My Top Ten Travel Tips

 

I've been asked many times for travel tips. I have been a little hesitant to share my “expertise” because I feel like any expertise I may have relative to travel is in group travel. I can tell you how to handle things if you should find yourself with four buses full of people at the bottom of Sundance canyon, their dinner at the top, and a blocked road in between. I can teach you how to arrange for a private tour of the Vatican or a cast meet for a Broadway show. (Hint, money helps)

As far as personal travel goes, I don’t know that I’m any more talented than any other traveler. But I realized that all of those years of doing group travel did in fact teach me a lot about travel. Here are some of the things that have really helped me over the years: 

1. Everyone has their own why of how and when they travel, or even IF they travel. It’s very personal. Some of us are willing to wing it; others would like to have everything completely planned and secure. But I would encourage you to step out of your comfort zone just a bit. Travel, especially international travel, can be very intimidating. For example, this year I'm going on a short solo jaunt in Italy. This is intimidating to me, but I want to do it because I’ve realized that I want to travel more than I have people available and able to go with me. I’ve transited by myself before when traveling to support events - in fact, usually did fly by myself. But there was always a company or a group of people waiting for me on the other end. This I have learned: you can handle anything that comes up. AND that my most memorable moments have come from misadventures, the unexpected and the unplanned. Have faith that you can handle whatever comes your way. It is not possible to have ALL the answers and information about your destination. You prepare beforehand as well as you can, and then you deal with whatever else fate throws your way.
2. If traveling across many timezones, adjust yourself to the local schedule as soon as possible. For example, when traveling to Europe, this means you need to keep yourself up until a reasonable bedtime, no matter how tired you are. Do NOT give in to the temptation of having a nap on the day of arrival. It will make it harder for you to adjust. Also, as much as you can, STOP even thinking about what time it is back home. Unless you need to call someone, it doesn’t matter what time it is there and continuing to think about it will contribute to your feeling of jet lag.
3. Take only a carry-on and personal item - don’t check luggage. In addition to taking longer, checked baggage can be damaged, misdirected or lost. More and more, it also costs a lot. And honestly, you just really don’t need all that stuff. If you really truly need it, you can buy it at the destination.
4. Bring copies of your passport, and also email one to yourself. Remember most countries require that you have at least six months left on your passport, and you need to factor in a couple of months of processing time to renew it if needed.
5. Have a basic understanding of the currency conversion rate. Always have a small amount of the local currency for mom and pop shops, but no need to go overboard. Don’t use the conversion kiosks - just use an ATM. If you use a credit card (hopefully one that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees), always ask that they charge you in the local currency - your bank or card converstion rate will almost always be better. Make sure your bank and card providers know you’re going (although I’ve traveled so much, I never bother anymore)
6. You really only need to learn just the basics of the language, unless you’re a language genius. Learn hello, good-bye, thank you, where is? English speakers abound everywhere, and you’d be surprised at how well you can communicate without a common language. Just don’t expect people to know English - express your gratitude when they do. And they’re very pleased when at least some small attempt is made in their language.
7. If you want to go to an extremely popular site, see if you can get reservations and/or front of the line tickets. Sometimes it’s necessary to get tickets much earlier than you would think, and almost impossible to get onsite. I loved Neuschwanstein Castle, but we didn’t get to go inside. Although we started looking into it a couple of months before our trip, the online reservations were all gone. And onsite meant waiting in line for 3-4 hours. Machu Picchu limits the number of visitors every day, so if you don’t reserve it, you might not get in at all.
8. As soon as you arrive, either write down the address if staying at an AirBnB, or take a hotel business card - in case you get lost. This actually did happen to me in Paris, in the middle of the night. It turned out okay, but was a bit hairy.
9. Apply for TSA Pre-Check and/or Global Entry. It will significantly improve your travel experience.
10. Last, but far from least: be as open-minded as you can possibly be when visiting other cultures. You know, the old saying, if you want things like they are in the US, then you should just stay in the US. We are the visitors, and we should not only be interested in their culture, we should more importantly respect it. We are guests in their house. You are missing out on most of the experience if you don’t embrace and respect the culture. To me, that’s the whole point of traveling.

Los Cabos

 Way down at the very tip of the Baja peninsula is an area known collectively as "Los Cabos," or "The End." It is comprised of the cities of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, and the area inbetween known as The Corridor. 

I've been marinating an idea for several years, of wanting to buy a winter place and becoming a snowbird. I truly hate the winter months here in Utah! After doing a great deal of research, it seemed to me that Los Cabos has good potential to be a great fit. In addition to the warm winter weather, it is accessible by a short, direct flight and I believe I can find something within my budget (which is not generous!). 

