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Tips for Planning Cultural Trips

Posted in the cultural traveler

I bet you are actively looking for some tips on planning your next cultural trip.

Here are some tips:

Festivals/Holidays – An easy tip, plan your trip around a Festival or National holiday in the destination. Festivals are a blast and a great way to celebrate with the community. Go to India/Nepal during Holi or visit Paris during Bastille day. You can explore, while enjoying one of the best parts of the year for the country.

Accommodation – stay in people’s homes with AirBnb instead of in a hotel or hostel. Find a family that wants to show you around the town instead of reading a map.

HelpX, Wwoof, Volunteer – find cool places to stay amongst the communities. Spend a month picking rice in Vietnam, or in the vineyards of Australia, or at a farm in the south of France. You can stay with your family

Visit the countryside – go to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua and just “be” amongst the indigenous tribes. Get out of the city and go explore new areas.

Take public transit – instead of taking a plane from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Nepal, take the public bus so that you can meet some of the locals and experience normal everyday life for them.

Get lost – walk down random streets and find off the beaten path bars and restaurants. Get far away from the tourist streets and find hole-in-the-wall places. Spend time in the Ruin bars of Budapest instead of downtown bars.

Eat like the locals – find food markets, picnic in parks, go to farmer markets, ask locals where to eat. Stay away from HardRock Café. Instead of going to the main restaurants in the city center of Krakow, Poland, go to milk bars around the city for a locals experience.

Watch street performers – for a real local experience, watch some street performers for a fun time.

Themed walking tours – In Edinburgh, I took a Dark History walking tour and learned about Edinburgh’s witchcraft, grave diggers, well known murder stories, and much more. These are not too expensive either and are really great for exploration.

Go on a Pub Crawl – especially for places that are notorious for bar crawls. Such a fun way to hang out with the locals.

Do research – Learn about the history, culture, dance, food, music, and more about the country before you go. Then you know what to look for when you are there and how to find it all to have a true cultural experience.

This is just a starting list, let’s chat more about other things you can do!

Angkor What?

Posted in travel blog

If you have not been to Cambodia…GO! We spent only a couple of days (definitely not enough) in Siem Reap, where we watched sunsets and sunrises over Angkor Wat, explored a busy city, got lost in the tranquility of ancient temples with powerful histories, and sweat profusely for the entirety of the trip from the second we stepped off the plane.

Things to know prior to arrival in Siem Reap, Cambodia:

1. Everything is paid for in US dollars because their currency is so weak, if you wanted to buy something worth $10 you would need to bring a wheel barrel full of this monopoly money.

2. There is Mexican food there!

3. Don’t be afraid to get a Tuk Tuk, for $1 you will avoid the sweatiest walk of your life guaranteed.

4. Cambodian BBQ is a must.

5. If you don’t get a foot massage on the street and people watch, then you will not experience the luxury of the eclectic crowd that visits Siem Reap.

6. Try, with all your power, not to buy too many T-shirts when you are there. Somehow, you will all of a sudden have 5 t-shirts in your hands as you count all the people you need to buy for.

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Things to know prior to visiting the temples:

1. Wear clothing that cover your shoulders and your knees (this doesn’t mean bring a scarf because even this is not allowed), otherwise you will not be allowed in many of the temples.

2. Be prepared to walk up so many flights of stairs that are at such a steep incline you wonder if it would just be easier to crawl up.

3. You will sweat. You will sweat so much. Don’t think that this is going to be a day that you will look good in pictures.

4. Do not think you will beat the crowds by going to the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I promise people are there starting from like 4:30am. There are SO many people. However, the sunrise is a MUST DO. I promise you won’t regret the painful morning alarm.

5. Do the Sunrise watch over Angkor Wat and then go to all the temples straight after the sunrise. It is less crowded, and it gives you lots of time to see as many temples as you want.

6. Be prepared for many many jaw dropping experiences. Honestly, this is a special place. Try to think about just how many people have been in the same place you are for thousands of years. It is pretty spectacular.

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