5x well-meant Travel Advice but NOT useful at all

Anyone who travels, and especially travels alone, knows it: the well-meant travel advice you get. Whether you ask for it or not, you will hear what the other person thinks of the trip you are about to undertake. And especially how dangerous it is, how you have to be careful for all the bad people or animals you are bound to meet. I know it is well-intentioned but it is such a shame that there will always be some people who might not let their trip go through because of it….

The news reigns supreme in days of fear. We noticed this, of course, in the early days of the corona. And still today, there is plenty of speculation. People listen to everything and try to make something out of it that sounds and seems logical to themselves. Advice and news is sucked up like water which you need to survive in times of uncertainty. Most of the news that is watched and read does not have a positive slant but has to do with murder and mayhem so to speak. People die and that scares us and so we start acting differently. Because this is the example of the news, the news education, we tend to do the same to our loved ones.

Just warning you of the problems, dangers and pointing out all the nasty things so you might start moving in the right direction.

5x well-meant Travel Advice but NOT useful at all

If there is something I dislike, it is hearing negative things. Often also things that I never come into contact with, that are far from my bed and which I then often just take note of.

If it is true that everything you give attention to grows…. Then why do we keep doing this? I haven’t been doing it for years to give negative things attention in my life…. And for a year now I am aware of it and I very consciously don’t do it anymore. I focus my attention on the good and the positive. Thus I feel that it makes my life more positive, I see more openings to go in the good / nice direction.

Of course I sometimes have moments when I am negative, when I see the wrong sides…but mostly I get over it quickly and turn my attention to something else…. Something beautiful, something positive… Something I can and want to do something with.

I hope that, with me, many people will start to see this and change in their own lives. Of course I understand that it is difficult to get out of a fixed pattern…. At first you don’t see what is happening and what processes are going on. With me it is also a process that has been going on for years and is still growing now. Fortunately there are already a lot of people who experience it differently and see the world differently.

Hopefully the realization will come to more people and this will slowly change the world to one that emphasizes and magnifies the positive!

The world is a beautiful and good place to be!

But to get back to the advice I was given by people around me…. I’ve listed the top 5 pieces of well-meaning travel advice given to me. I’m curious how much you recognize of it! Did you get this advice too? And if you did go out into the big bad world…. How much did you benefit from this advice?

1 – It is very dangerous there, there is a lot of crime in that country

Unknown makes unloved, I think, because often when I ask someone if they themselves have been in a particular country, 90% of the answers are no. But if you believe the news, every day there are several rapes in the metro in India, as a woman it is not safe to walk the streets of Delhi. Are you not safe in Havana, the capital of Cuba or will you definitely be robbed if you are in Bogota, Colombia.

The other side is of the well-meaning travel advice is this:

When people who have been there tell me about their trip to that particular country it is the opposite world that I hear. They tell me it was so cool, that it’s a good choice and that I’m going to love it. Then comes a list of all the places I should definitely visit.

 

But okay, if I then would have convinced people that it is quite safe there, obviously taking into account how you move around a country and at what times you still walk the streets then that is certainly not all that makes a country unsafe.

Well-meant Travel Advice #2

2 – There are also many poisonous/dangerous animals!

You’ll just step on a poisonous spider or scorpion if you’re not careful. Then you’re probably too far from a hospital to get the antidote, too. It’s that easy… Also on that matter, the country of your choice is dangerous! Of course you can be unlucky… It has never happened to me. In the first week of my trip in Namibia, I saw 2 scorpions, one had been run down and I was walking past it on my slippers. And the second one was harassed by big ants and for that I got out of my 4-wheel drive to make a video of it, again on my slippers.

And yes, I also carry good walking shoes so that when I go hiking I can put them on and be well protected from scorpions or other small but very poisonous critters!

It is dangerous there and there are poisonous animals!
I wouldn’t dare if I were you!

There are only dangers to consider if you are to believe the people who give you “well-meant” advice. Travel, and then alone, is something you really shouldn’t do!

Because…

3 – You don’t know anyone there and you’re all alone.

