I’ve seen as many travel-tips websites as I’ve had hot English breakfasts. Most of them cover the same ground – about insurance, how to pack (roll your clothes, don’t fold them), how to get a cheap airfare or an upgrade, and so on – but I’ve been searching for those that are a little left-field.
Here’s a taster:
From Liam Delahunty, a contributor on Quora, a fun forum that covers history, science, pop culture and much more: “Put a photo of a baby and a dog in your wallet – people are more likely to return lost wallets with either in, hedge your bets and put both.”
From Rick Seaney on several sites: “If [a bear] hop-charges toward you, clacks its teeth, sticks out its lips, huffs, woofs, or rushes a few steps towards you and slaps the ground with its paws, it is warning you that it is nervous about your presence and that you are too close.”
From Dara Continenza in Smarter Travel: “If you want to upgrade your elevator to VIP status, simply press the desired floor number and the ‘door close’ buttons simultaneously for several seconds. The elevator will override other requests and skip all other floors.” (This one may not work on all lifts, or at all. If it does, it may severely annoy other occupants.)
From Jackie Middleton in Reader’s Digest: Be careful when presenting flowers to a friend or business associate in Russia. Yellow blooms signify deceit or a relationship break-up. And skip red carnations, too. Traditionally, red carnations are placed on the graves of the dead, or are offered to surviving war veterans.”
From Tyler Protano-Goodwin on Backpack: South East Asia: “Don’t Facebook friend everyone you meet, you’ll learn to resent them as they incessantly pop up in your newsfeed. Be selective with who you let into your cyber life, you never know who will want to be your constant chat buddy.”
