Preparation matters

Carol,
Although I can't take credit for any of the things you have learned on the forum, I agree with you that the posters here have been wonderful sharers of their experiences and knowledge and just good common sense. I add my merci to yours!

Learning the wide variety of ways that other people prepare is both helpful and just interesting.

I was once well prepared because I had an extra one euro coin so a woman in our tour group could use the toilet 😂

Thank you for your post, Carol now retired. I have learned a lot from your posts over the years. Thank You for sharing your knowledge and experiences..

I was an experienced traveler when I discovered this forum. However, there is always something new to learn. And I've learned so much from posters on this forum. Thank you to those too numerous to mention!

Traveler Girl

Carol, thank you for being there to help a traveler in a moment of distress.

You encounter illustrates the old much used "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." We can give people all the best advice, tools, and recommendations in the world, but sometimes they just won't take action until they experience a little adversity firsthand. It often takes getting a bit lost or facing a minor travel hiccup to truly understand and appreciate why that preparation matters.

I asked her if she had the City Mapper app. She did but said although
her friend had told her to load it it seemed like too much trouble to
learn to use it. Hmm, I thought, more trouble than feeling lost in a
strange country? I learned about City Mapper and Esims from this forum. Thank you to all who have shared your knowledge and experience so kindly over the years. You have enhanced my travel preparation and experiences greatly.

Thanks for the thread, Carol. I agree! There's just never too much information to be prepared. Every time I see something useful on the Forum, I open that page in my Notes, (gosh, I have some LONG notes!) to add an idea. Thanks to all of you for contributing!

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to travel.

I do my best to prepare myself for the places I visit. However, I am always open to learning something new. And I often do.

Your post knocked some sense into me about learning to use City Mapper-I confess that I tend to depend upon other family members because I have been left roaming the streets of London when tall buildings made Google Maps undependable.

Another traveler here who is grateful for the knowledge and experience so generously shared on these forums!

Carol, I'm reminded of my first trip abroad, in the early 70's between high school and college. I was traveling with a large choir and we had scheduled sightseeing tours during some of our non-performance days or were able to head off on our own. I kept a list with me of the names and addresses of various accommodations we were housed at in case of being left somewhere (I am the "Oooh! Shiny thing!" type) or lost; figured it could come in handy.

It did. In Vienna. Was left behind at the cathedral while doing my "Shiny thing!" thing. Solution? That address list and a cab. The same would have worked in the situation above. A paper map - the kind hotels often keep at their desks - with the hotel location marked would have worked too. In the age of wifi, apps and cell phones, sometimes all you need is old-fashioned paper?

Carol N R

I could have been either one of those women at lunch.

You have been a big help to me and I thank you so much. I hope that I am giving it back.

And so have very many others in Forum. And I thank each and every one of you.

And like I said to Carol, I hope that I am giving back.

I do think that everyone does have the same opportunities to prepare
for travel.

Wise words. I tend to be an overthinker and prior to my first European adventure in 2014 I overthought everything and came fully prepared, except as it turns out for this, this, this, this and that.... . It wasn't until about 2018 after I'd been to Europe three times and finally knew everything that I discovered this Forum, and it helped me fill the gaps of things I didn't know that I didn't know.

Preparation does matter, but people prepare in different ways. I always try and find out about available wifi or a data plan before I go somewhere (I don't really understand why someone wouldn't seeing modern dependence on smartphones etc). Basic things like hotel addresses saved to google maps, downloading public transport maps, working out what bus/metro routes and stops I'd need - again, these things seem a basic minimum.

What is the advantage of e.g. Citymapper (not something I'm aware of) over e.g Google maps or other alternatives?

Yes, I've learned a lot on this forum.

For the last few weeks I've been doing the nitty-gritty for my upcoming trip. I've entered places I want to see on my private maps on google Maps, downloaded various transit apps, bought a few of my train tickets and site tickets, made notes of where they are stored on my phone- some in my google wallet other as pdf downloads, bought my eSim. It's the first time I will be using eSim. On my last overseas trip, I didn't have data so I bumbled around without it. My old phone didn't have eSim capability.

