One website is your guide to local etiquette

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Ever wondered how much you need to tip at restaurants while abroad? Or how many cheek kisses to give a new acqutainance? Or whether, in a particular country, it’s proper to wear shorts? (I’m looking at you, Andrew Zimmern!) One website has all the answers to those questions, and more.

While most guidebooks have sections on local etiquette, I haven’t found too many websites that aggregate all that information in one place. Thankfully, I’ve just stumbled across Travel Etiquette, a site with dozens of articles explaining the everyday customs and traditions of many of your favorite travel destinations.

From the Sri Lanka entry:

“Women should not touch a Buddhist monk under any circumstance and should also never try to give anything directly to a monk… It’s OK to take pictures of statues and images of Buddha, but it’s not acceptable to pose in front of Buddha.”

From the Saudi Arabia article:

“If you are planning on giving your Saudi acquaintance a gift, remember that men presenting women with gifts, especially flowers, is not always wholly appropriate. A gift for the whole family would be well received.”

Got it? Trying to pose in front of Buddha = bad. Giving flowers to Saudi women = also bad.

Check out more tips here. (thanks to AlphaTangoBravo for the pic)

U.S. State Department travel warnings. Useful or useless?

by Jamie Rhein on

How useful are those U.S. State Department travel warnings? If you read too many, you might become scared off of travel all together.

As Carol Pucci points out in a recent Seattle Times article, politics and economics might play into U.S. State Department travel warnings and recommendations. This doesn’t mean that, if there is a travel warning for a particular country, you should poo poo it as nonsense, and not proceed with caution when making plans. Perhaps, though, the travel warning isn’t totally warranted. Pucci suggests checking other government’s travel warning venues, such as Canada’s, Australia’s and the United Kingdom’s.

Sometimes, even when a warning might be a good idea, the country does not make the travel warning list. Pucci cited India as an example. Consider this:

Just recently, less than a month ago, there was a bombing at Connaught Place in New Delhi, a part of the city that boasts United Coffee House, my favorite restaurant for samosas and drip coffee.

It is a gem of a place that dates back to the early 1930s. The colonial architecture with an Art Deco twist is superb. Connaught Place is popular with tourists, but is also part of the finance industry and is near government offices.

When I lived in New Delhi, two terrorist attempts were thwarted close by where I frequented. Our response, as well as everyone I knew, was to toodle around like normal.

Pucci makes the observation that despite the 140 people who have been killed in India since May due to troublesome unrest, India isn’t on the warning list.

Click on the link for the countries that are on the list. Israel is one of them–so is Nepal. A friend of mine who recently returned from Israel recently emailed me about the great time he had. Other friends of ours moved to Nepal a year and a half ago and haven’t had any problems that I’ve heard of.

The best advice I have–if you want to visit a country that is on the list, is find out which part of that country is a safety concern and avoid those areas. When we went to Sri Lanka, for example we flew into Colombo, but left for other towns and had an absolutely safe, marvelous time. Perhaps, Colombo would have been perfectly fine, but the sites we wanted to see were elsewhere anyway.

If you can swing it, go to United Coffee house. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to keep an eye out.

Here is to Arthur C. Clarke. Here is to Sri Lanka.

by Iva Skoch on

I just read that Arthur C. Clarke died in Sri Lanka at the age of 90. He was, no doubt, one of the coolest guys out there. Not only was he a great writer, but he was a pioneer traveler, too.

Although he was British, he moved to Sri Lanka some 50 years ago because “he loved diving.” Honestly, how many 90-year-olds do you know today who could say that?

The photo is of Kirinda, Sri Lanka, a place Clarke put on the map when he used it as his base for his diving exploration in order to write his book ‘The Treasure of the Reef’. A particularly unique feature of the Great Basses is the light-house that was actually constructed on the reef in 1860, according to EcoTeam Sri Lanka.

Times online writes that “Clarke first visited Colombo, Sri Lanka (then called Ceylon) in December 1954. He moved there in 1956 and lived there ever since, pursuing an enthusiasm for underwater exploration along that coast and on the Great Barrier Reef. His fascination with diving led to him meeting his wife Marilyn Mayfield, whom he divorced ten years later. In 1998, his lifetime work was recognized when he was honored with a knighthood – formally conferred by Prince Charles in Sri Lanka two years later.”

Marking his “90th orbit of the Sun” in December, the author said that he did not feel “a day over 89” and made three birthday wishes: for ET to call, for man to kick his oil habit and for peace in Sri Lanka. Arthur, you are cool!

Getting a travel agent–or not

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday I ran into a woman I know who is an avid traveler. Her trips are the type where you learn a thing or two–historical trips of famous European paintings, or something. I can’t quite remember, but I do know they are themed versions that she researches herself based on her interests. Yesterday, she told me she recently retired and is off this month to Hungary and another country whose name escapes me. (It’s a Kellie Pickler moment, not to be mean. We all have them.)

