Traveling is hard enough. How can we make it easier? One of the things I have started to do is to prepare for traveling in advance. Depending on the scale of the trip this can mean different things. No matter the trip I always start with the basics. Cleaning my house thoroughly so when I come home I do not have to do a thing. I clean out the fridge, make the beds, wash and put away all the dishes, and take out the trash. I find the calm of a clean worth the work of doing more before we leave. For local trips or road trips, this means packing up the car and giving travel notices to the bank. We usually bring bags for separating laundry as it accumulates on the trip and for the car to contain the garbage. For larger trips, this means securing tickets, exchanging currency as needed, and ensuring all items we need are with us before we go, these include outlet converters, extra batteries, charging packs, laundry bags, and ensuring passports are still valid. We tend to leave packing to the night before because most of what we bring we use on a regular basis and we find packing all at once means less things are forgotten. When we return, we immediately unpack. I love the feeling of having everything be back where it belongs and have no suitcase to unpack the next day. How do you prepare for travel? What tips do you do before you leave or immediately upon returning?
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Cultural values are unique.I think one of the things that I learned again was that cultural values are specific. We traveled to Japan and the values were different and I was surprised by how much it influenced everything. The way people behaved on the subway or the ways people interacted were just different. I think sometimes when I stay in a place I am familiar with I assume the cultural values here are the same universally and I am always caught off guard and remember that my experience is not the experience of everyone. A haircut can make a big difference.I typically am not someone who gets consistent haircuts. I get them once every few years. I basically always have moved by the time it it time for a new haircut. I find this to be frustrating and I am always hesitant when going to a new hairdresser, usually I am conservative with my haircuts in case it is tragic. In general, I just wait it out. I actually had my first good haircut in about 4 years and it made such a difference. I felt like a new person. I am surprised at how much it made me feel more like me. Trust your body.One of the things I am learning is to trust my body. I am learning to go slower and do what I need to do, to take time as I need it. I am also able to trust that my body knows what it is doing and I can just relax and listen and I will be okay.
My husband and I took a trip last year to Canada, we drove across the border (a first for me) and drove into another country. I have to say upon returning, my expectations and my experience were different. I keep working on trying to have no expectations, and am surprised when I realized they are a part of my experience.
As an American, I assumed Canada would be similar to America and no adjustments would be needed, but that was not the case. Michael Pollan once wrote how when we travel to a new country everything is just different enough that it makes us pay attention and all the tasks we once thought of as rote and routine become new and require our immediate attention. In other words, travel is a great way to force yourself into being present. I did not assume this would be the case in Canada and I have to say I was wrong. One tip if you are an American and you have those passport cards (specifically for driving over the border) is that you can hold them up to a scanner before you even get to the booth. We had crossed the border a few times before we realized how this simple trick would help, then we did not feel the need to take out our passports and in one case we did not need to give the border agent anything at all, because all our information instantly appeared on his screen like magic. After crossing the border I realized the first difference, the metric system. I have to say I am not opposed to the metric system and my husband has wanted America to adopt the metric system for quite a while. The one problem with that was that my car did not want to adopt the metric system and all of our monitoring for speed was in miles per hour not kilometers per hour. We in fact could find no way to switch the system in our car, a digital readout to be in kilometers so we were estimating our speed the whole way. Then the next sign we weren't "in Kansas anymore" so to speak is that the money the Canadians used was different. My husband was more prepared for this than I, he had checked at our bank to find a Canadian bank where we could take out money without horrendous fees, aside from the typical conversion fee. I was shocked when the ATM spit out what looked like plastic money. I honestly became obsessed. I loved how colorful it was and the beautiful pictures on it, I think we get so used to the way our money looks and that it is simply a tool to pay for things, we stop seeing what is on it and noticing the details. This did not get old and every time we got to pay cash (I was going to type had to but it felt instead like a privilege to pay cash) it was a fun experience. Driving in a foreign country is interesting and after my husband and I drove in Italy nothing ever feels so serious. When driving in Ontario the rest stops are called ONroute and usually have rest rooms, meals and internet, which is handy when you do not have cellular service. When traveling abroad cellular service can be complicated. When we first went to Italy we had none, and solely used the WiFi. We had downloaded some maps on Google and our GPS system still tracked us, but that was it. When we went to Germany last year, we discovered we can pay per day to use the cellular service abroad with our provider (Verizon), and we chose to do that with one phone so we could connect with our friend there, but it was not simple, we basically ended up still connecting via internet channels rather than regular phone calls. In Canada we did the same by only having one of our phones connected (to cut down on cost), so I was glad to have WiFi at those stops because as a chronic Googler it is hard for me to not be able to research the answers to questions I have. In the Quebec region, they are not as clearly marked or labeled and there do not seem to be many rest stops. Most places will have gas stations with a WC where you can use the restroom, but some do not. When we entered Quebec, the feeling that we had actually left the country magnified even more. Most people in Quebec speak both languages, but it became clear to us that really French is the main language and English is secondary. I felt okay knowing some French and was able to get by. It was harder for my husband who does not have any background speaking French, he felt out of place and had not realized how much he would feel like an outsider. Figuring out how to work parking in cities in Quebec was slightly challenging, but doable. Overall I have to say, Canada was an experience, but I enjoyed our trip. We were able to see a large portion of Canada. We drove through Niagara Falls, Niagara on the Lake, Toronto, Montreal, Quebec City, and Ottawa. I enjoyed Niagara on the Lake, Toronto, Quebec City and Ottawa the most. Niagara on the Lake and Quebec City had a small European town vibe, with small