You might think that you are all set, packed and ready for your next trip, yet here is a list of mistakes most travelers tend to do when traveling and that must be avoided at all costs:
1. Make a COPY of your passport, take an extra visa/bankcard and put some additional money on the side for emergencies.
It is extremely important t store these in a separate place from your normal purse/pocket, and once you reach the hotel, make sure to put these in a safety deposit or somewhere secure! Many instances i loose my stuff, get items stolen and i need to get back to the hotel in order to make necessary calls. Well this is where you will need those extra items. You can pay the cab, go to the police and show your identification and use your credit card for other important tasks until you get some money flowing again.
2. Charging everything on a credit card has its perks and disadvantages.
One thing that is good about it is your transactions are secured by the credit card company, you dont have to carry a large amount of money with you and you get those extra points! The Cons is that many credit cards, including mine, have a substantial fee for using it abroad and not to mention the horrible exchange rates, so basically you will be paying a lot for this service.
3. Dressing like a tourist and holding a map all the time on the road.
This could be OK in some countries but not for others. Places like Brazil you need to dress down, not wear any jewelery, not carry anything expensive and not walk in small, suspicious paths. Stick to the main path and where you see the most crowd and try not to be a hero in these places as it happened to many of my friends get robbed at gun point.
4. Using your phone when traveling.
Understand that the phone might be needed for some urgent situations, so why not call your service provider before you leave and buy a few minutes for the country so you can avoid roaming and long distance charges. I’ve fallen prey to this a couple of times and one time my bill came out to more than $1500 just from using internet in France because we had to check the hotel location!
5. Carrying too much luggage.
You might end up having to pay for this, not to mention in some inter country planes they wont allow you to have over an amount of weight and the tolerance is much less than from your destination. Allow me to give an example, when we went to Thailand, the luggage weight allowed was much more than what was allowed when we took a flight from bangkok to Phuket. Hence in some cases you will have to even buy a luggage from the airport since a large one is not allowed. This does not even take into account the weight issues you have to carry around and the hassle.
6. Traveling With No Insurance.
Watch out for this one, emergencies do happen and you might need to use a local hospital.
7. Informing Your credit card company you will be traveling.
Some credit card companies have a reservation an dare blocked if someone uses the card in a foreign country due to fraud detection. It might not be feasible for you to make a cheap call abroad to get them to allow charges, hence you might as well prepare for this before you go.
8. Booking in a Hotel on the Spot.
Yes in some countries the charges of a hotel don’t change whether you book it online or on the spot, but in my experience, hotel prices are quite High when they are booked on the spot and you will loose out on a lot of discounts, offers and perks versus booking it ahead of time and online.
9. Plan your transportation.
Yes, there is a part of it that could be fun, arriving and winging everything last minute. Though when I did that, i had light luggage, had a travel book/guide with me and had an idea on how to go from one place to the other. No need to reserve it ahead of time, but at least have knowledge of the modes of transportation available so you can end up saving and not using a cab.
10. Buying Souvenirs from Touristic spots.
The last thing you want to buy is an expensive item from a touristic spot. These items are usually double in price and non-negotiable because of the amount of tourists that flock there who are clueless what the item costs is outside that touristic strip.