When I was populating my Maps, some of the google reviews spooked me -the accommodation in one city that I had booked is less a hotel and more a several rooms that can be booked in a small building and it seems that there is no one on site and the negative comments mentioned a lot of issues related to the building. I take reviews with a grain of salt whether glowing or a pan but nevertheless I cancelled my booking- it was early enough to do without penalty and I found a better accommodation that is a real hotel. Now I learned to do more searching on various sites for what the building looks like- the hotel booking site did not show the outside.

Another super-planner here.
I think I now have not only a Plan B but a Plan C for just about any scenario coming my way while on a trip.
As a solo traveler most of the time I don’t want any nasty surprises if I can help it.
I have also helped other travellers out.
In the Naples train station one year , there was a woman in the coffee shop area sitting next to us who told us she was feeling unwell.
She was going to Florence and I had the numbers and addresses of the hospital ER and of an English -speaking doctor with me, which I gave her.
She was very thankful.
Your pre-planning may not only help you, but others as well.

Thanks, Carol...this is a good thread.

I think you are 100% right. As I age, sometimes I feel like I struggle to keep up with tech. However, I'm adept at CityMapper and apps for museums/churches/sites!

I got caught out on a trip in 2021 by not having a data plan and depending on WIFI. It was my first trip after Covid and in Bordeaux they were not handing out menus but had QR codes on the tables. Well, no wifi, no data so I just ordered the 1st thing on the menu board. I started getting data plans after that, hahaha!! I didn't starve, I did have a moment of panic and yes, that meal was not vegan, hahaha. Oh well.

I just did an art workshop in August. One of the people said they did not use What's App. Well, that was how everything, changes, updates, etc were communicated. I suggested they download WA for the duration of the workshop and then delete the app if they didn't want to use it. Well, they didn't want to do that so every time something changed, one of us went to find the person so they were in the loop.

And Carol, BTW, because of your post a few months ago about your docking location being changed for your cruise and the info going to your spam folder, I've started emptying my spam folder every day and when traveling making sure I check it in case something important has gone astray. I'm sorry you had issues BUT it led me to a better habit with my email. Once you get the spam folder cleared out it's easy to dump the 6 or so posts a day!

Great post, Carol, and excellent words of wisdom. As much as I've traveled, I still fall short every single trip. Sometimes I just want to bonk myself on the head to try and shuffle my brain cells around, hoping that will help. But what does help is this forum.

I will say I'm not a big City Mapper user, although one of these days maybe I'll sit down and really try it to use it for more than 10 minutes, lol! But each and every trip, I do learn something from you all.

I'd also like to add that when we travel, we're often out of our comfort zone, have jet lag, and in strange places we've not been before. So having Plan A & Plan B helps mitigate the stress!

I have T Mobile so connectivity isn't an issue.

But to not even save the hotel into google maps? I cannot imagine. Before I leave I've used google street view to 'walk' the path from the last metro/train stop to the hotel! (Last trip to Paris I stayed in the 1st, and got off the RER at Chatelet les Halles - the 'best' exit had stairs so then I did a google hunt for a map OF the station and found their triple decker escalator, but I knew all this in advance).

Good advice indeed because like Pam,

I got caught out on a trip in 2021 by not having a data plan and depending on WIFI. It was my first trip after Covid and in Bordeaux they were not handing out menus but had QR codes on the tables. Well, no wifi, no data so I just ordered the 1st thing on the menu board.

Except mine was in Italy. I just sort of did my best with cognates and ordered. At two different restaurants I overheard the people next to me asking the server in Italian "what is the American having?" And then ordering the same thing. I have no idea if they were wondering what the American food palette was or if they were genuinely interested in trying what I was having.

Regarding finding one's hotel without wifi, maps or data, an easy fix is to carry the hotel's business card. You can show it to just about any taxi or rideshare driver.

Technology is both a boon and a crutch that often can help folks greatly or catch folks out.

For a couple decades, my international travel tech was limited to nothing and then, in the 2000s, a digital camera & an iPod. Got caught out a few times with full memory card or dead batteries. I never brought a cell phone outside the US back then.

