Travel Tips

Train travel is your friend, but there are some things to know. On the TGV, you must book seats in advance, and seats are assigned. There is decent stowage for suitcases, even the big trunk that we had. But there will not be anyone to help you so you should only take what you can tote yourself. The train will not stop for long, so you need to be ready by the door to get off.

In addition to taking pictures of your parking spots, also record your license plate if you have a rental car. This will save you countless returns to the car to get it in cases like this or registering for hotel parking.

You really want a driver in Bordeaux. To sample the wines, you will want to visit towns and wineries that are 20 minutes apart or more. European alcohol limits for driving are quite low, like 0.05%. And of course you want to relax and enjoy, and not ruin your or anyone else's day. A knowledgeable driver will also work with you to understand your tastes and goals to make the most of your trip. And they can get you into places you might not be able to book on your own.

When dropping a rental car or going to the airport, or anytime you go to an unfamiliar place with a time deadline, look at the navigation directions in detail, including street view. We had enough difficulty here with one driver and one navigator — it would have been so much harder solo.

Research your driving routes before traveling. This is true for rental cars or with your own car. More cities throughout the world are creating special low-emissions zones or demand-pricing on tolling. You don't want to be hit with surprise fees or fines.

If you want to drive in a foreign country, check their requirements before you go. To drive in Spain, you need a license, but you may be able to cheaply and easily get one at your local AAA Travel office, depending on where you live. UPDATE: AAA no longer has offices but you can still get an international driving license through their website (might vary by state).

If you are putting pins on a map to plan a route, make sure to also look at the topography or terrain view. The next stop that appears closest in 2D might result in quite a different walking experience in 3D.

Probably you already know this, and maybe I have already said this, but take a picture of your parking stall number when you park. It is easy to get turned around in garages, especially underground ones, when you might leave through one door and re-enter through another.

There are streets that are pedestrian and are blocked by bollards, but these are opened during the workdays. You have to pay attention walking, and conversely, you might not be able to drive when you had planned to.

If you are using transit for a time sensitive arrival, do a test-run or allow way more time than you think you will need. This is doubly true if you also need to purchase the initial fare cards.

Booking through a third-party might be risky. I generally won't do it for hotels. But if you do and you hit any snag, go through the company you booked from and don't waste time with the merchant. They understandably won't, or often can't, help you. But Enterprise went out of their way to hinder us so I will suggest in this tip to avoid them whenever possible.

There are lots of toll highways throughout Portugal so if you are renting a car, make sure to get one with the Via Verde transponder. We had mixed information about whether this would also work in Spain, but we didn't see any tolling there in any case.

This is probably true for most big cities you would visit. Look for the museum or city passes and study them a bit before you go. Find out which of your destinations requires a timed entry and book those in advance. You may also discover lesser-known attractions. I appreciated how useful the Paris Museum Pass site was for planning.

Make sure you are in the right line. You always have to figure out, is this the line to buy tickets or for people who already have tickets. But we found a couple twists. One is that you might be able to buy your tickets online even while you are in line, and move directly to the entry. At this palace, we also found (thanks to the family in front of us who sent an advance scout) that the room next to the ticket counter had ticket purchase kiosks with no line at all.

Note your Prado entry on the map. There is, of course, security at the museum entrance, but there are free cloakrooms to check your items (including camera). But there is more than one entrance and cloakroom. After immersing ourselves in the galleries, we had gotten completely turned around so that the signs we followed to the exit took us away from where we needed to be. It was confusing to figure out which signs to follow.

If you are a foodie traveling in Europe, check the Michelin Guide before you go. You will find amazing restaurants in the smallest of towns, and many of these will be very affordable, especially in comparison to US restaurants. You might notice most of my meal descriptions use words like delicious, fantastic, incredible, etc. The Michelin Guide is how we found a lot of these places. Some are even fairly casual, but you will probably want to make reservations at any of them.

It pays to do some reading on the arts. Included in the exhibit at the Almudín were photos of the well-known US Depression-era photographer, Dorothea Lange. Because I had just read a magazine article about her, I felt clued in about aspects of the images to pay attention to and appreciate. This was just lucky; I had no idea I would see this display. But for some museums, you might be able to learn about their collections in advance.

