Key Travel Tips
From a eternal student in training
I have successfully left Canada and am making my way through western Spain at the moment, headed to Galicia for a special event next week.
As some of you prepare for your summer travels, I come to you with some tips.
Why do I travel? I don’t really know to be honest, but as I work through a trip I realize it’s an exercise in my planning abilities.
Perhaps it’s also a way to shake the boredom of being in your hometown. But as you roll with the punches of travel, in the end it just makes you appreciate home even more.
One thing I know, everyone’s style of travel is different. I personally identify as a backpacker. To the point that I now have a suitcase that is worn on my back with straps.
I also move around a lot, which is something that splits backpackers and remote workers who typically prefer to stay in one spot longer and milk the comfort of being stationed in a well-researched home base.
Just like a good investor, I don’t like to gamble on one spot for too long. Some people will say that moving around you “lose” time in transit which they call a “travel day”, but when you wear a backpack, this moving around becomes part of the fabric of the trip itself.
Booking Tips
I use mostly booking.com these days. I have some suspicions about the platform and how it renders reviews for businesses that pay extra, but overall it does its job.
Just make sure to use the filters. Look for places that have flexible cancellation policies. I don’t book anything under 8/10 average reviews but i’m open to being enlightened on this.
Often you book a place and forget to check certain things. It sucks when the property has collected your money weeks before the trip and you realize you don’t want to stay there or stay in that city in general.
Check for air conditioning! I run hot, and many places in Europe start to cook when the spring begins. With that tip: Always bring a portable fan with you for those times you fuck that up.
If a place is highly rated, check that it has enough reviews to justify that rating.
Sort reviews from lowest to highest first. If the low reviews are mostly about parking or a rude staff member it’s better than reviews that reference couldn’t sleep because of noise, or smells awful etc.
I really wonder how people travelled before these reviews existed. I guess you just found a name brand hotel and stuck with it as long as it worked?
Planning
You’d be surprised at how accurately ChatGPT (in thinking mode) understood the routes of Spain or just about any country that is covered by Google Maps. On every point that I had challenged it on, on the ground it proved correct.
But here’s the magic trick: putting your chats regarding a trip in a folder/project is not enough. If you assume it’s referencing the shape of your trip every time you talk to it, you might be mistaken.
That’s why you should connect a Google Doc to the thread and have it read and write details into that doc as you go along.
Test it from time to time and ask it about certain dates or departure times to check that it has the details of your trip in check. Otherwise it will suggest cities and places that aren’t even on your route.
This trip is my first time using BlaBlaCar for ride sharing to different cities. It can be frustrating since drivers sometimes cancel rides if they have different plans come up. But overall it helps fill in the gaps between trains and buses.
One thing you should know about planning - it’s often the places that are in between the major destinations that end up being a delight to visit.
This is the nature of serendipity. When the expectations around a destination are high, reality has a hard time living up to it.
Packing
We know the bags don’t shrink as we travel, but even worse, they gain weight. The best explanation for this is when you go to a hotter climate, your clothes are picking up moisture from the humidity.
I wish I could tell you to pack lightly, but even when I have a light packing list I end up violating it at the last minute.
You really only need a few T-shirts and shorts. You do need a lot of underwear and socks though. Wherever you can shed weight helps.
One idea I have is to pack a smaller bag full, and then just before you leave, move the contents into your actual bag. Then you’ll have that buffer.
Large ziplock bags from the dollar store are great packing cubes because you can squish the air out of them and also see what’s inside at the same time.
A battery pack is useful but they’re heavy. A good multiport charger with a high wattage like 65W is great. You can often find a plug when you stop for food.
A classic usb cable to modern usb C is good since many buses and airplanes will have a charging port but it’s that classic size.
Food
Controversial opinion: There is no shame in eating at name-brand, American chains. A Whopper combo is justified when I walked 30,000 steps and don’t want to eat croquettes and potatoes covered in mayo.
The people in every European country thinks their national cuisine is the best, but it’s not true. It’s the best for the person spouting this bullshit. Because we all know that Italy is tops and I imagine the food in Greece is also a joy to consume.
That speaks to learning which local chains work well for you - i.e., diners that work on the Denny’s/Cheesecake Factory model.
This also speaks to the eternal power of pizza. Just by looking at slices on display you have a pretty good idea of how it will taste.
What travel tips do you have to add to this?
p.s. The women of Spain are a joy to look at, and the men can be a pain to listen to 😛
Greetings from Greece, the Greek food is definitely good, it is a treat even for us Bulgarians when we are going for a summer vacation :)
A very nice idea about the LLM usage with external memory, most of all other things are quite like what I am doing already, with the difference that we are traveling with a kid for some three years now (time is flying).
For the food choices I would only add that small out-of-sight places that are full with local people are usually the much better choices than the crowded touristic places. They might not always match your taste completely but are never something you'd regret trying.
You already mentioned most of what we do already, the zipper boxes in the luggage work quite well with all the kid stuff as well. Being minimalistic is quite the difference, some friends are genuinely impressed when seeing that we are with our usual two backpacks and a large suitcase for a two+ weeks trip. There are now coin washing machines everywhere so one could easily end up with 4 times less luggage than what we were trying to get before. I sometimes even feel compassionate when I see two people alone with 2 small and 2 large suitcases, reminding me where we come from :)
Have a nice stay in Europe! :)
Good socks and sneakers are a must, in fact 2 pairs of sneakers if you have room and a European charger with long prongs because many of the outlets are indented. Hydrating tablets come in handy for hot days of long walks.
Be safe and enjoy.