Read this Before you Ever Travel Again

There is only one thing which is more depressing than not being able to travel the world. That is to return from a place, realizing you missed the most interesting thing of that trip. Something you should have seen but you did not. This can obviously only happen because you really had no time to see it or you had not done your homework in the first place.
Read, read, and read.
Before you get of a plane on foreign soil you must make sure you have a list of three things you must see. Life is too short and the world is too big for you to return to a place just because you missed something you really wanted to see. Ask me I did. I was in Los Angeles and missed the opportunity to visit the grave of Marilyn Monroe. To me that is like going to Memphis and not to visit Graceland or going to Cairo and not see the Great Pyramid.
The Lonely Planet / Lets Go / Time Out Cities Guide / Fodors / Frommers and others guides
Get yourself a guide book. These guide books are exceptional value for money and in some countries you would be lost without them. These books make it possible for you to plan your trip before you reach your destination.
General Knowledge
You can get a map and read up on all the different areas that might affect the way you travel or duration of your trip. This includes history, climate, religions, arts, dangers, currency, politics, language and more.
Restaurants and Accommodation
The guides allow you to budget by supplying you with names of places where you can stay and eat. Each catering to satisfy your specific needs. The places are divided so that you can make a choice between high end and low end accommodation and restaurants. You can travel on a shoe string or as luxurious as you like.
Transport
Very important is information on how to get to a place and an estimate of the time it will take you. In some countries an 80km trip will take you less than an hour while in Cambodia and India it took me 10 hours to complete a 120km journey. These books also give you an estimate of how much you should pay for a trip. While in Taiwan or Hong Kong or South Africa the fare is fixed, but you need to negotiate the cost for a rickshaw trip in India. If you do not, you will loose a lot of money.
Having a guide will save you time and money and you first go see the important things and places and then, if you have time, you see the rest. Planning a trip takes away many surprises, gives you a better budget and brings you home knowing you saw what you wanted to see.

Article Source: TravelFreeGuides.com

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Leon write articles about Travel Italy.

by: JohnHost

Total views: 47 Word Count: 606 Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 Time: 7:44 AM - 4 comments

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