12 Common Travel Mistakes To Avoid

Introduction: Welcome to Badass Digital Nomads, where we're pushing the boundaries of remote work and travel, all while staying grounded with a little bit of old school philosophy, self-development, and business advice from our guests.

Kristin Wilson, Host:    00:00:20    Good morning, afternoon, or evening, wherever you are in the world. Kristin, from Traveling with Kristin here and welcome to episode 124 of Badass Digital Nomads on the Top 12 Travel Mistakes to Avoid. But I'm gonna tell you right now, spoiler alert, you're getting a bonus in this podcast because since I published a video a few days ago on these top 12 travel mistakes, shared it on Instagram, shared it on Facebook, I have received hundreds of quite entertaining comments and messages from people about their travel mistakes. And so I wanted to choose a few of those to share with you today because they have definitely given me some food for thought. And I don't know what it is about sharing in our misfortune. I think there's a a saying that misery loves company and of course we only wish good things for everyone, but there's something about bloopers or travel bloopers as it were, that when you hear what other people are going through or what they have gone through in the past, it just kind of makes it easier to cope when things go wrong.  

Kristin:    00:01:37    So when you travel and when you have some travel mishaps, it can sometimes feel like you're the only one that that's ever happened to. But I know from just 24 hours, even since this video came out, with all the stories people have told, all of the tips that they've shared and all of the mistakes that they've made too, I can say with confidence that we're in this together. So the good news is that by just listening to a 20-minute podcast, you can avoid a lot of travel mistakes in the future for the rest of your life. So it's a win-win. But before we get into those tips, a few announcements. First spots are filling up fast in my brand-new program called Ready to Relocate. So in case you missed last week's podcast, where I announced it Ready to Relocate is a relocation roadmap, a moving overseas blueprint that is going to teach you everything you need to know in which order to do each step in for a move to a new country.  

Kristin:    00:02:46    So if you are planning on relocating in the next couple years and you wanna be part of the first group to receive a special introductory rate that spaces are limited, you can apply to join us by sending an email with the subject line Ready to Relocate to info@orbisrelocation.com. That is O R B, like Belgium. I like Iceland, S like Spain relocation.com. So if you're interested in getting some help and guidance and support and a  roadmap for the very overwhelming and complex logistical international relocation process, then send me an email and I'll also link directly to the application in this podcast's show notes, or you can find it on my website at travelingwithkristin.com/apply; A P P L Y. I'd also like to give a warm welcome to my newest patrons Chip, Kathleen and Mike, welcome, welcome, and a big thank you to Dave Bowman for the coffees this week, as well as Dallas from Privacy Post who sent over 25 coffees.  

Kristin:    00:04:07    Thank you so much my team and I definitely appreciate your contributions and support. Also, a big thank you to Gerardo in Mexico for the new five star review. He left on pod chaser. He says, this is one if not the one digital nomad podcast you should consider following. Kristin is an expert that has walked the walk and leaves you the sensation of being accompanied along the way in your pursuit of financial freedom and traveling the world at your will. Lots of value and addictive. Great to hear that, Gerardo, thank you for that review and thank you to all of you who are tuning in today. I also want to acknowledge any of the less extroverted listeners out there. So if you are listening or watching my videos, but you're not the type who likes to leave comments, I just wanted to say hello and thank you and I see you.  

Kristin:    00:05:04    That goes for my sister too, who never comments on my videos but watches all of them. I see you guys. Anyway, speaking of comments, let's get to a few of your mistakes before hearing about mine. First up from Instagram, and you can follow me @TravelingwithKristin on Instagram, I posted in my story a question for people to answer what were their worst travel mistakes? And Seneca shared that she once sat at the wrong gate for a flight at the same time to the same destination, but different airline. So make sure to check your gate and reservation double and triple check it. I actually once drove to the wrong airport because I didn't double-check my reservation. So things can happen, and I got a lot of comments actually from people who booked the wrong train ticket or went to the wrong gate or the wrong terminal.  

Kristin:    00:05:57    Um, a lot of comments about the financial side of traveling. Joey said that his biggest mistake was traveling with just a debit card and no credit card, which of course he lost his debit card, so he was out of cards. So the lesson there is to always travel with more than one card, and you might even wanna keep them in separate places. So let's say you have all of your important stuff in your wallet and then your wallet gets lost or stolen, you would lose all of your cards. But if you have one card in your wallet, uh, one card and a hidden compartment on your backpack, you know, have different valuable items in different places. In case of theft, you aren't left without anything. And the other chef mentioned one mistake that almost made my video, and this is putting important items in your checked bag.  

