r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Jan 10 '19
Discussion r/travel Topic of the Week: 'Rituals'
Hey travellers!
In this week's community discussion topic we'd love to hear about your travel rituals and personal quirks: the little things you always do or love when leaving on a trip or when travelling. Please share with us all your personal favourites!
This post will be archived on our wiki community topics page for future reference.
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u/Haellveth Switzerland Jan 10 '19
Drinking an overpriced beer at the airport. It doesn't matter if it's midday or 8am, I'll drink one. That's when the vacation usually starts.
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u/wanderized Jan 15 '19
One of my travel friends got me onto this and it's such a bad/great habit. I always try to get a local beer as well!
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u/IrrawaddyWoman Jan 10 '19
I don’t know if this counts, but growing up we had to clean (and I mean REALLY clean) everything in the house before we left. My mom had a “if the house isn’t spotless, we’re not going” mentality, and she did not bluff. I think she did it as a “if there’s an emergency and someone needs to get in the place will not be a mess” thing, but I’ve kept it up as an adult, and I love it. It makes it extra stressful before a trip, but coming home to a spotless house is the best.
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u/jippiejee Holland Jan 10 '19
I do this too, but unfortunately my cats manage to turn it into a complete mess during my absence... :/
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u/taysurdyke Jan 11 '19
I love doing this too. It's like you just got back from a trip and it's nice bei g able to come straight home and relax instead of having to pick up.
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u/IPunderduress Jan 13 '19
I have (free) dogsitters whenever I travel, and they always mega tidy up just before you come home. Sometimes they even buy groceries or leave a meal in the fridge. It's fucking great.
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u/observant_hobo Jan 14 '19
I also clean my apartment top to bottom before leaving on longer trips. Especially important is putting clean sheets on my bed and doing all my laundry. I travel in the third world a lot, so coming home to a clean home and bed feels wonderful when exhausted after nights in rough/dirty accommodations.
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u/jimbolic Jan 17 '19
I do this too, but likely not to the extent of your mom. The main thing is coming back home and feeling good seeing how everything is just tidy, laundry is done, and things just feel stress-less.
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Jan 10 '19
I always go to McDonalds and Starbucks in every country to see what they have on the menu. Which is odd because they aren't really places that I frequent where I live, but I feel like going to both places give a good sense of what people are into.
Best thing I've ever seen on either menu was an iced americano made with coconut water instead of water in a Malaysian Starbucks. Sounds weird but it was actually really good.
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u/CheeseWheels38 CAN --> FRA/KAZ Jan 10 '19
I always go to McDonalds
I stand by my observation that in France if you want an alright coffee, McDonald's is your best bet. Sure there are many awesome cafés in France but I've had too many shitty espressos in bars/bakeries to roll those dice anymore.
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u/MRCHalifax Canada Jan 11 '19
My observation is that in Europe in general, decent brewed coffee is hard to find. Lattes, sure. Everyone has lattes, cappuccino, espresso, flat whites, etc, but getting a cup of standard North American style brewed coffee that's at all decent can be a challenge. There are certainly places that do it well, but they're few and far between. Most places that I've visited instead just offer an Americano, but I'm not a fan of those.
I mostly end up drinking water while in Europe.
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Jan 13 '19
As a European, I find american coffee the most disgusting beverage ever, barely resembling actual coffee, so I found these coments really insightful! Coffee maybe is an acquired taste.
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u/KingOfTheBongos87 Jan 14 '19
You really need to go to a legitimate coffee shop to get a real cup of coffee. The stuff they sell at Dunkin, convenient stores, diners, etc is not real american coffee.
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u/mapsgeek Jan 10 '19
Yes! I do this too :D McDonalds in SE Asia are so different! They main thing local people order there is rice with chicken!! If you look around in Indonesia in McD for example 90% of customers have rice and chicken leg portions and very few eat burgers. Meanwhile in India they have like 15 different vegetarian burger options. No beef burgers. Even the most basic chicken burger in India is spicy.
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u/UncleSpoons Canada 18 Countries Jan 10 '19
I find the differences in McDonalds fascinating too.
Thailand has durian ice cream.
Instead of beef, burgers in Nepal are made of buffalo. Eating buffalo is fine, but eating beef is taboo because cows are sacred in Hinduism.
