- Kindness of strangers
Let’s start this list of truths about traveling on a positive note; kindness. It actually is all around.
This is a fact that is easy to forget in these turbulent times of fake news and violence all over the place. But for real, underneath all the negativity 90% of us us are bloody brilliant people and completely worth meeting!
It is a priceless experience to meet someone new who eventually becomes a lifelong friend. That person can be a connection that brings together you and your dream job. Or they can be the inspiration that you needed when paddling in a cesspool of everyday grayness.
As an example, some of the people I’ve met on my travels include individuals such as:
- 2 girls who have become my absolute best friends,
- a graphic designer from England who designs alcohol brands for Finnish clients,
- a lesbian girl escaping her religious family’s anger to another country,
- and a woman who inspires me to this day with her style and cool personality and who now works for the UN.
On an extra note; a new HSBC survey found that 1 in 50 travelers has even found love on a plane so it’s time we start considering travel as the endless array of opportunities that it provides every single one of us.
- Packing is not a stressing matter
As I’ve gotten older I’ve started to notice certain OCD tendencies in my behavior when it comes to certain things. As truths about traveling go, such things include packing a suitcase;
I have a strict routine when it comes to collecting the pieces of clothing that I’m taking along and assembling them like a puzzle into my suitcase.
But unlike many people, who push the packing process to the very last minute before departure, I’ve made this process an enjoyable one.
Some people like cleaning, others enjoy going running. I like to look at packing as something that might be an unpleasant feat, but which you can make into an enjoyable activity.
It’s all about planning couple outfits, collecting the pieces from your closet into one place and then assembling them into the bag. It’s that simple.
And if you are the kind who is afraid of always forgetting something, stress not! There’s nothing so special that you couldn’t purchase it from your destination. (Excluding perhaps certain medicine and such more serious things but you’d probably pack them first anyway).
- Make dinner reservations
I don’t recommend scheduling too much on any trip. The best way to enjoy traveling is to leave time for wandering around aimlessly. That’s how you bump into surprises and adventures.
The only thing, that I’m willing to compromise on in terms of travel planning, is food. If you enjoy good food, making sure you get a couple good dinner reservations is a must!
Nothing is more frustrating than wandering around aimlessly looking for a pizza place while they keep avoiding you. One of the most important turths about traveling is that if you need something, you won’t find it as long as you need it.
Instead google the best place beforehand, book a table and just turn up. Having not booked beforehand too many times, I can vouch for the importance of booking a table or two. For example these restaurants in Tallinn should definitely always be booked beforehand, they’re popular for a reason.
- Leave unplanned time for yourself
Continuing on that theme, when it comes to truths about traveling, less is more. Sure, it’s good to perhaps research your destination a little bit beforehand so that you know which sights you’d like to experience.
But booking the whole holiday FULL of places to see with a timetable for achieving this is a 100% sure way to make your vacation a shit one. I would know, I’ve been on one such trip…
Instead I suggest you aim for chill vibes. Pick a couple of must-see places per location but don’t plan the days full of activities. Why? Well, learn from my mistake:
This one time I didn’t realize what a control-freak my travel companion was. She had an actual timetable set for our 5-day trip to Paris.
She also wanted to walk from one destination to the next. She had of course included this in her calculations when composing the schedule. Having danced semi-professionally when I was younger, I must tell you that my legs have never hurt as much as they did after Day 2 in Paris.
But since we’re Finns we completed the entire timetable one day early. Which was great for me but freaked her out. For her it meant we should add more things to the schedule.
At which point I noted that there happens to be this thing called Palace of Versaille, which she hadn’t included to her prescious schedule, but which I absolutely had to see. So, I insisted on going there alone if I must. AND I’M TAKING THE TRAIN! Of course she yielded and joined.
So, my darling reader, do not go overboard with your travel plans. When you leave time for random adventures and to just wander around good things usually happen.
- Local guides make a difference
When you book a package-holiday the guides are usually from your country. Which is OK, I mean their job is to tell you the basic facts about the destination, etc. But a local guide always makes a huge difference.
Whether it’s a pre-booked tour in the location or just a random person who’s willing to share their knowledge of the place, you will always discover interesting local facts that no tourist guide probably knows.
And those snippets of inside info are one of the things that make a vacation memorable.
- Try something new every time
One of the biggest truths about traveling is that if you just stick to bars and restaurants around your own culture and cuisine, you’re missing the whole point.
Instead have the courage to live a little for once. Whether it’s a local delicacy, scuba diving or using local public transport trying something different is always a good experience. Because it’s not what you would already know or what you’re used to.
And you’ll never know just how much you might be missing out on if you always stick to what you know. So, pluck up the courage and try out something new that might at first seem like not-that-great an idea.
I’ll give you an example: when I lived in Scotland I did try haggis, but I didn’t try a deep-fried Mars bar. And I still regret that!
- Travel is the best educator
Amen, amen, aaaaaaaameeen! When you’re in a place where people look different and think differently to you, you have to adapt a bit.
Even on a holiday you have to respect the local opening hours and certain cultural norms. Like covering your shoulders when entering a church, etc. Truths about travel: when abroad, you abide by their culture, not the other way round!
For some people having to adapt turns out to be too much to ask. Pointing the finger straight at certain Russian and British tourists. But most of us thankfully have enough brain capacity in our use that we can respect others enough to behave like humanbeings.
When you adapt to local culture and customs, you might suddenly realize that their way of doing certain things is better than the way things are done back at home.
The world has already gotten so small and with extremists running wild with permission (I mean, wtf, when did Nazis become legal again?!) it’s more important than ever to understand and respect the fact that we’re all different.
Even within one culture, we are all individuals, and individuals differ from each other. But at the end of the day, we all have the exact same core values and needs: safety, meaningful connections, food.
- You get what you pay for
A tad more triggering when it comes to truths about traveling. If you pay 40€/night for accommodation you shouldn’t be too surprised if your bathroom doesn’t include soap or a bathtub.
Or if the service at your chosen venue is poor or even nonexistent. I mean, the amount of complaints on Tripadvisor for poor service at places that cost next to nothing can be seen as entertainment.
On the other hand, if you pay 140€/night you can expect a breakfast that’s fit for a king. You can also expect that all services in your room and in the hotel function properly.
Budget travel is very popular and I myself tend to go for the cheaper option as well. But I am aware that it’s always cheap for a reason.
And thus it’s always a bit nerve-wrecking to check in to one of these places because you never know what might be waiting. But if you want to avoid such nervous situations, then you gotta dig deeper in your wallet.
- Something will go wrong
Continuing along the previous points, there is no trip where everything would always go exactly according to plan. It’s just an impossibility.
But things going wrong often means something as small as missing a train or a flight being late. We’ve probably all been there, done that, right?
And then there are those cases where the Air BnB turns out to be an abandoned house or the whole crew catches food poisoning. 90% of the time, though, these are minor things that we can all get over by laughing about it.
For example, on one of our family trips someone broke their ankle and another one fell asleep by the pool ending up literally bright red on one side of their body for the next couple of weeks.
They’re both still alive and fine, and we all laugh about those things now. Truths about traveling: humour really does heal all wounds.
- Travel is always fun
Just like in the aforementioned case of burning oneself very seriously, it was actually hilariously funny for the rest of us. And now, in hindsight, to that particular person as well.
Even my time in London, which was one of the toughest times of my life, now seems like one of the most important life lessons and experiences ever. Actually I even have fond memories of the time!
