7 "Expert" Travel Tips That Are Actually Total Trash

There's a lot of travel advice out there. Some of it is great and some sounds good on paper, but completely falls apart in the real world. After 20 plus years of international travel, I've learned a thing or two about what actually works. And in today's video, I want to debunk seven expert travel tips that are total trash. Don't be a tourist, be a traveler. People love to say this as if one of these is better than the other. I used to do it all the time. The stereotype goes, tourists, bad word, are selfie stick wielding, buffet loving amateurs. While travelers, good word, avoid crowds. They eat where the locals eat. They chase authentic experiences. They're in the know and they're not anything like those other people. And look, I think it's good to visit a place in a way that's respectful and not exploitative. And I'm not telling you to go eat at the Hard Rock Cafe or go to the M&M store. I like to get off the beaten track too. I think this truism is fine if it's helpful to you. But honestly, I think this whole I'm not a tourist thing is really just something people do to tell themselves that they're better than other people. The truth is, the locals aren't impressed by you or me. To them, you're just a tourist. Unless you're working there and paying taxes and all that stuff, it doesn't matter how well researched you are. You're just visiting and that's okay. So in that regard, also don't try to be so alternative that you miss out on cool things to do. Even if you feel like they might be a touristy thing to do. I've seen people skip iconic popular attractions because they were like, there's so many tourists there. The thing is, you will almost never regret checking out the thing on the postcard. Most really popular things are popular for a reason. You're never going to regret hiring a local guide. And honestly, go take a selfie with the thing. It's fine. Who cares what somebody else thinks? You're never going to see these people again. Now for a couple money tips that are ready to die. Tips about cash these days are interesting. More of the world is going cashless. We just spent almost a month in Italy and Malta and didn't need cash a single time. But there's still times and places that you won't regret having a little local cash on hand. We were in Spain and Portugal when they had some power outages last year. And if we didn't have some cash, we wouldn't have been able to get a taxi to our place or eat dinner that night. All that said, you don't need to get your cash from a currency exchange. Definitely not at the airport. The rates are terrible and it's completely unnecessary. Easiest thing to do is hit your bank before your trip or hit a bank ATM when you arrive and just pull what you need. Use a card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees. We like the Charles Schwab card, which refunds all ATM fees globally. Something else you might not need to do anymore is notify your bank and card companies that you're traveling. If you're with a smaller regional bank or credit union, you might still need to, but for most major banks and cards, this just isn't a thing anymore. Most major card networks now use machine learning to distinguish between you're in a new country and someone stole your card based on patterns that go way beyond just location. It's always a good idea to carry multiple payment methods, know your card's international fee structure, have a backup plan for accessing cash, and keep an eye on your finances. Use a card that you can lock and unlock and turn on transaction alerts. Check your bank and credit card accounts regularly while you travel to look for any suspicious charges. Now, most of the time, if I'm in another country, in order to do this, I need to make it look like I'm logging in from the USA, which is very easy. I just use something I've used for years and that I recommend all travelers have. A VPN, which brings us to the sponsor of today's video. A VPN or virtual private network encrypts your internet connection and lets you choose where it appears you're browsing from. My VPN of choice is Surfshark and it's perfect when you're in another country and your bank is suspicious about those foreign logins. It's also great for streaming content you can't access while traveling or when you're at home and your favorite show was removed from Netflix in your country. Plus, when traveling, a lot of times the Wi-Fi you're using is on a public network, like in a cafe or an airport, that isn't super secure. Surfshark encrypts your connection, creating a secure tunnel for your data and protecting sensitive activities like checking email or logging into bank accounts from prying eyes. One of my favorite things is you can use Surfshark on unlimited devices. My wife and I have it on all our phones, all our laptops, all under one account. Plus, they've added security features like antivirus and data breach alerts. If you want to check out Surfshark, head to surfshark.com for four extra months free on a two-year plan. I've personally been using Surfshark since way before they sponsored this channel and at roughly two bucks a month, I think it's a very worthwhile investment. Big thanks to Surfshark for sponsoring today's video. So all this money stuff brings me to a tip in the travel world that is so overblown that it's like a borderline fetish for some people. It's this idea that you need a money belt or an RFID wallet or a theft-proof everything. If you're headed to a major tourist city, petty theft likely is a thing. There will be pickpockets in crowded spaces. When you see a big crowd in a public space, you should just think pickpocket. But most of the time, it's not a piece of gear that's going to protect