Traveling always has been an art, only a few can master. May it be carrying the perfect amount of luggage, or finding the perfect couple friendly hotel. Every time we travel, some mistakes are made, just because of sheer ignorance or maybe because we are too lazy. Currently, traveling has been put of hold indefinitely due to the pandemic at hand, but when it slowly starts being allowed a lot of things will be different. While you might be aware of some of the tricks to packing your baggage or something around the lines, there are many important things you don't consider while traveling. To fully get the best out of your next travel expedition here are 5 things you likely don't do while traveling but you should, to help make a better plan for the next time you travel.
1. Hotel background check
Starting the list, this one is a bit more technical. Normally when you book a hotel, you look at few pictures of it, followed by the rating and the price (which for many is the most important factor) but most of the times we are met with biased review in a lot of websites, which can show only positive reviews. There is also the case the person writing a review was asking too much or got infuriated from a very small issue. Such fallacies or false notions can easily make you miss out on a great couple friendly hotel for your weekend, so to avoid that a great tip is to go to a website that gives dedicated reviews for hotels. Go to the websites the hotels are registered on, but the ones that are dedicated to 3rd part reviews, check google reviews. If you know someone who has visited a similar place ask if they visited the same hotel, if no, ask them if they had considered it as an option and if yes, why did they not choose it? Another great option is actually to call the manager, it might seem too much but it doesn't believe me especially considering sanitation is a huge concern for post-pandemic traveling. Also don't forget to check out more diverse options like hotel packages if you intend to spend a longer stay which might give you additional perks, or hotels on an hourly basis if you intend to stay for a shorter amount of time.
2. Lessons from unfavorable situations
Traveling is something everyone associates with vacations or luxury, and well there are times to do that, considering it as the norm is a mistake. When met with the smallest of inconvenience during a trip we are deeply saddened or affected instead of trying to take it as a learning experience in an unfamiliar environment. Being able to tackle a hard situation during a time when your mind was expecting pleasure is a huge feat. So don't shy away from any problems or inconvenience you face during traveling or even the trip and let it ruin your mood, solve them with a cool and calm mind. Let it missing a Bus, a sudden change of weather, or not being able to book a room or hotel you wanted to, everything can be a learning experience if you want to learn.
3. Read about the place you visit
Imagine this, you are visiting Mumbai because you always wanted to, so you book your flight tickets and book a room in a hotel in Bandra, you reach there and you have no clue what to do in the city, or where to eat or even what to. If you did your research you'd know Mumbai is famous for it is different kinds of Pavs and Iranian cafes. While that was a slightly exaggerated example to get the point across, doing research and reading about the place you travel is perhaps one of the most important and ignored activities most people traveling do. It is like we intend to visit France or Bangkok, but most people don't give the effort to read a bit about the culture, their history (if it is a different country), its food habits. Most people fail to understand how much value doing some research about the place you're visiting can add to your traveling experience. It greatly increases the joy one receives from the trip itself as it is much easier for you to relate to stuff.
4. Don't hesitate to spend
It's really easy to get this one out of context, but the point while traveling at time people can very much conservative in spending on much smaller things, which barely make much of a difference with respect to the total budget, but in the process, you can miss memories you could have made. Let it trying that costly dish you can't pronounce the name of or getting that one work of art that you regret not buying. Unless you are at a place you can easily visit or travel to, it is always worth it to spend the extra few bucks because it is not every day you are traveling to a different country or the other side of your own country.
5. You don't need to travel a lot for a good trip
A false notion most people carry is you need to travel quite far to have a good trip. While different countries or different state in your country does have their specialty, there are a lot of amazing substitutes in your backyard, you just need to do a bit more research. The reason mainly because travel sites will always push for ppl to travel farther, hence most of the advertisements you see of places from different countries or states. A good tip to avoid such bias is to do your research in the incognito mode of your browser of choice. This is so there is no profile of your past searches that google can use to suggest custom ads or results, or else if you searched for lemon tree hotel Chennai in the past, you search results might show lemon tree premier Mumbai when you are looking for a hotels near Mumbai airport
These were 5 of things which you can follow when you are planning to travel or traveling the next time. The pointers were mostly guidelines and you might switch it up a bit depending on the type of traveling you are planning to do. So buckle up, start practicing social distancing while planning for your future travel plans, when it is safe to do so.