Travel Tips

“Do you want the scenic route or the fast route?”

It was my first time flying into Las Vegas, a last minute get-away to see a show, and I hadn’t done my homework.

“The fast route,” I told the taxi driver.

Turns out the ‘fast” referred to speed and was on the highway. I spotted our hotel on the strip, but we circled all around it before we got to an exit. The “scenic” route would have been half the price.

I learned a lesson in that taxi ride eight years ago, and it served me well in all my travel since.

Scott and I are on our way home from two weeks in Mexico, a little sun and surfing break in the coldest month in Canada.

When we arrived, we didn’t grab a cab at the airport, but took the pedestrian overpass to the other side of the highway. The fare to Bucerias was 500 pesos, instead of the 1200 the airport taxis charged, and the taxi was modern, clean, and had a driver who was courteous and professional.

When we arrived back at the airport today, we knew not to have our last beer at the bar right outside the airport doors. They have no menu visible, just a QR code to connect to a website. When my sister had come to meet us on arrival, their beer had cost 200 pesos each (triple the normal price, plus a generous tip added on without asking.) Across the highway at Tacón de Marlin we had marvelous smoked marlin and crab burritos, served with a jicama salad and fresh pickled vegetables, AND a beer for 220 pesos each.

Of course, the advice you find while researching is not always accurate. On a Puerto Vallarta travel Facebook page, there were posts about how at the new airport kiosks you would receive a paper entry slip, and if you didn’t have it when you left you would need to fill out multiple forms and pay a fee. I worried over that slip of paper as much as my passport, but when we left today no one asked for it.

I used to overplan. Because I had to be responsible for two children, and the reluctant traveller who was their father, I would research everything in great detail, not so easy in the days before everything was online. Letters, and later e-mails, would be sent to confirm accommodations, phone calls made, paper maps annotated, options pondered. It was on me if anything went wrong, and although they sometimes still did, with a closed road or a “lost” reservation, those stress events didn’t happen often.

On my first solo trip in 20 years, to New York and Washington, DC, I went wildly spontaneous. No guidebooks purchased, no routes charted, some nights not even booked until the same day. Even the “problems” (a Tom-Tom navigation system— remember those?— that sent me across Midtown Manhattan during rush hour) just became part of the adventure.

Now, I try for a balance: planning, but leaving room for spontaneity. Some things should be planned well in advance, but other details can wait.

Our next big trip is to Europe for six weeks in the spring. I know our flights in and out of London, and I have a hotel booking at the end of May in Duisburg, Germany, for an event, but everything else is still in flux. We will likely go to Finland for the two weeks after Duisburg, probably by train. I think we’ll get to Germany by train as well, and I’ll look at booking those tickets a month ahead, although I already know from our last visit that a Eurail pass is no longer worth the money.

Apart from that, who knows? Maybe we’ll drive to Ireland, go via Belgium on our train travels, or fly for a side trip from London to Spain. We’ll leave enough time open for suggestions from friends for meetings or travels together.

Of course, I’ll look for tips online and from friends, but whatever ends up happening, I’ll enjoy my brave travels!