How to Order Food Like a Foodie (Even If You’re not One)

Since I’m still in a food coma from Thanksgiving on Thursday, I’m thinking a lot about food. Granted, I’m always thinking about food as I’m admittedly a borderline foodie. One of the greatest things about traveling is that it engages all five senses, my personal favorite is taste. When I traveled to Spain, I was with my sister who is not at all a foodie. There were a few occasions where my sister noticed that I had better luck ordering food that I enjoyed, while she ordered a few meals that were duds. Some of knowing what to order comes from experimentation, and other times it comes to down to tips and tricks picked up while eating in your own city or traveling.

1. Know the city or country’s food specialties.

You wouldn’t go to a small town in Italy and expect five-star Chinese food, but you would probably expect top-notch pasta. Look into what type of cuisine the country is known for on a macro level (i.e. in Spain it was ham, eggs, and seafood.) Additionally, on a micro level, research what type of food is best in the specific city you’re visiting (i.e. hard to go wrong with fish and chips in London).

Best. Fish & Chips. Ever. At Golden Union Fish Bar | London.

2. Know nationalities food specialties.

This tip is tricky because I think it does require being a bit of experienced traveler and/or a foodie. Authentic food is the holy grail when eating while traveling. My sister and I quickly tired of tapas once we’d gotten to Barcelona, and it was impossible to find a restaurant that wasn’t serving them near Sagrada Familia. So in a fit of desperate hunger, I suggested we eat at a place run by Turkish people. They served food like döner kebabs, but also pasta dishes. My sister ordered seafood spaghetti that she barely touched. (The “seafood” included was two calamri rings, and one tiny freeze-dried shrimp. I don’t blame her for not eating it.) I ordered a chicken döner. Guess who liked their meal better? Instead of ordering what you would normally eat back home, pick (or guess) the specialty of the people running the restaurant you’re in.

3. Avoid dining at touristy places.

Don’t do it. Even if it’s a travel day and you’re starving, avoid touristy restaurants at all costs. It will lead to disappointment and overpriced pizza. I’ve eaten pizza all over the world, and never have I ever encountered a pizza as aggressively mediocre as the one I had at a tourist trap on Avinguda del Parallel in Barcelona. It wasn’t terrible, but it was terribly not good. The pizza had been frozen, wasn’t cut properly, and the cheese was like rubber glued to dough. ‘Twas a bad call eating here.

I’ve never had a pizza like this before, and I couldn’t stop laughing.

4. Notice where locals are eating.

If a restaurant’s patrons are a mixture of locals and tourists, take it as a sign that the place is good. Restaurants that attract both locals and tourists are often some of the best restaurants you can encounter in a city.

5. Ask the waiter.

Experienced waiters can tell you what items, dishes, and drinks are good at a place. And if they’re a great waiter, they can help you figure out the best dish for your own tastes, preferences, and appetite. In Stockholm, I had a great waitress who noticed that I’d fallen in love with a type of bread and proceeded to not only write down its name, but also encouraged me to bake it myself, which I did for Thanksgiving this year, and it was a huge success! A good waiter can be your greatest ally in the hunt for the perfect meal in a foreign city.

Top 3 Madrid Airport Transportation Options

Aerocity Airport Shuttle

Price: €20-27 Dependability: Bad.

Pros:

• No more than two or three groups of passengers to be dropped off.
• Cheaper than a taxi.
• Comfortable ride.

Cons:

• Reservations take some time to go through, so make them at least 24 hours prior to arrival.
• Kiosk is hard to find in airport upon arrival. (Once you exit the baggage area, go to the right. The kiosk it at the very end of the T4.)
• Long wait time upon arrival. (We waited for over an hour for our van and driver to pick us up.)
• Air-conditioning on the van wasn’t working at first.
• Like other airport shuttles, they may drop off the other passengers first, and you last.
• Cash only.

Exprés Aeropuerto (Bus) 

Price: €5  Dependability: Good. RECOMMENDED

Pros:

• Cheapest airport transportation option.
• Several pick up times and locations.
• No reservation needed.

