My Travel Tips

I get asked all the time what is some travel tips I can share on traveling on a dime. Well after a lot of trial and error I can share a few that have helped me on my many travels.

Kindness

I planned my birthday 20 day trip to London, Paris and Italy. The first 10 days a very good friend was with me so we rented a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment in Vauxhall. The ideal location with just a short walk to the underground and conveniently located for all my friends could come visit or pick me up. During our stay the owner of the apartment scheduled showings by accident while we were there because he had just placed the apartment on the market. One of these showings was a little early and after a long night of London fun. The manager was extremely apologetic and I understood it was a schedule mishap. I asked if they could show the common areas and give us time to get dress and get out. I could have been very mad and gave the manager an ear fool but I had compassion that is was a mistake. Well my friend and I went on to Paris then Italy before returning to London just before her flight back home. I still had 10 days left so I just booked a hotel for the remainder of my stay. I received a call from the manager asking me if I had already paid for my hotel. I thought it was an odd question at first but I told her that it was a pay on arrival booking. She explained to me that she had a last minute cancelation on a 1 bedroom apartment and if I wanted to come back I could have it for free until Sunday and then I could stay at a ridiculously cheap price because I was so nice about the mix up! So I pretty much saved $1500 on my housing cost just for my Kindness and Understanding. Of course I didn't expect anything in return for me understanding that someone made a mistake actually it was long forgotten but the owner and the manager did! I'm sure  being in the hospitality industry they knew exactly how the opposite direction that situation could have gone. But to be honest we were gone most of the day when the few showings were happing so it didn't disrupt my dream vacation one bit.

 The first of my tips is the most important to me because I have witness people treat employees in the hospitality industry like they are subhuman and it bothers me so much. These are people that are working very hard to make your stay in their city or country as wonderful as you dreamed it would be when you booked it. Of course you will always get horrible service in certain situation because that is bound to happen but just try to remember everyone has a bad day and lets not try our best to make a situation even worst.

My first tip is kindness pass it on!
Nicole