Kristin:    00:06:51    So you always wanna bring your valuables with you on the plane, and sometimes you might wanna consider carrying it on your person and not even in your carry-on bag. That's going to go into the overhead bin. And also consider not just valuables, but things that you might need to access. So it could be your headphones or medication sanitizing gel, like anything important that you can't have lost or stolen, make sure you have that with you. And then another one I was thinking of today, I think I've gotten so much inspiration from everyone else's comments. Another mistake that no one mentioned, surprisingly is drinking too much before your flight or on your flight. So it's never fun to be hungover at an airport or a plane or or on a train or basically any moving object. But drinking alcohol on the plane can also be really dehydrating, and it can make your jet lag worse.  

Kristin:    00:07:53    So that's one that I think definitely should have made my video and this podcast. So sometimes it happens. But keep that in mind. And some comments over from YouTube. Uh, we had some packing tips from Damon Stout, who also said to limit your shoes and don't bring regular-sized toiletries or any at all. You always wanna bring travel-sized ones or just buy them in your destination. And he also said to invest in good luggage. He said, don't get crappy luggage with broken wheels. <laugh> get good luggage. And I commented back that I had a friend who actually took his suitcase to a suitcase repair place and had the wheels replaced with rollerblading wheels that lasted longer and made the suitcase roll better. So I don't know why so many suitcase companies use those crappy plastic wheels. Maybe they want them to break, so you have to keep buying new ones.  

Kristin:    00:08:54    But Osprey, actually, their wheels are rubber. I have an Osprey suitcase that has very durable wheels, and some companies also have lifetime warranties. So the moral of the story there is just get good luggage. Steve also said, remember to tell your mobile provider if you're traveling, turn off any sort of data roaming or get an international plan or get a local sim upon arrival. No one wants to come home to a $2,000 cell phone bill. We also had a lot of comments on solo travel and slow travel. A lot of people saying that their biggest mistake was putting too much on their to-do list, just trying to pack too much into a short amount of time and also not spending enough time in the places that you visit. I have definitely been there on those tours where you go to a different place every day or sometimes multiple towns in one day and it, it can just feel stressful to cover so much ground, so fast, sometimes quality over quantity when you're traveling.  

Kristin:    00:10:03    And FX Rider mentioned something similar about when he's traveling on his motorcycle. His big mistake is being too enthusiastic about how many miles he can cover in a day. So of course, you always wanna cover as much as possible and see as much as possible. But as you'll hear in today's podcast, there is a science and an art to finding that balance in how much you're planning and how much you're seeing and how much actual traveling you're doing versus how much enjoying you're doing of the place that you're traveling to. So I definitely recommend checking out that comments thread over on youtube.com/travelingwithKristin. Patrick Schwartz said he's been to over 50 countries on business over his career and lived in Europe for seven years, and he still learned so much from this video. So make sure to check out the original video as well. And here are my top travel mistakes and how to avoid them.  

Kristin:    00:11:07    They  say hindsight is 2020, right? Well, having lived abroad and traveled through foreign countries pretty much full-time since I was 20 years old, I can say from experience that I have made more mistakes than I would like to admit. But the good news is you don't have to. You can learn from my experience and avoid these top 12 mistakes that most people make while traveling. I'll also admit that I'm still struggling a bit with the last one. Mistake number 12, not signing up for frequent flyer programs or travel rewards programs. As a relocation consultant, I have been shocked with how many of my clients have not been enrolled in any sort of frequent flyer program or travel rewards program. This is one of the easiest ways to have a more stress-free, pleasant travel experience and to save money throughout the course of your life. You can save thousands of dollars just by enrolling in these programs, and it only takes you a few minutes.  

Kristin:    00:12:13    You can get things like free upgrades, free checked baggage, free seat selection, and priority everything, priority check-in, priority boarding, VIP lounge access, and lots of other perks. You can qualify toward elite status every time that you fly, and you can even get coupons for free drinks on the plane and stuff like that. This goes for hotel rewards programs as well. If you haven't signed up for your favorite hotels rewards program or even one of the big websites like Hotels.com, then you are losing out on free money. You can get free upgrades on your hotel room, you can get late checkout, better customer service. You can get free water bottles and snacks when you check into the hotel. You can earn towards free room nights. This also goes for car rentals. Can get your car faster at the airport, you can get free upgrades a lot of the time, and it's just a better experience overall.  

