Share Your Worldwide Travel Tips

rob_gould said:

Dirtyhanfri : what kind of things are you into? Museums? Music? Electronic or bands? Cafes? Beer? Weed? Just soaking up a different atmosphere?

I can certainly give some tips (UK expat based in Amsterdam for 6 years) but it helps to know what you like cos there's pretty much something for everyone here.

I definitely echo the suggestions of the other Nederlanders that it's good to get out of the city too. Amsterdam is a little bubble, and it's great but it's not a true representation of the country as a whole...

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Well

My main plan is to soak a different atmosphere, I’d also like to see cultural spots like museums or buildings (I really enjoy old architecture).

Regarding music I’m more into bands or rap music than techno / electronic music.

It’s not a weed travel, I’m from Spain, so I don’t need to go outside to see drugs everywhere  :-\

But of course I’ll step into a coffee shop in one or another moment, surely it will be a nice way to finish my days, it’s just not the main reason for the visit.

Don’t want to spend two days in a weed theme park around young boys smoking as much as possible like they’ve never seen a bud, I’m old for that.

Some important jobs confirmed for October so my travel seems to be delayed to November.

Anyone visiting Munich is very welcome to take a small ride to the countryside and sleep on my studio couch.  8)
I'd be making more holidays if I had a chance to visit some studios on my way.

In Amsterdam I really liked the acoustic in the concertgebouw.
Check out whats playing there. Mostly classical stuff.

If you are driving in different places it pays to gen up on local traffic laws and signs before you go.  For example in France in towns they sometimes have right of way to traffic turning out from junctions on the right hand side of the road.  If the juntion has a line, they have to stop.  If there is no line you have to stop.  If one is not used to this it can lead to some interesting experiences.  I'm sure every country has its own driving law quirks.  Worth checking in advance.

Interesting thread ,

Been to Holland a good few times ,A'dam is a very warped perspective with out the counterbalance of quieter more rural places, Ive heard it said by the Dutch that you dont meet many Dutch in Amsterdam ,and its very true.

I stayed out in a smaller rural place right beside the coast almost 20 years ago ,twin villages of a few thousands of people ,bycycle transport infrastructure has been meticulasly done ,and its a joy to use ,people ,both pedestrians and cyclists are incredibly courteous  and respectfull on it ,a bell on your bike is manditory also . We'd cycle or walk off into the next town and visit bars ,some places you could walk in order a beer , freely throw your weed bag up on counter and roll up ,  much nicer than a coffee shop really .Of course being with an Irish gang ,it wouldnt be long before the table was full to the egde with  0.2 L beer 'shot glasses'.The fun and japes of the bike rides or walks home make happy memories indeed , funny stuff happened ,one night we were walking the road home ,5 of us , a guy and his girlfriend pulled up in a BMW,we all piled into the back seat and he gave us a spin home and a  bud for a joint or two in the end  ,but the invite for coke and drink fueled orgy back at their place was offered ,ahahaah.
Another night one of the girls with my group met an asian guy ,he invited us all back to his place , it turned out there was a bunch of young lads living with this older wierd 'Frankenfurter' type dude , he arrived back later to find a load of drunken Irish had drank all the beer , messed up his place  and half of his bag of charlie was gone , ;D
Strategic withdrawl staved off any real need for fisty cuffs ,but one of my buds did catch a smartner on the chin from your man a in the street alright,we could have easliy gone gang busters on him as we were three and all his little sissy boys had no testosterone at at . I guess the person who pigged into the guys snort ,caught a little reminder for it and we left it at that .

I'll follow up with a bit about Ireland in this post later on ,

A few years back Holland banned coffee shops from selling to non-residents. Not sure how it's now, cos I haven't been in quite a while... But what's the point of drug tourism anyway.

I read the Bulletproof Diet book and Dave Asprey had some interesting hacks for jet lag.  He recommends grounding oneself after a trip to help with lag.  Walking around or exercising on the grass in bare feet.  My wife tried it both ways back n forth NYC to SVO and it definitely helped her get to local times quicker, especially traveling east.  Theory is that the body gets charged and the grounding drains the charge.
He also mentioned that he uses a "grounding plug" when traveling that is basically an anti-stat cuff wired to third pin of an electric plug.  I think that is insane because you have to trust the local electrics.  Plugging an ankle into 220 would NOT be cool, so I have to bring a multimeter also?  I'll stick to the grass.

