40 Unpopular Travel Opinions That Might Ruffle The Feathers Of Travel Snobs

Permanent travel / people who do this for a living are not to be trusted with travel advice. They have lost sight of reality AND they are biased as their paycheck depends on your reactions.

I don’t care about the nightlife, bar scene, or whatever, after a whole day doing something, I’ll use the evening to sleep and relax.

No hostels, idc to sleep with strangers in a room.

I’ve had one of the best pizzas in Thailand, might not be local, but other cuisines can be amazing too, so I’ll try.

I find the obsession with getting to know locals, finding locals to hang out with to show them around bizarre and entitled. Like, you get to brag about the cool authentic experience you've had off the beaten tourist path and get to big yourself up as being 'better' than regular tourists, but what's in it for the 'local'? As a local of my own city, I would have no interest really in entertaining a tourist for a significant amount of time beyond giving directions or a short conversation. I have my own life, I have stuff to do, errands to run, friends who actually live in my city that I will see for more than one day in my entire life and can have meaningful friendships with. I also wouldn't know any cool off the beaten path spots that the people who go out seeking 'authentic, local experiences' would want, because I spend a lot of my time at work, or at home, or doing boring everyday stuff. Tourism is an industry with an infrastructure around it - there are people whose job it is to guide you round cities, there's all kinds of walking and food/drink tours. Spend the money paying people to do this rather than feeling entitled to people's time and expecting the people who live in a city to do it for free.

I don't mind occasionally eating Mexican food in Italy or Italian food in Greece etc. this whole "you should only eat local food " is dumb. eat whatever you want. I've been to Greece 3 times in the last couple of years, and as much as I enjoy Greek food, I make sure to go to a specific asian restaurant in Athens (went there twice on my first visit) because they have korean food that I LOVE and is not easy to find where I live. I'm going with the family to Greece in May and already planning to go eat there again.

I prefer layovers and ideally in the 3-5 hour range. I can’t afford to fly anything better than economy and it’s nice to be able to stretch my legs, breathe, and have a good meal between the hell that is economy class seats

All the guides that tell you how rad travel on a budget is are f*****g lying. All the ways to try to weasel into free or reduced plane/trane seats, the hostels, the off the beaten path stuff, the stuff about going in the off season. The new app to travel-couch-surf or whatever.

As someone who was broke as f**k and did all that, but then got a career and traveled with a real budget ... The two experiences are worlds apart. Poverty travel is NOT fun. You only think it is because you don't know different yet. Getting stranded in a foreign country with no means to get out is TERRIBLE. Hopping six kinds of train to go somewhere is objectively more of a hassle than flying there in a snap. Staying in a filthy hostel with crazy (but sometimes fun) people is objectively worse than staying at a super clean hotel that serves hot breakfast. When you are traveling outside your country, every problem == THROW MONEY AT IT.

While I definitely prefer to solo travel, sometimes taking one of those tour groups (intrepid, g adventures etc) has its merits. Sometimes you just wanna shut your brain off for a while

Coffee in Australia is better than coffee in Italy (maybe not travel snobs but definitely a hot take)

Touristy stuff can be lame sometimes but its also popular for a reason. Dont go to Paris and NOT see the Eiffel tower just because its touristy

There is no such thing as a traveler vs a tourist. We are all travelers and we are all tourists at the same time.

Traveling might help you meet new people, see new things etc but its not gonna fix your problems. You can run away from them by traveling all you want, but they will follow (take it from someone who backpacked for a year to try and avoid dealing with mine

I take photos of everything and post LOTS on my instagram story and grid. Even if it’s something as mundane as the random street I’m walking on. Or a random building that looks beautiful. Or me in the bus. Why? I treat my instagram like a virtual scrapbook and LOVE looking back at these stories/posts to remind myself how I was able to solo travel even though it can be scary/stressful and how much fun I had. Doesn’t mean im not living in the moment or that i only travel for social media purposes

My Grandmother lived off McDonalds when she travelled. She was cheap, and didn’t want to spend money on restaurants, however she also said it was “made to a standard”, and so in places where food and water could be sketchy, you could be very confident that you could eat there and not get sick.

