16 Travel Blunders to Avoid!

1. Not calling your bank or credit card company before you leave

Before our trip to China, we did very little preparation other than just pack our bags and water our plants. On our first night in Beijing, we thought, “No problem, we’ll just walk to the mall near our hotel, hit up an ATM and grab some dinner”.  We visited an ATM with my debit card’s logo and, worst thing ever; it sucked up my debit card and kept it!  We tried buying some small items at a grocery store and got rejected with every card we tried there as well. 

That night, we had to go back to our hotel room and reconstitute a freeze-dried package of backpackers’ stew I had thrown in my luggage on a lark because it was so light and “just in case”.

Our first meal in China was Mountain House Beef Stew…

I had to get up in the middle of the night (during California banking hours) to call my credit union and let them know that my card had not been stolen but that we actually were in China!  Luckily, my husband still had a credit card and his debit card and we were able to use it to get cash and cover our purchases for the rest of our trip.

2. Not getting cash (and lots of it) before your trip

Now, as you’re planning a trip, it’s pretty easy to see if American dollars (or whatever your country’s currency is) are accepted (or possibly even preferred) at your destination.  If they are, visit your bank and load up on small bills…ones, fives, tens and twenties – but especially one dollar bills. And, make sure the money is clean, crisp and looks pretty new.  In many countries with sketchy currencies, only NEW looking bills will be accepted and large denominations might be met with suspicion as well! 

Even before you step foot out the US, it’s nice to have small bills. From the time you hit your first transportation hub or hotel, you’ll have drivers, valets, red caps and others helping you with your bags and in other ways.  It’s nice to have the right amount of small bills to give just the tip you’d like to show appreciation for assistance – especially as we’re getting a little older and need a little more help than we used to.

3. Not keeping your money in a safe spot close to your body

We learned this lesson on a subway in Rome. I had bought a nice little money pouch to wear around my neck during our two week Italian vacation.

I tried telling my husband he needed to wear one or to get a money belt. But, nope!  He was stubborn and kept his money in his wallet and in his pants pocket.

I don’t remember if he kept it in his back or front pocket, but, you guessed, it…it was lifted by a stealthy thief.  Now, we confronted a suspicious looking guy next to us who was wearing a backpack across the front of his chest.  We told him we know it was him, which of course he denied, and from there, he quickly disappeared into the crowds.  Did we yell “thief” and chase him down for a confrontation? No, we didn’t and I’ve thought back on this experience many times wondering if we could have done more at the moment.

But, I think it we did enough. Nothing got out of hand and it was fairly easy to call our bank and the DMV to let them know these items had been stolen. 

Luckily, we weren’t carrying much cash in that long gone wallet.  

4. Not dressing comfortably for long flight

I often see beautiful women in sundresses and high heels walking around the airport looking so chic. On the other hand, I see people wearing flannel pajama bottoms, sweat shirts and slippers shuffling about as well. Now, somewhere between these two extremes, is the “just right” airplane attire.  For business trips, you may need to dress for a meeting soon after landing. But, if that’s not the case, loose (or stretchy) pants, and soft layers up on top are the only way to go. Slip on shoes work well if you have to remove them through security and some sort of socks (support stockings if blood clots are a worry) just feel good. 

Comfortable pants and shoes are a must!

On an eleven hour flight to Israel, I wore no socks and my bare ankles were freezing after a few hours.  Luckily, I remembered some socks in a little travel kit my late mother left me.  If you have a layover, make sure your shoes are good for walking.  You’ll want to get in a few laps if there’s time before your next long sit. 

5. Paying overweight charges

Once you’re at the airport, it’s too late to fix this blunder.  And, you guessed it, once again, we learned an expensive lesson on this subject.  After two weeks in China, we had purchased silk pajamas for our entire family (that’s 23 people with our children and grandchildren) and so much more. 

Our bags were over the weight limit and we had nothing to shed to lighten our load.  We did consolidate our two overweight bags into one…but, sadly had to pay the $100 overweight charge on that one bag. We didn’t want to pay for extra bags, but the $25 charge for an extra bag would have been a bargain.  And, because we were in China, we could have picked up an extra bag for a song. 

On our last international trip, we packed some old clothes we left or threw away to lighten our load as we went to make space for the extra goods we’d be bringing home. And, we now carry the small hand luggage scale below with us so there are no more surprises at the airport.

6. Not bringing tissues

Not every country has nicely appointed bathrooms like we do in the United States.  In fact, when I travel to states outside of California, I’m always reminded that those paper seat covers you see in virtually every California public bathroom are not ubiquitous. And, not only do many places not have paper seat covers, in many countries, bathrooms don’t even have toilet paper.

So, when you’re planning any trip, buy some of those little tissue packs and keep them with you in your purse or day pack.

 And, not all bathrooms have soap either…carrying a little bottle of liquid soap might be a good idea too. (I haven’t done this, but think it’s a good idea and will try to remember this.) 

7. Not bringing shampoos and conditioner

When we were on our 3-day Nile Cruise, we were limited to one small carry-on bag a piece so we left a lot of items in storage at our Cairo hotel. On the boat, there was a dispenser in the shower with some sort of cleaner in it.  It was probably just shower gel, but I needed to wash my hair, so, for those few minutes, I had to tell myself, “it’s probably OK to use this on my hair”.  But, I really didn’t believe it. So, at that moment, I regretted not bringing along just a few of well-labeled little bottles of shampoo and conditioner from one the nice hotels we’d been staying in. Please let my lesson in lying to myself help you in the future.

8. Not bringing an electricity converter

Once upon a time in a bathroom in Prague, I held a flaming curling iron in my hand which looked more like a welding torch or Lady Liberty’s flame than something I’d wrap my hair in.  Luckily I was not around anything flammable.  But, for the rest of that trip, I had straight, limp hair.  Lesson learned — an adaptor is NOT a converter.  I could plug my implement in and turn it on, but it got a lot more juice than it could handle. 