She mentioned how she has arranged this trip herself. “I’m not doing that again,” she said. “It’s worth the money to get a travel agent.” I’m under the impression she spent a lot of time on this do-it-yourself endeavor. Last I knew, she doesn’t have a computer at home. I assume she’s used the computers at the library since that’s where I saw her. Then we talked about how if you have a travel agent, you also have a person who can work on your behalf if you have a problem. Possibly, a travel agent might even find a cheaper deal.

Years ago I had a travel agent arrange a trip for me going from Albuquerque to Taiwan for a week, then to Japan for another week, then Honolulu for two weeks, then to Los Angeles for a layover of a couple of days before heading back to Albuquerque. The two tickets, one for me, and one for my traveling companion whose itinerary was different than mine, were screaming deals. Since I had given her the names of companies that were offering cheap fares from ads I saw in the Los Angeles Times, she told me I could book what she found myself. I let her do the booking and paid her fee. That seemed fair since she did most of the work. Obviously, I had one of those travel agents who was competent and dedicated.

We’ve also had a wonderful travel agent in Singapore who got us what we wanted, and we used one in Sri Lanka to find us the deals we were after. I say the more specific you are in your desire, the better your luck. Wondering about this, I checked over at Travel Troubleshooter columnist, Christopher Elliot’s blog to see what his take is on travel agents. Sure enough, a few days ago, he took on the question “Are travel agents worth the extra money.” He generally thinks so for the reasons I think. There some comments from people who differ. Maybe it’s a toss-up. Still, I’d tell my retired friend next time, find an agent with a good reputation so all she has to worry about is what to pack.

Hiring A Guide Can Enhance a Travel Experience

by Jamie Rhein on

I’m a huge fan of guides–not necessarily guide books, although I do use them to give me a running start on figuring out where I might head before my interests lead me in other directions, but living, breathing human guides who know a place well. These folks are worth hiring for a few hours tour–or a day. Or even a week. Guides can save lives even.

When trekking with a guide and sherpas through the Markha Valley in Ladakh and on the Annapurna trail in Nepal, I saw fliers for missing hikers who had set off on their own. Either they become lost or hurt. Regardless, they were unable to get back from what they probably imagined as a solo adventure. With thieves not uncommon in Nepal’s mountains, guides offer protection. The trails in Ladakh are so rugged and faint and head in so many directions, it would be easy to get lost. It’s certainly easy to get sick. The sounds of people in my group heaving at night from altitude sickness on my Ladakh trip was not exactly music to my ears. We had a trip that involved people cooking for us and mules carrying our bags, so I can’t fathom what it would be like to attempt 17,000 feet while carrying belongings, food.and water. And, by the way, the people who got the most sick were the ones who fancied themselves the most athletic. They pushed themselves to prove something and BAM!!! a real puke problem.

Even if you don’t need a guide to save your life, guides are a way to find out little tidbits of places and people you wouldn’t know otherwise. In Benares, (Varanasi) India, we hired a guide for a day who took us on a city tour that began early in the morning and ended late in the day. We clicked immediately and since we were traveling with our son, who was not yet a year and a half, and our daughter who was nine, having him take us to a boat for our crack of dawn boat ride on the Ganges River made this excursion seem less daunting. He also filled us in on facinating details about who gets cremated and who doesn’t and pointed out prominent people’s houses and details about the architecture. He also took us to places to buy the best masala tea mix and filled us in on details about trying to get a job as a professor in India’s affirmative action system. One of my favorite moments was listening to him sing in one of the temples we went to to show us how the sound carried.

When we went to Sri Lanka (before kids) but with my father, we hired a guide and a driver for the entire trip. Since we stayed in budget hotels (clean and airconditioned but no frills) and ate simple, local food, the money we spent on our guide/driver/car helped us to see most of the country in nine days. Since my dad got sick for a couple of the days, having a driver allowed for my dad to wait with someone while my husband and I continued to sightsee. Our guide also took us to his house to visit his family at the end of the trip and helped us make a delivery of art supplies and books to an school for kids with developmental delays. We could go at our own pace.

In Beijing we hired a guide to take us around for two days. He was a guide who a friend of ours knew. Besides pointing out historic details when we went to various places, he knew exactly where to shop and where to get the best, local spicy food. As my husband said, “Hurt me.” The hot pot restaurant he took us too was excellent and filled with neighborhood locals.

While living in New Delhi, we mostly headed out on our own, but one of my highlights was the personal guided tour we took with a guy named Nigel. He is British and has been giving guided tours of Old Delhi for years, but unfortunately, I think he may have stopped.

Although, I also like the experience of winging it, guide free to see what comes our way, guides can make traveling easier and provide the details you might miss otherwise. Here’s a helpful tips article, Hiring Guides in Foreign Countries from Wendy Perrin over at Concierge.com.