Cons:

• Cash only.
• Seats are very limited, so get on at one of the first stops, if you can.
• Uncomfortable ride, if you’re standing the whole way or have lots of baggage.
• Crowded bus.
• Pickpockets target the drop-off area, so keep an eye on your bags.

Taxi

Price: €35 Dependability: Good.

Pros:

• Comfortable ride.
• Door-to-door service.
• Good option if you have lots of baggage.
• No reservation needed.

Cons:

• Most expensive airport transportation option.
• €5-€10 of extra fees on top of the meter charge.
• Driver needs to know the exact terminal at airport for you to be dropped off.
• Cash only.

Around the Web: This Week’s Best Travel Posts

• Bored with London and Paris? Consider adding these cities to your “Where I Want to Visit Next” list. NYMag profiled a few off the beaten path cities considered travel alternatives to some of the world’s most popular destinations.
• Fan of interior design and unique lodging? This Berlin houseboat featured on The Designer Pad looks like a pretty darn attractive place to stay in Berlin.
• Traveling over the holidays? See tips on “How to Save Money When Booking Travel Online” over at The Huffington Post.

Thanks to David Hembrow from A View From The Cycle Path, cycling in the Netherlands looks fun and feasible. (This story on the impressive Dutch cycling culture came via The Atlantic: Cities.)

Around The Web: This Week’s Best Travel Posts

Oh, those Buzzfeed lists. Sometimes they know how to getcha right in the heart. This week they posted a list called “31 Signs You’re Traveler at Heart,” and #2, #3,#5,#9,#11, #25 (I’m going to stop now before I list all the numbers) rang very true for me.

The people over at Jaunted wrote up this piece on things to do before you book a flight. I love this list because I swear by every tip they mention. Searching flexible dates and flying on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays can really make international travel budget friendly.

Lastly, I leave you with an inspiring travel compilation video that’s new to me, even though it’s not a new video. I had lots of “I’ve been there! And there! And there too!” moments while watching this, and quite a few “I want to go there,” moments too, so I thought I’d share it with you guys.

Around the Web: This Week’s Best Travel Posts

For those of you who are like me and always on the hunt for a good travel deal, this week there were a couple posts that kept our wallets in mind.

Johnny Ward of One Step 4Ward had a great post on Europe’s “Best Cities for Budget Travelers.” Prague is definitely high up on my list of cities to visit. Might have to bump it up a bit higher on the list, didn’t realize it was so affordable!

Lisbon, Portugal is listed as a budget travel-friendly city, and coincidentally it’s also featured in the first episode of “This is My City: Lisbon.” This travel web series features a couple of guys on a 3-month trip around the world.

Lastly, for all you travel tech lovers, Budget Travel posted a story on “10 Travel Apps That Save You Time and Money.” I think I’m going to have to upgrade to an iPhone with more memory just to have space for all the awesome travel apps that are out there. If you can get out of the airport for a bit, Smart Layover sounds like a great way to kill some time while waiting for your next flight.

Top 20 Pre-Departure To Do’s

Photo by: Joy C. Mitchell

I’m openly obsessed with lists. They keep me organized and on track, and they’re invaluable when prepping for a long trip. Once you’ve packed, booked your flights and hotels, and ordered your rails passes and travel gear, there are still some things that need to be done before you can depart with total peace of mind. So if you’re heading out of town for more than a week, consider adding the following things to your personal To Do List.

