So I posted my first half of my own Travel Commandments when I was in Australia and now after four more months of travel I feel it's time to add more to the list! So without further introduction, here are the rest of my commandments.
1. Always travel with an umbrella. Now I believe I wrote this one down actually when I was in Australia and despite my having just the absolute sunniest summer possible in Europe (barely 10 days of rain in more than 100 days and most were just light sprinkles!) this commandment stays on the list. I was complimented when I was in New Zealand at Cathedral Cove for having an umbrella by an older couple also hiking on the trail. They were caught off guard and looked worse for the wear even with rain coats on. A rain coat is nice and I love mine and am happy I have it, but it can't do what an umbrella can which is keeping your book bag, pants, and shoes dry! Staying dry while it is raining all around you enables you to much more easily enjoy the day when you have to be outside in the crummy weather. I found it so much easier to still have a smile on my face while playing tourist. Watching so many people caught without umbrellas in Croatia and Germany looking just miserable made me incredbly thankful that I had kept umbrella on my packing list (while things like running shoes/clothes got cut).
2. Ask for your waiter's name if he/she is not wearing a name tag. This goes for always I would say, but as a solo traveler I think it's even more important. It's hard to remember back that many months, but I recall the first couple of meals I had to take alone (few and far between though on this trip thanks to CS!) did make me feel a little insecure. Surrounded by couples, groups of friends, and families also on vacations, it was easy to feel like I didn't belong, but when I was repeatedly the only one getting attentive service (customer service outside of the US just doesn't seem to exist!) because I would call the waiter/waitress by name, my presence felt validated. The perks are great too... Far easier to ask for the coveted wifi password while I see others struggle with their own smartphones (intimidated to copy me using the waitress's name), special access to changing rooms when I want to put my bathing suit on, and a far friendlier someone to snap a photo for me.
3. Offer to take others' photos and they will (very likely) take yours. Maybe this is obvious, but I was proud when I discovered this one. It's rather easy to tell when two people are looking to have their picture taken together be it on a bridge, in front of a monument, or at the beach and as a solo traveler my heart goes out to them too. So I am always at the ready to volunteer and offer to take their photo before they ask and nine times out of ten they always respond in kind.
4. Use the bathroom whenever it is free. Even if you don't have to go. Just at least try. I think this was first told to me by the bus driver to Milford Sound in New Zealand (he had a funny line about "as your mom used to say, at least try"), but so many months in Europe, the home of paid public toilets, has really cemented this advice. It's hard to put a price on what you're willing to pay when you have to go, so try to avoid putting ourself in that position. Free = go!
5. Learn a bit of the language. Please, thank you, where is?, etc. at a minimum. While it's very true that you can get by without this in Europe, I think out of respect this commandment still holds. I know I made an honest effort despite my inability to learn and retain other languages, but to my own amusement, no matter how much Portuguese, French, Italian, German, etc I would learn, time after time when I walked into a shop or store, my mind went blank and "Hola!" would be what came to mind first. Fortunately, I always seemed to have just enough time to filter that and say the right thing, but the thought still consistently came to mind first and always made me smile to myself.
6. Use an alarm clock on the trains!! I have found I never really know how tired I am until I sit down and then drowsiness sets in. I usually don't ever fall asleep but a few times I have for short snoozes. It's usually actually my fear of missing my stop that keeps me from giving in to sleep because I don't actually like to or want to set my cell phone alarm out of a desire to be polite to other guests. However, this is still a commandment because I didn't set an alarm on my very first train ride in Croatia, which was a night train in fact, and I almost missed my stop the next morning!
7. Carry disposable face wipes....and a travel toothbrush and toothpaste... and hand sanitizer or soap on your body or carry-on. Basically, just always be prepared during travel. Unless of course you don't mind feeling a bit gross for extended periods of time. I know I mind, and being able to brush my teeth on long flights or easily wash my face after waking up after taking a night train makes my travel days much more comfortable. And the soap/hand sanitizer should go without saying. I truly saw the grossest port-a-potties known to mankind at the Roskilde Festival and actually it was critical to carry your own TP with you around that festival too. Carrying the thin, small flakes of soap (are they sheafs or leafs? super thin like a sheet of paper) saved me in train waterclosets and just gross bathrooms in general.
8. Carry coins! As you may know most of Europe uses coins for the €1 and €2 denominations and plenty of places only take coins (think metro ticket machines and luggage lockers) and you just don't know when the change machines won't like your 10 euro bill or anyone else's as I found out in Berlin or when they might just be flat out broken! (And while I wrote this commandment before I returned to Paris last week, following my own advice would have prevented me from falling victim to a scam artist in the Paris metro :(
9. The immediate follow up though is to remember that you cannot ever exchange coin currency. As far as I know, no banks or exchange teller anywhere will accept them.... Bills only. So before leaving each country be sure to spend that coin....use it or lose it!
10. Pack lighter than you think you can. And then pack even lighter :) Cotton clothes are bad! They are too heavy and can take too long to air dry. Make your packing list and check it twice - don't skimp on the important things, but trust me, pack light. You'll thank me later :)
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