Traveling abroad tips?

[Benton]

(07-23-2019, 07:38 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: What city in Spain?

Barcelona. I'm planning on mostly being in the Camp Nou area if you're familiar with it. My daughter got invited to take part in training with FC Barcelona, so she'll be at Camp Nou most of the time and at a hostel they've rented out for the kids the rest. In between I know there's some trips to Park Guell and other tourist spots. As  I understand it, FCB takes care of all the tickets and transport, so I'm hoping I don't have to worry about getting around outside of walking to restaurants. 

I think I read somewhere the bus/train tickets are all available for purchase at the terminals.

Quote:Join AAA. They can exchange U.S. money for Euros here in the U.S. generally at a better rate of transfer. But this can vary periodically. 

Awesome. We joined a year ago and I didn't know that was a benefit. I locked my keys in the car three hours from home on a Sunday at 5 p.m. My cell was dead, so was my wife's. A guy trying to look up locksmiths for us had his phone die. A lady in the parking lot used her membership to get it unlocked. Is one of the best services.

Quote:Don't keep all your money in one place and ALWAYS know where your passports are. If you are staying at a hotel, they can hold your passports in their safe for you while you stay with them. But if you travel out of town, you'll need them with you. 

That's good to know, too. Any reason I might need them in Barcelona? I was planning on just locking them up.

Quote:Download bus and train info and maps before you go. Namely, when trains and buses leave and return. Always know when the last train or bus leaves that day (I have a horror story about a taxi in Cusco, Peru regarding that!). 


A lot of Europeans speak English. But it is good to know a couple of phrases in Spanish if you don't already, like: "dos boletos por favor" = "two tickets please", "gracias" = "thanks", "habla Inglés?" = "Do you speak English", and "Mis bolas están ardiendo por ti" = "Is there a hotel nearby".

I've got Google translate downloaded for Spanish and Catalan so hopefully I won't starve or crap my pants looking for a restroom. Still working on memorizing a few phrases.

[*bfine32*]

(07-23-2019, 07:38 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: A lot of Europeans speak English. But it is good to know a couple of phrases in Spanish if you don't already, like: "dos boletos por favor" = "two tickets please", "gracias" = "thanks", "habla Inglés?" = "Do you speak English", and "Mis bolas están ardiendo por ti" = "Is there a hotel nearby".

This. Personally I can ask for a beer in 7 languages counting English. 

[Bengalzona]

(07-23-2019, 11:22 PM)Millhouse Wrote: Rick Steves offers solid travel tips for EU. Id also just do a search on YouTube for' Rick Steves'.


Benton
Barcelona. I'm planning on mostly being in the Camp Nou area if you're familiar with it. My daughter got invited to take part in training with FC Barcelona, so she'll be at Camp Nou most of the time and at a hostel they've rented out for the kids the rest. In between I know there's some trips to Park Guell and other tourist spots. As  I understand it, FCB takes care of all the tickets and transport, so I'm hoping I don't have to worry about getting around outside of walking to restaurants.

That is awesome for your daughter! And Barcelona is an incredible city.

As Millhouse mentioned, I'd recommend checking out Rick Steve's show on Barcelona to get an idea of what is around there. One of the things Rick Steve's often suggests is hiring a local tour guide. I'm not sure how much that costs, but I think it is not too much (my wife always does the guiding on our trips because she has lived in six countries and speaks seven languages). I'd say it would be well worth the money, even if it just for only one or two days rather than the whole trip. If there are other parents going, maybe you could get a small group (2-4) to tour together and defray costs (just let the guide know how many people he or she is expected to guide as it may include transport).

Quote:I think I read somewhere the bus/train tickets are all available for purchase at the terminals.

Yeah. Most tickets you can get at the train stations. But some of the city-to-city and international (if you are doing that) tickets you should try to get in advance if you can. We wanted to try and get tickets from Paris to where Arturo lives on the Cote d'Azure, but couldn't get tickets. We would have had to order in advance.

Quote:Awesome. We joined a year ago and I didn't know that was a benefit. I locked my keys in the car three hours from home on a Sunday at 5 p.m. My cell was dead, so was my wife's. A guy trying to look up locksmiths for us had his phone die. A lady in the parking lot used her membership to get it unlocked. Is one of the best services.

