Tourist Tuesday

Yay! It's Tuesday! I've been thinking about this series all week!

Particularly since I was going to start last Tuesday, but forgot... 

Oops.

Today, as the first, real Tourist Tuesday I think it'll be good to start with the basics...

Research

Time to hit the books!

One of the first things every traveler should do before they jump on a plane/bus/train/bike/whatever is do a little research about the place they want to travel to (and make sure their passport is in order).

Some of the most essential things one should look up are:
 The weather/ climate
Any/all time differences
Worker Strikes (Huge!)
Currency
Hotel/Hostel/Vacation Home pricing
Bus/Train/Car or Bike Rental prices
Round-trip ticket prices
Your Nation's Embassy (location)
The Emergency #s (police)

With those items taken care of you'll be much better prepared to take off, but I don't recommend stopping there.

Look up these items too:
Local Holidays/Events (Carnivals, fairs, festivals, farmer's markets, etc.)
Local free/discount tours
Local favorites (restaurants, stores, etc)
Traveler's favorites (hotels, rentals, sites, etc.)


I like to come up with a list of things that I'd like to do/see before going somewhere.
I know I won't be able to do everything while I'm traveling, but it's nice to know what my options are...