Travel and Leisure
Looking back on things, I guess I have done a fair amount of travel - both for business as well as vacation. I have one passport with so many stamps, that I consider it a kind of a badge of honour. But with all of the trips I've been on, there were some mishaps, and other calamities avoided. So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I have learned over 30+ years of international travel.
If you have spare time, spare it at the airport
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| Heathrow airport on a normal day |
I'm not talking about an 8-hour layover between flights here. More like, what are you going to do with that extra hour between breakfast and the time you "think" you should be at the airport? There was this one time where we were staying on the outskirts of London, and my travel partner thought we should take the extra time to wander around the local High Street. It wasn't a particularly picturesque suburb, so I nixed that, and we headed to the airport, arriving over 3 hours early. However, when we entered Heathrow's International Terminal, we were immersed in chaos immediately. Turns out that all of the computers were down, and all airlines were having to check in passengers
manually. Had we not have arrived early, we would surely have missed our flight home that day.
Select your airline seat ahead of time
This is one that has come to light more these days, as advance seat selection is typically an additional charge now. I mean, we don't worry about it too much on a short, regional flight, but for long-haul ones, it is definitely worthwhile. I'll even go on seatguru.com, and check out which plane and seat layout is being used, before I book flights. Back when I didn't know better, I was unfortunate enough to get the worst seat possible on a 10-hour flight from Frankfurt to Harare, Zimbabwe. I was stuck in the middle seat, rear bulkhead - yes, the seats that don't recline - and to make matters worse, I was sandwiched between two large German men. Needless to say, I spend the extra money now to get decent seats; she likes the front bulkhead just before Premium Economy, as it gives you extra space since there is no seat back in front of you. Sure, the seat is slightly narrower, as the table tray comes out of your armrest, but we're both slim enough that there's no issue. As a bonus, when you pay for early seat selection, you usually get to board ahead of the masses, ensuring that you get some overhead bin space.
Check your passport expiry date
You've all seen them. The folks at the passport office, that are freaking out, as the clerk informs them that they will have to pay an expedite fee to get their passport renewed in time for their upcoming trip. Well imagine my surprise, while reciting our passport details to the travel agent, and discovering that hers had
already expired. Which would not have been a big deal for the European trip coming up in 3 months, except we were leaving for a beach vacation in Mazatlan in a week! Suffice it to say, that counting on government bureaucracy to complete your vacation plans is a nerve-wracking experience that I don't recommend to anyone.
Understand your insurance coverage
When I was younger, I would never had thought about this. But after having to cancel an expensive European river cruise when she came down with the flu
the night before our departure, I do now. Luckily, because I had paid for
the entire trip on my VISA, we received partial compensation through them. The other half was covered by her employee insurance benefits - a fact we didn't know then, but are certainly aware of now. And it's not just trip cancellation and interruption insurance that you should consider. There's your medical coverage, as well as your home's insurance while you are gone. For example, did you know that most home insurance underwriters won't cover something like water damage from a burst water heater, if you don't have someone either house-sitting or popping by every few days to check in? This happened to my parents, and extensive damage was caused when their pipes froze; because they had a neighbour popping by to check on things, their insurance covered it.
Bring along some local currency
This is particularly important for us Canadians, as we don't have credit cards with low/no international transaction fees. i.e. a typical VISA transaction will charge you 3.5% in addition to a typically uncompetitive exchange rate (Update: I just got a Home Trust VISA which has no foreign transaction fees for European travel). But you can get cash at a bank ATM machine, right? Not necessarily. Recently, on a trip to Portugal, we ran out of Euros, but our Interac cards wouldn't work in
every ATM we tried. Luckily, we were able to borrow some from our other travel companions, so not a huge issue, but it could have been. Bear in mind that while many merchants take credit cards, some countries are still more partial to using cash for transactions in restaurants and small market kiosks. Getting some at the airport foreign exchange is not always going to give you a good rate, and chasing down an ATM is usually the last thing you want to do after 12+ hours of travelling. BTW, I find that you can even negotiate a better rate with the teller when you pull up at your local bank branch. Pandemic update: most countries have gone contactless payment, so you need to make sure your credit card is equipped with the RFID payment chip.
Get to know the tipping etiquette for your destination
I often see Americans over-tipping in Europe, which sets the wrong standard for us Canadians. As such, I've seen many unscrupulous restaurants, taxicabs etc. trying to get more than the norm when it comes to gratuities. e.g. Most restaurants in Europe will pay their servers a decent wage, and as such, 10% is quite a generous tip. Most often, locals will simply round-up - if the bill was €28.70, you would simply leave €30. Being somewhat indistinguishable from Americans, I have had folks try to take advantage of me. Like the time in London when a cabbie pretended to be furious at the normal tip I had given him in order to get another £2 from me. There are differences from country to country, so it makes sense to check if the etiquette is different when moving to a new destination. i.e. in Mexico, tipping is always going to be appreciated, versus a Sandals resort, where tipping is strictly prohibited.
Check the weather for your destination
We've been tripped up by this more than once. Our first time was going to Italy in mid-May - we thought, "no problem, it will be warm, so all we will need is a rain jacket just in case". Wrong. They were having unseasonably cool weather in Florence, and we ended up having to buy sweaters there. The second time was in Holland - we should have figured out that a place with
windmills was going to be windy. Really windy. While we did have insulated jackets this time, the windchill made it feel much colder than we were expecting, that's for sure. I know you can always buy something over there if necessary, but sometimes it feels like, "we should have known better". And now, you know.
More tips and mistakes in Part 2