You might want an electricity converter vs. a simple adaptor.

Electric converters cost more than simple adaptors, but if the appliances you’re plugging in don’t have variable settings (240/120), you might want to invest in a converter.  

9. Not trying local eateries

There are McDonalds, Pizza Huts and KFCs in every city around the world.  And, when you get back home, they’ll be here as well.  But, when you’re visiting a new country or even state, make sure you eat the local fare. You may love it; and maybe you won’t, but you’ll experience an important part of the culture by trying new foods and flavors. Just ask a friendly local or two where they eat. 

We approached a friendly looking pensioner in Florence and he personally escorted us to a little café that looked and felt like a cave.  There, we enjoyed one of the most delicious, authentic and affordable meals we ate on our Italian vacation.  This worked for us in Boston too. We appoached a pleasant looking young man and were given directions to an off the beaten path, family-run restaurant that gave us a feel for the real Boston, instead of eating at the Hard Rock Café, Boston.

10. Not conversing with the locals

A vacation and travel is more than just seeing sights and taking photos. Like I said in the previous post, some of our best food finds have come from talking with the locals.  Sometimes, if you’re on a cruise or a tour, it’s harder to find the time to be on your own to get to know people outside of tourism workers.  Folks who are trying to sell you something or are looking to pad a tip, don’t really count. 

You want to talk with the regular people on the street, workers, teachers, parents and the like. We’re not necessarily looking for lifetime friends, but a genuine discourse with our fellow human beings. John is a teacher and when we were in Italy, everyone we’d talk to and get to know would call him Professor.  It was fun and felt so nice to get that kind of respect for the hard work he’s done for so many years.

11. Not getting out and experiencing life and locations

We always bring our own tubes or inflatable rafts to Yosemite to raft down the Merced River in the summertime.  Last year, after getting out of the river and deflating our tubes, we crossed over to eat at the Base Camp Eatery.  I was feeling a little embarrassed to be seen with my messy, wet hair and clothes, carrying a deflated inner tube.  As I was sitting there waiting for my salad to be prepared, I watched a lot of tourists stepping out of tour buses looking so fresh and so clean. I thought, “Well, they may look great, but they’re seeing Yosemite from the windows of a tour bus.  I’m seeing it from my own inner tube while floating down the beautiful Merced. “

I’ll take my version of experiencing a place over just looking at it with clean, dry clothes any day!  This is just one example of getting out of the car or bus and really experiencing a location.  If you’re at all able, park the car and get out to take walk, bike or hike in places like national and state parks, towns and cities, and wherever your travels take you.

12. Not going to new places (same old same old)

We all have favorite places we go back to.  Our family has been camping in Yosemite five times and we plan on going back again. However, there’s something about going to a new place that is the essence of travel. Seeing a different land and culture, meeting people who are nothing like ourselves, eating novel and strange foods and just embracing something completely new makes the world feel fresh again. 

When you get to be a little older, everything can start to feel like “been there, done that” and the years just seem to fly by because of the routines we’ve set in our lives.  

New places and experiences can slow down that flying clock and help us be in the moment and have that feeling of being a child and experiencing something for the first time. 

Even if you enjoy the same cabin, beach house or time share, throw in a trip to a new spot between your favorites and see what I mean.

13. Not considering visits to some locations because of fears

Our most recent international trips have been to China, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. All of these might sound just a little bit dangerous and risky for an older couple (both of us around 60).  And, yes, if we had gone on our own to these places, we may have felt more vulnerable. 

But, on each of these we were either with a tour or on a cruise and used the cruise ship’s excursions. At no time in any of these locations, did we feel even a little bit in peril. 

It’s an easy consideration knowing which journeys and destinations you feel comfortable being completely on your own and which ones you’d feel safer as a part of a guided group.

14. Underestimating what you’re capable of

When in Jerusalem, we had the chance to walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel, a 1,750 foot long, narrow, low-ceilinged, underground passageway with a foot or two water running through it.

A lot of people were scared off by this description and refused to join the tour, or they took the alternate “dry tunnel”.  I was almost afraid of going through it myself (I have a bit of claustrophobia), but I forced myself to just buck up and do it.  And, I’m so glad I did…it was one of the highlights of Jerusalem (and there were many).

15. Overestimating what you’re capable of

However, I have been guilty of overestimating what I’m capable of as well.  On a camping trip to Santa Cruz Island, part of Channel Island National Park, there were several guided kayak tours offered. Some were just an hour long through some nearby caves. One of them went through the caves but also included paddling out around a point and into a cove for a picnic.  Well, that sounded more fun and included food, so I signed us up for that. 

After our nice picnic, we headed back around the point on the way back. John and I (in our two person kayak) ran into waves that took us down between them so far, that we were completely surrounded by huge swells.  Eventually we capsized and were just hanging onto our upside down kayak, bobbing up and down (and, in my case, swallowing a lot of sea water) for a few minutes until our guide happened to turn around to see us really struggling.  He came back and got us back in our boat and helped tow us back to our safe docking site, (as I was throwing up all the swallowed sea water I’d ingested). 

That was a harrowing experience and I totally regret thinking that as semi-fit late 50 somethings, we were up to that longer option.

16. Not “saying Yes” 

Why do we travel?  To say yes to new foods, experiences, cultures, histories and getting a taste of another kind of life.  Travel is all about getting out of our comfort zone – which can be very, well, uncomfortable!  But, don’t let fear or inertia keep you from trying new things.  Say yes, to opportunities to explore, walk, swim, dance, float, bike, fly, hike, learn and just be in new ways and new places