Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a place where you can get a good night's sleep; be sure to read reviews carefully to make
sure there will be no unpleasant surprises, such as noise from the street.
Moving on from lodging, the last major practical planning aspect is food. Every meal
you eat in a foreign country is an opportunity to enjoy that country's culture in a rich way.
In addition to enjoying delicious meals, speaking your new language with the service staff
is an excellent way to practice. The effort you've put into learning the native language will
be appreciated and will distinguish you greatly from other tourists—you'll often observe a
visible transformation in the faces of those with whom you speak your new language, even
when that person is fluent in English. Politeness will be replaced with warmth, and over the
course of your meal, you might be treated to a private language lesson. Almost everyone
takes pride in and is an expert on their native language, and by making the effort to learn
the language of those you'll be interacting with, you'll have shown them a high degree of
respect. That respect will be reciprocated, and you'll experience your host country in a way
that simply wouldn't have been possible otherwise.
When picking restaurants, a good idea is to go through your guidebooks and circle
every one that holds some interest for you. If you have a travel partner, he or she should do
to handle the reorganization of your trip as it unfolds, but for now you need a basic plan
as a starting point. The goal here is to choose specific restaurants at which to make din-
ner reservations, and to form a list of potential lunch and snack spots that you'll pick from
during the course of your trip. In making your restaurant choices, consider the culture and
history of your country. For instance, if you were visiting Prague in the Czech Republic,
you would do well to have at least one hearty meal in a subterranean restaurant, perhaps
accompanied by a Pilsner beer, in light of the influence of the local caves on the Czech
culture and brewing tradition. As a contrast, visiting a French or Japanese restaurant while
in Prague might be a less enriching experience because of the lack of a historical context,
regardless of the quality of the cuisine. If you count the number of meals you'll eat during
your trip, you'll find that they are surprisingly few, and that each should be cherished as
a significant opportunity to learn about your host culture. An interesting question that can
help guide your dining choices is “How has my host country interacted with the world?”
For example, Angolan food in Lisbon or Moroccan food in Paris could both be interesting
experiences due to the colonial influences present in both Portugal and France. Whatever
choices you make, make them thoughtfully and you'll be rewarded.
When you've marked off a series of restaurants, cafés, bakeries, candy shops, and
the like to visit during the day and made one dinner choice for each night you'll be staying,
preferably dividing your choices by region, the next step will be to make dinner reserva-
tions over the phone. Depending on how far in advance you're making your choices, you
