Growing up in a rural area of north central Missouri, travel overseas was not part of my plans for the future. We were farmers, and had no one in our circle of friends who had done extensive traveling internationally.
We knew, of course, of the romantic and exotic places around the world. Through books and some courses in school we learned of the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and the Roman Colosseum. Pictures of cities with canals for streets, such as Venice and Amsterdam were interesting to see, but never in my imagination could I believe I would see them.
However, with a college education, and more importantly, marrying someone who loved to travel, changed the course of my life. Jane and I have traveled to many of the Western European countries, as well as Israel and Thailand. We have spent many summers shepherding groups of students and adults on trips to Europe, as well as taken journeys ourselves and with friends to some fascinating locales. Over the course of the last thirty years, I have managed to learn some valuable lessons on how to travel the world. This will not be an exhaustive list, for some information needs to be reserved for another posting.
The first two “tips” have to do with attitude. International travel is not only for the rich. If you have independent means, cost is always within reach. If not, you can still make the Grand Tour. We usually have two methods of saving money for our jaunts overseas. One is regular savings from paychecks. It need not be a huge outlay, but even a modest sum adds up. A second method is to simply take “extra” money and put it away for travel. If we get a $5 bill in change, it goes into our trip fund. When we eat out, another $5 is added. My lottery purchases, from $4-6, is matched and that finds its way into our savings. Faithfully done, these two have allowed us to take some great vacations in Europe. This takes very little discipline, for not much is put aside in any one transaction. Results are very satisfying as the total adds up quickly.
Attitude toward the safety of travel is also important. No matter what we see on the nightly news, travel in Europe is very safe. Even air travel poses little risk, as the most dangerous part of our journey is the drive to Indianapolis to the airport. Our State Department always has a list of places Americans should avoid traveling to, but we have found that even in those places little danger is seen. We went to Europe in 1986 after President Reagan bombed Libya, and tensions were high because of the terror attack on a Berlin nightclub. Many people stayed home that summer, but we had a great trip and many extras because of the lack of competition for venues. Likewise, the summer after 9/11, we took a group to Europe and had a safe and enjoyable trip, again with lots of extras because of all the Americans who had stayed home that year. Last summer, our Viking River Cruise was taken during a time of terrorist activities in Germany, but our trip went on without a hitch.
Once you are on the ground in whatever place you travel to, patience will be one of your most valued assets. We have found that something will almost always go wrong and mess up your schedule. Our last group trip was one example of this. We were to fly home from Geneva to Dulles Airport near Washington, D. C. But the flight was cancelled, and we had our eighteen people stranded. Eventually, we managed to get home through London to Newark, where another delay occurred. The plane to take us from Newark to Indy needed engine repair, so we sat in that airport for several hours, making our arrival home in the middle of night. A delayed flight from Venice to Amsterdam meant we missed a flight home in 2008, causing an extra overnight stay in Europe, at our expense. Patience was needed in large measures then, as we had almost thirty people for which we were responsible. One of the most interesting snafus occurred when Jane and I took a ten-day trip to France and Switzerland in 2000. We had arrived back in Paris, and had a couple of days to sightsee there before returning home. On a whim, we decided to take a short train ride to Reims, where French kings and queens were historically crowned. During that train ride, I was reading the English language international newspaper, the International Herald Tribune, when a news story caught my eye. The French air traffic controllers were going on strike on Monday, the day of our flight home. Back in Paris, we went to the airport and found that there were no flights out, and we were forced to stay in the city until Friday. (Yes, I know. An extra few days in the “City of Lights” hardly seems like a hardship!) We managed to stay busy, but for a while our patience was tested as we struggled to find a flight home!
One tip you need, if you are on a tour or by yourself, is to never, never, never pass up the opportunity to use the bathroom. You don’t know when another chance may come! For me, this lesson was learned on my first trip abroad. We had been granted entry into Czechoslovakia by the Communist government, and on our way to Prague stopped to eat in the town of Pilsen. Unfortunately, I drank the water. By the time we got to Prague, I had gotten what has euphemistically been called Montezuma’s revenge, or what we used to call the back door trots. Searching for and finding the toilets was critical, a lesson never to be forgotten.
Buying gifts and souvenirs in a foreign country can also call for some skill. Most Western European nations use the euro now, which makes it easier to navigate the monetary minefields. If one euro is exchanged at a rate of a dollar and thirty cents, you must convert to understand how much you are paying. One of our early trips took us to England, which uses the pound as their currency. At that time, the rate was about $1.80 or so to the pound. One of our travellers, in buying a gift to take home, switched the exchange and would up paying much more than was intended. Before leaving the States, you should get acquainted with each currency you will be using. Of course, nowadays the easy way is to take a debit card and get the local currency at any bank or ATM, but you will still need to understand the rate of exchange to avoid spending a lot more than you are planning to!
Another trait to cultivate is politeness. It used to be that we were known in Europe as the Ugly Americans. Visitors from the United States earned that moniker by the manner in which they treated their foreign hosts. After all, we were superior to the Old World, we had enough money to travel, and we (as a whole) showed this attitude of superiority while travelling. Europeans put great stock in politeness, and we should always show this in our dealings with them. A friendly “good morning” or “good afternoon” will go a long way in getting what we want in terms of goods or services, especially if you take the time to learn those words in the native tongue. Especially in stores this is expected. Fortunately in recent years Americans have been replaced as the “ugly” traveller by those from the Far East (read Japanese). We were informed of this while in Paris one year, and saw it ourselves. Those visitors would rudely cut in line, step in front of us when we were looking for goods to purchase, and do so without any sign of remorse or even an “excuse me”, or whatever they say in their homeland. Just remember, be polite and your trip will be much more enjoyable.
A good example of this was an overheard conversation in Paris several years ago. An American woman was loudly complaining about the rudeness of the French. And, I must admit, I had heard the French had such an attitude toward Americans. Yet watching her and listening to her, we realized that we, too, would be tempted to be rude to one who berated her hosts and complained about every slight she imagined. In all the times we have been in France, our politeness was always returned with politeness, and often the French would go out of their way to be helpful.
Picture taking is a must when travelling. Photos of some of the great sights you see will be treasured for years. However, you need to remember to always have either yourself or someone you travel with in the picture. Otherwise all you have is a photo you could buy in any travel agency. If you need to have someone to take the snapshot, just ask one of the locals to do the honors. Most of the time, they will not run off with your camera.
Always try the nation’s cuisine. One of the best ways is to find the kind of restaurants that natives frequent, for that will give you a flavor of what food is the usual fare for those living where you travel. When we took students on European tours, it was almost impossible to keep the kids from finding a McDonalds or other American import. Eating like the natives applies almost everywhere, except England. Some of the best food we have had in London was at a Pizza Hut and a —-. Just be sure you know what is on the menu when you order. I barely avoided some blood pudding in Scotland, and we somehow got horsemeat rather than steak in a small Swiss town after Jane had argued (in French) with the waiter over whether or not he should serve us cokes (which she agreed we would pay extra for) or the tea that came free with the meal!
One of the best tips on foreign travel is simple — try always to travel with someone else. Exploring exotic or historic places is much more enjoyable when shared with a special someone. It also helps when you get home to remember where all the photos you have were taken!
Be adventurous — bon voyage!