Early in my around the world trip there were two or three blogs I visited to learn about attractions and activities, hotel accommodation prices, and cuisine, then used that information to plan an itinerary. The more I traveled, the less convinced I became that a blogger should be relied upon as an authoritative itinerary resource. I cringe if anyone visiting Philadelphia relies on a non-Philadelphian for Philadelphia travel advice. There is a much better resource than a travel blogger—a city’s tourism office.
Google “_______ tourism office.” Insert Tokyo, Barcelona, Sofia, New York City into the “______” and you will find official tourism sites for your upcoming destination that are infinitely better than a travel lifestyle blog, even a blog that is dedicated to a specific city. I know this from firsthand experience. I have an Instagram account and blog dedicated to all things Philadelphia. My blog has suggested 1, 2, and 3 day itineraries, quintessential cultural and cuisine experiences, a listing of major festivals and events, and a neighborhood by neighborhood breakdown. I’m working on a “100 Things to Do In Philadelphia Before You Die” entry to pull the top attractions, activities, and experiences into a single entry. I’ve created a great site, yet it pales in comparison to Philadelphia’s not one, but two, official tourism sites: www.visitphilly.com and www.uwishunu.com. These websites focus on a single location while the around the world blog has no focus. The around the world blogs lack a local flavor and context.
Compare www.visitphilly.com and www.uwishunun.com to http://www.jimhamill.com/philadelphia.html, my detailed Philadelphia page. There’s no comparison. In my defense, I’m one person, maintaining a blog on a part-time basis. The official tourism sites are curated and updated on weekly basis by a team of tourism-focused individuals. Increasingly the official tourism employees are aware that travelers are looking to visit beyond the cookie cutter, guidebook-ranked attractions and experiences. The official tourism blogs have started including non-traditional travel alternatives. VisitPhilly has blog entries on “Top Rooftop Bars”, “10 Reasons to Get Excited About Fall in Philly”, and “The Top Multicultural Events in Philadelphia in 2019.” Uwishunu posts a blog entry detailing all the upcoming events, typically over twenty events, for the week ahead—every week. I’m lucky if I can attend 2 or 3 of the weekly events—there’s no way I could be aware of or track over twenty events. There are people who write about destinations “professionally” and then there’s people who write about destinations professionally. Once you are aware that the professional tourism sites exist, it’s difficult to return to travel blogs. Follow the professional accounts on Instagram. Like the corresponding pages on Facebook. You will receive higher quality, lower volume content in your news feeds than a bunch of travel-lifestyle blogs.
If a city (or a country) tourism site does not exist, shift the destination research to Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, Frommer’s, or a similar professional travel information site. When providing the big picture perspective on a destination and listing the popular attractions, these companies continue to produce better content than any blogger.
When traveling through Europe and Asia, you will invariably suffer from cathedral and temple fatigue, respectively. Every city guidebook will list that city’s cathedral or temple as an attraction, not considering that a visitor may be traveling for a year or longer. To avoid fatigue, Google “best cathedrals in Europe” and “best temples in Asia” before reaching those continents and create a list of where you want to see the best of similar attractions. Lonely Planet is a great resource to narrow your list to the essential continental and regional attractions.
At approximately $15 per day of your daily budget, attractions tend to be relatively cheap, particularly outside the U.S. and Western Europe. Many cities offer a package that combines several attractions into a single pass for a one-time fee. These passes are a deal…if you plan on visiting multiple attractions included in the pass. If not, don’t purchase the pass. If you kept your student ID from your university days, carry that card in your wallet and present it at attraction ticket offices—it will help to save a few dollars on admission.
Visiting attractions costs more when transportation is required to visit the attraction—calculate whether the time and energy of taking local transportation (and whether that’s even a possibility) outweighs the cost and convenience of a guided tour. Typically, in less-expensive countries it’s better to pay for the convenience of guided transportation which offsets the lower attraction prices. For example, if you are in Chengdu and want to see the Leshan Giant Buddha, join a bus tour that provides the roundtrip transportation. The $20 in additional cost versus planning the trip yourself is worth the better experience and less time with taking public transportation. In Beijing you need to decide if you want to take public transportation to a crowded section of the Great Wall or join a bus tour and visit a remote, less populated section of the “wild” Wall. In Europe, attractions that are an hour or two away, are just as easily accessed via local trains, as they are via a bus tour, but the local trains will cost a fraction of the price.
Activities tend to be relatively expensive compared to an attraction’s admission price. Even a light activity such as a food tour or a pub crawl may cost $20 which is more than the daily activity budget allocation. Try to identify the costly activities in advance. Determining in advance when and where to go bungee jumping or whitewater rafting gives you the peace of mind that when these expenses are incurred you can enjoy the experience without worrying about the activity destroying your overall budget.
Unfortunately, with all the time spent planning for hotels, transportation, dining, and attractions, it’s possible to not identify the best activities until after you’ve arrived in a new location. Learning of a must-do activity on arrival is a common reason that actual expenses will exceed your daily budget. You will need to evaluate whether eating cereal dinners for a week are worth the cost of the activity—it’s always worth eating cereal for dinner to rebalance your budget.
