tell you about what places to go and what to do, but how many would tell you what not to do? There are several mistakes travelers have made, which have either led to a loss of time, money, or opportunities. Hence, here is a hand-crafted list that might come handy after you select your vacation packages: 

1. Skip eating at a major tourist spot: if you find any eatery place near a tourist spot then there are high chances that the food will be double the original price and half the delicious flavors of what you will encounter at the local places. Such restaurants at the major tourist hotspots know that you will not be visiting the place again so they hardly bother about the quality of the food. On the contrary, the local restaurants make sure that their food has rich flavors and appeals to your tongue. Thus, instead of waiting in the long queues near some fancy place just walk a few blocks and buy the same food, which is just tastier, more delicious, and affordable. Try and avoid places that have fancy menu boards with a lot of many languages, those places have opened up intending to trap tourists like you. Furthermore, there are plenty of websites that will help you with the local restaurants; these websites have reviews of all the famous local eateries to help you choose the best one. 

2. Skip taking a taxi and stick to local transport: several tourists waste their hard-earned money in the taxi rides. Taxis abroad are always overpriced and take advantage of tourists only because they don't know the map of the city. The taxis charge more if you're traveling at night or traveling alone. Whereas, local transportation is literally five percent of what the over-priced taxis charge. It is always better to land in your dream destination after knowing the closest public transportation from the airport. A few minutes of your research will save you a lot of dollars. Thus, use public transport as much as possible. Use the taxis only if you are traveling in a group since then the charge might be affordable. 

3. Skip booking tickets and reservations too early: it can be pretty exciting for you since you have picked up your best vacation packages and the next thing you want to do is confirm flight tickets and hotel packages. But never make this mistake. Don't be the tourist who ends up paying more than the other people. The early bird doesn't need to always get the best deal, sometimes it also means overpaying when you could have saved a lot of money. When booking the airline tickets make sure you book them only when three months are remaining for traveling because during this period the airlines lower their prices on demand. When it comes to cruises, book your tickets at the last hour. The companies in charge have the goal of filling the bookings, so the price of the tickets becomes very cheap and affordable. No cruise wants to sail half empty so just wait until the last hour. Because that golden hour can offer you some of the best deals, saving several dollars. 

4. Skip bringing traveler's check: traveler's check is used by several tourists when they have to travel abroad. Such checks are issued by banks, which allow travelers to exchange the slip for money, the value is predetermined. This method was used a long time back when ATM cards and credit cards were not acceptable at all the places, this check would allow them to have access to lots of money without actually carrying that heavy amount. However, if you think of that today, it is pretty useless since there are very few banks that are ready to accept it, and most of the time you end up losing paper-slips. 

5. Skip the practice of exchanging money at the airport: many tourists are so engrossed in planning the itinerary that they end up forgetting about exchanging money. (Give the responsibility of penning down the perfect itinerary to your vacation packages) Some of them even feel that it is convenient to exchange money at the airport instead of visiting some tourism office. However, by exchanging rates at the airport be sure of getting ripped off. The exchange rates at the airport are very high and you will end up receiving fewer dollars in return for more home currency. Make sure that the only time you would exchange money at the airport is when it's an emergency. Otherwise, the rest of the time sticks to plastic.

6. Skip using the GPS on your smartphones: it is not smart to take the help of smartphones when traveling to a new destination. You choose the best vacation packages because you want to make the best use of your fancy holiday. Thus, make sure you take full advantage of it. Instead of using GPS to locate places, use a map instead or even more fun would be asking the locals about directions. This will just make sure you have a larger picture and you explore the place thoroughly, instead of magically reaching your destination. Using a map will give you a greater perspective of the beaten path ends. 

7. Skip shopping at expensive places: there is no doubt that you will be lured to shop at places with fancy boards, sweet fragrance, and smiling faces. But avoid shopping because there is absolutely nothing that you cannot buy at other places. These fancy places are overpriced and their main aim is to extract money from you. Do not succumb to temptation. You could just Amazon the same item the same evening. Save lots of money and buy some souvenirs for your relatives instead. Remember that you haven't traveled miles to spend unnecessary cash on items that you can find back in your home country.