Traveling abroad is a fantastic experience, but it’s also fraught with pitfalls. Currency exchange can be confusing, for one thing, and they can cost you money. Several attractions also look great on paper but are costly and overrated when you see them. What can you do?
Today, we’ve got some tips to help you to avoid tourist traps and save money so that you can enjoy your vacation instead of spending it miserable. Let’s look at what you can do to protect yourself and have the best time possible.
Forums Are Your Friend
Forums such as Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor are full of people just like you who love to travel. Please take advantage of this information so that you can avoid the mistakes that they have made.
The people you will find here are more than happy to share their stories, and you can avoid making the same mistakes they made with a little light reading and note-taking.
Skip the Line? Consider Skipping the Attraction
When you go to the website of a tourist attraction, and they are boasting things like ‘skip the line’ or ‘VIP pass for your family,’ this is something that you want to notice. This sort of thing means that the place is packed during tourist season and they are pressuring you into paying extra to avoid lines.
If it’s something you absolutely can’t miss, then the passes might be worth it. However, if it’s just a passing fancy, you might think twice about visiting an attraction with lines so big that you must pay to get through them without wasting an entire day. Click on the link to learn more.
Hire a Local – It’s Worth the Money
Local guides are worth their weight in gold. They know which attractions are tourist traps, and they can also tell you what things cost. Both are useful, but especially the latter.
In some countries, your home currency is worth quite a bit more, and if you don’t know what things cost, you could pay four or five times their actual price and never even know it.
A guide can also show you the REAL gems that only the locals know about, so hire a guide and take good care of them – they’ll do the same for you. Just make sure your guide isn’t trying to get you into a tourist trap.
Resist the Urge to Get that Room by the Beach
While it’s fun to be within walking distance from right on the beach, consider getting a hotel a little farther away. Look for places that tout themselves as ‘quiet’ or ‘outside of the main plaza.’
You can still get to where you need to go; it will just take a few extra minutes. You’ll be in an area where the food and the life are authentic rather than tailored for tourists. After all, you didn’t go to Greece to eat at McDonald’s. Travelers also save a lot of money, as prices double or triple in tourist areas.
Just a little food for thought – follow the link to read more.
Some Final Words
Vacationing abroad is the experience of a lifetime, but it doesn’t have to break the bank. Just keep your wits about you and protect yourself with a bit of forum research in advance, an eye for tricks like ‘VIP line-skipping passes,’ and a local guide which you’ve hired to help protect your vacation. Finally, avoid hotels in ‘touristy’ areas and live like a local.
By the time you get home, you can rest assured that you have a genuine taste of what that country has to offer, rather than what they are simply trying to sell you.
Photo by Te lensFix
