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3 Travel Tips to Enrich Your Life
 C Davidson
Sure, there are all sorts of manuals to advise you on the same recycled travel tips that anyone who's exercised their annual right to vacation has gleaned from plain common sense like, "pack your meds.” But the tips you want are the stumbled-upon-by-crazy-chance kind of slap-the-forehead travel tips that wind up saving you big bucks over a lifetime—the more to travel with, of course!
1) Expand your search: Search dot-uk travel sites for hotel prices around Europe, often lower than on dot-com sites. Most sites serving European travelers will publish the same low prices, but the UK sites are always in English! Try UK sites for African and Middle East destinations, as well.
2) Go to the source: When traveling internationally, it's usually easy to pick out passengers who are native to your destination. They're heading home—and who better to advise you with some amazing travel tips to improve your trip…and pocketbook! Be mindful that these are the people who will proudly share great local places to dine and how much things should "really” cost. Learn the tourist traps to avoid and which aren't to be missed, and maybe pick up a few phrases.
3) Explore a-la-carte travel: Many people fear traveling without a tour group in a foreign country. Barriers like language, mores and logistics tend to render travelers haplessly stuck on a bus or perpetual line of one sort or another for the majority of their trip. The power of the web is at your fingertips with smart phones. Get off the bus, take off the tour hat, un-numb yourself. Get lost, wear something indigenous, immerse yourself in visceral experience of a different culture. If you're not a little scared, where's the adventure?
Bonus tip: Don't ask for a menu in a Parisian bar. You will likely end up with the 5' chalkboard that was leaning by the door you came in through.
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