18 Travel Mistakes You Do NOT Want To Make

by Alyssa Ramos

After traveling to 6 continents and almost 30 countries, I’ve had my fair share of travel mistakes and fails, and witnessed even more of them. Luckily, that means I can compile these mistakes into a list to help other travelers avoid my same misfortunes. You’re welcome.

1. Not Researching Best LOCAL Areas to Stay In

Don’t just go straight for the hotels that are in the most well-known areas of where you’re going. Those are typically the most overpriced, and located in touristy areas where you won’t get much of an experience. Look up local blogs or bloggers in the area for suggestions like I did with my Blogger Guides.

2. Not Researching What to Wear

Your cut-off jean shorts and tank tops ain’t gunna fly in places like Italy and Spain. Many countries consider certain clothing inappropriate, and even offensive, not to mention can make you stick out like a sore thumb and make you an easy target for theft. Most fashion magazines and websites have branches in other countries, shocking, I know, so just look them up to help with your packing list.

3. Not Considering Climate/Hemisphere Changes

You would think Africa and Australia would be hot right? NOPE. I’ll admit, I initially didn’t consider the opposing hemispheres, so booked my trip for the summer, but even after researching the weather, finding out it would be cold, and asking for packing advice, I was still freezing. Like, to the point where people were giving me coats and boots.

4. Not Looking Up Current News Affairs

SO, this one was kind of my fault. I knew there was a Military Coup in Bangkok, and I knew that a Malaysia Airlines plane went missing, and another one shot down…but went anyway. Malaysia Airlines turned out to be Ok, just slightly terrifying, but the Military Coup mandated a 9pm curfew, so I was trapped in my hotel the only night I was there. Luckily I knew this, so booked a room at Lebua at State Tower (the “Hangover” hotel) so I could at least drink at their rooftop bar…however I ended up spending wayyyyy too much money on that little idea.

5. Not Bringing Multiple Forms of Money

After a week in Thailand I was debit and credit card-less. HUGE fail. I would say bring a third credit card…but I’m pretty sure I would have lost or gotten that one stolen as well. I did a pretty not terrible job at wiring myself money…which reminds me…look up Western Union locations ahead of time…but it still sucked. So in addition to bringing multiple cards, also bring travelers cheques, and place them all in different compartments of your luggage as back-ups.

6. Not Making Copies of Your Passport

What are you going to do if you lose your passport in a foreign country? Cry? Just kidding. You can get a temporary one from your country’s embassy in the country you’re in…but it’ll take a ridiculously long time if you have no proof of identification. That’s why it’s important to make multiple copies of your passport and also hide them in different compartments of your luggage.

7. Not Picking Your Seat Early on Your Flight

Unless you’re booking a last minute flight or flying Southwest…you typically get your pick of seats on the flight when you book it. Obvious right? Sure, but if you can’t get the seat you want (i.e. only middle seats are left), check back again right before the flight date for cancellations, or leave it unassigned and hope for an upgrade.

8. Not Knowing Money Conversions

‘Thailand is soooo cheap’ they said, ‘the conversion rate is sooooo great’, they said, but when everything is soooooo cheap, you tend to forget how much you’re spending. Mostly because you just give whatever they say without thinking of how much you’re actually spending. Make a cheat sheet of the basic amount conversions ($1, $5, $10, $20, $50 etc) and store it in your bag or on your phone for quick reference. OH, and make sure you either give away or covert your cash at the airport of the country YOU’RE IN before you leave. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with $50 in coins that you can’t convert….like me.

9. Not Changing Your Phone Plan

Have you ever been on a trip that costed less than your phone bill did when you got home? Because I have. FAIL. It was because I forgot to switch my phone plan before I left. I have AT&T and they have pretty good data packages. By the way, you only need data roaming. You can call people for free using Skype, and can message people for free with Whatsapp and Facebook chat when you have wifi OR using your precious amount of data megabytes. Make sure you monitor your data usage…you go over…you’re going to cry. There are apps for that.

10. Not Bringing Multiple Adaptors

Oh you think one universal adaptor is all you need for your trip? Fail. How many devices do you use? How many adaptors do you lose? How many faulty travel travel items do you buy that end up breaking? Yeah. Buy more than one.

11. Not Knowing How To Appropriately Greet People

Nothing is worse than being an obnoxious tourist. Before you go somewhere, try to research and learn how to properly greet people in the country you’re going to. Make it a point to learn how to say “hi, how are you, please, and thank you”, in the native language. Trust me, it’ll go a long way, both beneficially, and safety-wise.

12. Not Being Considerate of the Culture Differences

Woooooo, look at you on vacation in Phuket, being an obnoxious American tourist per usual. Don’t do that. You’ll not only piss off the majority of the people around you, but you’ll also miss out on meeting great locals, getting deals, and learning about other people.

13. Not Having Common Sense About Safety

Yes, we all enjoy going out and getting hammered when we’re traveling…but don’t be an idiot about it. If you’re going to get drunk in a foreign country, make sure you have a buddy or five with you, just in case a shady man with a machête wants your wallet. Don’t get drunk by yourself, always know where you’re staying, and what your emergency contacts are. Don’t flash around expensive purses, wallets, shoes, clothes, etc. Just don’t be stupid.

14. Spending Too Much Time on Social Media

I know, I know…’it doesn’t count unless you posted it on Instagram’. Well tell that to your phone bill, and to the time you wasted looking at your phone rather than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Social media has given us all social anxiety and a separation disorder with our smartphones, causing us to miss out on actual life, not to mention ‘text neck’. Put. The phone. DOWN. And go see whatever it is that you’re there to see.

15. Spending Too Much Time in The Hotel Room

Take some Pinterest tutorials on how to get ready quickly, and save resting for when you’re dead. Get out there and go see as much as possible because chances are you won’t be going back to where you’re at any time soon. Also, as big as a fan as I am of sleeping in…and this pains me to say…at least try to wake up early. Even though alarm clocks and mornings both suck.

16. Traveling With Someone You Butt Heads With

When you’re with someone else, you’re on their time as well as your own. If they wake up late, take forever to get ready, annoy you with their constant chatter, smell weird, don’t share the same interests, etc., that it also time wasted, and places you’ll miss out on seeing. Make sure if you have a travel buddy it’s someone you would want to be around 24/7. If they aren’t…go solo.

17. Getting So Drunk You Don’t Remember What You Even Saw

I’ll admit…I’ve woken up on a plane from Barcelona to Florida, wearing all of my souvenirs from a 36-day Euro-trip, and quite startled and confused. Absinthe seemed like a great idea to try on the last night of our trip…but it wasn’t. Don’t get me wrong…there’s a good chance I’ll drink a lot of wine wherever I am, and you should too…just don’t get to the point where you don’t even remember seeing the Eiffel Tower light up at night, or are too hungover to go on a river tour of Amsterdam because you’re so nauseous.

18. Doing Other Naughty Things

As with any normal young adult, you’ll probably be tempted by a sexy foreign person who you’re positive you’re in love with. But that person could potentially be an organ harvester, sex trafficker, or worse…a puppy abuser……or they could be a Turkish heir, South African safari guide, or Australian pro-surfer….ya never know…so always be sure to Google/Facebook stalk them before agreeing on any excursions. And obviously practice other types of subliminal safety as well.