Mistakes The First Time Traveler Makes

When you’re a newbie at anything, you’re bound to make mistakes in the beginning. And this also applies to traveling of course. Many first time travelers almost always make one or more of the following mistakes.

Booking Everything

It can be really tempting the first time you travel, to book everything in advance. This way you can be sure that you won’t hit snags during your journey. Most people think better safe than sorry right? And they end up booking every hostel, every transfer and every meal. You’ll soon realize that it pays to have a certain flexibility in these things. Book the major things of course, like your hotel and other stuff but leave yourself with enough room so you can change your travel plans if needed as opportunities present themselves. In fact soon you’ll be traveling without putting much thought to booking at all.

Using The Travel Agent Too Much

Many first time travelers think that travel agents are a haven and that they will help them save money on each little thing. While they are genuinely helpful on many fronts, it’s not recommended using them for everything; if you book certain things yourself, you’ll save money.

Being Too Paranoid About Locals

It’s understandable when you’re in a far off and foreign land that you’ll be on your guard. After all you know little about the people who surround you. But that is no reason to suspect that every other person will try to scam you. Most locals are friendly and helpful. And behaving too suspiciously will set you apart possibly making you an easy target for scammers and thieves. This is possibly one of the top mistakes a first time traveler makes.

Don’t Worry If You get Scammed

It’ll eventually happen – whether you overpay a taxi driver, buy a local ‘artefact’ for a high price or something similar, you’ll get scammed by some person or another. The bottom line is that it’s completely okay – most tourists have gotten scammed at one point or another. Just roll with it and make sure you don’t lose too much money. Also it’s better to search online about the area you’ll be visiting as many sites have user reviews who point out potential threats in any area.

Cramming Many Places In Only A Few Days

There’s a reason why group tours are as popular as they are, why people fall for things like “see 5 countries in 11 days”. What you have to understand is that yes you can “see” them, but you can’t travel 5 countries in just 11 days. It’s understandable that you’d want to see as much as you can but trust the fact that you’ll travel again. Try to see the popular stuff within one place that you go to. Spending around 2 weeks in a country is reasonable. One week at the minimum. Savor the destination that you’re at, instead of running off to the next one.

Here are just some of the top mistakes that first time travelers make. If you’re one be sure to avoid them.