Travel tips from Paulo Coelho - I wonder if you agree with his opinion?
• Avoid museums.
This advice may seem absurd, but let's think about it: when you're in a strange city, wouldn't it be more interesting to learn about its present than its past?
People feel obligated to go to museums because they've been instilled with this way of experiencing culture since childhood. Of course, it's important to go to museums, but you have to know what you want to see, otherwise you'll leave feeling like you've seen a few very important things for your life, but you don't know which ones.
• Go to bars.
That's where you can really see the city life. I don't mean discos, but the places where locals meet, drink, talk about God and the universe, and are always open to conversation. Just buy yourself a newspaper, sit with it, and watch the people coming and going. If someone starts a conversation, join in, even if the topic seems uninteresting. You won't see the beauty of the road if you're looking at it through a half-open door.
• Be open.
The best guides are locals. They know everything, are proud of their city, but don't work for an agency. Just go out into the street, pick someone, and ask them questions like, "How do I get there?" If you don't succeed with the first person, you'll succeed with the second, and then, I assure you, you'll find wonderful guidance for the whole day.
• Travel alone or, if you are married, with a partner.
This is the only way to truly leave your country. If you travel in a group, you're only simulating a trip to another country, continuing to speak your own language, following the guide's directions, and focusing more on the group chatter than on the place you've arrived in.
• Don't compare.
Don't compare anything: not prices, not cleanliness, not quality of life, not transportation. Nothing! You don't travel to prove that you live better. Get to know the lives of others and find what you can learn from them.
• Realize that everyone understands you.
Even if you don't speak the language of the country, don't worry: I've been to many countries where I couldn't communicate verbally, but I still found help everywhere, received valuable advice, and even made friends. Some people are simply afraid of getting lost while traveling alone. It's enough to simply have hotel business cards in your pocket and, in a pinch, take a taxi and hold them under the driver's nose.
• Don't shop too much.
Spend money on things you won't have to wear: theater tickets, restaurant visits, excursions. In our age of global markets and the internet, you can buy everything without paying extra baggage.
• Don't try to travel the world in one month.
It's better to stay four or five days in one city than to visit five in a week. A city can be likened to a capricious woman who needs time to reveal all her sides and allow herself to be seduced.
• Travel is an adventure.
Henry Miller said: It's better to discover an unfamiliar church no one has ever heard of than to go to Rome and feel obligated to visit the Sistine Chapel. Go there, but wander the back streets, feel the freedom, and find something you know nothing about that might just change your life.
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