I love traveling but sometimes there are moments when it sucks. I listed down the 10 worst times about traveling and I hope I am not alone in this.
1. The Long Wait
Travel requires a lot of patience not only because you will have to deal with a lot of different situations and events but because you will need to queue and wait a lot. Sometimes, waiting can make you anxious and nervous specially in the immigration interview.
- Queue and wait for boarding pass release and luggage check-in
- Wait for the flight
- Sit in the plane for hours until you reach the destination
- Here comes the queue for immigration
- Waiting for your luggage on the airport luggage belt
- Waiting for the others if (I travel with a group)
- Waiting for the hotel to let us in our rooms
The list goes on…
2. Currency Conversion
Sometimes I overthink about foreign exchange. I learned that it’s best to just have US dollars always in your emergency travel money. When in doubt, just do the foreign exchange at the airport. I prefer not to use ATMs abroad because there have been issues of undispensed cash.
- Should I get the conversion in my country or in the destination country?
- How much is the conversion fee if I use ATM or credit cards?
- Is it cheaper if I do my foreign exchange at the airport or outside?
- How do I know if I’m getting a good conversion?
- How do I know if this money is even authentic when I’m not even familiar with it?
- How much does this item cost in my local currency?
3. Tourist Over Crowding
having a good crowd is fun if its a party or an even but it is not enjoyable if you see these crowd in tourist spots.
- It’s hard to enjoy a beautiful scene like this if you can’t even make a decent photo of yourself for Instagram.
- The noise pollution can be so disorienting.
- The combination of the smell of people’s sweat, body odor, and perfume disturbs my senses.
- A worse scenario is a stampede and people fighting to be the first in line.
4. Packing and Unpacking
I wanted to put all my clothes, shoes, bags, and accessories in my luggage but of course, it’s not possible because my luggage space is limited. So I have to plan and select carefully which of my items should be packed. Unpacking and packing again is a tedious process. The biggest challenge is fitting all your souvenir items and your travel items in your limited-spaced bags and luggage. Another problem arising from over-packing is overweight luggage. That is why I learned to always have more luggage allowance for my trip back home. If you are a souvenir shopper like me, I suggest you buy different luggage sizes and extra foldable bags.
5. Tourist Traps
This is what I hate the most in all of my travels. Tourist traps make me angry because I can’t believe how people can be so greedy to the point of taking advantage of innocent people.
- Overpricing products and services for tourists
- Touting tourists is extremely irritating
- Deceiving information just so they can sell you their products or services
- These greedy sellers are not even sorry if you found out they lied or overpriced
6. Getting Lost Even with A Map
I have mentioned in my previous blogs about how useful google maps and maps.me are to me yet I still get lost sometimes. These online maps and paper maps don’t really know if the streets or roads had been temporarily closed. Other navigation apps can also be so confusing and make reroute suggestions that will only make your life worse.
7. Language Barrier
Many countries don’t speak English or just know a few words. Communication is definitely a challenge. Thanks to Google Translate, language barrier is less of a problem for me. However, it is not as reliable and perfect as you think. It just stitches up words then make it into a sentence that may or may not be an exact translation. Because the translation is not perfect, there will be a misunderstanding. English Speaking people can be hard to understand too because of different accents.
Learn more about Google Maps and Google Translate:
8. Getting Racially Profiled
My friends and I get occasional stares from locals and other tourists. I wish I could ignore their eyes trying to profile me based on how I look- my race, my accent, guessing my work, my lifestyle, etc. It makes me feel self-conscious and a little bit annoyed. In my head, I also try to guess what they think about me then I would end up profiling them as well. What’s worse is when people stick their stereotypes on me just because they knew some people from my country. There is also a chance that they are staring at us because we talk too loud and they just want us to notice them so we would stop talking. This happened to me in Japan.
Let Me Tell You More About My Trip To Japan:
9. Searching for Public Toilets
Some tourist areas don’t have clean toilets while some don’t even have any toilets at all. It is understandable if it is a camping site, but not in cities and parks. Not all nearby restaurants or shops will let you use their toilet for free. It’s not like I can stand behind the wall then pee like a man and no one will notice me. I’m a girl and I need a decent toilet unless we live in a jungle where I can do my “business” anywhere. Japan has the most spectacular public toilet ever and there are so many more interesting things I found in Japan.
10. Over Spending
I discussed so much about budget travel in my previous blogs yet I still fall victim to overspending. Food is my ultimate temptation in all of my travels. Whether it’s fast food, restaurant food, or street food, if it looks and smells good, I will try it. When preparing your travel allowance, always overestimate and never underestimate because most likely you will overspend. There are also unexpected things that might happen in your travel that would force you to spend more. If you missed the last train trip, then you will have to take a taxi.
You May Also Want To Read: 10 Worst Types of Travel Buddies
Let me know your questions and suggestions in the comment section below.