I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but I heard that hamburgers are typically called beefburgers in the Middle East. This is so people don't mistakenly think the burger is made with pork, which would be haram.
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u/toki_goes_to_jupiter Jan 13 '19
Same!!! Can confirm that MacDonalds in Istanbul is better than anything in the states.
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Jan 10 '19
I always like to get my nails and if it's a hot destination, toenails, done before a trip. I always get them done the night before leaving and it's just that first pampering that gets me super excited for what's to come.
I also like to frequent the tripadvisor forum for the destination prior to the trip.
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u/kvom01 United States 50 countries Jan 10 '19
I enjoy looking for local varieties of Cheetos.
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u/lucyintheskywithd United States Jan 10 '19
I always find Lays chips! Love seeing the different variety, salmon, seaweed etc!
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u/kvom01 United States 50 countries Jan 10 '19
I don't remember the brand, but in Jordan this year I stopped at a gas station to find multiple varieties of BBQ flavor chips but only one plain. The plain weren't too good.
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u/double-dog-doctor US-30+ countries visited Jan 13 '19
I do this too! I think it tells you a lot about what kind of flavors that particular country or region finds enjoyable or 'foreign'. I found a dijon mustard flavored chip somewhere in Belgium that was incredible. Been thinking about them ever since.
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Jan 12 '19
I find that international versions of Cheetos are typically an abomination. The Cheeto has been perfected and there is no need to tinker.
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u/kvom01 United States 50 countries Jan 12 '19
They are different for sure, and I agree that the US version is best. The taste difference is worth experiencing.
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u/MRCHalifax Canada Jan 16 '19
Cheezies as made by W. T. Hawkins Ltd are actually the superior form of the cheese flavored corn snack.
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u/cosmiclove89 Jan 11 '19
I love going to convenience stores and finding snack foods I've never seen before. I also have a habit of collecting honey from new regions I visit because they all taste different and it never spoils.
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Jan 10 '19
I'm far from unique in this one but I always visit local grocery stores even if I'm not planning on cooking much during that trip - I used to work in the grocery industry many years ago and I like to check out not only what crazy foods they sell but also see how marketing/pricing/display strategies differ. It's particularly fascinating how different promotional strategies can vary from country to country.
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Jan 10 '19 edited Aug 21 '21
[deleted]
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Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 10 '19
I don't have a running log of this stuff or anything but for a few examples:
- In the US discounts can be very deep. It's common that Americans will go to the store and change what they buy completely because some alternative product is so cheap. Whether it would be switching brands or buying chicken instead of beef, discounts can be so great that you get the store and change your mind about what's on your list to take advantage of a bargain. I can't think of anywhere I've been where the difference between the regular price and sale price is as great as it is in the US.
- Conversely, discounts in Chile were so piddly that I couldn't imagine that people were altering their buying practices at all. When we lived there, there was a supermarket Jumbo that had a promotion of 3% off meat every Wednesday and I just couldn't see the value in this at all - neither for the business nor the consumer. Who would be compelled to change their behavior over 3%? And it was also strange to me that the discount was for the entire department, every single week. But clearly Chileans were moved by a lower discount because most promos were of a similar nature, with most price cuts being around 5%, 10% max. Supermarket promos were so low that we didn't even pay attention to them, we just bought what we wanted.
- Korea is crazy for BOGO promos. Buy One Get One. I mean, you find them everywhere but in Korea this was the main way things were discounted and you'd often have other ratios...you'd see tags that basically said "5-3" meaning you got 5 and only had to pay for 3.
- Here in Mexico it's common to see unrelated products taped together. Like you buy a box of cereal and get a free spatula. Or you buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke and a can of beans is taped to it as a bonus. Mexico also stocks shelves and displays product as was popular in the US in the 1980s - this one's more difficult to explain.
- Not related to pricing, but I want to say it was in Sweden where you had to get your produce weighed and priced separately in the produce department. You paid for it at the main checkout but they printed a sticker that could be scanned in the product department.
I mean, it's less that you find strategies in one place that don't exist in others but you can definitely see which types of promotions are more prevalent and therefore presume that these are the types of promotions that the local populace must respond to. Same goes for the size of the discount.