With the advent of smartphones and apps, so many new horizons opened up to make things "easier" - from GPS, photography, email, tons of apps, and so many other useful things. But, I've been caught out by a dead battery, by no internet, by weak/blocked GPS, by "left in the room", and more. Each time, I learn a bit more and prepare for the next trip. As an example, my last phone was suffering from a weak battery, and while using it heavily for navigation, the battery would be at/near dead early in the afternoon. On that trip, I started to carry the charger with me, and would - if I remembered and could find an outlet - juice up at points through the day. The following trip with that same phone, I simply brought & used a battery bank to charge up. I adapted after being caught out.

I think we can all prepare ahead of time - certainly the classic "printed boarding pass" or the like and also having & being able to use a paper map(!) is straightforward. I will say, as seen in this thread, being willing to TALK TO STRANGERS is very helpful in many situations. The classic "just stop and ask for directions" is a great way to solve many issues. Of course, you have to know where you want directions TO, so you can get to your hotel/restaurant/museum, and that really highlights that being active in the planning of a trip (or at least tuned in to the itinerary) is very helpful too.

Another time I "learned from a near big mistake" was when my wife and I were tired from our flight, and got to the airport's train station in Italy to catch our train to the city. Train pulls up, we spend a few minutes deciding which car to board, and she hops on, and I start handing up the luggage (two roll ons). As I turned to grab my carry on bag, the train doors closed and she waved as it pulled away.

I had NO IDEA where we were going (relying on her to get us to the hotel). Luckily, I had the Rick Steves' guidebook with the hotel and relevant information in it highlighted from when she was planning the trip. I hopped on the next train - not too much later - and my wife was luckily waiting there at the station for me. This was 2006, so back when we left our cell phones at home, and honestly, had I not had the RS guidebook, I guess I would have just stayed put at the station hoping she'd notice I wasn't on the next train and would circle back, but who knows? Definitely prompted us to discuss plans more and be ready if something similar happens again.

But, of course, I'm still expecting to make more mistakes that will teach me to prepare better. And I do appreciate many of the ideas I read here that get filed away as "good to know" info which might help me not make a new mistake in the first place.

So I am about to make my fifth trip to London and have never used an app. But this discussion made me think maybe I should have them on my phone.

So I downloaded the TFL go and city mapper. I tried to use city mapper and it seems like map quest or goggle maps. How is it better for London and why do people prefer it over TFL go?

BethFL, I just learned something new, good question -

Citymapper is a multi-modal third-party navigation app used in major
cities worldwide, while TfL Go is the official, London-only public
transport app created directly by Transport for London.

I think Citymapper and the TFL app both use the same (or very similar?) background data so really it is a case of choosing which you prefer.
When I commuted in London I used a combination of both. If checking a journey at home I tended to use the TfL website on my laptop. Out and about I used Citymapper. I always found it reasonably intuitive to use.

Speaking of being prepared for a trip.....a funny story follows...

When my husband and I first started traveling to German speaking countries we purchased "Want to Learn German?" cassette tapes. One of the phrases on the tapes was "I have forgotten the name of my hotel." The first time we heard it we looked at each other and wondered how in the world was someone supposed to help with that? Decades later we still chuckle over that. This morning we were talking about this thread and those cassette tapes were mentioned. (I can think of several ways someone actually could help. However that phrase has become "a thing" in our household.)

Subsequently, I took a semester of German and my husband took two semesters. We are still not fluent. But we do know how to say "I've forgotten the name of my hotel."

Have fun preparing for your trips and may you always remember the names of your hotels.

Traveler Girl

Preparation for travel is part of the journey. This includes use of technology. Had either of these women purchased tickets to a museum or booked transportation? My phone is full of travel apps and my use, or misuse, of them have provided some pretty good stories for those at home.

"So I am about to make my fifth trip to London and have never used an app."

I'm with you - I'm there several times a year, and while I occasionally use Google Maps, in general, using the tube, if I need to work out a route, I prefer just to use the standard tube map. I remember my parents showing me how to map my journey as a kid... If I'm walking I can usually work out where I am.

But I completely agree with the overall post - it's good to be prepared.

T-mobile makes connectivity very simple in Europe. You open your phone and BOOM! You are connected. We did find that we ran out of fast data pretty fast. Other than that, on a 2M trip to France, and a 1M trip to Norway-Germany, connectivity was seamless, Google maps worked fine, and we were able to drive without problems. We did not pay $10/D, we did not buy a local sim.