I have always used as much dark/quiet sleep as possible on the plane, and get on local time asap by staying up late locally and getting more dark/quiet sleep, not arising until morning.

I have the fondest memories of Tirol.  What a beautiful part of the world!

Mike

sodderboy said:

I read the Bulletproof Diet book and Dave Asprey had some interesting hacks for jet lag.  He recommends grounding oneself after a trip to help with lag.  Walking around or exercising on the grass in bare feet.  My wife tried it both ways back n forth NYC to SVO and it definitely helped her get to local times quicker, especially traveling east.  Theory is that the body gets charged and the grounding drains the charge.
He also mentioned that he uses a "grounding plug" when traveling that is basically an anti-stat cuff wired to third pin of an electric plug.  I think that is insane because you have to trust the local electrics.  Plugging an ankle into 220 would NOT be cool, so I have to bring a multimeter also?  I'll stick to the grass.

I have always used as much dark/quiet sleep as possible on the plane, and get on local time asap by staying up late locally and getting more dark/quiet sleep, not arising until morning.

I have the fondest memories of Tirol.  What a beautiful part of the world!

Mike

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Cough...  don't know about "grounding", but in my experience it depends on how many time zones you cross, and how long you plan  to stay. It takes something like one day per time zone to fully acclimate. For long trips with short stays you are better off staying in your original time zone as much as possible (practical).  Morning sunlight is used by the body to synchronize the body's circadian rhythms, so embrace it or avoid it depending on your immediate plans.

JR

I'd suggest everybody does what works best for them to get over jetlag. I tried a lot of things over the many years (esoteric excluded).

Before take-off:
- Sleep a litttle less the night before plane traveling to offset my body clock (helps in my case).
- Take flights that overlap with my natural sleep cycle (if and whenever possible).
- Avoid flights with arrival time (too late) in the afternoon.

In-flight:
- Sleeping on the plane definitely helps (double benefit, cos flying is boring).
- I try to skip the entertainment program (not easy, but in-flight entertainment 'kills' time later).
- Drink a beer (or two) on the plane to get drowsy (only if necessary).

After arrival:
- Excercise, yes, sort of. But could be anything in my case, from just taking a long walk to keeping myself busy with whatever. So, activities from day one (!), until it's local time to sleep (better: late evening).
- Forcing myself to get up in the mornings by the clock.
- I keep curtains open to let daylight in.
- If my body says "Get up now!" in the middle of the night, I would never do before 5AM.
- Never give in to sleeping in the afternoon or worse around or before noon...

With a bit of training/discipline, the body can acclimate a perceived two timezones (two hours) per day.

Ah, Jetlag. My old friend.
I'm often on the other side of the world, for less than a week (out Sunday, back Friday). A few tips after talking to airline staff...

- PLOUGH through as much water as you can on the flight. You'll end up peeing like crazy, but seriously -- think PINTS of water. Dehydration is serious. Stay off the booze. it may help with sleep, but doesn't help dehydration.
- Stay off ambien. I've seen some people do some WIERD sh*t on that.
- Sleep on your new timezone on the flight. That usually means "sleep when you get on, and be awake nearer to landing" or the other way around. Stay awake on the flight, then sleep in the last few hours (if you're landing in the morning)
- stay up late on your arrival, wake up at your usual time in the new timezone and seriously... I know this sound silly... get any old clothes on and WALK in the morning. Fresh air, sunshine on skin (kicks off Vit D, and the surge of Vit D in the system tells your body it's morning)

Best of luck.