Not all Montserrat tours include the choir performance. If this is important to you, make sure you find one that does. You could also look into booking tickets on your own, though I'm not sure that is possible.

Book your own trip to Montserrat. Now that we have seen it, I can say it is not complicated. The rail change is simply from the regular train to a cog-wheel train that can handle the steep grade up to the monastery. The station is right there in the middle of where you want to be. And you can spend as long as you want, minding the train schedule.

When traveling across time zones, book a tour for your first-day activity. Hop-on/hop-off tours are good to get the lay of the land. Some are good for 24 or 48 hours so can serve as your transportation, and they offer discounted tickets to many attractions.

If you want to visit Playa de las Catedrales, check online about booking advance tickets. And be prepared for whatever weather you might get.

There are many purveyors of tours to Teotihuacán. We didn't book ours so I am not sure what individual or company it was through. But I highly recommend taking this tour with an archaeologist who knows and cares about the history and discoveries being made.

Make sure to keep your reservations or cancel in advance. This is pretty common in fine dining everywhere that I have seen lately: if you don't arrive for your reservation, you will be charged for the meal anyway. People get upset about this, but it arose due to too many no-shows. Restaurants run on very thin margins, and most of the restaurants we enjoyed so much on this trip were very small, so even one seat going vacant would be significant for them.

As remote as Las Arenas is, the restaurants can fill up fast. You might consider making reservations. For our dinner at the sidrería, we were at the door when they opened at 8pm, but they were soon full with a line out the door. For this night's dinner, we would have preferred to be inside but as hungry hikers we took what we could get.

In the Casco Viejo you will want dining reservations, probably even for lunch, even in the shoulder season. While you can find a meal, it might not be what you had in mind.

Ask for wine recommendations. This was the advice of the very experienced sommelier conducting our tasting. This applies to more than wine I am sure — the local experts will know more about the products than anyone else.

Try ethnic restaurants when you travel. Of course one of the reasons we travel is to learn about other people and cultures. But on a long trip, don't be afraid to try the kinds of foods you eat at home too, and see what is the interpretation there. We didn't really do this, except for this Indian restaurant, but I probably would plan for some of this on any trip longer than 2 weeks with the same general cuisine. You might be surprised — the Indian in Madrid was great, but the Mexican I had in Munich had to be some of the worst I have tasted, despite its glowing local reviews.

Don't feel like you have to take every meal in the local, traditional cuisine. You are not wasting your trip or being non-adventurous to try that place's version of some other ethnic food. I mean, the people living there are eating it, so you are still having an authentic experience.

Cheeses, like wines, can have regional designations. Cabrales cheese has a Protected Designation of Origin, so that no other cheese can legally call itself Cabrales cheese. It has been among the most expensive cheeses in the world. You should look for the DOP emblem on the label when you buy it, though I suppose that could also be counterfeit.

Ask at the front desk for info that tourists should know, like free bus routes, or things going on in the area to attend or avoid, like events, protests, or construction. During our stay of just a few days, we saw a Walk for Freedom (human trafficking awareness), a Gay Pride parade, and a protest in support of Palestine, though they all seemed well organized and non-disruptive.

Drink the local beer. Did I say this already? I will probably say it again. It's light and refreshing and super cheap! And you can even get a small glass. Also, pretty much everywhere we went, they had the local lager and its companion non-alcoholic version on tap.

It might be fun to pick a theme for traveling. We had already happened to visit other superlative locations — southernmost house in Key West, westernmost point of continental Europe in Portugal, etc. So now we like to visit these when we have the chance. We also seem to find places with a connection to Ernest Hemingway.

Scout out your destinations to learn what products they are known for. I am not much of a shopper so I thought this would be good information. I very carefully researched it and noted it in our plans, but then forgot to consult it most of the time!

For each place that you will stay, try to find out what they are known for and plan to do a little shopping for it while you are there. You might find unique items and good values for textiles, shoes, leather, pottery, and more.