you. It's just situational awareness and honestly like where you keep your stuff on your person. Ditch the back pocket wallet and use something slim in a front pocket, zippered if possible. If you carry a purse, go for a sling that you can wear on the front of your body. Don't carry all your cards and your ID at once. Don't leave your phone sitting on the cafe table because phone snatching is a thing. Money belts, slash-proof bags, RFID-blocking wallets. None of these are bad ideas, especially if they give you peace of mind, but I think they're more of a way to sell products than anything. A couple more things in this category. Common scams vary by destination, so just look them up before you go. The rose handed to you for free. The petition with a mandatory donation. The helpful stranger at the ticket machine who won't leave you alone. These aren't random, they're predictable. A quick search for, insert destination name, common scams before your trip is going to cover most of them. And hotel safes. Most travelers assume these are secure. They're often not. A surprising number of hotels never change the factory set master override code. So if you're going to use one, test the default codes after you set yours. If it still opens, just find a better hiding spot. If you've gotten value out of this video so far, be sure to hit that like button. And if you like videos like this, subscribe because there is way more where this came from. Now, this leads me to some prevailing conventional wisdom you need to be wary of. A lot of people skip destinations they're interested in visiting because they've been led to believe that they are inherently dangerous places to be. But, and I want to be careful how I say this because some places are rougher than others, practically every country in the world is on the US State Department's don't travel list for one reason or another. If you took that literally, you'd likely never leave home. The gap between the perception of a place and the reality of being there is enormous. People absorb news cycles, outdated information, and general anxiety and transmit all of it to you as confident safety advice. What you see on the news is almost always the worst case scenario and not the day-to-day reality of the millions of people who live there, work there, and are just trying to raise their families. Be smart, have situational awareness. Don't walk alone at night in unfamiliar areas. Don't carry all your valuables on you. Keep backup copies of your important documents, either in your bag or saved digitally somewhere you can access them. Put air tags in your luggage. Know the scams before you arrive. The world is just not as scary as you think. And your coworker who heard it's really sketchy over there, man, but has never been, just is not a reliable data point. Most places will surprise you with how welcoming they are. You've probably heard you don't need travel insurance because your credit card covers it. It's true. Your credit card does cover some things, and you should take advantage of those things. But the idea that you never need travel insurance because you have a fancy metal card is a myth that could really cost you. Some things travel credit cards are very good for. Trip delay and interruption. Rental car coverage. But make sure your card offers primary coverage and not secondary. Sometimes it can be helpful to look into policies like World Nomads or Safety Wing. World Nomads once saved us thousands of dollars when we had a death in the family and we had to get home quickly mid-trip, fully reimbursed. Where all of these things are woefully underwhelming is medical coverage. And that's arguably the most important coverage you can have. I personally just have a guy here in my home state that's been in insurance for like 40 years. And when we were planning to travel full-time for six months, years and years ago, I asked him to take a look at the travel policy I bought. And without hesitation, he was like, hey man, a lot of these coverages are great, but this is barely going to cover you in the case of a medical situation. And so he turned me on to GeoBlue. I took out a policy for that trip, and I've basically been using them ever since. For a week-long trip, a million dollars in medical coverage with no deductible is like 21 bucks. I included a link below, and it even includes a way to contact my guy if you have any questions. Oh, here's a good one. You can get a free upgrade if you dress nice, bring chocolates for the flight attendants, ask politely at the gate, check in at exactly the right time. Highly, highly unlikely. Upgrades at most major carriers are almost entirely driven by things like status tier, your co-branded credit card. It's all rules and algorithm-based. This advice persists because occasionally someone does get randomly upgraded, and then they attribute it to whatever they ate for breakfast that morning or, you know, whatever happened to them that day. In reality, the people consistently getting upgrades have status, and status on most major carriers requires a significant amount of spend per year. I've had success upgrading through cash upgrades at check-in, using points to just book a higher class outright, and combining cash and points strategies. This is actually one of the top questions I get from students of my Points and Miles course, and guys, the truth is every airline handles it differently, but there's no such thing as a free lunch. You're basically always paying something. That's seven pieces of expert travel advice you can officially stop following. But if you want the flip side, 200 tips that actually do work from packing to flights to saving money, that's the video to watch next. Thanks so much for watching. Happy travels.