But I find all sorts of other grocery related things fascinating - from the types of hand jacks they use to move pallets to the ergonomic setup of the checkout stand to how/when restocking is done and where back stock is stored and also which products are grouped together. For example, if you pick a product like shoe polish, where you'd find this in the store will vary wildly by country. In some places it might be next to the cleaning sprays, in other places next to the razors/deodorant, in other places in the small section of tools/hardware. There's a definite pattern to how we group products together. In some places pasta sauce is next to the pasta, in other places all "tomato" based products are grouped together so you'd find the pasta with the rice and then the sauce next to the canned tomatoes.
I don't have any specific examples on this but the next time you're abroad, walk around the store and you'll often find yourself saying, "Hmm, strange that they think X goes with Y here when X normally goes with Z."
Similarly, stores are set up to theoretically force you to move around the entire store before you leave. In the US, for example, the produce, bread, dairy and meat sections will typically be as far away from each other as possible, because most Americans will want to visit each section, but in countries where dairy isn't as popular, this is no longer a main cornerstone of the store that is used to move traffic.
Another Chilean example is their love of sliced meat. I've never been anywhere that had a larger selection of deli meats....and it was such a popular part of the store that you had to get a number and wait to be served. So popular that there would often be a separate counter to order sausages/hot dogs from because the deli meat line was just too long. You would hardly see a Chilean that didn't have sliced meat in their cart and so clearly this department was a main driver of traffic in Chile and would always be at the back of the store.
In much of Europe the checkout clerk sits down. In some countries you unload your own cart onto a conveyor belt and in other countries the clerk does it for you. Sometimes you bag your own stuff, sometimes a bagger is there. Some places charge for bags, others don't. The style/quality/thickness of bags will vary as will the way employees group items together in your bags and how full they fill the bags. The size/shape of carts varies more than you'd think it would. In different countries different products are self-serve versus needing to order it from a clerk. The size of bulk packaging changes and of course the size of products in general and how much volume of a particular product you are "expected" to purchase during a given shopping trip. Many of these differences are extremely subtle but they're absolutely there.
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u/corialis total tourist Jan 10 '19
I would like to subscribe to the Global Groceries newsletter please!
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Jan 10 '19 edited Aug 21 '21
[deleted]
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Jan 10 '19
Yes, marketing with painful noise is definitely something that doesn't jive with Europeans, the US and the Commonwealth nations while being way too fucking popular everywhere else on the globe.
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u/makanimike third culture kid Jan 10 '19
I got another one: the insane amount of plastic bags used in Thai supermarkets!
Though, if I am not mixing up countries, I think they recently also banned bags, or are charging for them.
But it was insane. If I bought a dairy product that one item would get its own plastic bag, plus a plastic straw that I don't want.And the sad thing is when you take a dip in the Gulf of Thailand, you directly see the result of the insane amount of plastic being used.
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u/CheeseWheels38 CAN --> FRA/KAZ Jan 10 '19
I remember getting a McDonald's meal in Singapore like ten years ago. The fries, drink and burger were each in their own separate bag!
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Jan 10 '19
It drives me crazy how everything in Korea is sold in such large quantities, especially fresh produce.
Sometimes I want to cook something but don’t want a lot of it, and am usually stuck just going out to find what it is I want to make at home.
I miss cooking 😭
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u/CheeseWheels38 CAN --> FRA/KAZ Jan 10 '19
Nice write-up!
Having to weigh my own bulk goods caught me off guard the first time I was in France. Also the fact that UHT milk exists and they don't refrigerate eggs.
The thing that feels weird in Kazakhstan is the variety in the brands the different stores carry. It's like each grocer has their own import guy who doesn't interact with anyone else. There's only one store that sells the whole range of these snacks but then that place doesn't sell some of the other stuff I look for.
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u/musictomyomelette Jan 10 '19
That was a good read! thanks OP.
I too like to sometimes go to grocery stores and check out local food. Sometimes those $3 sandwiches are sooo good! Like Bourdain and his egg salad sandwich.
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Jan 10 '19
in Sweden where you had to get your produce weighed and priced separately in the produce department. You paid for it at the main checkout but they printed a sticker that could be scanned in the product department.