When visiting a mosque, but sure to dress according to the rules of entry. Women will be expected to cover their heads. Some mosques will provide scarves that you can borrow. Others may not. European cathedrals also frequently publish dress codes. Plan ahead so you are not disappointed by being denied entry.

City dwellers in particular might forget about a possible lack of cell coverage in remote locations. Download maps and schedules in advance and bring cash for purchases. In this case, we had cell service in the town of Bulnes but not outside. The restaurants also had connectivity, allowing us to pay by credit card, but I don't know how reliable it is year round.

Some hoteliers will expect you to have WhatsApp (or maybe another specific chat app). Verify when you make the reservation how they expect to contact you with details. You might be able to get them to email you, or, sadly, you might have to install something you otherwise would not want on your phone.

Having reliable cell and data coverage is a game changer for travel. No pre-planning, just navigate with your phone. Google Fi cell service "just works" in lots of countries. And we didn't have to spend time getting local sim cards or pay-as-you-go plans.

Enable locations on your digital photos. I generally keep location disabled in my phone's camera app as a general privacy setting, but I thought to turn it on part way through this trip. If I had had it enabled, I would have been able to figure out what that restaurant was, and it also would have been handy trying to reconstruct my memories from the photos. Similarly, if you are using multiple devices for photos, synchronize the time on them so they will sort in order in storage. You might need to set some manually as you change timezones.

Pack a small, collapsible cooler for managing leftovers and snacks on a driving tour. Most hotel rooms seem to have small refrigerators now so you can stash it overnight. We put a bottle of water from the fridge in the pack each day to keep it cold. Next trip we might take a freezer gel pack.

Travel with a small, collapsible cooler. You can carry local foods or leftovers to enjoy them longer and, frankly, save money. You can chill a bottle of water in hotel refrigerators and use that as a cold source (in the US, the TSA will only allow frozen freezer packs but once they melt into a liquid, you might have to discard them).

When you tuck your lightweight travel umbrella (you have one, right?) into your pack at the start of your day, also add some plastic bags. You will want it to stow your wet umbrella when you go indoors or when the sun comes out.

When booking a stay for or as part of an extended trip, here are some things to explicitly look for in a hotel room:

• Enough space to store and easily access your suitcases and toiletries;
• Space other than the bed for sitting and for eating;
• Ideally, a place to leaving shoes, backpacks, and (wet) umbrellas at the door.

Travel, while exciting, can also be stressful and you don't want to start and end each day in annoying discomfort. You may or may not be able to tell from online photos and descriptions what the room has to offer and how it is laid out.

Ubers are safe in Mexico City (though you may find your driver needs the code from the app when you get into the vehicle to make sure you have the correct one). The woman in our group with local ties says that ubers are safer than cabs. And they are very affordable.

Despite being careful, I got "Montezuma's revenge" in CDMX. I believe my mistake was eating fresh produce (onions) on a street taco but I don't know for sure. Things to avoid in places with questionable water supplies:

• Drinking the tap water
• Eating uncooked fresh produce (washed in tap water)
• Eating street food (sold by vendors on the side of the street)
• Even brushing your teeth with tap water; use bottled or filtered if available

Water sources don't necessarily need to be "bad" or "unclean" to throw your stomach for a loop; just your body's unfamiliarity with the local microbes can cause issues anywhere. My wife travels with a Grayl filter bottle and has had good experiences with it in several places where the water might cause issues.

Hopefully you don't need to hear this, but don't even think of drinking and driving while touring (or really, any time, ever). Be aware of the local alcohol laws and limits, and also understand that being under the legal limit does not guarantee that you are not impaired.

Driving is not for everyone, especially mixed with wine. We were careful in our tastings, and sipping and spitting are quite acceptable. Alcohol limits are lower than some places in the US, but we saw a lot of wine tour vans in this area so you can certainly arrange not to drive when you go.

Traveling on shoulder seasons is great for avoiding high prices, big crowds, summer heat, and maybe even some tourist hate. But especially in more sparsely populated areas, you might have to do more research and planning for meals, activities, and accommodations.

