I constantly hear, ‘well my friend suggested this or that.’ You may like your friend a great deal, but you are not them. We each are unique. I certainly have very strong feelings about some parts of travel, like visit only one country or region. But once I have told you my thoughts the trip is yours. It should be the same with your friends or family.
There are some of us who eat, breathe and sleep travel. It’s what we live for. Despite what we may think, though, we are in the minority. A good majority of people don’t travel much at all, and many of these people have a horrible misconception about everything travel related. Or better yet they were there, where ever that may be, 25 years ago.
Most people who give advice don’t intend to be condescending or bossy even though they may come across that way. A great deal of the time it’s just our loved ones who are worried about our safety. You can’t really blame them for that.
Here are a few bad advice comments….
– People tell me not to travel by myself because I’m a woman and I’ll get kidnapped, assaulted, trafficked, etc… (Hard to believe people still think that way in this day and age.)
– That those people in that [insert country] you’re going to visit are really rude and mean and you shouldn’t even bother going there because you’re going to have an awful time of it.
– There’s no way I’m flying out of the country with all of these terrorist threats. I’m staying right here in the US of A.
– Never ever talk to locals. They will cheat you of your money.
– Why go to a foreign country when you can visit the Disney replica instead? It’s safer.
– Don’t eat the street food – you’ll get terrible afflictions.
– Don’t go there, what will you eat?
– Only eat at western restaurants; you’ll die of food poisoning if you don’t.
– You don’t need to book a hostel in advance for a weekend in Amsterdam. (That resulted in 1 night in sketchiest hostel ever and 1 in the train station!)
– Book a hotel when you get there. (I hate doing that! It’s a waste of time, energy and it’s stressful.)
– Don’t worry about booking ahead. Hostels are never busy at this time of year.
So if you want and need an unsolicited, independent, informed comment call me or your friendly travel adviser.
(Idea from Bootsnail)
AlwaysHarriet 