Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
want to see or do. The idea is to create a little structure while still allowing plenty of freedom.
If there are specific things you want to see, it's smart to know if they're closed on a certain day
of the week.
If there is a certain museum or attraction you want to see, you should go online to see if
you can purchase tickets from their website or if tickets are sold elsewhere. You might be able
to save yourself from having to wait in line for an hour.
Keep a journal.
Spend a little time each day writing about the things you've done. Write
about what you ate or if you had an encounter with a crazy person. Write down train times
and addresses. By the end of your trip, it will be an awesome souvenir.
Relax
. Stuff is going to go wrong. You'll mess up. You'll fight with your travel partner. You
need to learn how to roll with the punches or you will go crazy. If you feel yourself starting to
get stressed, take a step back and remember that this is all part of the experience.
Get offline.
Being connected to the Internet is great and it can make traveling easier. But
it's also easy to focus so much on posting photos online and communicating to people back
home that you take yourself out of the moment. You end up disconnecting from what you've
traveled across the world to see.
Many cities have public bike-sharing programs. In Paris, there are 14,000 bicycles and 1,230 bicycle sta-
tions throughout the city.
Take photos of yourself.
I have thousands of photos from my travels but I only have a few
with me in them. Not taking more photos with me (and my travel partners) in them is one of
the things I regret the most. Don't be afraid to ask strangers to take your photos because most
of the time they want someone to take their photo, as well.
Wander.
Don't be afraid to simply wander aimlessly around cities. Get lost. Maybe you'll
find some cool things to see. If nothing else, you'll get to glimpse peoples' everyday lives.
Travel cities by bike.
One of the best ways to explore a city is by bike. It's relaxing and you
can cover a huge amount of ground. Many cities have free/cheap bike rental programs that let
