Say you’re allergic – Dining out tip

by Gadling Staff on

If your hosts offers you something you really don’t want to taste and you don’t want to be rude, say you are allergic to an important ingredient of that dish.

For example, if your hosts offer you some balut (fertilized duck egg), gently tell them that you are allergic to duck or amniotic fluid. And make sure you don’t eat roasted duck in front of your hosts later!

In many poor countries, offering a visitor meat is among the most flattering and respectful things a host can do. As such, claiming to be a vegetarian — even if it’s true — can be very insulting and confusing to your host.

Email your docs – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Missing documentation is among the the most challenging issues an international traveler can face. So, take a moment and email yourself the following:

  1. a scanned copy of your passport
  2. a scanned copy of your birth certificate
  3. a detail copy of your itinerary
  4. your airline reservations
  5. your hotel confirmations

While traveling, if you need any of the documents, you just need to get to your email client, and you can reproduce them easily.

Wear, then toss – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Just before a big trip overseas, I cull my closet of those items of clothing that might have one more “wear” in them, and that are still appropriate for the destination to which I’m traveling. While on my trip, once that outfit has been worn, it goes straight into the hotel room trash bin.

Doing this means both one less laundry item when I get home AND it opens up space in my luggage for those obligatory souvenirs.

Don’t go overboard though… be sure to leave yourself enough clothes to cover an unexpected layover on your return home.

Rent an apartment – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

As parents of 3 young children, rental apartments have become our favorite lodging when traveling.

Most country’s tourist boards maintain lists of rental apartments, and one can check reviews of the “chosen” apartment from the internet.

We visit the local butcher and purchase meals to finish at the apartment. The farmer’s market becomes much more fun when you get to take the produce “home” to cook locals will always tell you the best way to prepare it. Further, restaurants will often provide you take-out, so the romantic meal can still be had while the children sleep in bed.

Not only are rental apartments budget-friendly, they offer you the chance to “live like a local” while you’re visiting the destination.

Don’t plan where, just go – International travel tip

by Gadling Staff on

Take a day, plan a starting point and just go! Some of my best memories are from just meandering.

Once, in Shanghai, I walked to Yuyan Garden and just kept walking. I wandered down streets no wider than a narrow alley. I met a man cooking rice on a steel drum outside his one-room home, and he invited me inside. I sat and had tea with his extended family. After tea, I was given a green ceramic urn that they took food out of to give to me. I didn’t speak Chinese, and they didn’t speak English. It was one of my favorite experiences ever.

So plan very little and have fun!