Things to Know Before Traveling to Another Country
Hello everyone!
When entering a foreign territory, you’re on their turf and you want to play by their rules. Certain customs normal in your country may not be the same in another. From my own personal experience, I want to share the best ways to be prepared for international travel so you can have the best experience possible.
General Norms
About a week ago, a friend of mine sarcastically asked me, “What would happen if I just showed up in Paris with a beret, a black and white striped shirt, and a baguette?”
I responded by saying, “You won’t make many friends.”
For most of you, this is the most basic thing not to do in France, but in all seriousness, it’s important to understand what typical behavior is like. For example, if you’re traveling to Germany for anything business related, you would need to know that they are very pünktlich…meaning they’re very punctual so if you’re always running behind schedule…that won’t fly. The main thing I would suggest is learning more about what not to do because you never know how something that seems normal to you might offend someone else. I had a conversation with someone about their trip to The Netherlands and told me how tipping someone is offensive because it’s implying you think they don’t make enough money. You don’t have to go to the lengths of browsing a bunch of articles, but there are also YouTube channels that specifically talk about international culture shocks and customs as well.
Transportation
If you really want to experience day-to-day culture, it’s good to be familiar with normal methods of transportation. My study abroad program wanted to give us the most authentic experience of living and working in a foreign country, so when we got to Paris, they gave us reusable metro cards to get around. When we were going to our appointments and workshops, we always rode the metro unless we were going somewhere outside of Paris like Giverny or Versailles. If you have a full itinerary of where you’re going during your trip, I recommend having good transportation apps to help you out if you get lost and even create routes for you so you know beforehand where you need to be and when so you don’t have to spend too much time asking around for directions. If you know you’re going to be traveling between countries like I did going round-trip from Paris to Brussels. You want to have an easy way to get your boarding passes and quickly find dates and times.
Formalities
This primarily pertains to any social interactions you may encounter. It’s important to know how to address people because certain languages can have a formal and informal way of addressing people in certain settings. In French, you would never address a stranger in the “tu” form, but the “vous” form, but you also would never address children with the “vous” form. There’s also the greetings, in France you typically would NEVER hug someone, it’s always la bise, the two kisses on the cheeks. In Mexico, I believe it’s just one, and the Italian I was seeing at one point told me it’s three in the region he comes from. Also, if you’re planning on dating while you’re there, make sure you’re aware of dating culture because you don’t want to be surprised if the other person does or says something that could take you by surprise.
Non-Tourist Areas
Not that seeing the Eiffel Tower is boring, but it wasn’t the first thing on my to-do list. I understand that leaving tourist areas can seem scary especially in territories where the people don’t necessarily speak much English, but there’s less people especially if you’re like me and don’t like crowds. I’ve been told that heavy tourist areas (especially during the busiest times of the year) can be more expensive. Also, instead of fighting to get a picture of the Mona Lisa, there are plenty of beautiful places to see outside the main parts. If you have friends who are from that country, it’s best to ask where they usually like to go.
Native Friends
I believe this is the most helpful of all. If you know someone who’s from there, or better yet is traveling with you, you’re set. You have direct access to all the information you need to know, every question you could possibly have about the language and culture would be answered. If you’re still new to a certain language, they’re able to help you if you get in a jam where your own skills fail you. If you don’t really have a native friend, there are resources available to enable you to make international friends prior to your visit. I’m sure you can also find local tour guides who’s job is just to show you around the city or wherever you want to go.
Proper Translation Tools
For me, this is a huge one if you’re not fully proficient in a language. You want to have something to help you read signs, product labels, decipher text messages you may not understand, nuances in how certain words can be used in different contexts. Having effective translation tools on your devices will help you move about easily. I would be wary about relying too much on translators as you’re trying to master a language, I would use them for quick word translations, but not to translate full thoughts if you can.
I hope this information best helps you to have a great experience traveling abroad (especially once COVID-19 subsides) building international relationships and moving around the city smoothly. You can also check out our Fun Videos section to find lots of videos on culture norms as well as travel tips.