Our 5 BIGGEST Travel Mistakes… and how to avoid them
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- Опубліковано 8 чер 2024
- Ep.96 Mistakes can happen to anyone, regardless of how seasoned of a traveler you are. One mistake is silly, one could have had seriously unpleasant consequences, and all are preventable. While it might be less embarrassing to keep these private, we'd prefer to have you learn from us and save yourself the hassle of making these same errors.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Start
01:33 - Mistake #1 - Senior Moment
05:08 - Mistake #2 - Scammed
09:47 - Mistake #3 - Too Quick
14:48 - Mistake #4 - Check a Map
23:02 - Mistake #5 - Visa Error
29:45 - Have you made travel mistakes?
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My worst (and best) mistake was not paying attention when boarding a tour boat in Capri (after a night of drinking grappa!). I ended up on the Italian speaking tour boat instead of English and didn't realize until we were already out of the harbor. The captain figured out what happened and invited me upstairs and gave me a private tour in broken English....now I have a story!
A night a grappa also sounds like the first mistake, Jill! But how cool that it turned out so well! I love this for you! Thanks so much for watching and for sharing your "mistake"!! -Judy
We were recently in Malaga, Spain and decided to travel to Alicante (via Madrid by train)on Holy Thursday and return on Easter Sunday! We did it, but we almost didn’t get a train back to Malaga and we paid the price for travelling during holy week. Lesson learned! I hope you realize that your video is going to make your viewers feel better about their mistakes.☺️
Wow, Joanne, Thank you so much for sharing your own hiccup! It takes vulnerability, but what a great lesson. ♥️ We don't ever want to create the illusion of being perfect or having everything figured out. These were truly embarrassing, frustrating mistakes, but they happen. We also deliberately have chosen not to overly plan all the details of everything we do anymore, so there are a few silly consequences (like the Senso-ji Temple) that come with certain types of travel. -Judy
The problem of being too nice is something that Erin and I talk about a lot. The missed bus that Erin mentioned partly happened because we weren’t comfortable with Spanish yet (I have largely fixed that) but also because we did not want to continuously bug the bus coordinator because it seemed rude to our Western sensibilities. We have learned that unfortunately you sometimes have to act in a way that we might think is rude to avoid the scammers. Rather than calling it rude, I like to think of it as being direct. “I don’t want your stuff and I am going to leave now.” It is unfortunate but sometimes necessary.
Hi Stan, you are exactly right. We had an incident in an airport parking lot (maybe in Cambodia or Hanoi) where a taxi was pushing us to get into his taxi when we were trying to book a Grab. I had visions of our experience at the Cairo airport where we allowed ourselves to get roped into an overpriced situation because we were overwhelmed and the person who approached us was way too assertive. I probably overreacted somewhat, but I refused to put myself in a similar situation where I might be allowing someone to take advantage of us because they thought we might be confused or overwhelmed. We knew what we were doing, we had a plan, and I wasn't about to be derailed by some assertive stranger.
But those hard lessons have made us better, more savvy travelers, and it sounds like the same is true for you. Direct is a good word. Thanks so much for weighing in and adding more color to how you have learned to navigate travel. -Judy
Thank you for your time and posting.
Thanks for watching, David! We hope that our viewers can learn from our mistakes and avoid them for themselves, or at the very least understand that some mistakes can happen regardless of how travel savvy you might be. Keeping a sense of humor can sometimes put it all in the proper perspective! -Judy
Laughing with you, not at you!❤Helpful tips about things to be aware of.
Thank you so much. We love that we are able to laugh and also be vulnerable. We hope others will learn and be better, but at the same time, some missteps will always come from so much travel. Especially now that we are full-time travelers, we choose not to overly structure everything. It's incredibly time consuming and takes us away from some of the experiences we want to have and we are working alongside our travel and sightseeing, so we strike a balance around how much deep planning we do. Of course, that can get us into a little trouble at times. Fortunately, other than feeling incredibly stupid at times, there hasn't been anything too serious that has happened. We appreciate having you on this journey with us! -Judy
Thanks for sharing 👍 😊 Didn't remember a 2 ticket for German trains. (30 years ago) ticket and ticket for seats?
