Making friends online has allowed for the greatest experience when it comes to travelling and really connecting with a destination. Whether you do this before travelling or not, when you’re visiting a new place, you can travel like a tourist and build yourself a packed itinerary of monuments and tourist traps, with just enough time for dinner at a restaurant in the main tourist area that serves the same food you could get at home.
Alternatively, you could travel more like a local and experience more of the local culture, cuisine and history.
Your hotel choice can start you on the right for a more authentic trip if you want to travel more consciously. Don’t stay in the central tourist areas. Every popular destination has an area where the Westerners stay, get drunk and give Western travellers a bad name. It’s easy to get caught up in staying in the tourist areas, especially if your tour operator is suggesting you stay there to ‘stay safe’. In reality, tourist areas are often targeted by pickpockets and scam artists as they know they can target people not paying attention and carrying a lot of cash. Instead, organise your own independent and local place to stay. Book someone’s actual home using Airbnb or use sites like Travelfish or Couchsurfing to find somewhere to stay with a local host.
Start your day in a more leisurely way than the usual crush at the hotel buffet. Instead, find a local cafe on a side street and order a local coffee. Sit back, relax and enjoy a spot of people watching. Chat to the staff and ask for their recommendations of where they like to eat and where to visit. Don’t ask where the other tourists go.
Find somewhere interesting to visit, like a museum or a nearby town. Ask a local for a suggestion. Don’t build a huge list of places to tick off and instead choose something you will find interesting and really enjoy. For example, if you love art, visit a local gallery. If you love mysterious stories and history, check out Detectorlist for stories of ancient lost treasure and visit the area where the valuables are thought to be. If you love food, ask for a suggestion for some local cuisine and the best places to try it.
Take the time to explore. Get outside of the main tourist areas and just walk around the city. You can always use your phone to navigate back, so don’t worry about getting lost. Choose an area that looks interesting and just walk around and see what you can find. You might find a wonderful local restaurant, or stumble upon an incredible view. You might just walk around and enjoy seeing the homes of the local people and getting an idea of what life is really like in the city. Forget the tourist schedule and just explore. Do what attracts your attention and forget the usual To-Do list of must-do and must-see tourist attractions.
Try to get out of your comfort zone to have some new experiences. Try out a local restaurant and eat local food you have never tried before, even if it seems strange. It might be delicious! Climb to the top of the cliff for amazing views. Swim in the ocean. Find something new to do to create incredible vacation memories that won’t be exactly the same as the memories of all the other tourists visiting the area.
Try the local food. Sometimes local dishes can seem intimidating, but they’re often delicious. Even if you try something and don’t like it, you can feel good that you were willing to try and will have a story to tell when you get home. Ask the locals, such as the staff in your hotel or in that coffee shop you’ve found, where they like to eat and go there. Local food will almost always be better than the places trying to make food to appeal to Western visitors. It’s usually cheaper to eat this way too.
Show respect for different customs and cultures. Learn about the customs of the place you’re visiting before you go, especially religious customs, as these can differ widely around the world. For example, remember that in many cultures outside the West, an excessive display of skin is seen as immodest, no matter how hot it is. Learn how you should dress to stay cool but avoid offending local people. In Thailand, it is considered rude to show the bottom of your feet. Stay away from traditional dress unless a local has specifically told you to do so and has helped you to dress correctly.
This is a contributed post, edited by Nik