So in January I took what will probably the first of several trips down to take a closer look. 

My friend/cousin, Sarah, joined me on this trip, which was awesome. 

Our first week was spent in the Cabo San Lucas area, along the Corridor area. It was a short walk to a great beach (Medano Beach), one of the few swimable beaches in Los Cabos. The non-swimable beaches are gorgeous, but there are extremely dangerous rip tides. Since I'm not much of an ocean swimmer anyway, a nice beach is all I need. Closer to Cabo, there are an annoying number of vendors but where we were was not bad at all. 

In between having a ton of fun with various activities my real estate agent Jesus took us around to look at properties for sale in the Cabo San Lucas area. It gave me hope that I really can find something that will work and affirmed my desire to follow through on my plan. I am not sure at this point in my quest if Cabo San Lucas is the right place for me to be, but now it's not so much an "if" I'll proceed with the plan, but more just working out the best situation. 

As noted, we managed to find plenty of time for fun activities, and Cabo San Lucas is definitely the place to be for this. The prominent feature in this area is The Arch, seen in the above photo (though from a distance). This is literally the point where the Pacific meets the Sea of Cortez. In that area, there is Lovers Beach, and then from there, going to the Pacific side, Divorce Beach. The local joke is that couples go to Lovers Beach, but if one lover wants to get rid of the other they send their lover to the beach on the Pacific side. Divorce beach because it's so dangerous. Maybe it should be renamed Widow Beach. 

Our first adventure was Whale Watching. The peak time is in January, and though I didn't make my plans with that in mind, it was a happy coincidence. It was pretty rough going on the boat ride to get to the whale watching area, with extremely choppy seas. But the whales did not disappoint. I am not even sure how long we were out there, but it was one breach after another. We were also on one of the glass-bottomed boats. That didn't really mean much in deep waters, but it was cool to see the marine life below us in more shallow waters. 

The next adventure was para-sailing. Some people think of this as risky or an extreme sport, but really the rise is gentle, like an elevator. The only thing I  really worried about was dropping my phone! 

We also spent some time in town, trying different restaurants (including Cabo Wabo - perhaps a bit of a tourist trap, but fun) and souvenir shopping. I'm actually not much of a souvenir shopper (or any kind of shopper, really). I did want to buy some Mexican vanilla, and that was easy to find. I generally don't bring home gifts for my kids or grandkids, unless I find something great for a birthday or for Christmas. I have traveled so often, I'd be bankrupt if I brought back gifts every time! And my kids travel so much, it frees them from having to think they have to bring something back. But Sarah was in full shopping mode. I think she managed to find something special for all her peeps back home. 

The last Cabo adventure was a Sunset Jazz cruise, which was just the right vibe. There were perhaps a dozen people on a spacious boat. Light refreshments were served (which was, in fact, our dinner) and included drinks. I tried a margarita, but it was a bit watery, so I switched to white wine. Mellow jazz played as we cruised around the Arch, and then up the Pacific side a bit. Perfection! As we were sailing along, all of the sudden one of the crew members goes rushing by. I thought maybe someone had fallen overboard, he was moving with such purpose. But no, he was just running to his fishing line...and reeled in a good sized catch. 

It was time to move to San Jose del Cabo, since I wanted to consider both areas. I really liked San Jose - it's more laid back and more streets are paved - by far - compared to Cabo. Our Airbnb was again located not too far from the beach. A bit further than the Cabo location but still within walking distance, and the beach was good. 

Activities are not as plentiful as they are in Cabo, so we decided to take the bus to Todos Santos, about 2 hours (bus time) north of San Jose. Todos Santos is an art town, so we spent the day eating, drinking and looking at art - mostly the first two.

 

Back in San Jose, we did a taco tour, and it ended up just being the two of us and the tour guide. We went from place to place, trying a dish at each location, including a tequila tasting stop. After the tour, we hung out at the Art Walk, which drew a lot of people. 

A few practical notes: Uber is plentiful and very cheap. Most of our rides were in the range of $2-4. Regarding airport transportation, Uber is not allowed to pick up at the airport. Before we left on our trip I saw a name recommended over and over again in Facebook groups for transportation services, Juan Pablo. He met us at the airport, and made a stop at a grocery store (Fresco) so we could stop for supplies. Fresco is very American in nature. 

Prices, Uber not withstanding, are actually on the high side compared to what I expected. More like prices at home. We stopped at an ATM when we got there to get pesos, but when we ran out of those towards the end of the trip we used US dollars with no problem. We also used credit cards in many places - just be sure to ask them to process it in pesos. Your card's conversion is almost certainly better than the USD price. 

Yes, I think winters in Los Cabos (or maybe La Paz?) will be absolutely lovely.