Reservations are required on some international connections or night trains in Germany, but not all of them. Unfortunately, they were required on one of our legs in addition to our Glacier Express train. Scrambling to book a seat wasn't the most fun we've had on a train! Thanks for watching! -Judy
Thanks Judy and Kevin for your honesty and helping us learn some important lessons and be prepared. We know things can't always go smoothly. You are great travel partners!❤
Thank you so much, Jill! It's brutal honesty that would be easier to hide under the rug, so thank you for your kind comment. We let a lot roll off of our backs and try not to sweat the small stuff. Fortunately, having a UA-cam channel gives us permission to make mistakes so we can pass our learnings along to others! And we do have a blast with each other! -Judy
Great content and advice from your guys travel journey and of course the best recommendations ❤
Thank you so much for watching. We're pretty vulnerable in this one, so we appreciate your kind words! -Judy
I enjoyed your video and honesty about your 'mistakes'. We try to research everything as much as we possibly can, yet there are always things that are different than expected or somehow just seem to not go as planned. I always figure that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes though. But, it sure can be stressful! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you so much, Linda! It's not always fun to be so vulnerable especially when just taking an extra few minutes to double check some things would prevent issues. But you are absolutely right that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. Great advice! -Judy
Great video!❤
Thank you so much for watching, BW! You are a well-seasoned traveler. Do you have any travel mistakes to share? Is there one of ours that resonated most? -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie Well, I am abroad right now and have been traveling for two months and just arrived at my 20th country in the two months I’ve been traveling.😂 I do so many things different now and much better than I used to, but the basic thing is to just not be so sure that nothing‘s gonna happen so you don’t get lazy and take more care of important things like passport, money, and things like that. I don’t assume something is going to happen, but I know it can so I’m just so much more extra careful now. I cross my t’s and dot my I’s and I keep track of my stuff I think so much better. I i’m doing this trip with only a 30 L backpack so I travel lighter now and I stay way more organized. I think maybe one of the most important things you said (and I always feel this) is if something does go wrong just to remember it’s really first world problems. Almost nothing is that big a deal and it’s fixable. And to always keep in mind just how lucky I am to be able to be doing this in the first place so if something does go wrong, I take it as something to learn from and to just keep things in perspective.
WOW. I can't imagine that amount of fast travel! That's three days in each country (or less counting how much travel is involved in getting from one country to the next)! Is most of this travel by train or car? Your advice is great. Thank you so much! I also can't imagine getting our packs down that light, but it's impressive that you are doing it! -Judy
🏔️😊 No, sleeper, no problem! 😂 that would be creepy having someone watching you sleep.
This was a wonderful video about mistakes and just going with it and learning. The "art" donation was kind of you to still do, even though he was tricking you.
The visa is the most important! 😮this is something I think is on the top of the list. Thank you for explaining all of this.😊
Wanted to add love Judy said "the penalty" or the "penalty " 😂
Well, Carolann, it certainly is humbling, but if someone can learn from us, it's worth some shame and potentially being judged. 🤷♀️ These (nearly) all are major learnings, so we are glad to be able to pass them along. The visa issue is one that still hurts. Thank you so much for watching and for your kind words. -Judy
Great video! I guess when you travel ao often and full time like you guys it’s only normal to overlook some things 😅 Glad everything worked out very well at the end! I am a carry-on only traveler and my biggest travel mistake is still packing more than needed, I am trying to pack less and less, and washing everything every 7-10 days… But I have still some learning to do… Also, finding just the “right”
Shows and tennis shoes… Thanks for a wonderful content!
Hi Cathy, Yes, when we vacationed, we had everything laid out in the greatest of detail, but as full-time travelers, that's been less practical and not how we want to over schedule. We try to treat everything as part of the grand adventure so long as we stay out of jail and don't cause anyone real harm. A few of these are just stupid mistakes when you know better!
As far as packing, have you checked out our gear list? We have more than we need and are always ditching things along the way as well. One of the things we recommend most is clothes from Wool& (and for guys Wool&Prince). They don't sponsor us, but we do have affiliate links for them-but only because I was obsessed and after changing out all my clothes to theirs, I decided that if I was such a superfan, then maybe being an affiliate isn't so bad. We can go weeks without doing laundry, including in the summer and during the heat of Southeast Asia!
Our packing list is geared for three/four seasons of full-time travel. I don't pretend to be a fashionista, but for shoes I think you can get by with a pair of white tennis shoes and a pair of sandals (if you are traveling in warm weather). I also carry some Hoka Clifton 9s that also are very comfortable. They aren't necessarily the prettiest, but they have great traction, and most importantly, I can do tons and tons of walking without hurting my feet. -Judy
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Oh no! Don't remind me. I've made some of these mistakes and others as well. (I don't keep a list though.) Hopefully, I learn from each one before I try and block out the frustrating memory.
Hi Merrill, Yes, these are all things we wish we could forget. but we made decisions very early in our travels on UA-cam that we would be as transparent as possible and embarrass ourselves at times if it means that we could help others. We may be laughing, but we are sharing some serious vulnerability here! Thanks for letting us know we're not alone on some of these! -Judy
We missed a bus in Mexico because we didn’t understand Spanish and relied on the bus coordinator to help us. He didn’t.
Ugh. How frustrating, Erin. Whenever we can, we try to follow along with the route on either Apple or Google maps (when they work). It's not foolproof, but sometimes you get lucky and it works as intended. Thanks for sharing. -Judy
Thks for this video ! Oftentimes, situations may arise similar to your Egypt incident. In a foreign city, we may need to ask for directions, and a kind soul may offer to lead us along the way. Should we follow him / her? Any advice ? :)
Great question, and thanks for watching, Mike. In our Egypt situation, this person approached us and offered directions. I would consider that much different than asking directions. From everything we've read about, there are a lot of scams where people try to be helpful and tell you things are closed, or offer to take you somewhere (there's a big issue with Tuk-Tuks taking you to either a gemstone place or a custom tailor and then overcharging by a lot and possibly stranding you on top of it all). I would always be extremely wary of those sorts of things. But we've never had a problem with anyone taking advantage of us when we're asking for directions. Your chances of finding Good Samaritans is high in those instances.
