Traveling Lessons Learned
This will be my ongoing list of lessons learned while I travel:
Establish the rate or fare before you take the trip (Santiago, Dominican Republic — took a horse drawn carriage ride, max fare listed was $2000 Dominican pesos. After the tour they wanted $60 US which was highway robbery). Related to this, I had a person come and mow my lawn. Lessons learned, established the rate and what you will pay in advance. This person, took double the time of a reasonable person and it reflected in his fees. A 2 hour job took him 4 hours. After a while it was, what is taking so long!!
Ensure you have tickets and a duplicate way to access them before heading to the location (San Francisco Catamaran Tour and Big Bus Tour — Used via Thank you Points on Citi Credit Card. I had them via email but in my email account I couldn’t find ticket. I had to Uber back to hotel and find ticket. Then I sent it to 2 emails and took a picture of the code).
New places — instead of making a reservation for 8 days, consider 1-2 and then you can extend if you want, or go somewhere new. Guatemala - reserved for 2 days, extended to 5 — got sick and needed direct flight to SFO. SFO reserved for 3, wanted to cancel - property refused (Europa Hotel), Lake Chelan/Manson - after 5 minutes wanted to cancel, property refused - Echo Valley Suites. If had reserved for one day instead of 3, would only have had to endure one day instead of 3.
When using the Frontier Go Wild pass, try not to set hotel reservations in advance, and try not to set flights from one place to another in advance. I have lost on at least 3 places on what I thought I would do and what turned out to happen, or a flight got delayed.
No matter what, always always always carry the address of the hotel on a card with you. Guatemala Uber driver and Jamaican taxi drivers — just always have it on hand. Always!
