khassandraHow to D.I.Y. International Travel
May 31st 2007 01:08
Do-It-Yourself Travel: whether you're traveling on a budget, trying to fit a specific agenda, or just trying to venture off the beaten path, designing your own trip can be a spectacular and rewarding experience...or a disaster. It all depends on your preparation, and the flip side, your flexibility!
There are a lot of ways to begin planning a trip. If you know your budget, but are generally aimless in your target location, start with airfare. Go check out the typical airfare services like orbitz and expedia and see what specials they're running and search for the dates you want. For a short-term international trip (less than a month, or even two to three months depending on where you're headed), the airfare can be your singlemost pricey travel cost, so savings here will help you out bigtime. On any online service, but especially on services offering student discount rates (like studentuniverse and sta), remember that there will be additional fees applied (though often not very big ones), AND if you get special discount tickets of any kind (student or otherwise) there may be restrictions if you need to change or cancel your reservation. Read the information BEFORE you buy. Another important thing to remember when getting tickets is that if you are traveling with others, you may want to consider purchasing them at the same time (on the same credit card) to get seats together, since otherwise you'll have to call the airline itself (although the policies on when passengers are assigned to their seats-- when they buy or when they check in-- can differ).
If your jumping off point, on the other hand, is where you want to go and when, you're off to an easy start. All you need to do is purchase your airfare as far in advance as you can (6 months is ideal, because tickets start to get more expensive as you get closer), and grab a guide or two at your local bookstore. Start thumbing through your Lonely Planet or Frommer's and look at what attractions there are in your location of choice. Depending on where you're going, you can get general or more specific guides. If you're going to Ireland, for example, you can pick up a guide to Ireland as a whole (which may or may not include Northern Ireland), a guide to Dublin, a guide to national parks and hikes, and probably more. Most country guides will include regional maps with a little information on the various towns, but these days many towns and tourist sites will have their own websites, and more information will be availalbe on the web if you just do a quick search for it. Lonely Planet guides are usually good about including known web addresses, but even if they don't include a web address don't think that means it doesn't exist. You can also use the internet as a prime spot for looking at pictures and personal reviews of locations-- this is ESPECIALLY true if you're looking for hikes or backpacking treks. The best place to get an idea of what long hiking excursions are like is to search online and get pictures/logs from a number of sources. Just looking at a travel guide will give you a source of info for a number of places to stay and eat within a town as well as how to get there and how to get around. From that point, you can choose to make travel reservations ahead of time, or just use the guide once you get there to find the places you have in mind. It's always a good idea to plan ahead, but it's your choice whether to make reservations prior to leaving home or as you go. I've done it both ways, and both had their advantages.
If you know the kind of thing you want to do abroad, but don't know where to do it, then the internet comes in BIG TIME. For example, say you know you want to see some mountains. Do a general search and find out where to find the best views, day hikes, long hikes, or just general mountain tourism. Say you want to go on a tour of museums housing specific works of art. Look them up and find out where they're housed. Say you want to go snorkeling and see some spectacular reefs. Do a search for the world's best snorkeling and you'll know where to go. The same is true if you're interested in doing ecotourism (an increasingly popular way to be a non-parasitic traveler) or cultural tourism. Find the hot spots, and then follow the same steps above-- get some guides and get familiar with what you'll find when you get there.
If you have language skills for the place you're going, things will be a lot easier for you once you arrive, especially if you want to wait to make reservations or if you want to eat at a small local restaurant, etc. However keep in mind that even if people don't speak English you'll still be able to figure things out and get around if you just try. Numbers are a pretty universal language, as well as pointing to locations on maps or showing a photograph of where you want to go. You'll surprise yourself with how creative you can be.
Language skills are great if you really want to delve into another culture. Even if you can't have substantial conversations with people, though, you can still take part in a cultural experience by learning what seasonal festivals there are in a region or town (often highlighted in travel guides). Try the local food before trying something you're familiar with-- it's okay if you don't like it-- tastes differ--but always give it a try. Find out what cafes, bars, or locales are frequented by residents and check them out. Buy crafts or other souvenirs from locals when looking to shop. And never underestimate the value of staying in a single area for an extended period of time and getting to know the little old lady who owns your hostel or the people who get coffee every morning at the same time you do. The people you interact with everyday are an invaluable resource, and while you may feel like you're going way out on a limb to interact with them when you're a foreigner, they'll usually appreciate a genuine interest in their home and what about it attracted you. I know if I repeatedly ran into the same strangers who spoke broken English and didn't seem to know where they where going, I'd be happy to show them how to get some groceries and a bus map. It feels a little like asking a stranger out on a date, but with a little less commitment on their part, so you're less likely to get rejected, and it's worth the risk to meet some interesting folks.
Sometimes you'll arrive in a city and realize it was nothing like you expected. Maybe you'll find something to do and make the best of it, or maybe you'll decide to ship out and go someplace else. This is why I say that you need to be prepared first, but flexible too-- even if you are prepared, you'll probably change your mind about something, and it's helpful to set out with an attitude that acknowledges that when you feel like doing something different, you'll do it. There's no shame in being a "quitter" when you've designed your own trip-- D.I.Y. travelers don't quit, they adapt.