* I check my bags, I'm trying to relax and I don't want to deal with trying to lift a bag into an overhead that my 5'1 self can't reach

* I pay for business or first class, again, I want to relax

* I stay in nicer hotels, mostly 4-5 star. I want to be comfortable and I like a comfortable place to go back to and rest during the day or have a cocktail

* I will buy that magnet and postcard. Also a cute sticker to go on my luggage.

* I eat both fancy food and cheap local food. I want to try all the flavors of the place I'm visiting.

I like all inclusives.
I don’t have to worry about anything or have money/cards on me aside from tip cash. I like chilling on the beach or by the pool. Maybe I’ll do an excursion but likely not.

Cruises are a great way to see a lot of countries/attractions in a short period of time and for little money. I'm thinking especially of European and Asian cruises. The ship isn't the experience, it's just the vehicle/hotel. They will often take you to great locations you'd never spend the time and money for a dedicated trip to, but are enjoyable regardless.

Plus, it's like a sampler. You get to taste just enough of each area to know if you want to go back and spend more time on a future trip. On our last Mediterranean cruise, I really enjoyed our day in Corsica, but now don't ever need to go back - vs. spending one day in Mallorca convinced me to start saving for a full Balearic Islands trip.

Popular tourist attractions are popular for a reason.

While I love off the beaten track experiences, when I'm in Paris I'm going to go to the eiffel Tower for example.

Cheaper restaurants provide a more realistic view on a countries food. Eat what the people actually eat, not a 5 star restaurants.

Sometimes you can't do something on the cheap.

I like my western-style hotel, I don't really want to have the "full experience" and sleep in a dirty place with uncomfortable beds. The only exception might be, when I'll finally go to Japan, to stay in those traditional B&Bs. If one day I'm tired of eating spicy food and I just want to room service a club sandwich I want to have the option to do it.

I have no shame to go to McDonald's or other fast foods both for the reason you say (spot the differences) but also because sometimes it's exhausting finding a local place that you like or I'm just tired of the taste of the local food and I want something for a change (a Western-style Steakhouse is a pricey option for this, and you can usually find a good one in every city).

I always buy a magnet.

Touristy places are touristy for a reason, however I'm always open on tips to avoid the worse (e.g. best time to visit with less queue, tips on finding tickets, tours)

Hop on-off buses are great especially if you have a small kid that is grumpy after 2-3 days of sightseeing (or a pregnant wife as it was my case before the small kid :D)

A lot of the "BEWARE SCAMS" are really for people who have lived in some crime-free village of 20 people where people leave the doors unlocked and kids walk alone to school since 3 years old.

Sometimes I just like to take a short trip to London or Berlin to be in an actual big city for a bit. Mostly for the shopping. And Starbucks.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wearing elephant pants in SE Asia. They are thin, comfy, dry quickly, and make sure you don't offend anyone in a temple. If you're backpacking & didn't bring a pair of trousers, they are also normally your only option. People need to stop being such travel snobs about them.

You don't need to spend a month (or longer) in a country/city to fully experience it. A couple days can be enough depending on where it is.

I've spent half a day in some huge city's and saw everything I wanted to see.

People will say 'you need to stay for days to soak up the culture' nah mate id rather move onto something that's actually interesting than to Stockholm syndrome myself into liking a city.

Stop saying you're backpacking. Buy a bag with wheels and call it a vacation like the rest of us.

* you don't have to learn the language of the country you're visiting, it's okay to speak English everywhere
* in many cases, the locals would prefer you speak English instead of butchering the words in their local language
* I would never buy a crossbody bag or other "anti-pickpocket" tools; just use your common sense and you'll be fine
* Paris is actually good
* you don't have to make connections with the locals, please leave them alone
* the coffee in Italy is mediocre (but it's still better than St*rbucks coffee of course)
* don't try to look "less American" while traveling in Europe, we don't hate Americans over here *(but we hate Bri-ish kids with their stag parties)*