Talking to people makes traveling cheap

Considering that traveling and exploring is a hobby of mine, I have put a fair amount of time into figuring out ways to do it for less. The main things that I normally talk about are the main things. Think about that, it really does make a lot of sense. Most of the time we get caught up in things and don’t remember to keep the main things as the main thing. But for today, I think we should talk about some of the finer points of traveling.

The best thing you can do before you go somewhere is to talk to somebody who has already been there or done that. You can save yourself tons of time and money by learning from their good and bad experiences. Of course this is also going to help get you more excited about going on the trip as well. Not only will you get good ideas and information, you could find out about some neat things that they did to save money or that were a lot cheaper than they expected.

Buying in advance is great and horrible at the same time. For big things, such as a plane ticket, your normally going to find a great deal after a fair amount of detective work. I have found that on my trips that some of the things I needed, such as an electricity converter, were cheaper where I traveled to, plus I didn’t have to deal with packing them on the way there. Perhaps a phone or phone card are cheaper there than here.

Slow down. If you want a great experience, especially if it’s another culture, then you need to slow your pace of life down to that of the locals. Sightseeing has it’s time, but talking to people who live there can give you a much more fulfilling experience. I took a trip to Washington DC a few years ago. Instead of just eating at a McDonald’s or something, we asked some security guards what they normally did. We found out about a great place that everybody went to. It was just one more great experience that we would have missed if we didn’t spend some time talking to people.

When your talking to people, don’t just hammer them with questions for information. Let them tell you about themselves and what they are doing. Most people love talking about themselves, so find something they are passionate about and get to listening. Being a good listener will not only make your traveling experiences better, but you might even make some friends along the way.