Consider staying in fewer places for longer durations. A driving tour is great fun, but after some time the novelty of new places will be offset by the pain of frequent packing and unpacking. For our next trip, we will try choosing a location for a week minimum, even if we have a car to make day trips. With a monthly rental, you could save enough money to justify some hotel overnights farther afield.

Plan time to return to your lodging in the afternoons before dinner. This is especially true for the first couple days of your trip, when jetlag might make a sudden appearance. If, like us, you do a lot of walking, you might need to get back to your room to shower or to change into dry clothes. In any case we learned that we enjoy a nice dinner much more when we arrive relaxed and able to focus on it.

Even if you love walking, and even if you are in good shape, think twice about planning 4 days in a row of 7-10 mile walking tours. Your feet might not be too happy with you.

On an extended trip, allocate time in your schedule for laundry, including drying time which might require overnight. We didn't realize this until pretty far into the planning but we managed to find some places with laundry on-site or nearby. We didn't really plan it as a needed activity, so sometimes we had to wedge it in or miss something else that we had wanted to do.

When using a laundromat, take time to read and translate all the instructions. It turned out that the machines we were using (here and elsewhere) include the detergent. I checked this after I saw some suds on the washer door as I moved the clothes to the dryer.

Many countries where you might travel collect a VAT sales tax that can be refunded to non-residents. If you are a shopper, learn the details before you go, as there are different ways to file and collect the funds. Some stores may also offer you a service to handle it for you on your purchases, as I saw noted on the Galeries Lafayette website.

We have a long list of lessons learned from our near-disaster:

• If you separate, only one person should move. The other should stay in the same spot.
• If you separate, be pessimistic about how long it might take to reunite. I carry a battery and charging cable in my purse, but I left it in the car expecting only to be 10 minutes. Later I really wished I had that reassurance of communication.
• Don't underestimate how different everything might be. We rely on our phones to navigate, but they can get confused, be wrong, or send you to a location that is not where you need to be in your vehicle. Street names might be unpronounceable.
• Make sure the driver has hands-free calling and texting turned on.
• Have some standard backup plans. For example, if someone's cell phone is dying and you lose communication, perhaps each person should just find the nearest police station or officer and ask for help to reunite.
• In a case where navigation is not working but there is still communication, the person in the car should just drive wherever they need to in order to park, then send the location to the other and that person can just take a taxi.
• Make sure all parties have access to and have read the arrival instructions.

You might struggle to get your kids off screens. But you can also lean into it when traveling. Our son's interest in history and archaeology stems from the game Civilization, which features ancient and modern people and wonders.

Generally, if you're in a foreign country that uses a different currency, everyone will charge you something to change money but you'll get the worst exchange rates and highest fees at the airport. The best exchange rates are usually found in urban centers near shopping districts. If your credit card has a reasonable foreign transaction policy (and doesn't charge a fee per transaction), the exchange rate you'll pay for a credit card purchase is also usually pretty competitive. Just make sure your card is accepted -- they sometimes aren't.

If you're planning to use a credit card, make sure to tell your credit card issuer that you're traveling. Even if you bought the flights with the card you can sometimes run into trouble (declined transactions due to "potential fraud") if you don't register your travel. You can usually do it on the credit card's website.

How to beat jet lag 101:

• A few days before your trip, start thinking about what time it is in the place you're headed and act accordingly. You don't have to start waking up at 2am but make yourself get up at 6am when you are tempted to go back to sleep by saying to yourself, "It's already 4pm in Istanbul right now." Make yourself start going to bed early and getting up early (or late, depending on where you're headed).
• Flying east I like to try to sleep if I can. Even a few hours of shut eye helps a lot. Flying west, I like to stay up -- this makes a "super long" day and, when I land, I can usually go right to sleep and get up "on schedule".
• When you've arrived, try to stay awake until the local bedtime even if you're tired.
• Look at the sun. Sunlight is a natural cue for your brain about what time it is.
• Eat at normal "local" times and do not eat in the middle of the night even if you're hungry. Again, this helps reset your internal clock.
• If you wake up in the middle of the night, stay in bed and don't look at light (i.e. your phone). Try to get back to sleep if you can.