A passenger on a low-cost airline in India discovered on Monday that she'd arrived in a city some 1,000 miles from her planned destination after being told to board the wrong flight.
21.07.2023 - 08:44 / roughguides.com
Some of life’s usual rules go out of the window when you’re travelling. You don’t have to set your alarm clock and you don’t have to worry about ironing, washing the dishes or any of that other boring grown-up stuff.
But there are some rules you should always follow when travelling, whether you’re train-hopping through Europe or backpacking in Southeast Asia. Let’s call them the golden rules of travel.
Bungee jumping isn’t for everyone, and nor is leaping from a perfectly good plane. But you don’t have to be an adrenaline junkie (or even do anything remotely dangerous) to take a few risks while travelling.
You could skip the Eiffel Tower in favour of a few lesser-known sights, or simply avoid Paris altogether and check out a sleepy backwater that gets far fewer visitors.
Sure, there’s a risk that you might be disappointed when you arrive, but the potential rewards are worth it. You might find a perfect café, get a beautiful view all to yourself, or wind up meeting the person of your dreams. For better or worse, stories get more interesting when you leave the beaten track.
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The bad thing about staying at home is that routine sets in, and it gets increasingly difficult to spice up daily life. That’s why people go to Zumba classes.
When you’re travelling, though, you’re exposed to new sights, smells, flavours and experiences all the time. Make it a rule that you’ll try something new every day, and at least if you do end up back at Zumba, you’ll have a nice spring in your step.
Sterile jet planes and touristy resort hotels make it easy to whizz around the world without really ever meeting local people. Tear yourself away from the pool for an hour or two and try to make connections, whether it's with your Airbnb host or a trader at the local market.
You’ll be surprised by how much you can discover; there are friendly, welcoming people all over the world, and they’re often just as keen to learn from strangers as you are.
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“Leave only footprints,” says the old mantra. That’s easier said than done when you have to drink bottled water to avoid getting a stomach bug. Swig from disposable bottles for a few months and you’ll create a nasty pile of plastic waste, which will stay in your holiday destination long after you’ve departed (around 500 years, according to most estimates).
We’re not saying that you should drink straight from the tap in New Delhi in a bid to save the planet (definitely don’t do that), but it’s good to remember that as a visitor, you can have a disproportionately high impact on the environment. Tread as lightly as you can, and think carefully about what you’re leaving behind.
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Volunteering abroad isn’t always as simple as it sounds. You’ve got to consider things like visas, travel
A passenger on a low-cost airline in India discovered on Monday that she'd arrived in a city some 1,000 miles from her planned destination after being told to board the wrong flight.
For most of the 35 years since American Airlines’ AAdvantage program made its debut in 1981, U.S. travel-rewards programs have measured loyalty in miles. Fly 1,000 miles, earn 1,000 miles. Earn 25,000 miles and redeem them for a free domestic coach ticket.
Is this the “golden age of flying”? I’m in daily contact with many travelers, journalists, and industry analysts, and I don’t know anyone who would consider such an assertion to be anything but ludicrous. So my answer is an unqualified “No.”
What better way to spend your summer than with your favorite beach read? And we want to know what you’re reading! We’ve teamed up with Random House to launch a special photo contest, one with great prizes for nine finalists and one grand-prize winner.
The TSA is usually a traveler’s worst nightmare, but thanks to the @AskTSA Twitter account, the TSA it turns out can actually be funny. The customer-service Twitter account answers travelers most absurd questions (no, you cannot travel with liquid mercury) about what they can and cannot carry onto a plane. And while this article is all in good fun, some questions and responses are actually useful, especially when it comes to holiday travel—it prefers if you don’t wrap your gifts, by the way—and traveling with food, liquids, and electronics.
Although the United Kingdom is one of the closest European destinations to the United States, it’s been out of reach for many Americans for a long time, due to the unfavorable pound to dollar exchange rate.
Every summer, Americans selectively schedule their vacation time, typically taking a week or two to get out and enjoy the sun or a dreamy, far-off destination. But as the midyear heat wanes and the holiday season approaches, more of us should assess the vacation days we’re not using—all 658 million of them.
Just hours before it was to take effect, the Trump administration’s revised travel ban was blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii. A second judge, in Maryland, followed suit.
Still holiday shopping for your favorite traveler, or need some essentials before you set foot into a new year of jet-setting? Here’s a look back at some of the top-rated travel products we’ve reviewed this year. From comfy shoes and packable gadgets to bags that carry them all, here are the SmarterTravel-reviewed items that outranked the rest in 2016.
Summer, also known as high season for travel, is almost here. And according to AAA just about everyone is poised to hit the road. The organization predicts two-thirds of what it categorizes as “leisure travelers” plan to take vacations this summer, meaning millions of Americans will be hitting the road.
Getting old has few benefits, but the occasional senior travel discount is one of them. Senior travelers can enjoy a wide range of discounts, but both availability and value vary substantially among different travel sectors and in different parts of the globe.
Though I pride myself on being an independent traveler—I was in the United States Peace Corps in Paraguay for two years, have been to six continents, and spent multiple years reviewing hotels across the U.S. and around the world, by myself— India is one country that I’ve never considered visiting as a solo traveler.