Before Departing To Do’s: 

1. Decide what to do about cell phone communication and have phone unlocked, if needed.

2.  Get travel insurance.

3.  Stop mail and have held at post office.

4.  Make hard copies and digital copies of passports and credit cards.

5.  Plug in light timer(s) at home.

6.  Get $40 worth of local currency to have immediately on hand once you arrive.

7.  Call bank and credit card companies to notify that you will be traveling internationally.

8.  Clean house (especially clean dirty dishes, take out the trash, and empty the fridge)

9.  Find someone to water plants and take care of pets, if you have them.

10.  Store valuables in a safe or give to someone you trust.

11.  Arrange transportation to the airport.

12. Visit salon for hair/nails/waxing.

13.  Save lodging and international friends’ contact info into your phone.

14.  Download Dropbox to mobile device for easy uploading of travel photos.

15.  Load tablet/smartphone with reading materials, music, and video for long-haul flights.

16.  Set Spotify playlists and travel-related Evernote notebooks to “Available Offline.”

17.  Change departure flight seat.

18.  Pay all bills for the coming month(s) or set up Autopay.

19.  Ensure all windows and doors at home are locked.

20.  Make sure all ticket and booking confirmation numbers are stored in TripIt or Evernote.

Lastly and most importantly, don’t forget your passport! With all of these things checked off the list, feel free to enjoy the hell out of your trip.

Traveling Alone: 4 Ways to Turn Strangers Into Friends

Out with new friends from YHA London Oxford St.

If you decide to take a solo trip, and suddenly find yourself plagued by the fear of being alone in another country, take heart. When traveling solo, I’ve found that you’re only as alone as you choose to be. When you land, take a few moments to revel in the solitude of being able to do the trip you want, the way you want to do it. And when you’re not alone, when you’ve made a friend for a couple hours or a couple days, that peace with your aloneness will help you appreciate  the constant ebb and flow of people from you life while traveling.

Those momentary friends with whom you check out a landmark, share a meal, or laugh over drinks will often be the greatest surprise and can provide the most self-affirming interactions of your solo trip.  You’ll look to your left or right and see that even though you may have flown halfway around the world by yourself, you’re not alone.

1. STAY AT A HOSTEL

Even if you’re usually a hotel person, if you’re traveling solo, give hostels a chance. Hostels are a great place to meet other like-minded solo travelers. On my European vacation, I was pleasantly surprised not only by how many people I met at my hostels who were traveling alone too, but how many fellow women I met traveling solo. The friends you make either in your assigned hostel room or out in the hostel common areas, often make the best travel companions because there’s a good chance they’re just as independent, adventurous, friendly, and fun-loving as you are.

2. TAKE A TOUR

Walking, biking, bus, or boat tours are a great way to not only see a city, but meet other travelers. You’re all in the same boat (pun intended) in a new and unfamiliar place, trying to see the sights and find your way around, which means your guard is down. While on a walking tour of Stockholm, I bonded with a couple of Australian solo travelers as we shuffled from sight to sight. The three of us ended up spending the rest of the afternoon together, snapping pics of each other in front of the royal palace, watching the changing of the guard, and visiting the treasury, long after the walking tour had ended. And it turned out we were all staying at the same hostel.

3. BE APPROACHABLE

If you’re looking to meet locals, the best thing to do is to be approachable while out at cafes, restaurants, clubs, and bars. Keep your body language open and confident. If you’re unsure of something about the place you’re in, ask questions. Chances are a curious local will catch your accent, and come to your rescue.  Or at least spend some time giving you suggestions on the best places to shop, eat, people watch, etc. If you’re a girl, you can play the damsel in distress role. I’m not saying act helpless, so someone can try to take advantage of you. But I do think if you come across as confident and fun albeit a little lost, some local guys enjoy playing Prince Charming to a tourist girl. They see it as their chivalrous mission to make sure you’re not alone at said bar, restaurant, or club, and may proceed to show you the ropes.

4. USE YOUR NETWORK

Surprisingly, I found that I had a more successful time hanging out with perfect strangers and friends of friends in the European cities I visited. Actual first degree friends were either too busy to hang or out of town themselves. In Berlin, I had a friend of a friend through an old grad school roommate, who along with her boyfriend gave me an amazing tour of Kreuzberg, Berlin. We went to parts of the neighborhood I would’ve never found on my own. They showed me around their Kreuzberg, and seeing a place through a local’s eyes provides invaluable insider knowledge while traveling.