You may eat more budget reducing cereal meals than you expected.
Google “_______ tourism office.” Insert Tokyo, Barcelona, Sofia, New York City into the “______” and you will find official tourism sites for your upcoming destination that are infinitely better than a travel lifestyle blog, even a blog that is dedicated to a specific city. I know this from firsthand experience. I have an Instagram account and blog dedicated to all things Philadelphia. My blog has suggested 1, 2, and 3 day itineraries, quintessential cultural and cuisine experiences, a listing of major festivals and events, and a neighborhood by neighborhood breakdown. I’m working on a “100 Things to Do In Philadelphia Before You Die” entry to pull the top attractions, activities, and experiences into a single entry. I’ve created a great site, yet it pales in comparison to Philadelphia’s not one, but two, official tourism sites: www.visitphilly.com and www.uwishunu.com. These websites focus on a single location while the around the world blog has no focus. The around the world blogs lack a local flavor and context.
Compare www.visitphilly.com and www.uwishunun.com to http://www.jimhamill.com/philadelphia.html, my detailed Philadelphia page. There’s no comparison. In my defense, I’m one person, maintaining a blog on a part-time basis. The official tourism sites are curated and updated on weekly basis by a team of tourism-focused individuals. Increasingly the official tourism employees are aware that travelers are looking to visit beyond the cookie cutter, guidebook-ranked attractions and experiences. The official tourism blogs have started including non-traditional travel alternatives. VisitPhilly has blog entries on “Top Rooftop Bars”, “10 Reasons to Get Excited About Fall in Philly”, and “The Top Multicultural Events in Philadelphia in 2019.” Uwishunu posts a blog entry detailing all the upcoming events, typically over twenty events, for the week ahead—every week. I’m lucky if I can attend 2 or 3 of the weekly events—there’s no way I could be aware of or track over twenty events. There are people who write about destinations “professionally” and then there’s people who write about destinations professionally. Once you are aware that the professional tourism sites exist, it’s difficult to return to travel blogs. Follow the professional accounts on Instagram. Like the corresponding pages on Facebook. You will receive higher quality, lower volume content in your news feeds than a bunch of travel-lifestyle blogs.
If a city (or a country) tourism site does not exist, shift the destination research to Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, Frommer’s, or a similar professional travel information site. When providing the big picture perspective on a destination and listing the popular attractions, these companies continue to produce better content than any blogger.
When traveling through Europe and Asia, you will invariably suffer from cathedral and temple fatigue, respectively. Every city guidebook will list that city’s cathedral or temple as an attraction, not considering that a visitor may be traveling for a year or longer. To avoid fatigue, Google “best cathedrals in Europe” and “best temples in Asia” before reaching those continents and create a list of where you want to see the best of similar attractions. Lonely Planet is a great resource to narrow your list to the essential continental and regional attractions.
At approximately $15 per day of your daily budget, attractions tend to be relatively cheap, particularly outside the U.S. and Western Europe. Many cities offer a package that combines several attractions into a single pass for a one-time fee. These passes are a deal…if you plan on visiting multiple attractions included in the pass. If not, don’t purchase the pass. If you kept your student ID from your university days, carry that card in your wallet and present it at attraction ticket offices—it will help to save a few dollars on admission.
Visiting attractions costs more when transportation is required to visit the attraction—calculate whether the time and energy of taking local transportation (and whether that’s even a possibility) outweighs the cost and convenience of a guided tour. Typically, in less-expensive countries it’s better to pay for the convenience of guided transportation which offsets the lower attraction prices. For example, if you are in Chengdu and want to see the Leshan Giant Buddha, join a bus tour that provides the roundtrip transportation. The $20 in additional cost versus planning the trip yourself is worth the better experience and less time with taking public transportation. In Beijing you need to decide if you want to take public transportation to a crowded section of the Great Wall or join a bus tour and visit a remote, less populated section of the “wild” Wall. In Europe, attractions that are an hour or two away, are just as easily accessed via local trains, as they are via a bus tour, but the local trains will cost a fraction of the price.
Activities tend to be relatively expensive compared to an attraction’s admission price. Even a light activity such as a food tour or a pub crawl may cost $20 which is more than the daily activity budget allocation. Try to identify the costly activities in advance. Determining in advance when and where to go bungee jumping or whitewater rafting gives you the peace of mind that when these expenses are incurred you can enjoy the experience without worrying about the activity destroying your overall budget.
Unfortunately, with all the time spent planning for hotels, transportation, dining, and attractions, it’s possible to not identify the best activities until after you’ve arrived in a new location. Learning of a must-do activity on arrival is a common reason that actual expenses will exceed your daily budget. You will need to evaluate whether eating cereal dinners for a week are worth the cost of the activity—it’s always worth eating cereal for dinner to rebalance your budget.
You may eat more budget reducing cereal meals than you expected.