I've learned through a few different experiences to be very adamant, direct, and self-assured whenever someone tries to solicit their service in some way without being asked (e.g., taxi services, etc. who want to grab your bags and take you to their cab). They are looking to take advantage of your lack of confidence and overwhelm. -Judy
🦉 ☕️ 😊
What?! You are TOO kind, Carolann. Thank you so very much! We appreciate you! - ♥️ Judy & Kevin
Very funny episode 😂👏 My favourite story was the revisiting of the Tokyo museum 😂. Don’t feel bad, I have friends who did something worse. They went on an overnight travel journey. It started in northern Spain somewhere, they had to cross the French border at some point. When they had to cross back into Spain, they realised something was up. They had spent two days, and hundreds of euros, to travel to the next town a 15 minute train ride away from where they had just been staying 😂🤦♂️
Thank you for this laugh, Dan! Oh boy, that had to have been so frustrating for your friends when they realized what they did! As for us, we felt very foolish! So glad we could give you a chuckle as well! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I’m really excited to see your Taiwan episodes…I can’t wait 😀
Our first one is coming this Saturday, Dan! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie I was wondering what the costs of living are in Taiwan these days? When I traveled there, 21 years ago, they had a slightly higher standard of living when compared with Australia. Back then, only Japan and Taiwan could boast that. But these days, Japan has become a cost effective holiday destination for Aussies, so I was wondering if Taiwan has followed a similar trajectory?
Yes, definitely, Dan. Between the local night markets and local eateries, food is cost effective. Depending on what tours you chose, some of those could get pricey. We didn't end up doing day trips anywhere, so we definitely would like to come back and explore more, but there's so much you can do on your own that you don't actually have to book tours. Our Airbnb wasn't as cheap as in some parts of Southeast Asia, but it was cheaper than Thailand. The trains also are very affordable, so you can travel easily without racking up huge travel costs. -Judy
We all make TRAVEL MISTAKES - they are great - because they are LESSONS! 🤣🤣
Thank you so much, Enrique! You are right and we don't ever want to pretend that we are perfect or have all of this figured out. Our travel style now that we are on the road full time is much more laid back and unstructured than it was when we would travel for a vacation, so mistakes are inevitable. Hopefully they won't ever be ones that get us into real trouble. We learned our lesson on the Vietnam visa! -Judy
@@FindingGinaMarie ♥ Ahhh 😄
Do you carry a copy of your passport and visa with you photocopy everywhere you go? Just wondering about if you were stopped and asked to present paperwork to show how long you have left on your visa if you just have a photocopy with you.? 🤔 🛂
Hi Carolann, this is a great question and one Kevin and I have been talking about in depth recently. It also was discussed in our La Famiglia forum.
We haven't always carried our passports with us, but we have been lucky and have been able to use an electronic version most of the time. However, we are going to be in Italy in a few weeks and we will start carrying them around all the time since we hear about how often people are stopped by the police. There are a lot of reasons that it makes sense to carry it in any country you're visiting for many reasons: (1) in case of a natural disaster or civil unrest; (2) in case of an injury; (3) for tax-break purposes when you are making large purchases; and (4) in the event you get stopped by any sort of police or security officer).
While there are worries that you'll misplace it, there are more reasons to have it on your person. Kevin wears a style of tech cargo pants that have a generous zippered front pocket that he uses for our passports, so we don't have to worry about having a purse or backpack getting stolen. Having it on your person is ideal if you can manage it. We rarely go anywhere separately, so that's been working well for us. -Judy
Going to check out those pants for my husband, that's a great idea! Thank you. One more question 🙋♀️ do you prefer or are you allowed to say what VPN service you feel most comfortable with?
@@owlscoffeecats They've worked really well for Kevin and they come in several colors. We use two different VPNs. I love NordVPN, which costs around $3.99 per month and it's been super reliable for us. Kevin uses ExpressVPN, which we acquired when we were in Egypt since NordVPN didn't work there. It's closer to $10.99 per month. We have both because our contracts overlapped. I think you'd be just as happy with NordVPN. We use it for both privacy as well as for watching US channels in foreign countries and for language learning (watching Italian television from other countries). -Judy
That's great about the Italian learning! 😊 🇮🇹. The NordVPN & ExpressVPN were what we were searching so thank you for this information.
@@owlscoffeecats Here's our affiliate link to NordVPN if you're interested in using it. I just had it created, so know that we recommend it and have used it since we were living in San Francisco!
🔗Nord VPN: go.nordvpn.net/aff_c?offer_id=15&aff_id=104768&url_id=902