I went around a bit recently, and the following is a few of the things I picked up:
Tear the cover off of your
guidebook,
photocopy the pages you need, or somehow otherwise hide the cover. I have
no idea why the
travel book publishers release books that have
loud,
fancy,
obnoxious covers in which some variation of the words "
Travel Book" feature prominently. Walking around with a
travel book is bound to get you into trouble should you go anywhere other than the most frequented
tourist trap, but especially so if you're going to use
public transportation (and especially especially so if you're going to use the
subway).
If you need to gaze at a
map for long periods of time, it's probably a good idea to do it someplace
private, or at least in an inconspicuous manner. Looking blatantly at a
map for a long time in a
public place is a sure way to become a mark.
Make at least a half-hearted attempt to learn about the
currency. You should, of course, know the conversion rate to your local
currency by heart, however, in addition, you should learn the general shape or color of the larger
coins and
bills.
Bills are generally pretty easy because they have their amount displayed on them so prominently.
Coins are harder to deal with, so you should get a rough idea as to what the larger
coin denominations look and feel like. Unlike
America, there coins that are worth in the vicinity five dollars in the local
currency are in circulation, at least in
Europe. When you come across a
mendicant (as you surely will) and need to throw some money at him to get him to go away, need to quickly tip a
waitress, or need to use the machine that dispenses
tickets when there are a million
angry people behind you, you need to be able to recognize your
coins fast.
More about
travel books: Don't
trust them. I'm serious. I went around with two
guidebooks (both of which were published within two years from then), and between the two of them, they were wrong five or six times. That doesn't sound like much, but when you have a few days in a
city, wasting a few
hours trying to figure out where the hell the shop you really wanted to go to is, why the
museum isn't open, or why the
tram isn't stopping where it's supposed to is a big waste of time. I don't really have a good solution to this.
Calling ahead in the case of
museums to find out their closing time is, of course, a good idea, but it is rarely
feasible. Looking in the
phone book would be nice to confirm the shop's address would be good, but, of course, you are almost never going to have that
luxury.
Don't be
rude. I'm
deathly serious. This is very important, especially if you're
American.
Americans already have a bad
reputation the world over for being loud, obnoxious jerks. From the other
Americans I've seen on the road, this
reputation often holds true. They
bellow loudly. They cut in lines. They are generally
nasty or
clueless. Please, make at least a
cursory effort to be
nice and disrupt the
locals' lives as little as possible, or, in the case of people whose
job it is to deal with
tourists, a little bit less of a
hell. They will
love you for it. They will
smother you in
kisses.
Ah, well. That's all for now.