Traveling is a fun recreational activity that everyone should try, especially when it means going out of your comfort zone and traveling to exotic places abroad.
It’s an exciting way to experience a new culture and a positive exhilarating experience to immerse yourself in traditions that aren’t familiar to you. Depending on your destination, locals can be very friendly and will welcome you with open arms like you’re one of them and will gladly introduce you to what they grew up with.
When it comes to traveling, being clueless is a part of it. There’s no shame in asking other experienced travelers for the neat tips and tricks to survive and get more out of your stay. For those who want to travel to another country and yet don’t have any friends who have been there before, you can always resort to asking for advice online.
You can find forums, threads, and even blog posts that tackle every aspect of traveling such as the anticipated expenses involved, how to deal with the locals, what to expect, and what to prepare yourself for. Truth to be told, these can be very helpful in getting yourself pumped up before the flight.
So here are the reasons why it’s essential to consider tourist reviews before traveling abroad:
Time-saver
You can go to the country, hit up a city, and blindly go around navigating your way through the hustle and bustle but you may end up just going around in circles. With reviews online, you will not only get useful tips from tourists and locals, but this is also essential as you can quickly arrive at your destination in the shortest time possible by heeding to their advice on which route to take.
Plus, everyone has laptops and smartphones nowadays— information is just a few taps away on Google, and there’s no need to skim through a travel magazine anymore.
Money-saver
It’s no stranger that some locals can sniff out a tourist from a mile away and sometimes they will try to rip you off. Unfortunately, a lot of other tourists have been a victim of such scams, and you surely don’t want to be one of those.
Some reviews online will include the average price of the product or service in their local currency, and from there, you can get the idea of the price range. The moment a local tries to bump up the price, you can just claim you’ve been there before, and you paid this particular amount. In this way, you will be saving yourself a lot of money.
Tried and tested
The best thing about reviews is that it means other people before you have tried it as well; therefore you don’t have to go through the same experience yourself only to find out it wasn’t worth it after all. Most tourists can be very generous and downright honest about their experiences so that other people can enjoy it as well, while others will serve as warning to protect others from reliving a bad, overly-expensive, or traumatizing experience.
Alternative choices
What the travel magazines won’t share with you are alternative choices for the same product or service. Let’s say you want to try the best Ramen in town and of course, they would feature the pricey one with gold flakes for the sake of a paid ad placement. However, what the locals can share with you is the same-tasting Ramen, if not better, but for only a fraction of the price! It could be along the gritty side of the town or in a hole in the wall, but it could be worth it!
Awesome recommendations
Admittedly, there are many exciting activities that famous travel bloggers haven’t written about with only a handful of people knowing about them. If you spend enough time scrolling through forums and threads such as of those on Reddit, you can find gems that will surely be worth your time and money. You should also learn to engage and ask further questions if so that other tourists can help you sort things out and make your stay more worthwhile.
While the Internet can be a dark place sometimes, but it is undeniable how it can be beneficial when you want to figure things out before you scratch that destination off your travel bucket list. Luckily for you, reading up on travel reviews is already part of the ritual before people book a ticket to fly away towards the country. Just make sure to learn how to distinguish the authentic from the fake ones, and may you have an excellent journey ahead!
Author Bio: George was born in the Cayman Islands, and has a passion for writing reviews and about the best things to do in the Cayman Islands. He travels a lot, and blogs to his audience about his journeys.