Travel Tip: Find the Right Travel Partner
Greetings from Madrid and the end of my Euro Trip. This is my third trip to Europe this year (all paid for by frequent flyer miles) and I’m so grateful for the opportunities miles and points have given me over the last few years.
With that said, there are definitely some things I have learned about traveling and myself during these last three European trips. My first trip was with a close college friend in mid January. My second trip was work-related and was only a week to visit the Airline Interior Expo in Hamburg, Germany with a short weekend visit to Copenhagen, Denmark by myself. My last trip was more of a road trip around Spain and into parts of southern France with my family.
My parents and my brother all have different travel styles and interests. My mom and I like to look at the scenery, take pictures of landmarks and try the local food and drink in the various cities we visit. We don’t necessary care about the history of every landmark or about the famous artwork inside world renowned museums.
My brother, on the other hand, loves reading Rick Steve’s travel books from cover to cover and “checking off” as many things as possible during a vacation. I have lost count of how many times I’ve heard, “let’s make a slight detour to visit ____, it’s really cool.”
By comparison, my mom and I are happy to walk around the city the city for hours then sit in a cafe for an hour, have a quick snack and catch up on our email.
My brother thinks we are wasting our time sitting in a cafe, but I say the same thing when he wants to visit another castle, church, monastery, cathedral, chateau, museum, garden, etc. After you have seen 5 or 6 cathedrals, they all start looking alike (I apologize, but it is true).
My dad is essentially the family “tour bus driver” and drives to wherever my brother/Garmin tells him to go. He likes history and ancient civilizations so he usually accompanies my brother for whatever castle, church, cathedral, etc. my brother wants to go inside.
Moral of the story: find a travel companion/buddy/friend/partner that shares similar travel styles as you. If you are a foodie and a “drinkie” like myself, find someone who also likes eating the local cuisine and drinking a pint (or 2) of the local beer/wine/sangria. If you are an art-history buff, find someone who can tell the different between Picasso and Monet, Beethoven and Mozart, or Charles Dickens and Ernest Hemingway. You will end up getting more out of your vacation and arguing a lot less about what to see/do/eat. You may have multiple travel partners, depending on where you are going. This may take some time (aka trial and error) to figure this out. You may even like traveling by yourself and meeting locals or other tourists. Find whatever makes you happy.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with my thinking? What type of traveler are you? Please leave your thoughts below.
You didn’t write about me and how fun I am to travel with!?!
Haha I didn’t want to make others jealous. You are the *most* fun to travel with :)
Lol…. Great post. So true… My partner and I go through the same thing…
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I think it gets harder when you travel with more people. Everyone wants to do something different.
I think you done one too many on European trip. If you like food and culture, Asia is the place.
Someday I’ll go to Asia. To many good economy award deals to Europe though :)
I’m generally more interested in culture myself and as a big food fan, I find food to be the fastest way to connect to the history, traditions and culture of the area. That being said- a post on your favorite local food spots would be awesome and a great way to start a trip. By starting there the locals are always the best resources on things to do! I’ll be in Rome, Paris, Budapest, Kuala Lumpur and Bali at the end of the year if you wanted to start with those, haha!
I just recommend looking on Yelp and Trip Advisor for good restaurants. Yelp isn’t super popular, but might be useful in the larger cities. The problem is I remember what I are (with the help of pics) but I never remember the name of the restaurants I visit. You are on your own I think.
Welcome back grant! hope you had a safe flight home.
Thank you, good to be back. I got some interesting posts coming soon. PS I’ve been up since 3:30am PST :)
Grant, very quick question, I am doing my app o rama today and just got approved for US Bank Club Carlson Visa Signature with 85k bonus (instant approval, personal card)…….is it possible to apply the business version and get another 85k sign up bonus on same day and eligible for the bonus?
My concern is when I read this other blog (but old data point, from year 2013) there is fine print that you cannot get Club Carlson bonus if you have identical brand of card but this blogger got the sign up bonus for both.
Please help, now I am thinking of pulling the trigger for Club Carlson business card since got instant approval for personal…afraid it would be hard to get approved if I apply for biz version 3-4 months later since they can see I have too to many inquiries with other banks from my app o rama.
Forgot the link:
http://rapidtravelchai.boardingarea.com/2013/02/15/us-bank-club-carlson-personal-business-bonus-success/
Also, do I need to apply for club carlson business account first to get the membership number?
https://www.clubcarlson.com/profiles/secure/business/joinRouter.do
I already applied for personal membership and use the personal membership number when applied for personal version. Can I use the personal membership number for business application or it has to be business account?
It’s better to have 2 different Club Carlson accounts. I would sign up for a new account before applying for the biz card.
You can apply for the biz card, but they asked for my business license, business lease, and last 3 months of business expenses and income. I don’t have the first 2 items so he told me to apply again in the future.
Thanks so much Grant, sounds like they are very strict in approving the business card….I think I will pass this time…
Ya, I was surprised too. I have no problem getting approved for 2 Chase Ink Bold credit cards and Bank of America / AMEX business cards.
I heard that applying in person at US Bank branch has good chance of being approved. Hope you can try it when you get a chance and write a blog on it.
I will try on Friday morning unless they are closed for the holiday or maybe on Saturday morning.