Hey wanderers!

In the final week of the Hopeless Wanderer + Wanderlust & Heart collaborative series on what not to do when traveling, I’m giving you two important tips on what not to do when arriving at your adventure destination.

Don’t go to bed unless it’s actually night time.

So this really comes back to my first post in this series about what not to do on a long flight, but we’re talking about jet lag here. It’s real and it sucks if you don’t actively prevent it. What I recommend is trying to regulate your internal clock starting a week before you leave just to help your body get ready for the time adjustment, take melatonin if you need to, and then try to go to bed at a normal time when you arrive – no napping!

I’ve learned this one the hard way – on my most recent trip (to Europe with my mom and younger cousin, Hayley, in 2014), my mom and cousin weren’t prepared for jet lag and decided to have a “short nap” when we first arrived in  Paris. My protests were drowned out by snores in only a couple of minutes – and I won’t lie, a nap was tempting for me, too! – and we all slept the day away. It made the next day much trickier, considering we weren’t tired when the rest of the world went to bed.

Moral of the story: no matter how tired you are or how much you want that nap, if you arrive at 10:30 in the morning and have a nap right away, you’ll sleep the day away and wake up at 2am wondering where the heck you are. The last thing you want to do is waste your first day either asleep or really groggy from a bad sleep!

Don’t take an illegal taxi to your accommodations.

Another hard lesson learned – while on the same trip with my mom and Hayley, we took an illegal taxi upon arriving in Rome. I’m usually such an aware traveller, but I had a total lapse in vigilance and didn’t really notice anything amok until the cabbie duped us for cash. Such a rookie mistake. Please don’t let this happen to you! It’s frustrating and annoying. Luckily for us, nothing bad really happened other than the loss of some funds, but taking illegal taxis can also be dangerous. Be better than us and stay safe!

One way to avoid this: walk if your accommodations are close enough. If you can’t walk it, take the train, subway, or bus – you’ll probably be taking public transportation around the city while you’re there, so you might as well by your pass and get right to it. Learning the transportation system of a new city right off the hop is the best way to do it. And lastly, if you really do have to take a taxi, make sure you’re using a safe and trusted service. Uber is also great because you have more control.

And there you have it, friends. Basically, these are the only two tips you need for what not to do. Be safe, be rested…but be adventurous – go out and explore, because that’s what travelling is for!

That wraps up the Hopeless Wanderer + Wanderlust & Heart collaborative series on what not to do when traveling – thanks for following along! Make sure to check out Elizabeth’s post this week (and every week, because her blog is great!). In other news, I’m so excited to announce that Hopeless Wanderer was an honourable mention in The Uniter 30 poll’s Favourite Local Blog category – very, very cool! Thanks to everyone who voted!

Stay well,
Katrina