Around the Web: This Week’s Best Travel Posts

Upon entering the working world after grad school, it became apparent to me that America is full of people who rarely, if ever, take vacations from work. Some people even wear their “I don’t take vacations” status like a badge of honor, as if it makes them a better employee. Deane Alban over on Lifehacker has some tips on “How to Avoid Becoming a part of ‘No Vacation Nation’.” 

If you take most of your travel photos on your iPhone or other smartphone, like me, Lola Akinmade Åkerström from an awesome blog called Slow Travel Stockholm had a great story on Mashable about “5 Ways to Get More Mileage From Smartphone Photos.”

Apartment Therapy is perhaps an unlikely source for a good travel post, but I thought this one on “How To Truly Relax While Traveling” hit on some interesting points. I, for one, find traveling reenergizing, even when I’m stressing about whether I’m going to make it to the airport in time.

Sometimes, as good as it is to get suggestions on where to go and what to do in a city you’re visiting, it can be just as helpful to know what not to do. Conde Nast Traveler has a few words of advice in a piece called “What Not To Do In Italy, India, France, and Ten Other Countries Around the World.”

Adventures in Travel Hacking: Using Credit Cards for Miles

(Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. I’m admittedly bad at math, but decent at money. This is my personal experience and opinion with travel hacking credit cards.)

In an effort to be a financially responsible, budget-friendly traveler, I’ve decided to try my hand at travel hacking. I first heard about travel hacking from one of my favorite travel blogs, Nomadic Matt. When I first saw the word “hacking” I wondered if it meant breaking into hotel systems James Bond-style and stealing other people’s identities and reservations. Clearly, I have an active imagination because once I clicked through to Nomadic Matt’s article on “Picking a Travel Credit Card” I learned that travel hacking means using credit cards for miles and points to earn free travel rewards. Although I’ve read some articles like this one praising Chris Guillebeau’s Travel Hacking Cartel, I decided to go it alone. Here’s how you can too!

#1 – Decide What You Want From a Travel Credit Card

I knew I wanted a travel hacking credit card that would help me earn thousands of bonus miles. Some people are more interested in credit cards that get them free hotel stays. Others are interested in travel perks, like free upgrades to First Class, Elite Flyer Status, or access to fancy-schmancy airport lounges. There are travel credit cards that can fulfill all of these wishes, so deciding what you want most from the card(s) will help you narrow your focus.

#2 – Decide Which Travel Credit Card You Want

After researching my choices, the Barclays credit card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card sounded ideal for me. Both offer 40,000 bonus miles once and relatively low spending minimums. And the Chase Sapphire card has great points per dollar, in addition to other travel-related discounts.

#3 – Apply for the Credit Card

Once you’ve decided which card(s) you’d like, apply! If you’d like more than one card so you can get even more  miles, it’s advised that you apply on the same day, at the same time. If you’re not instantly approved, you’ll have to play the waiting game like I did, or you can be proactive and call the credit card reconsideration line and sweet talk them into giving you the card. Advice on winning over credit card folks can be found here.

#4 – Spend Your Minimum & Earn Your Points

Although I won’t be able to use the 80,000 miles I’m working towards earning for my trip to Spain this Fall, I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to receive a credit card in the mail! There’s nothing like knowing you have a free flight in your back pocket. Even better, with the miles I’ll earn with my new travel credit cards combined with my Spain trip and other domestic trips, I will earn 100,000 miles this year, a personal mileage record.

Happy applying and spending, everyone!

Around the Web: This Week’s Best Travel Posts

There was a great piece on New York Magazine’s site, written by Ann Friedman, called “Traveling Solo: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman.” Friedman totally nails the differences between how a man and a woman traveling alone are viewed by society. She does so with a sort of sarcastic defiance of societal expectations for women, but she’s clear and level-headed when it comes to the reality of female-specific travel dangers. It’s definitely worth the read.

Lastly, Since I’m always on the hunt for travel apps that will make life on the road a lot less hectic, and a whole lot easier, this video from Geeksugar on Travel Apps was pretty insightful. Kelly Schwarze mentions some apps like Hipmunk and Expensify that I’ve never used, but would love to try out on my next trip. Check it out!