While perusing my twitter feed (You can find me here) I saw a link to this article from the Lonely Planet team listing the worst travel advice (check it out here). It’s not often that you would knowingly give bad advice to someone but this list made me think of how before I went away as a solo backpacker all the advice I received that didn’t turn out to be so helpful as intended. So I thought I would add to their list with a few of my own suggestions:
1. Join a tour so you won’t be alone – A lot of well-meaning friends said this to me probably through worry that I would be a sad lonely loser if I didn’t have a pre-planned trip organised. A good idea that works for some people but when I worked out the cost of these trips compared to how much cheaper I could do it myself it was a no brainer. I had faith in myself that I didn’t need to have the comfort blanket of an organised tour to meet new people. And this faith paid off.
2. Don’t eat street food – If I’d followed this I would have missed out on some of the best dishes I tasted especially in Thailand. Obviously no one wants to get ill but the best advice I heard was to look for the busiest stall and join the queue behind the locals. This usually means it is the most authentic and freshest choice because of the high turnover from the demand.
3. Don’t book hostels – This was from other backpackers when they saw me checking out prices for a place to stay in the next location I was going to. They advised to just turn up in a place and find one then, this may sound laid back but for me I didn’t want to be running around getting lost, hot and stressed trying to find a bed for the night. I was happier to get something booked, dump my bags and go explore.
4. Save money on air con – Obviously it depends on where and when you are travelling but air con is not a luxury but an essential in some places. I tried for a night in Koh Lanta with just a tiny fan but after being attacked by mozzies and lack of sleep because it was like sleeping in a volcano I decided to upgrade to aircon and spend that little extra so I got to enjoy my time more.
5. Trust no-one – This is both good and bad advice. Being a single female I was conscious of my personal safety more than I perhaps would have been if I was with others I knew. But there were times when if I hadn’t trusted anyone you would have found me rocking in a ball in the corner and not left the airport. You need to have faith in others and trust them not to be horrible murderers as not everyone is. But on the other hand don’t be too trusting especially when you first meet them as they are basically strangers.
Have you ever been told any bad advice? Did you follow it?