Kristin:    00:13:11    So if I'm talking to you, if that's you, and you are not enrolled in any of these programs, then pause this video right now. Go to your favorite airline or hotel chain and sign up for their frequent traveler program. You can thank me later. Speaking of airlines though, the 11th mistake people make is trying to book the cheapest flight routes. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but the reason you don't wanna book the cheapest flight is because it's probably too good to be true. A lot of these cheap fares come with a lot of restrictions. So not only are you going to have to be paying extra for everything, whether it's your carry-on bag, your checked bag, your seat selection, if you're allowed to pick your seat at all, um, but you might not be able to cancel or change that fare. So if you did have to cancel, you'd lose that money.  

Kristin:    00:14:04    And also a lot of the times the routes aren't that good. So even if you are saving 50 or a hundred dollars here and there on getting a cheaper fare, if it's going to affect your happiness, your energy levels, then it might not be worth it. Like if you're taking a red eye flight or if you're taking the first flight of the day, or if you're on a flight with lots of layovers where you're gonna end up being really tired, really cranky when you get to your destination and spending more money on food in the airports and things like that, there's a lot of hidden costs that could come into consideration. The 10th major mistake that most people make is to travel during peak times and to peak destinations. Sometimes when you're traveling is non-negotiable because maybe those are the only days you have off work or those are the days that the kids are out of school.  

Kristin:    00:14:59    But there are strategies that you can take to have a better travel experience, even if you're traveling during holidays or the most expensive times of year. So every destination around the world typically has a high low and usually a medium season or a rainy season or a dry season or some variation on that. If you can only travel in the summer, and you go to a peak summer destination like Europe, then the weather's going to be hot, it's going to be crowded, there will be less selection in the accommodations, and it could also be more expensive. Instead, what you could do is go to a place like Costa Rica where your summer is their shoulder season. The ninth mistake people make is in their planning. There are two kinds of people in the world, my friends, those who plan too much, and those who plan, not at all.  

Kristin:    00:15:55    Which one are you? Let me know in the comments. But in all seriousness, this is a big mistake when planning a trip because if you plan too much, you might not have fun because your to-do list is gonna be stressing you out and you're not gonna have enough time to really just experience and be in that moment and in that place that you have traveled to go see. But then if you don't plan enough, then you could end up missing really cool cultural sites, museums, restaurants that were actually right around the corner from where you were, but you didn't know about it because you didn't do any research. So you need to be really intentional with how much you plan by keeping a happy medium, planning just enough so that you know where you're going and some structure to what you're doing, but still leaving some room for spontaneity, serendipity and all of the things that happen that make travel so fun and interesting.  

Kristin:    00:16:54    The eighth big mistake that people make while traveling is traveling without insurance. This is so important because when you travel, there are so many things that can go wrong and things that you don't plan for an injury, things getting stolen, flights getting missed or canceled, and sometimes that happens on the one time that you didn't get travel insurance. So it's better to be safe and get travel insurance every time you travel just in case you can get a plan with Safety Wing, which I really like for one month for the cost of one checked bag on your flight. So it's totally worth it. I have cashed in on my travel insurance many times and better safe than sorry. The seventh mistake is a really easy one to avoid and it's not downloading your airlines app. I remember the times when we had paper plane tickets and these days we have apps, so use them people.  

Kristin:    00:17:55    If you're signed up for your airlines frequent flyer program and you have their app, you're gonna have a much better travel experience because you can get in touch with the airline better. You can choose your seats, you can get notifications up-to-the-minute so you'll know if there's a gate change, you'll be way less likely to miss your flight or have something go wrong, and you could even track your bag. Another big mistake people make, and it's tempting, I'll admit it, is eating in the airport, eating in the airport is expensive. It's stressful because you don't know if you're gonna get your food in time and miss your flight, and typically the food is not that good or healthy. I recently got a Chicken Caesar salad wrap and it didn't have any salad in it. It was just three tortillas with chicken and Caesar salad dressing.  