Carol, those ladies were very fortunate to be near you at the right time! And yes, the forum has been so valuable- thank you everyone!

I’ve had two instances in Europe where I ran into a temporary problem. The first one was during our first RS tour in 2003. My husband, a guy from our group, and I were at an outdoor restaurant. They were having a good time talking after dining which I didn’t want to cut short, and I thought I’d just walk back to the hotel in Baden-Baden. No big deal except I didn’t know the name of the hotel - just what it looked like. I’m good with directions & had been walking a lot through town during the day. Yes, I eventually found it, but it taught me to always have the hotel business card in my purse. (Now I have it on TripIt)

“T-mobile makes connectivity very simple in Europe. You open your phone and BOOM! You are connected” Yes, that’s how it always worked…. unless you’re on a different T-Mobile plan. After my husband died, my first trip back to Europe was southern Spain. We always had the free data plan, so when I traveled by myself - no issue, worked great! But, my new T-Mobile plan requires me to purchase an add-on when I’m going to Europe - which I found out in Cordoba. Fortunately each of the cities were a place I had been the previous year, so I mostly did fine by checking info while on my hotel wifi, but I learned to double-check any new plans when changing technology choices.

I’ve recommended ApplePay to many people who ask for my travel advice in my city. But I also add, “Use it here. Get familiar with making a quick transaction with it.”

This story reminds me of an epic journey back in the 1990s from the Eiffel Tower back to a sketchy hostel somewhere in Paris well after dark. I was not alone, I was with an Australian I made friends with but we were equally lost.

How we managed to find our way back to the hostel was a severe test of navigational ability that took hours. At one point we had an Egyptian guy leading us around but I got the feeling he was leading us astray so we ditched him.

Question to those who are more tech-savvy.

The OP said they had ESIM. Is it possible to share mobile data (mobile internet) one gets via ESIM with another person by setting both users' phone to a hotspot?

I've never done it via ESIM, but I've done it with my regular mobile data (that is not wi-fi). Most modern mobiles have a hotspot option.

Just in case people would be wondering what a hotspot is: "Mobile (Personal) Hotspots: A feature on your smartphone that shares your cellular (4G/5G) data connection with nearby devices like laptops or tablets."

Is it possible to share mobile data

Yes, it is definitely possible. Unless:
1. Your phone is so old, it doesn't have that ability. Like maybe 10+ years old...
2. Your esim, or sim card doesn't allow Tethering (wifi hotspot). Most all esims do allow it.
3. Your cellphone plan allows hotspot, but limits it to 5 gb. per month, and you've used it up. My Tmobile plan allows it, but my plan limits it to 5 gb. More expensive plans allow 15 gb. Cheap plans don't have international data included or don't allow wifi hotspot..

To enable it, make sure you do have cell data. Then go to settings and turn on "Mobile Hotspot". That page will let you see the default password or change to something very simple like your house number. And you can change the default "Network Name" to something like HarrysPhone. Then the other person or persons just log into that hotspot.

And up to maybe 5 to 10 users can connect to your hotspot. But they can't all stream movies at the same time.

Carol, I love your post and love that you helped each of those women. And I have enjoyed everyone else's contributions too -- except Tom R,oh my your story made me panic !!! I am so glad you had the RS highlighted book with you !!!

Maps.me is a good iPhone app. I’m not sure if there’s an android version.

You can download a limited number of offline maps for free, and the GPS functionality in your phone works without cellular or Wi-Fi data. Using this app will allow you to walk around and see where you are precisely on a map without needing a phone data plan or internet connection.

I have dutifully downloaded Citymapper before several trip but have been singularly unsuccsessful in using it. I tried in both Milan and Nice on different trips. The problems I had both times were that it provided convoluted routes compared to what I found on google maps and it ate up my battery. I couldn't figure out how to stop it using the battery -- running in the background, I assume. I would welcome any suggestions since so many on this forum find it helpful. I could try practicing with it at home in DC before travel to see if anyone thinks that might help.

I've been visiting these forums since my first trip to Europe, over 16 years ago, and, I agree, they are an invaluable source of information. I've learned so much from the posters here, including you, and that has helped to make my travels so much smoother and more enjoyable than they would have been otherwise.

I, too, feel grateful.

Thank you.