/R

I travelled professionally for about 25 years; the thing that killed me was having to wake up on the new time zone and go to one of these dreadful breakfast meetings and then go to the booth and make a pretense at being alive. Once I decided I would have a day off on arrival I felt much better.
I travel almost only for leasure now; I just make sure I have no plans for the first day, just pampering my jetlag.

abbey road d enfer said:

I travelled professionally for about 25 years; the thing that killed me was having to wake up on the new time zone and go to one of these dreadful breakfast meetings and then go to the booth and make a pretense at being alive. Once I decided I would have a day off on arrival I felt much better.
I travel almost only for leasure now; I just make sure I have no plans for the first day, just pampering my jetlag.

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One day I want to be you.

Rochey said:

One day I want to be you.

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Your day will come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfnEoou-FKU

abbey road d enfer said:

I travelled professionally for about 25 years; the thing that killed me was having to wake up on the new time zone and go to one of these dreadful breakfast meetings and then go to the booth and make a pretense at being alive. Once I decided I would have a day off on arrival I felt much better.

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The typical flight from US to Germany for the Frankfurt messe arrived in the morning and they would put us right to work with a rep meeting in the hotel, and then a couple hours on the stand that was still being set up, to check it was all right...  (that's why they call it work and paid us money to do it.)

I travel almost only for leasure now; I just make sure I have no plans for the first day, just pampering my jetlag.

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Sounds good, now for leisure I don't travel at all.  8)

JR 

JohnRoberts said:

The typical flight from US to Germany for the Frankfurt messe arrived in the morning and they would put us right to work with a rep meeting in the hotel, and then a couple hours on the stand that was still being set up, to check it was all right...  (that's why they call it work and paid us money to do it.)

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The mischievous barbarian who invented breakfast meetings deserves a (not so) fair trial and be hanged.

Another travel secret of mine is Boroleum.  It is an old school nose ointment that is milder than Vicks that dates back to the late 1800's on Fishers Island NYC. One company one product.
It is great for dry nose on a plane, in the dry studio, or dry heated home.  Really soothing on a flight!
It used to be sold only at The Vermont Country Store but now it's in better rx's and online. I keep writing them to make a mini tube for sale at airports because they would triple their sales.
Mike

abbey road d enfer said:

The mischievous barbarian who invented breakfast meetings deserves a (not so) fair trial and be hanged.

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No actually it made it more of a fair fight to be seriously jet lagged when arguing with sales reps.  :

JR

PS: Peavey is noted for being a sharp pencil, cost conscious company. We would also schedule rep travel in the region for immediately after the show since we were already over there (no rest for the weary). But I rather enjoyed seeing Europe (and drinking) with the locals.  8)

I think theres fairly good evidence saying slowly sip whiskey on flights , cabin air is absolutely filthy .  Most people I know who fly regularly end up with symptoms of cold and flu for a few days after arrival . I think a particulate mask for nose and mouth like what a dentist wears is probaby a good plan too , the fuselage and air in a plane is like an incubator for viruses and other nasty . Aside from the biological hazzards in the air ,theres other things too ,such as cabin fume events ,and in  older planes cabin air contaminated with engine lubricants . A proper respirator mask with chemical reactors wouldnt be any harm ,but can you imagine how twitchy that would make the air marshall . Then theres the big increase in radiation dosage you get at altitude .

Visiting new places and cultures I love ,its just not worth the trouble of air travel for me anymore.

Hello from Turkey!

Want funny and exiting travel? Come to Turkey!

But...

Don't forget your gun and helmet.

Plan to pay for your phones out of country data plan, usually  some kind of deal.
for gps [ not needing a map ] and being able to check store hours and quick research

bringing Food on a plane?  hell ya ,  buy on board is a worse ripoff than hotels , 
go to the washroom in the airport when boarding call starts and careful about liquids, depending on length of flight
so you won't need to go to the washroom.
Load some movies on your ipad , then it doesn't matter what the onboard entertainment is or isn't

ForthMonkey said:

Hello from Turkey!

Want funny and exiting travel? Come to Turkey!

But...

Don't forget your gun and helmet.

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I expect you may get a few too many visitors from neighboring Syria trying to escape rumored possibility of (chlorine) gas attacks by Assad.

I have been following Turkey for a while as it seems to have one foot planted in the west (NATO and trying to join EU), with other foot firmly planted in the middle east.

I know how much it irritates me, so I won't lecture you about your country.  :

JR