It’s a cliché, but if you make mistakes and learn from them then that’s ok. I’ve made a few mistakes over the years, and I have been lucky enough to travel around the world for work and play, here I wanted to tell you about them; so you don’t have to face the embarrassment, financial pain and danger they can sometimes cause.
Bangkok litter
Like a lot of cities in South East Asia, Bangkok is a city you must visit at some stage. Don’t stay too long as you may get bored, but for 48 hours the colours, smells and temperature make a giddy cocktail. But be warned, there are pitfalls to look out for. If you head to the market at Pat Pong (a tourist destination for a number of reasons) you may not notice the small Police stands that looks out for ‘farangs’ (tourists) dropping litter. In my case it was a cigarette butt that I put out and was collared by the cops and asked to pay a 10,000 BHT fine. In the end I gave the Policeman 3,000 BHT which I think he pocketed, but be careful.
New York taxi
Getting a cab from most airports into a city centre seems like a costly exercise and in lots of instances it is (just look at London). Going to NYC I thought I would pre-book a shared minibus with other passengers to save money. Don’t! It took an age to finally get dropped off at my hotel, I was tired and got really annoyed and in the end it cost £5 less than a cab would have done. Stick to the comfort of NYC’s finest.
Miami meals
Miami is a topical dynamo of a city; the kind of city you can find yourself getting overly excited in on your first night – as I found out. Miami Beach is packed with restaurants, all offering great food, but when the waitress offers you the ‘special’ that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. $90 and in the end it didn’t even taste that good.
South African Petrol
If you are lucky enough to drive from Sun City to Johannesburg then make sure you have enough petrol before you hit the motorway as there are no petrol stations on the motorway. Crazy, eh? All that happens is you run out of petrol as you are entering downtown J’burg, pay for a tow truck which costs a fortune, are scared stiff you are going to get mugged or worse and look like a plonker.
LAX airport
How can LAX be so bad? It’s an international airport for goodness sake. Anyway, the food and drink in the terminal is painfully expensive and if your flight is delayed you can rack up a significant bill. That is until you realise that you can upgrade to the Air New Zealand Lounge for $40 where you can eat, drink and use the wifi all for free for hours – from the comfort of a comfy seat. The last time I did this Victoria Beckham end up sitting next to me.
Happy and safe travels to all.
Author Bio
Ed Fleming is a money saving writer for Savoo.co.uk