This isn't unusual in the US, is it? It's pretty normal here. It's definitely standard in the Mexican grocers (the ones in Chicago, to be clear), and in the big chain places around here it's normal when you order at the produce counter something specific. In these chains they do have refrigerator aisles with pre-packaged meat too, so you can avoid that interaction if you're willing to settle for whatever they've already wrapped up.
Another Chilean example is their love of sliced meat. I've never been anywhere that had a larger selection of deli meats....and it was such a popular part of the store that you had to get a number and wait to be served. So popular that there would often be a separate counter to order sausages/hot dogs from because the deli meat line was just too long.
This sounds normal to me too. The deli counter is its own thing, and it takes fuckin forever, even if you're only a few numbers back.
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Jan 10 '19
Maybe it's regional but I've never had to pre weigh apples, oranges, carrots or potatoes at a US supermarket.
Never taken a number at the deli counter, either...so that's definitely regional. It felt like there was 3x the selection of cold meats in Chile.
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Jan 10 '19
Oh I'm a complete moron. Produce is vegetables and fruits. I was thinking meats. Obviously I know the difference. I'm just stupid.
But yeah taking numbers at the deli counter is standard operating procedure here.
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u/bootherizer5942 Jan 11 '19
I love all of this. Have you ever worked in a grocery store or do you just like them? I love grocery stores but I don’t think I could talk about the logistics stuff so precisely.
Also in Spain you often have to use a scale that spits out stickers yourself for produce and it’s a pain
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u/corialis total tourist Jan 10 '19
Japan has this thing where they are really into the fact they have 4 distinct seasons (as opposed to somewhere in SEA that stays temperate all year) and do a lot of limited time seasonal products. Like Pumpkin Spice season but there's something ALL THE TIME. There's a lot of posts on the Japan subs where people have seen a weird product online and want to buy it when they travel there but it was some short term promotion 2 years ago, lol.
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u/zacdenver United States Jan 10 '19
Love doing this! Was in a grocery store in Bratislava some years ago, and toward the back of the store a young woman was set up at a folding card table, handing out sample shots of spiced vodka. The Sainsbury's in Bath (U.K.) was where we had a really good Indian takeaway dinner. At a Casino grocery store in Paris (in the 16th Arr.), the deli had a simmering pot of serve-it-yourself pig parts that totally grossed out my teen stepdaughter. "I think I saw that last guy dredge up a couple of hooves," she stage-whispered to me in a disgusted tone.
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u/FamilyOnStandby United States Jan 10 '19
Yes! You can learn so much about where you are staying from the local bodega.
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u/double-dog-doctor US-30+ countries visited Jan 13 '19
I like to do this too, especially in produce aisles. It's interesting seeing what produce is available, where it's from, how it's packaged, if they're selling 'ugly' produce, etc.
Another good one: the chip aisle. Tells you a lot about the general tastes of a country.
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u/FamilyOnStandby United States Jan 10 '19
Local grocery stores every time just to see what they have, grab some snacks for the room, and of course see the local beer selection.
The other one: McDonald's. I am not ashamed to admit it. Every trip we take, we visit a local McDonald's and get a country/region specific menu item. It's delightful and intriguing!
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u/MRCHalifax Canada Jan 11 '19
I do both of these. Well, not the beer bit, I'm a teetotaler. But I love binging on local junkfood while travelling. The last time I was in London, I decided that I wanted to try Peri Peri chicken, and went to a few places. Surprisingly to me, the most enjoyable that I tried was at a McDonald's, where they had a Peri Peri Chicken Wrap.
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u/mapsgeek Jan 10 '19
I like to buy a guide book for each country / area I go to. Usually preferably Lonely Planet. Whenever possible I try to find a used ones (they are so so much cheaper) and it doesnt matter usually even if they are older editions because I only use them for attraction / culture / traditions etc tips and not for hotel or restaurant suggestions. I love reading up about the country / place I will be visiting before hand and also take always one photo during trip of the guidebook with some local food when eating out. Additionally its a nice 'souvenir' for later (the photo) and the book, I got big bookshelf with all the guidebooks from countries I've been to. Some will be reused in next trips to the same country.
