With the holidays around the corner, the peak travel season is on its way as well. For those of you already on vacation and for those who are planning one, here are some common myths that may have been true once, but today they are a thing of the past!
Many think that buying airline tickets months before the planned vacation guarantees them cheaper tickers, but that hasn’t been the case for years, and prices usually rise and fall based on busy periods and ahead of special events. Last-minute deals will probably be much cheaper than tickets purchased months ahead of time.
The air on the plane is very dry, but it doesn’t transmit diseases, although it may seem like a sealed box that keeps all the bacteria inside. Airlines invest considerable money and energy in pumping air out of the airplane, filtering it and heating it to ventilate the inside of the aircraft. Some of the air is indeed "recycled" but it passes through a special system that kills the bacteria.
As you travel through crowded places, you have to understand that you’ll almost always have to stand in line. The secret to skipping these lines is going places on off-peak times, like at the end of the day or at noon when the sun is at its hottest, that’s when the queues will be a little shorter.
If you tend to rely on locals when it comes to tourist advice, ask yourself when was the last time you visited a hotel in your hometown. Many locals don’t know which hotels are recommended or where you can find cheaper attractions. In fact, if a local helps you, they’re probably in the tourist industry and are looking to make money off of you, making their advice questionable. It’s better to ask other travelers or do your research online. The only thing to ask locals is where the best restaurants are.
Many tourists prefer to sit in a restaurant than eat from a street stall. If you choose to go to a restaurant for the atmosphere (or the air conditioner) that’s fine, but if you're afraid of food poisoning, your better off eating from street stalls. Unlike a restaurant where you have no idea what’s going on inside the kitchen, on the street you can see exactly how your food is being handled, how clean the dishes are and whether the seller is using gloves.
Jet lag is a disturbance caused by time zones, and unless your flight is at night in the country you are flying from, sleeping on the plane won’t prevent jet lag. There aren’t too many choices, but to allow the body to balance its biological clock and the perception of time on its own.
Before you cancel the vacation, you’ve planned because of a travel warning, you should ask whether the warning is relevant to you. Travel warnings are temporary, relate to very specific areas and have different levels of threat. A short visit to the Travel Advisories page on the Bureau of Consular Affairs website will tell you everything you need to know.
It doesn’t matter which sophisticated and hidden purses you hide in your pants, it's likely that whoever wants to steal your money will be successful in doing so. You can walk around with a wallet in your pocket as long as you are alert to your environment, but you should keep your passports and most of your money in your hotel safe, and only take the amount you think you’ll need for that day, and possibly a credit card or a charge card.
A lot of people choose to purchase items such as alcohol or perfume at the duty-free because of the illusion of cheaper prices. I mean, how else can you explain the huge lines at the duty-free stores? In fact, apart from a few items in electronics, cigarettes, and alcohol, the prices in duty-free are the same and sometimes even more expensive than the prices of these items back home. It’s also worth checking the prices of alcohol, cigarettes, and electronics in the countries you’re flying to.
