The best travel advice for any destination often comes from the people who live there.
I qualified that statement with “often” because there is one thing that locals aren’t good at — but I will come to that later.
A person with local knowledge is your ally for finding your way around on public transport, eating well and cheaply, and understanding local eccentricities (every place and every group of people have them, and you’ll be the weird one if you don’t accept what’s going on as perfectly normal).
The surprisingly common belief that everyone in the world will understand English if it is spoken slowly and loudly is a myth. There are plenty of places where nobody speaks English, and it hasn’t occurred to them to learn it just in case they run into a lazy and arrogant tourist.
If you really want to visit a place where English is not understood, it’s up to you to find a way around this. You could learn the language — or enough of it to do what you want to do — you could rely on online translation devices (not yet good enough to recommend, and also often not convenient or polite), or you could hire a guide.
In my travel through Eastern Europe a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be accompanied by a Russian-speaking friend from Minsk. There were many occasions in rural Belarus and even urban Russia where she and I were the only English speakers.
Having a translator allowed me not only to find my way around, it meant cheap entry to museums and other attractions that have higher prices for foreigners. The fact that that translator was a good friend was, of course, priceless.
How do you find such a person? Well try searching online for “local guides”, and you’ll find a range of people willing to provide their services.
Obviously you’ll need to be cautious. Check the bonafides of the person and the agency they work for thoroughly by seeking out independent reviews. Arrange to meet the person in a public place, not your hotel, and don’t tell them too much about yourself. If they try to take you somewhere that appears to be too far off the beaten track, or you feel uncomfortable, reserve your right to say No.
Always take other standard safety procedures such as having a phone with emergency numbers stored and at the ready.
As I’ve said before, travel is about being adventurous, but not for taking stupid risks.
Oh, and the thing that locals aren’t good at? Very often, they take for granted things that will be of interest to you as a tourist, or because you have a particular interest
So, do your homework first. Know what you want to see, but also be open to new — and safe — experiences.