I've planned to hike for 10 days in the Alps and quit after 2 because I wanted to spend more time hanging around in town around Lake Geneva-- I had to cancel some reservations and make last-minute new ones, but the trains were ready to take me anywhere I wanted to go, and I LOVED it. The prevalence of internet bars throughout the world makes it easy to change plans and reservations and look up new destinations almost anywhere, and even where you don't have access to internet, don't feel afraid to seek the help of the people at your hotel/hostel or the convenience store where you've shopped three times. The scariest part about travel is going somewhere and not knowing what it will be like when you get there-- and that means that when you get there, you've got nothing to fear.
Doesn't this bus look friendly?
If your jumping off point, on the other hand, is where you want to go and when, you're off to an easy start. All you need to do is purchase your airfare as far in advance as you can (6 months is ideal, because tickets start to get more expensive as you get closer), and grab a guide or two at your local bookstore. Start thumbing through your Lonely Planet or Frommer's and look at what attractions there are in your location of choice. Depending on where you're going, you can get general or more specific guides. If you're going to Ireland, for example, you can pick up a guide to Ireland as a whole (which may or may not include Northern Ireland), a guide to Dublin, a guide to national parks and hikes, and probably more. Most country guides will include regional maps with a little information on the various towns, but these days many towns and tourist sites will have their own websites, and more information will be availalbe on the web if you just do a quick search for it. Lonely Planet guides are usually good about including known web addresses, but even if they don't include a web address don't think that means it doesn't exist. You can also use the internet as a prime spot for looking at pictures and personal reviews of locations-- this is ESPECIALLY true if you're looking for hikes or backpacking treks. The best place to get an idea of what long hiking excursions are like is to search online and get pictures/logs from a number of sources. Just looking at a travel guide will give you a source of info for a number of places to stay and eat within a town as well as how to get there and how to get around. From that point, you can choose to make travel reservations ahead of time, or just use the guide once you get there to find the places you have in mind. It's always a good idea to plan ahead, but it's your choice whether to make reservations prior to leaving home or as you go. I've done it both ways, and both had their advantages.
Guides are helpful in planning and in practice
If you know the kind of thing you want to do abroad, but don't know where to do it, then the internet comes in BIG TIME. For example, say you know you want to see some mountains. Do a general search and find out where to find the best views, day hikes, long hikes, or just general mountain tourism. Say you want to go on a tour of museums housing specific works of art. Look them up and find out where they're housed. Say you want to go snorkeling and see some spectacular reefs. Do a search for the world's best snorkeling and you'll know where to go. The same is true if you're interested in doing ecotourism (an increasingly popular way to be a non-parasitic traveler) or cultural tourism. Find the hot spots, and then follow the same steps above-- get some guides and get familiar with what you'll find when you get there.
A blue-footed boobie up close in the Galapagos
If you have language skills for the place you're going, things will be a lot easier for you once you arrive, especially if you want to wait to make reservations or if you want to eat at a small local restaurant, etc. However keep in mind that even if people don't speak English you'll still be able to figure things out and get around if you just try. Numbers are a pretty universal language, as well as pointing to locations on maps or showing a photograph of where you want to go. You'll surprise yourself with how creative you can be.
Language skills are great if you really want to delve into another culture. Even if you can't have substantial conversations with people, though, you can still take part in a cultural experience by learning what seasonal festivals there are in a region or town (often highlighted in travel guides). Try the local food before trying something you're familiar with-- it's okay if you don't like it-- tastes differ--but always give it a try. Find out what cafes, bars, or locales are frequented by residents and check them out. Buy crafts or other souvenirs from locals when looking to shop. And never underestimate the value of staying in a single area for an extended period of time and getting to know the little old lady who owns your hostel or the people who get coffee every morning at the same time you do. The people you interact with everyday are an invaluable resource, and while you may feel like you're going way out on a limb to interact with them when you're a foreigner, they'll usually appreciate a genuine interest in their home and what about it attracted you. I know if I repeatedly ran into the same strangers who spoke broken English and didn't seem to know where they where going, I'd be happy to show them how to get some groceries and a bus map. It feels a little like asking a stranger out on a date, but with a little less commitment on their part, so you're less likely to get rejected, and it's worth the risk to meet some interesting folks.
Sometimes you'll arrive in a city and realize it was nothing like you expected. Maybe you'll find something to do and make the best of it, or maybe you'll decide to ship out and go someplace else. This is why I say that you need to be prepared first, but flexible too-- even if you are prepared, you'll probably change your mind about something, and it's helpful to set out with an attitude that acknowledges that when you feel like doing something different, you'll do it. There's no shame in being a "quitter" when you've designed your own trip-- D.I.Y. travelers don't quit, they adapt.
I've planned to hike for 10 days in the Alps and quit after 2 because I wanted to spend more time hanging around in town around Lake Geneva-- I had to cancel some reservations and make last-minute new ones, but the trains were ready to take me anywhere I wanted to go, and I LOVED it. The prevalence of internet bars throughout the world makes it easy to change plans and reservations and look up new destinations almost anywhere, and even where you don't have access to internet, don't feel afraid to seek the help of the people at your hotel/hostel or the convenience store where you've shopped three times. The scariest part about travel is going somewhere and not knowing what it will be like when you get there-- and that means that when you get there, you've got nothing to fear.
| 57 |
| Vote |
Add Comments
Comments (7)