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u/MRCHalifax Canada Jan 11 '19
I love the Lonely Planet "Discover" series. They're not the be-all, end-all, but they provide a great, colorful starting point that always gets me excited, and helps with laying the groundwork for my trips.
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u/mapsgeek Jan 11 '19
Yeah, me too! :) I now always prefer to get the Discover series if there is one available for my destination.
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Jan 11 '19
One of our first stops after dumping our stuff at the hotel is to find the nearest convenience store to load up on chips and snacks. I love trying local flavours and foreign takes on other culture's snacks.
I also love checking out fast food chains to see the differences. I wouldn't do it for every meal but it's just as authentically local as the little mom and pop stall on the corner.
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u/CantLookUp United Kingdom Jan 11 '19
Indian food. I will pretty much always try at least one Indian dish in every country - I noticed a while ago that I'd happened to do it solely by chance, and made it an actual thing to find each time.
Most surprising for quality for me was in Rwanda, with Laos being a close second.
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u/zacdenver United States Jan 10 '19
My wife and I have been to London close to a dozen times (many of those visits were work-related for me), and it quickly became a ritual for us to take a walk along Thames Embankment on the evening before returning home. No matter where we happen to be staying -- for our most recent visit last January, we were in a hotel on the north side of Hyde Park -- we always begin our walk at the Boudicea statue at Westminster Bridge and then proceed downriver to either Temple or Blackfriars tube stations.
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u/khaldamo Jan 11 '19
I generally fly with Ryanair, and I've gotten into the habit of always booking the same seats on the plane. I almost always take the 6F seats by the window (or the closest equivalent like 7F).
I don't even have a reason for doing this, it's just become a habit every time I fly!
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Jan 14 '19
Several before and during. We usually get a drink in the airport before boarding, helps us relax. Wherever we go we always try to go to a grocery store as it is fascinating to compare. I enjoy watching TV at night, I find it both interesting and comforting to hear another language being spoken. My husband takes pictures of cats everywhere we go. We now have hundreds of pictures of cats in Costa Rica, China, Spain, Morrocco, Myanmar, Georgia and all over the US of A.
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u/dickmublin Jan 14 '19
I tend to travel unshaven and needing a haircut, so the first thing I do when we get there is go to a barber's. I love it, especially in Arabic countries, where the male grooming is incredibly good.
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u/KingOfTheBongos87 Jan 14 '19
Getting a hair cut and a shave in the streets of Hanoi, cold Larue in hand, was an awesome experience.
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u/dickmublin Jan 16 '19
In Istanbul, I not only got one of the best haircuts I’ve ever had, plus a very good shave indeed, plus threading, I also had the unique experience of having ladies’ leg wax applied to my ears to remove the fluff that grew there. And after all of that, some of that lovely rose/lemon aftershave they use there, which stung like a motherfucker, making my wife fall about laughing. And a nice cup of weapon strength coffee on the side.
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u/ScrewTheAverage Airplane! Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 10 '19
Start sightseeing at dawn and if possible on Sunday morning!
This strategy has served us well with having the Acropolis in Athens (and the like) to ourselves. It also allows us to enjoy locations in the still of the morning and the chaos of rush hour. We like to use this strategy in conjunction with everyday sightseeing.
Early morning sightseeing also makes for great pictures!
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u/MRCHalifax Canada Jan 11 '19
Heck yes. I have pictures of places like the Saint Peters, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps with no one around due to early morning wandering.
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u/JaggedMedici United States (28 Countries and 34 US states visited so far) Jan 11 '19
I take a headlamp with me everywhere I go. It's been pretty useful. I met my girlfriend while traveling and we were surprised to learn that we both carry headlamps on our travels.
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u/MaryPoppppinBottles Jan 13 '19
Every single trip, my SO and I bring our small, portable giraffe plush. He’s been all over the world, and he partakes in photos with us. It’s been a tradition for over 8 years now.
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u/charmingtortoise Jan 15 '19
We have a travel turtle and our friends that we travel with have a travel pup. We take pictures with them all over too.
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Jan 11 '19
Anytime I hear about a new book that sounds great, I save it for my next trip. So my ritual is excitedly cracking open a new book (er, Kindle) as soon as I get settled on the plane.
