Taking the Low Road

Pay Attention to Tour Guides’ Rotation . . .
. . . especially when information hasn’t exactly been forthcoming.
My husband and I have met and known more Scots than your average American tourist. We’ve toured Scotland 17 weeks altogether. We’ve stayed in 15 (that I can remember) private homes and met many of the owners. While [...]

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Let the tour groups go ahead of you.
Don’t try to beat them. Trust me, they’re traveling faster than you, and they’ll flatten you when they finally catch up to you. And when 20 of them join you, even a spacious great hall can get a trifle claustrophobic. When they all crowd around the tour guide [...]

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Skip the glitzy tour books.
Almost every great house and castle worth its salt has compiled a rather impressive, glossy, full-color booklet for which they charge the equivalent of a U.S. hardback book. While you’re there, under the spell of that magical place, it’s hard to resist the temptation to buy one of these marketing marvels. [...]

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Buy NO gifts.
What?! No gifts for Sis . . . Mom . . . the kids. . . the grandkids?? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Again, this is a lesson hard-learned. During our first two trips, we agonized over what to get various family members. In fact, I’d be embarrassed to tell you how much [...]

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Limit each traveler to the amount of luggage he/she can easily carry.
For us, it’s two pieces each, period. A 22” x 14 x 9” main piece of luggage that, on international flights, could be carried on if we chose. But we don’t. We each wheel that sucker up to the luggage check-in and let the airlines [...]

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Take a little liquid laundry soap and be prepared to do hand laundry.
Here’s where I can get on a tear if I don’t watch myself. For reasons unfathomable to me, washers and dryers in the U.K. (and in all of Europe, from what I can tell), are absolutely pathetic. No matter how you slice it, [...]

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Pack what you can’t live without for two days in your carry-on.
This isn’t new information if you’ve done much traveling anywhere, but it’s particularly applicable to foreign travel. There’s just no accounting for where luggage ends up sometimes. There’s also no accounting for why it takes so long to catch up with you. There’s no [...]

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Pack ALL the toiletries you’ll need.
This sounds more nitpicky than it actually is. I’m well aware that Rick Steves claims buying toiletries in a foreign country can be “fun.” I’d just like to point out that fun is a relative term, and my idea of fun must differ from Rick’s.
Here’s my main reason for advising [...]

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Be okay with packing your own lunches and snacks.
Like Tip #2, this one’s kitchen-centric. Since, when we home-exchange, we have a fully equipped and well stocked kitchen (after we patronize the local grocer), it stands to reason that we should pack our lunches and snacks. It’s a no-brainer. It can be exactly what we like, [...]

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Think of food prep as part of the adventure.
I know what you’re thinking. “Fix food on my vacation?? Not a chance, sister!”
Hey, I’m with you. In fact, I can beat you at the non-cooking gig. As a rule, the kitchen is not the room where I hang out. In my early Mom Years, our kids thought [...]

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