side streets and shops. Toronto was the most sprawling city I have ever seen, I could not really determine the center. Surprisingly in Toronto we ran into another group from Iowa and were able to bond, it is surprising how being in a new situations leads people to want to connect and to be willing to speak to you when they might not ordinarily. Ottawa was beautiful, the architecture there was amazing and I was impressed by the beauty of it. I would definitely return to Canada. My few takeaways are to expect it to be different from daily life, to stay in one place longer (we basically drove to a new city or area every day for 9-10 days), to slow down and not feel like we had to do it all, and to do a bit more research into the attractions so as to feel connected and excited about what Canada has. What are your experiences traveling abroad? Was there anything I missed that I should go back and check out? My husband and I do plan on visiting Vancouver. I would love to visit Nova Scotia and British Columbia. I have been on at least a dozen road trips. My husband and I do lots of driving. I am under thirty and yet I have been to all but 4 states in the USA. I really enjoy travel, but as I have driven I have come to realize that some tips and tricks can make the trips more enjoyable and easier. Tip 1: Know that it will get easier with practice. This could be a tip for life in general not just traveling on a trip. The more experience you have the more realistic your expectations and the more you will know what works for you. The best way to get better at something is to do it more often. Our first road trip was way more of a hot mess than our later ones that being said we noticed that our most recent road trip felt too long and we are now brainstorming ways to avoid that, staying in one place for more than a day or shortening the trip to not feel so frantic. Tip 2: Set a reasonable pace. Do not expect to drive 10-12 hour days. At least not on your first road trip. Plan for less hours of driving and plan to stop regularly to stretch your legs. Tip 3: Think through your food choices. As someone who has been on many a road trip can tell you, food and what to do for it is a choice. You can go down the snacking route and try to bring high quality snacks and things the driver can quickly or easily eat, but that is not my preferred method. One tip that seems counter productive, but I often find isn't is stop for your meals and get out and leave the car. Eat in a place and feel like a person not just someone who drives. For me I found it to be better to eat at a place, eat real food and give up snacking so I do not feel gross eating unhealthfully while on the road, especially as the person who does not usually drive. Side note: Here are some tips for finding good places to eat while out. TV Food Maps is a free app that shows locations of restaurants that have been on television shows. I have found it to be hit or miss. I feel the same way about Yelp. Usually TripAdvisor is fairly reliable, especially when overseas. In the US, my most recent way to find restaurants is to use Google Maps. When you are at a place you want to stop you use the Explore menu and select Restaurants. Once there the trick is to scroll until you find a restaurant with a special symbol underneath. The symbol can be a number of things, but what it ultimately means is that there is an article or blog somewhere that recommends this restaurant. I have found great luck with reviewed restaurants in cities and places I do not know. You can click on the symbol and read the entire article to see if it is a location that is interesting to you. Tip 4: Stop frequently. One thing about a road trip is because you are driving it is best to try to enjoy the drive. When you have to stop for food or bathroom breaks, get out and stretch your legs and body, enjoy the movement. Realize that rather than trying to push through if you slow down a bit the trip will be more fun for everyone involved. Tip 5: Plan for fun while driving. As someone who does not do tons of the driving, at a certain point you will notice that everything starts to look the same. Not all the time, but there will be moments you will think all forests look the same, or why so much corn. It helps to plan and have ideas for ways to enjoy the trip. There is the obvious, choose good music that people will love. One thing my husband and I like to do is listen to an audiobook, because at some point we run out of things to say. You could listen to a podcast as well. I like to listen to something together and take the time to pause and stop. I find detective novels are quite good for this. Another idea is to have some type of car game, there are many. One thing I like to do is to play the license plate game and see how many states I can find plates from on our journey. I use the States and Pl8ts app to track that, keep in mind it will be really exciting the first couple days and the excitement will die down as you only have a few plates left to find. I also sometimes bring knitting or crocheting, something I can do without tons of thought but that will keep my hands busy. I know growing up we had cards for car bingo we used on road trips that were quite fun. Tip 6: Make stops for odd attractions. One great thing about being on a road trip is you stop by small towns you might otherwise never visit. Use this as an opportunity to do the cheesy thing and enjoy it. We have used the app Roadtrippers to help us plan out those things ahead of time or to know what is available. Tip 7: Stop at the rest stop.
Growing up, I am not sure we ever stopped at a rest stop. We typically instead stopped at Gas Stations. I can see the appeal either way. If you need gas, a gas station is a good option, but if not rest stops on the side of the highways tend to have these benefits. A most rest stops are not filled with food that you or your children will want to purchase, making it easier to say no to vending machine food. A rest stop is on the way and you typically do not even have to get off of the highway to go to the rest stop. Even if you do not need to use the bathroom, rest stops tend to have nice grassy areas where you can get out and stretch your legs. A rest stop also has maps, you may say well it is 2019 and my phone has GPS why would I want a map. I have to say though that when you are traveling through routes less taken, specifically mountainous areas, GPS will not connect and you will have to hope for the best. Having a map as an extra form of insurance is not always a bad idea and usually the maps at rest stops are free. One note of caution: not all rest stops are created equal and some are significantly worse than others, but that is something you will only learn by trial and error. I hope this helps you in your willingness to take a road trip. They are fun and formative experiences that can tie a family together. Are there any tips you think I forgot? If so leave them below. I should start by saying, I love flying. I feel like being in an airplane is magic. I can see the whole world from my window. I am still amazed at our ability to fly places.
That being said, I know most people find flying to be frustrating, annoying, cramped and uncomfortable. Although I cannot help with creating more space in your seat, I have a few tips that work for me to make flying more enjoyable.
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About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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