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u/Vedimochka1 Jan 14 '19
When I travel, I start to drink orange juice in liters, although I rarely drink it at home.
Orange juice is my mother's favorite juice and my sister says that I miss mom so much when traveling.
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u/scrambledmeags Jan 14 '19
I have two rituals I like to do in every city I visit. The first is to go to at least one market. I love to see new produce and it’s a great place to people watch. The second is to find a high vantage point of the city- whether it’s going up the tallest building possible or hiking up a local mountain or hill. I love 360 degree views.
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u/queenvelvetpaws Jan 14 '19
I will usually make sure to see the sunrise once. A lot of times, the climate makes for cloudy mornings, but in the tropics, it’s worth it to wake up at 4:30 to see the sun coming up. In the north, sunrises usually aren’t visible, but the sunsets are nice.
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Jan 15 '19
I usually look for nice bookstores in most of the cities I visit. I've found some cozy spots in Santorini and Budapest.
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u/noappendix United States Jan 15 '19
I always spend a prolonged amount of time perusing grocery stores when I'm a different country. I really want to see the different kinds of foods, packaging, and marketing that each country or region has. I also feel much closer to the locals when I get to see what they're buying and eating on a daily basis.
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u/ef_suffolks Jan 15 '19
1) I actually try to follow the reddit group of where I'm going for at least two weeks. Let's you know the personal details (like major roads being closed, or crime issues)
2) I chose one song and a good spot. I listen to that song on loop at least twice before I leave that spot. That is "the song" for that destination. Helps add a little texture to the travel experience and then when I hear that song I immediately get to mentally travel to that area
3) I usually, try anyway, to eat breakfast at my hostel, lunch out in public, and either skip or grab and go deli dinner. It reduces costs to spend your money on lunch instead of dinner and usually less of a wait at the restaurants. If I eat dinner at all, I go at like 4:30-5:00 and beat the wait
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u/thadeus_d3 Jan 15 '19
I have to try a Doner Kebab wherever I travel. I love them and it's impossible to find them in my city. I exclusively eat them on vacation.
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u/jimbolic Jan 17 '19
They’re amazing. Almost guaranteed great no matter where they’re made and eaten.
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u/ottawaagent Jan 14 '19
Every time before I leave for an extended period of time I give my place a complete top-to-bottom cleaning. I always find it nice after getting in from travelling to come home to a clean space where the only thing I need to organize are the things in my suitcase!
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u/wanderized Jan 15 '19
COFFEE SHOPS.
Whenever I visit a new place the first thing I'll do is suss out the coffee scene and I'll find a local that I stick to for the majority of my trip. I love people watching in them and just generally taking time out from the crazy outside.
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u/goualizak Jan 15 '19
i make my phone on mode air and i enjoy and take pic
no one can disturbing me
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u/SmokeALotPotomus Jan 16 '19
So among my favorite things is observing the smoking rituals of the world. You’d be surprised at how many idiosyncrasies go into smoking hash with the Uighur ethnicity of China for example!
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u/salemsfamiliar Jan 14 '19
Always make my bed, clean the sheets the whole thing. Nothing like coming home and crawling in to a nice clean bed.
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u/ef_suffolks Jan 15 '19
I just started doing this as well. I would have preferred to have my whole house cleaned but to be honest, it's usually wreck but at least the bed is clean
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u/pinkbabygirl Jan 15 '19
Holidays are a great chance to catch up of all the missed reading in the year - sun and a book are all you need!
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Jan 16 '19
I have my really crusty pair of shoes that I MUST wear. I am really afraid what would happen if I do not.
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u/Howtomaketdecision Jan 17 '19
My travel rituals always capture experiences I liked with a photo and a note of why I loved the place and what the atmosphere (vibe) of the place
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u/RICH_PINNA Jan 10 '19
Right before I leave my house for the airport or wherever I'm going before I go there I always have a seat and just chill for 30 seconds to collect my thoughts and see if I forgot anything. My family did this every time we would fly when I was younger and I've kept the tradition.
Also I almost exclusively eat out when I travel. I'm not going to be bothered cooking and cleaning and eating the same shit I can make at home in a different place. Then again, food is high on my list for reasons to travel to _____.