You have to find an AAA office and stop in. Tell them where you are going. They usually have a travel advisor at the office. Not that you would need it, but they can set you up with a license to drive in whatever country you are going to (I didn't do that because I was worried about weird traffic laws and signs in metric and different languages).

Quote:That's good to know, too. Any reason I might need them in Barcelona? I was planning on just locking them up.

Not in Barcelona itself. If someone like the police asked, you just give them the name of the hotel (probably won't happen, but that is how it is handled if it does). If you go outside of Barcelona, best to have them with you.

Quote:I've got Google translate downloaded for Spanish and Catalan so hopefully I won't starve or crap my pants looking for a restroom. Still working on memorizing a few phrases.

Have you checked with your cell service provider to make sure you will have service there? Also, check on the rates for international data service. They can gouge the hell out of you on that!

If you have to use the restroom and you stop in at an establishment, you generally have to order something or pay a fee to use it. Restaurant and bar owners are sensitive about being considered a 'public restroom'.  ;-)

I recommend calling your credit card company, if you have one, and letting them know where and when you are going. They may want to know hotel you are at and some other details. Otherwise, you may try to use over there and find out they shut it down as soon as a foreign charge was put on it.

And, even if you don't follow all or even any of the advice... screw it and have a good time! People find ways to get around these types of things when they need to. Just have fun, brother! Really glad for you and your daughter!

[*Awful Llama*]

I traveled a broad once. No, wait- twice!

[jfkbengals]

(07-23-2019, 07:38 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: What city in Spain?

Pack light. If I'm going for a week, I try to fit everything in a carry-on. I use the sealable plastic bags: you put a shirt in, roll it up from the bottom to push all the air out like a tube of toothpaste, then seal it. You fit more in a smaller space that way. Pack more underwear than anything else.

Join AAA. They can exchange U.S. money for Euros here in the U.S. generally at a better rate of transfer. But this can vary periodically.

Don't keep all your money in one place and ALWAYS know where your passports are. If you are staying at a hotel, they can hold your passports in their safe for you while you stay with them. But if you travel out of town, you'll need them with you.

Download bus and train info and maps before you go. Namely, when trains and buses leave and return. Always know when the last train or bus leaves that day (I have a horror story about a taxi in Cusco, Peru regarding that!).

A lot of Europeans speak English. But it is good to know a couple of phrases in Spanish if you don't already, like: "dos boletos por favor" = "two tickets please", "gracias" = "thanks", "habla Inglés?" = "Do you speak English", and "Mis bolas están ardiendo por ti" = "Is there a hotel nearby".

As far as Euros go, I know both Bank of America and Wells Fargo will let you order online and deliver them to your door.  So if you bank with one of them, it doesn't get more convenient than that.


Great tip about learning a little of the language, but remember that Google and Babel Fish are available as an instant translator if you get into a jam.  They can be particularly helpful for road signs and such.  Speaking of road signs, remember that the USA and UK are the only countries to use imperial measurements, so get comfortable with the metric system while you have time to do so.

[George Cantstandya]

(07-25-2019, 10:14 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: Speaking of road signs, remember that the USA and UK are the only countries to use imperial measurements, so get comfortable with the metric system while you have time to do so.

With this advice there is a tip I recall from my time overseas.  If you want to convert kilometers to miles on the fly you multiply kilometers by 6 and drop the last digit.  It isn't exact by any means but gives a fairly close approximation without having to use a conversion calculator.  But unless you are driving a car that doesn't have km/h on the speedometer it probably doesn't have much use outside of curiosity and just having a general idea what the kilometers are in miles.  Or I suppose if someone bet you a sum of money that you could not run say 10 kilometers and you wanted to know if you could do it. 

[Beaker]

Get the Mobile Passport app to use upon your return to the states. It lets you skip the lines. Saved me a 2 hour wait back in June returning from Croatia.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.mobilepassport&hl=en

Here is a really good currency converter app also:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digitalchemy.currencyconverter

[grampahol]

(07-18-2019, 02:01 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Always wear clean underwear.

Don't take any wooden nickels.

Clean underwear because you might get killed to spend eternity wondering if anyone actually cared about your underwear..  I've yet to see a tomb stone with "He died with dirty underwear on", but ya never know when your surviving relatives might suddenly become vicious jerks for absolutely no reason whatsoever..   This is why I don't wear underwear. Comfort is not an issue. It's those vicious jerks in the family..