How to Be the Perfect Traveler
Be more aware of the impression you make on others when you travel While on vacation or work-related trips, we make an impression on everyone whose path we cross. Whether we ever see them again is irrelevant; it’s up to us to be that person who is remembered as having good manners. By Bill Lindsey
4 Clean Up After Yourself
1 Be There Immerse yourself in the local culture; don’t go to France and eat fast food, or to Giza and miss the pyramids. Ask the hotel staff where and what they eat, and the places they go that aren’t on the tourist maps. The idea isn’t to act like you’re a local, but rather to experience what makes each place unique. You may never return to this place, so make some memories to take home.
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2 Be Polite In addition to the fact you are an unofficial ambassador for your hometown and, if, on a business trip, your employer, being pleasant is simply the decent thing to do. Make eye contact and smile at waiters, the hotel desk clerk, and others on the airport shuttle bus. Step 1: Think about all the obnoxious, self-important people you come across in your travels and how happy you were to be far from them. Step 2: Don’t be that guy.
This rule applies to hotel rooms, airport waiting areas and airliner seats, rental cars, restaurants, shuttle vans, offices, and tourist destinations. You shouldn’t make a mess, but if you do so, hopefully inadvertently, clean it up. Don’t leave the hotel room looking like a crime scene, or a restaurant table littered with crumpled napkins and spilled food. And, regardless of whether you’re on a city street or in the wilderness, there’s never an excuse for littering.
3 Learn the Language We all have that family member whose solution to not knowing the local language is to speak louder. A better option, assuming you're traveling someplace where you don't know the language, is taking the time to learn a few common phrases, as well as “please” and “thank you.” A good phrase to start with in the local language is “Dónde está el baño?”
5 Dress Like Mom Can See You Anyone who has recently traveled via commercial airlines will either still be traumatized by the outfits some people feel are perfectly suited for travel, or they are those people. Taking a bit of pride in one’s appearance is an esteem booster and shows respect for those around you. A T-shirt with questionable artwork might be eminently comfortable, but perhaps not the best choice when you find yourself next to your company’s CEO in the hotel elevator.
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