Kristin:    00:18:45    I mean, what is that? So when at all possible, bring your food with you to the airport, eat before you get there, or get a priority club pass or membership with your airlines lounge, and then you can eat all, you can eat all you can drink for free in the airport and free Wi-Fi instead of fighting the lines and getting fast food out in the terminal. The fifth mistake that some people make is not liking this video or subscribing to my channel. I don't know what these people are thinking, but don't let that be you, <laugh>. Actually, the fifth mistake that people make is a really important one in my opinion, and this is always traveling with someone else and never getting to experience solo travel. Of course, it's very common to travel with your friends, family, significant other, but I think that if you go your entire life without solo traveling, then you're missing a really formative life experience.  

Kristin:    00:19:45    A successful solo travel voyage will make you feel like some kind of superhero. It's really the ultimate test of self-reliance and resourcefulness, and you're also definitely in for an adventure. But the most important and valuable part of solo travel is definitely the people that you meet that admit it. You would probably not have met them if you were traveling with friends or family or someone from your comfort zone. You're just not going to meet as many strangers if you have people with you. Another mistake that a lot of people make when they get to their destination is going to places during peak hours or not really making the most of the time that you have in a place. So sometimes, let's say if you sleep in late, and then you get to a museum or a site that you're going to see at the same time as a cruise ship or a tour group or during peak times, you might not be able to get in or you might just end up spending a lot of the day waiting in line.  

Kristin:    00:20:50    But if you go to places strategically and use a little app called Google Maps that can actually show you when places open and close and when the peak times are, you can end up going to an amazing place and kind of having it all to yourself. I was able to do that in Athens, Greece, and a few different sites and museums getting there really early in the morning, having the whole place to myself, being able to take photos, avoiding the crowds. Um, but it's not just in the morning. It can also be later in the evening. One time I was in Norway and I went to a World War II museum. I was one of the last people into the museum right after a big tour group was leaving and going to dinner, and I ended up getting a private tour of the museum from the owner before it closed.  

Kristin:    00:21:40    I even made a video about it. So by being strategic with where you're going and when, that can make a big difference between something being a really stressful experience or a really memorable one. Top three. The third-biggest mistake people make while traveling is how they spend and access their money. So this has to do with how you're exchanging your money or how you're withdrawing it. At ATM, you don't want to exchange money at an airport, for example, because they charge the worst rates and the highest fees, and you also probably don't wanna use your debit card from home. If you're just using a standard debit card from a US bank or credit union, chances are there are going to be some pretty high transaction fees, possibly foreign exchange fees,  ATM fees, and then sometimes even a percent charged on the amount of money that you withdraw at the ATM.  

Kristin:    00:22:37    How do you avoid that? The best way, in my opinion, is to open an online bank account with a company like Wise, formerly known as TransferWise. This video isn't sponsored, but I've been using wise for eight or nine years to save money on forex fees, transfer fees, and a T M fees all over the world. You can use my affiliate in this video's description. Open an account for free, get your first transfer for free and experience what I'm talking about. They'll even send you a debit card in the mail that you can use almost anywhere in the world. The second-biggest mistake that people make when traveling is not trying the local foods or by eating at chain restaurants or especially American restaurants, um, traveling to other countries is a chance for you to try the local food, and that is going to give you a deeper connection with the local culture.  

Kristin:    00:23:32    If you're at an outdoor market, for example, and you see apples and bananas and then a fruit that you've never seen before, ask what that fruit is, try it out and you might love it. You don't have to take it so far and do what I've done and eat like ants and worms and things like that, which I don't really like. But by eating at local restaurants and trying local foods, you're typically getting higher-quality food at a lower price, and you're also supporting local businesses and connecting more with the local culture. And the number one mistake that people make while traveling is overpacking something that I am still guilty of to this day, overpacking is a major buzzkill and not only do you, you're pretty much guaranteed that you need to check your bag and can't travel carry-on only, but then you have to lug that bag around with you and all it really does is weigh you down.  

Kristin:    00:24:27    A good rule of thumb is to first use packing cubes to condense and organize what you are bringing with you, and then take a look at your bag and take out half the stuff that you are going to bring. I know when I do this, I always end up still having a good 10 or 20% of the stuff in my bag that I didn't even use even after taking out half of it. And now I would love to hear from you. What has your biggest travel mistake been, and what will you try to avoid in the future? Let us know in the comments below, like this video, subscribe if you're new, and check out these videos and playlists for more tips on traveling the world and living abroad.