Suppose something happens that isn’t ‘t fun or nice you have to realize that there is no one to help you…. Because, the advisors are not there. And the people in the country you’re in at the time are all criminals… Or only see you as that bag of money, because tourists are only that…at the tourist spots that all tours go by.

Apart from the fact that I also visit those places, because they are not just very touristy, I also find people there who are happy to help me if I ask for something. If it is not the local people who help me then it is my fellow tourists and their guide who help me!

Because I was out of the Sossusvlei in no time when I got myself stuck there not even a month ago!

Know that there is always someone who wants to help you! It is so good to notice that no matter where you are and who you meet…. If you indicate that you need help 99% of the people will help you or take you to someone who will help you further! These are the most beautiful and instructive moments in travel!

Realize again that we all do it together, that we are actually 1 big family and that most people are good!

For this reason alone, the people who give you this well-meant advice should go on a journey 😂

4 – It is very difficult to travel solo in that country.

What I also often notice is that it is often said that the other country you then go to is worse to travel to. Everything is difficult there, the streets are bad and the internet doesn’t work. Tourism there is not used to tourists from outside and will not understand what you want.

Also most people will not be able to speak English so there is no possibility of communication. Haha how fun is it then that you use your hands and feet to make it clear to each other what you want and smile afterwards to say goodbye!

I can tell you that these very travel experiences are also super educational! I was in Kerala, South India, and was taken by my guide to an industrial park. He was, in fact, very proud of this area. He was very surprised when I walked the other way and went to see the houses of the people who lived there. I walked into the small streets and came back half an hour later with a happy face. How nice it is to see the local neighborhood, to surprise the people there with the fact that I like to see how they live and I am curious about them! And how nice it is then that they are just as curious about me!

And as a final tip on this point…. The more difficult something is, the more you step out of your comfort zone the better your memory of this travel experience is!

Stepping out of your comfort zone is The Best Thing Ever!

Well-meant Travel Advice #5

5 – Being a Woman Alone is extra difficult….

And then of course this last one… Which perhaps should have been first. This is the one I get the most out of all the well meaning travel advice I get…. Are you going alone? Oh and to countries like that?

Of course it has advantages and disadvantages but I have to tell you honestly that I have noticed the advantages the most. I get offered help because people think that woman can’t do it alone…. Or because they like helping a woman…. I think men are much less likely to be offered help than I am. I just have to stand somewhere, looking around, and often someone will come up to me and be happy to help.

So that it is extra difficult as a woman I think is the biggest misconception ever!

We are talked into thinking that it is harder, that we fall prey to men or other criminality more easily. You are there yourself, you see something happen, you feel if it is good or not. This is the same for a man as for a woman. We are more trained on it because we are pointed out more often and are sometimes treated that way by men.

That is our advantage!!

So take advantage of that!

Listen to yourself, listen to your feelings. They always speak the truth. How often do you hear from victims that at one point they already knew it would not go well but they still stayed in the situation…. Listen to your body and act accordingly.

Arrange your life the way you want it to be!

I think the beauty of my life right now is that I find that everything is falling into place! I share positivity, I seek positivity, and people come to me with beautiful positive stories and experiences!

If you want to learn more about Meaningful Coincidence you should start reading books by Hans Peter Roel. I read those last year and found them super informative in insightful! I do not know if they are available in English…

Know that when you travel in the right energetic rhythm everything falls into place and everything is right.  This of course applies to travel…but also in your daily life! You have to trust this and face it with a positive outlook. And then know that if things don’t go quite right once, this will serve a different purpose! But you only know that later when you realize that something happened to push you in a certain direction 🙂

5x Well-meant travel advice but NOT usefull at all

Have you ever postponed or cancelled a trip or an activity because of well-meant travel advice from someone else?

If you found this blog on well-meant travel advice informative, would you share it with others?
I would love it if more people read it!

Want to read more inspiration?

Mindful Living – Showing Intense Compassion at Negative News

What you Give your Attention Grows – Mindful Living

Use the Power of Positive Thinking to your Advantage

Mindful Walking Tips for a Walking Meditation

Enjoy This Moment – Path to Happiness

Do also read this one

Impressive 10 days Noble Silence – Vipassana

I hope you enjoy this beautiful world as much as I do!