Thank you for joining me for another monthly edition of ‘Travel Tip Tuesday’! For those that are reading this for the first time, I regularly post tips based on my personal travel experiences once a month! For the month of August we have decided not to travel anywhere but instead to enjoy the beautiful summer in Toronto, especially since the long sunny days and warm nights are limited in Ontario!
Let’s get to the good stuff. Today’s topic of discussion is a list of things I wish I knew about travelling before I got hooked on the travel bug!
With the rise of social media, travel blogging, and remote work, more and more historical places are becoming overcrowded with tourists and the infrastructures can not sustain the number of people. Example, every year Amsterdam holds a canal Pride parade. This past year, sections of the canal were blocked off to prevent so much foot traffic. Another Dutch fact: cities around the Netherlands sink at an average of 3 millimeters a year, and lately some cities, like Gouda, are sinking at an accelerated rate of 10 mm a year!
Which leads me to my next point, try to visit places now that will be difficult or even impossible to see in the future. With travel becoming more affordable, tourists are visiting popular sites well beyond it’s designed capacity (some ancient places have double the amount of visitors than what UNESCO has recommended), leading to damage, or over crowding. Venice (Italy), Santorini (Greece), Taj Mahal (India), Barcelona (Spain), Dubrovnik (Croatia) are just some of the cities that are now monitoring the entrance of crowds, restricting cruise ships, levying tourist taxes, or even have protesters in the streets picketing against extra visitors!
There is such thing as an off Season. Yes, there will be cheaper prices and fewer tourists, however there is less opportunity to enter and enjoy some of the popular sites. Museums may be closed, undergoing renovations, or have off-season hours that you are not aware of. We experienced this downside while spending Christmas in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, read more here.
There is a reason why nobody else has ventured to that particular destination you desire, during that time of year. More often then not it is due to the weather! Check out the temperature before you book your flight, it could be the opposite season of what you are expecting. There could be hurricanes, extreme heat warnings, or worst yet, SNOW. Ideally, travel in temperatures that you are most comfortable with. We LOVE the sun, so we know we are not going to enjoy a trip as much if we are landing smack dab in the middle of their winter. Read more about our trip to Copenhagen, Denmark in the winter months here.
Unfortunately, political and civil unrest occurs throughout the world. Stay up to date on worldly conflicts, protests, travel warnings and restrictions as they will no doubt lead to a miserable experience if you end up travelling somewhere that is unsafe.
Do you consider any of these before booking your next adventure? Did I miss anything? What else do you wish you knew before booking your latest getaway? Let me know in the comments below!
Cheers,
Melissa
In the end, we could not possibly hit up every single place. In Mexico, portion sizes tend to be enormous and greasy and add in the intense summer heat, was way too much food. We ended up sticking to a few local places downtown (so local that not a single tourist was in sight, and no one understood English, PERFECT), with a few touristy spots for comparison. Can you guess which ones were best?
No matter how tasty these Mexican meals were, I am still on the hunt for the PERFECT taco holy grail (and maybe one that won’t cause stomach pains hours later). So far the best have been the ones we’ve made, (with love) with our own hand-picked ingredients and extra flavours. Maybe it’s the control of portion sizes, adding specifically what I’m craving or the joys of building and plating my own. Now, let’s see if my saucy souvenirs will now only enhance what we already have, as my search continues.
Melissa Verwey 