16 mistakes all first-time hikers make

16 mistakes all first-time hikers make

Even the most experienced hikers make mistakes when traveling. If you want every trip to be memorable, avoid these mistakes:

Failure to check passport requirements

Most of the novice travelers think that having a valid passport is enough to travel abroad. While this is true in most cases, there are some exceptions. Some countries, including China and Russia, have regulations that require your passport to be valid for at least 6 months beyond the date of your return flight. Also, there are more than 20 countries in Europe that have the same 3 month rule. And if your passport is still valid but expires within that time window, you could unnecessarily complicate your trip.

You try to book everything

This happens to most travelers who go abroad for the first time. They want to book every part of their trip: every hostel, every meal, every transfer… In practice it sounds good, but once you start your trip, you see that you have to sacrifice a lot of your flexibility. So book only the big stuff and make your trip as flexible as possible. Trips are unpredictable and you should leave plenty of buffer time.

You avoid the locals

First time travelers are usually easy to spot. They don't really interact with the locals, carefully guarding their possessions, suspicious persons. It's hard to tell the friendly locals from the scammers. The majority of local residents have no desire to communicate with tourists. But if you have a positive attitude, you'll end up making a lot of new friends and learning a lot more about the place.

Errors in the schedule of connecting flights

This can be a real nuisance. You cannot find a direct flight and need to find a connecting flight, but there is not enough buffer time between the two. You end up missing the flight or rushing so you don't miss it. If you have to do this, it's important to have the right insurance to have your back when things go wrong.

 The mistake with the cheaper airport

Sometimes large cities will have several airports. One of these airports will be the main one, which charges higher airline fees and has slightly more expensive flights than the other airport. However, more often than not the main airport is better connected to the city. Never book your flight ticket based on the flight fare alone. Don't forget to explore all transportation options as well. The cost of both may actually end up being the same. You might spend all the money you saved on the plane ticket to pay a taxi to your hotel when you could be using the much cheaper public transport at the other airport, for example.

Money exchange at the airport

I have seen many people exchanging large sums of money at the airport. That's a terrible idea. Needless to say, everything, including exchanging money, is more expensive at airports and practically unnecessary. If you don't have cash, try exchanging a small amount that should only cover transportation to your hotel and exchange the rest of your money in town once you get to your hotel.

Book everything through a travel agency

It's certainly not easy to plan an entire trip on your own, and it's understandable that you want to feel safe in a foreign country by hiring a travel agency. Everything the travel agency will do, you can do it yourself. Rely on the official tourist pages of the country you are going to visit and there you will find all the necessary information.

You don't plan where to do your laundry

I know this sounds a bit strange, but trust me it is important to plan this properly. If you are traveling for a long time or traveling with very little luggage, you will need to wash at least a few times. That's why you need to estimate and plan where and when to wash. You might find yourself in a hotel that doesn't do laundry and all your clothes are dirty. In some cities, laundry can be really expensive. Even worse, you may have to wait several days if you leave your clothes.

You're packing too much stuff

One of the most common rookie travel mistakes is packing too much stuff and ending up not carrying most of it. You don't need your first aid kit, three pairs of shoes, 5 pairs of pants, etc. The rule of thumb on this is: Always take ½ of the clothes you think you need and x2 the money you think you need.

Ignorance of prohibited and restricted items on the plane

When traveling to countries that have strict Islamic laws, it is important not to bring any obvious form of sex toys with you, as these are considered illegal. You may end up being questioned by immigration and they will most likely confiscate your items.

Underestimating travel expenses

Keep this in mind: everything will cost more than you think it will. From the plane tickets and their added costs, to the trips to the cities, to the few extra beers. On vacation, we almost always spend twice as much as we originally planned.

You don't call your bank

This is one of the worst rookie travel mistakes. When you go abroad and don't tell your bank, they may end up blocking your card because they think it's weird that the transactions are coming from the other side of the world.

Buying too many souvenirs

I know you want to buy something for your family friends and relatives, especially if it's your first time abroad. But this increases the weight of your luggage and reduces your mobility. It can also cause you unwanted trouble as I mentioned in the previous point. Also, if you try to cram too many things into your luggage, some of them may break during the trip.

Eating the food you are used to

Most tourists are afraid of getting food poisoning, so they eat the things they eat at home, like pizzas, burgers or pasta. There are two reasons not to do this. The first is that if that country has an exotic cuisine, burgers and pizzas are not part of their culture. Therefore, they are not used to making them, people don't eat them as much, and the ingredients they use may not be fresh.

Local vendors selling local food, on the other hand, have been preparing local food for centuries. They know how to do it and the ingredients will be fresh most of the time. So you are actually more likely to get food poisoning from a local restaurant that does western food than from a local restaurant. In addition to this, the true taste of a foreign land comes through the stomach.

You're sticking to the guidebook too much

Don't get me wrong, a guidebook can be helpful at times. But the fact that the guidebook is full of all the tourist spots does not mean that you will have a complete experience. There are so many amazing places and local dishes that aren't mentioned in these guides, and you shouldn't visit a country just to see its sights. Get out, talk to locals, eat local food and get a sense of how things work there. You'd be surprised how much you can actually learn just by doing these things.

 Too many expectations

Pictures on the internet don't always show reality. These photos can give you an unrealistic idea of a place and raise your expectations to a level that is too high. And only after you visit this place, you realize that it doesn't really look like the pictures and you get disappointed. Many inexperienced travelers are excited when they visit a place for the first time, only to be disappointed after their visit.