Buyer beware: 10 common travel scams

While you’re often safer overseas than you are in your hometown, a few scams seem to pop up all over the world. Repeat the mantra: if it looks too good to be true, it must be too good to be true…

1. Fake police

Sometimes also the real police, they’ll demand to see your passport and find something wrong with your

In defence of the ‘tourist trail’

We’ve all met them on the road: the travel snobs who insist they’re not tourists and label major monuments as tourist traps. They wouldn’t be caught dead following the herd.

In a Cairo hostel, I met a girl who announced that she’d been in the city for three months and had yet to see the Pyramids. Her tone suggested she was waiting to be awarded a medal for most subversive traveller. Chatting away that evening, I told her I was off to explore some old mosques the next day. ‘You’re such a tourist,’ she sniffed.

For travellers of this mindset, the journey is all about getting off the beaten path. But does purposely steering clear of a country’s most famous places, just because other people want to see them, somehow make you a better traveller?

 

                             Tourists at souvenir stalls near the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt. Image by Richard I’Anson  / Lonely Planet Images / Getty Images .

Expensive experiences, cheaper alternatives

The world’s most iconic travel experiences don’t usually come cheap – but sometimes there are real alternatives. Here are some ideas for the budget-conscious, and expert advice on whether it’s actually worth paying the price for some of these bucket-list classics.

1. Orient Express vs InterRail pass, Europe

 

A steam train pulling the Orient Express / Tim Stocker Photography / Getty Images

The plush Venice Simplon Orient-Express exudes an irresistible romance – it’s all that wood panelling and polished brass. But it’s not cheap: the classic six-day Paris-Istanbul train jaunt costs GB£11,000 per person. An InterRail Pass to cover the same stretch costs from GB£161 (five days travel in ten); upgrade to a First Class version for £386 for a glimmer of glamour.
Worth the saving? Undoubtedly. But if you win the lottery…

Where to find the world’s most imaginative ice cream

Ice cream. Quite simply, it’s a holiday essential. And if you’re on the lookout for something more inspired than a predictable scoop of vanilla this year, there’s no lack of ice cream hotspots from which to choose – from London to Sydney, and Los Angeles to Tokyo, the world is full of innovators intent on infusing their cups and cones with unusual tastes. Go on, treat yourself!

London

London oozes culinary creativity and it isn’t restricted to formal dining tables. Down a cobblestoned street in Camden, North London, you’ll find Europe’s first liquid nitrogen ice cream bar, Chin Chin Laboratorists (chinchinlabs.com).
Magic happens daily at this quaint shop. Sporting white lab coats and science-class goggles, ice cream makers pour liquid nitrogen into a mixer where flavoured cream is churned. Beneath the cover of clouds of white gas, a dense, custard-like ice cream forms instantaneously. On a par with their inventive techniques are the changing flavours, which range from cigar-smoked salted caramel to Wimbledon-inspired, hay-infused strawberry.

Top 10 US travel destinations for 2013

Every year our US-based editors team up with Lonely Planet’s expert authors to compile a list of US destinations that are prime for the next year. Best in Travel 2013 already covered two places we think the world should be looking at – San Francisco and the Gulf Coast – but here we wanted to dig deeper and shine a light on 10 places in the US that travelers should add to their wish lists for the coming year. Our 2013 picks are literally all over the map: once-in-a-lifetime northern lights, new

How to eat Indian street food safely

Tucking into street food is one of the joys of travelling in India – here are some tips to help avoid tummy troubles.
1. Give yourself a few days to adjust to the local cuisine, especially if you’re not used to spicy food.

 

‘colors – indian street vendor’ by utpal. CC BY 2.0

2. You know the rule about following a crowd – if the locals are avoiding a particular vendor, you should too. Also take notice of the profile of the customers – any place popular with families will

How to travel with friends (and not want to kill them)

I have two permanent, oddly positioned bald spots on my head. Though my mother claims they’re from a scalp thing I had as a kid, I have it on good authority from my oracle that they’re probably where the Martians attached the electrodes.

However, spontaneous balding frequently has nothing to do with alien abduction. I’ve encountered many wretched travelers with unexplained bald spots formed during particularly challenging trips with incompatible friends. Whether they yanked that hair out during angry sleep or they were shaved by their vindictive companions is extraneous. What’s important is this hair-loss could have been easily avoided if these people had honestly communicated their travel styles and priorities during the trip planning stages.

Image by Ed Yourdon