If there’s one thing people are full of, it’s advice. Where to go, where to stay, what not to do, what tours to do, what companies to avoid, basically everything about everywhere. The trick is sifting through and deciding what advice to trust and what advice to let fly out that proverbial window.
We ran into a lot of advice traveling around the world. As you can imagine, we were always intrigued to hear tips and advice, but as we found out hearing what wasn’t said or reading between the lines became the most important aspect of sifting through to find the travel gems. So before I write any more idioms, here’s our list of the good, bad and ugly travel advice we were given!
The ferry from Egypt was late so we arrived in Wadi Halfa sometime around midnight and began to search for a hotel. We were shocked at the expense of Wadi Halfa, but it was late and we finally chose a nice place based on the review of an Australian girl in the lobby. Three hours later we were still downstairs drinking tea and chatting with the Australian girl and the manager. She gave us the best travel tip we’d ever received, go to Petra late. Miss the crowds and stay for sunset. We were hesitant, but unwilling to get up early, we took her advice. We arrived around noon and the place was packed. By 3pm most of the tours had started to leave and by 5pm we were virtually alone. It was magnificent. Thankfully we had purchased a two day pass and arrived late the next afternoon as well and spent hours wandering around the site in the late afternoon sun with virtually no other tourists in sight. Magical and perfect.
The Bad – China during National Holiday
Arriving to a country during their peak festival time can be a great time to experience the culture. Unfortunately the entire population of China (read: 1 billion people) travels at two points of the year: Chinese New Year and National Holiday. Part of our visit coincided with National Holiday.
A expat told us that it wouldn’t be a problem to travel during this time and that it would only last 10 days. Unfortunately that wasn’t our experience. Sites were dangerously overcrowded and we ended up passing up the opportunity to see the Leshan Buddha after hearing one tale of 4 hours waiting just to buy a ticket! Since the population is so large, some companies have started staggering the vacation days, essentially extending the holiday travel period for more than two weeks. We ended up being virtually trapped in Chengdu, no trains or buses were available to go anywhere East or North (we had come from the West) for more than a week. It wasn’t such a terrible place to be trapped, but it definitely impacted our entire travel schedule and our month traveling in China was over quicker than we thought.
The Ugly – Overnight Bus in Malawi
After getting to know a hotel manager very well in Malawi, we felt we could trust his recommendation on the overnight buses. He assured us that he took the bus regularly to visit family in the north and that it was very comfortable at night. He helped us buy our tickets, reviewed the ticket and assured us we’d have a pleasant and comfortable journey.
It turned out to be one of the worst bus experiences of our whole trip.
The bus was three seats by two seats, if you’ve ever been on a bus like this you know the seats are about 25% smaller to accommodate another seat. We of course, were in the three seater most of the way until we negotiated a trade with two women and a baby. A heinously overcrowded bus, crying babies, frequent stops, long waits, several police inspections, and having luggage piled on my lap, it was a nightmare. Everything I had ever dreaded about an overnight bus had come together on this single journey. It was an experience my mind couldn’t even process at the time because I was just focused on getting through the night. If only it had been the comfortable bus in this picture from Peru… Needless to say, it got worse when we disembarked at a muddy bus station well before dawn only to be accosted by what felt like hundreds of locusts (taxi drivers).
What has been your experience with tips and advice? Any gems or nightmares you care to share with us?
This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.
inka says
OMG- what a nightmare bus trip. As for Petra. I did the opposite and went just as they opened and had the same good experience as you. Otherwise I must say that I don’t much listen to advice. I love to try things out for myself and when I get it wrong I have only got myself to blame. I love this good-bad-ugly series of yours.
Jillian says
Early or late seems to be the ticket with almost everything! Thanks for the encouragement on the series, any topics you’d like us to cover?
Roy | cruisesurfingz says
The only travel advice I can give is to stay out of tourist traps. But to each his/her own!
Jillian says
I hate tourist traps too, but sometimes they’re good for the people watching…
Hele says
Though generally agreeing with the stay-out way, i still believe there is a good reason why those places have become tourist traps in the first place so why not go and discover them while youre there 😉 But the early or late rule is also true.
Raymond says
One of the best pieces of advice I got was at the bus station in Gaziantep, Turkey. The guy at the ticket counter said to use the washroom there instead of waiting to get to the Syrian border. Of course I thought it was some sort of scam, so I completely ignored him. Fast forward to the border, and I was dying for a whiz. I sprinted for the urinal, and then realized what the guy meant when I was shaking the dew off the lily, and the “dew” ended up going from the urinal, straight through the hole in the bottom, and onto my sandal-ed feet. Nice.
Jillian says
Ah the other category: Advice I should have taken but I didn’t. note to self: if anyone suggested I use the washroom at a place instead of waiting, listen!
Leonardo del Rey says
omg!
Im glad non of the bad and ugly happend in Brazil!
/;p
adventureswithben says
Best advice I have received is to spend $5.00 for the Steamboat Vicky Tour of Cape Town Harbor. It was the best 5 bucks I’ve ever spent on a tour. Cheesy, tacky, and delightful – all rolled into one.
Jillian says
Sounds perfect. Sometimes a high cheese factor is all you need for a great afternoon!
Christy @ Technosyncratic says
Most of our awful travel experiences have been completely our own fault… I guess we bumble through things on our own than take bad advice from others! 😛
Jillian says
Sometimes it’s better to only have yourself to congratulate or blame! I enjoy getting tips and advice from others, sometimes we’ve gotten such gems that it makes me forget about all the bad advice. Generally I take it all with a grain of salt either way!
Amanda says
Really loved this post! It’s so true that everyone has some sort of advice to give, no matter where you go in the world. But, because everybody travels so differently, good advice for one person could be terrible advice to another.
Sounds like you at least got some terrific advice for Petra, though! I’ll definitely have to keep that tidbit in mind.
Jillian says
Exactly! I know what I offer as good advice might be bad to someone else. As I posted this GBU: Advice I reflected on what advice we were given and didn’t take. Perhaps that should be the next in the series.
Renee says
Jillian,
Really, I’m not laughing at your misfortune, but you have such a wonderful way of expressing your disdain….especially about the overnight bus. It just goes to show you that everyone has their own definition of the term “comfortable”. Yikes!
Jillian says
Yup, everyone has their own definitions of comfortable and of good advice! That bus ride was awful though! I wish our expectations had been lower, then we probably wouldn’t have found it so bad!
Akila says
Yeah, everyone’s got an opinion about travel. I think the worst advice anyone gave us was to go to Sihanoukville in Cambodia. We absolutely hated it — too many prostitutes, rowdy backpackers, and trashy beaches. But, I’ve heard from others who really love it so it’s all a matter of opinion as to what’s comfortable and great. 🙂
Jillian says
Oh I am so glad we didn’t go there! Sounds like we also would have HATED it. All in all, I can’t say I enjoyed Cambodia too much in general…
Christina says
You’re so right – travelling in China during a national holiday can get crazy. I remember taking a train from Nanjing to Shanghai during spring festival… let’s just say I am still grateful to my Chinese colleagues for navigating me through the crowds!