Travel tips...how to look and buy like a local

Travel tips

Here are some of our best travel tips for travelers who don't want to look or pay like tourists.

We are assuming that you are the sort who likes a bargain...paying no more than folks who live in the area you are visiting.

If money is no object you can disregard this advice...remember me in your will.

We have always enjoyed a bargain...some of these tips we picked up in our 8 years in the Caribbean, where a cruising sailor would not be caught dead in a tourist hotel...unless some tourist was paying...it happened...not often, but it happened.

How to pick a great cheap restaurant in the US

If you are in the US in a tourist town, there is usually construction going on.

Just look for construction pickups or pickups in general outside. These guys and gals like to eat and gravitate to certain restaurants. In small towns, same thing, when the farmers and ranchers come in for a meal they are looking for cheap food and lots of it.

This never fails...you are most welcome.

In foreign countries

When we ate out in the Caribbean...we had 2 criteria for eating out. One, we had to be the only white folks in the restaurant. Two , the menu had to written on a chalkboard.

This never failed us, the price was right and the food fresh...If Jim did not catch any snapper last night, it will not be on the menu. This was easy in the Caribbean, most locals were black...in Europe and elsewhere you can do the same thing, just avoid the tourist places.

Common sense and courtesy

If you want to be safe and welcomed in a foreign country:

• Do not wear flashy jewelry
• Do your heavy partying at your hotel
• Go in groups after dark
• Be polite and smile...duh
• Remember, you are a guest act like one

We lived overseas for 8 years never had a problem...we followed the above to a T.

Save on Communication

While you are out traveling, the communication cost is also a constraint. You can save on that too. You can use any facility which offers cheap international calling rates. Now-a-days there are various ways for cheap calling such as PC to PC or PC to phone calling. But internet would not be easily available in remote places. There are also a lot of options like calling cards, public telephones or mobile phones to communicate back home.

Save when staying at a motel

Travel tips...when traveling and staying in a motel... Look for rooms that have a refrigerator and/or microwave... If they have a Continental breakfast, even better.

Buy your beverages at a grocery store, put them in the fridge... Use the fridge for lunch meat... Make sandwiches for the next day's travel... Always travel with a cooler, to keep sandwiches and drinks cool during your travels.

This should keep you out of the fast food places... Your pocketbook and your stomach will thank you.

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