Hello, I am going on a year-long exchange trip as an American high schooler, and I am stuck between Italy and Spain. I love both cultures and history; I am genuinely stuck. I have not been to either before. Please help me solve this dilemma. Thanks!

I'm really starting to think the entire rental car industry is shit.

Used to be loyal to Hertz, mostly because I got a discount through my employer, but then ran into issues with them messing up my reservations so I jumped to Avis.

For the last 2 or 3 years I had zero issues with Avis, till this current trip to San Diego....

I had to go to Avis three times in three days.

Reserved an EV, arrived, they had no EVs, offered me a gas car and would comp my gas, fine. Come to find out by comping my gas they meant that I could return the tank empty and they wouldn't charge me. Turns out that it had transmission issues.

Returned it to the airport, they tried to charge me for the comped fuel but argued out of that. They STILL had no EVs so they gave me a sportage hybrid, and again offered to comp my one tank of fuel. Fine.

Drive off the lot and make it to my hotel. Get in the vehicle in the morning only for the tire light to turn on. Found out there are 5! Screws in the left rear tire, so unless the road between the airport and hotel is secretly a construction site, I'm willing to bet those screws arent from me. Changed the tire and brought it back...AGAIN.

There were no employees checking in the vehicles, so I just left it. They charged me $111 for less than 1/4 tank of gas...that was supposed to be comped.

Offered to give me a Chevy Suburban... pretty sure that's the polar opposite of an EV...tell them I want an EV and at the very least I want a hybrid... magically they find an Ioniq 5. Great. Pull off the lot, not only is there a vibration in the steering wheel, the rear suspension rattles over every crack and bump in the road. I want to return it, but I'm pretty sure my wife will murder me if I go back to the airport AGAIN instead of enjoying vacation.

I feel like I'm not asking for anything over the top, an EV that isn't massively broken...but apparently that's not a thing Avis can pull off.

I am booked for my December flight (7 days), I'll be working most of it in bengaluru and then a wedding in varanasi. But what do I do after work in bengaluru, is there anything interesting to do?

Before I get the "interesting is subjective" comments, I'm genuinely curious on personal perspective.

Also any recommendations on transportation services?

I’d like to plan a trip this August for my family and before my younger teen boys grow up and get summer jobs or study sessions, and traveling becomes more difficult. We’re based on the West Coast, and I’m looking at a two week duration. My boys are 13 and 15 and enjoy video games and to be honest, not much else. I’m debating between a tour of Italy to enjoy pizza, gelato, and beaches OR a trip to Japan to see something completely different. Have you been to these places with your family? What would you recommend? Are there areas I’m not even thinking of that would be an amazing vacation for two apathetic teen boys and parents who just want to spend time with them?!

I (29F) took a break from work to travel for a year. My family and I did not travel, they were just focused on accumulating wealth. To them it was important to have a big house and to drive nice cars, but it really hit me when they passed away. What was the point? I want to see the world and I don’t want to spend my life just working to then leave it all to my children. As selfish as that is.

But here is the problem, as the title reads, I’m stupid and travelling has been expensive because of the decisions I make. I recently visited Morocco and Egypt. I spent so much because I bought things that I thought are “special” and “one of a kind” but really as now I’m evaluating these experiences I realise how much I was ripped off. For example, with alabaster stone in Egypt. Travelling has not been this rewarding experience where I see beautiful places and I leave thinking how great it was. Instead, I leave and I just think how much I spent and how unnecessary that was.

Have you had similar experiences and what is your recommendation to travel smart?

They have a ridicolous limit for underseat bags, only 3Kg for international flights. For the cabin baggage its 8Kg.

We paid the extra to paid to take cabin baggage so we thought we would be fine because our underseat bags clearly fit under the seat and we didnt have checked bagagge

To our surprise, at the entrance of the plane, they have a gravity hand weight to weight the underseat bags and cabin baggage! Never seen that in many flights with low cost airlines across several continenta.

The underseat was 5Kg, and they also weighted the cabin one, which was 10Kg. We had to pay 50€ and more annoyingly, they didnt let to take our cabin baggage with us and they sent it along the checked ones.

Just a warning, be careful

"Switch to solids" is the standard advice but not every solid works. Solid shampoo can leave residue, solid sunscreen barely exists, some solid deodorants are awful. Which switches are actually worth it?

I was on NH7 today SFO-NRT and it was cancelled for mechanical reasons. All PAX waiting at the gate were rebooked and given hotel vouchers if needed, but the plane departed shortly after it's original scheduled departure time.

I at first thought if it would arrive after NRT curfew it would be a problem, or loads of miss connections that it would be easier to rebook in SFO, but it's landing less than 90 minutes late, so most connections would have been made.

What kind of tech problems could let the plane fly back empty vs just getting a repair in SFO?

The live flight: https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANA7

Hey you all i'm going to French Polynesia in december 18th and will stay there for maybe 3 weeks/ a month. For the first weeks i have somewhere to stay for free so will only spend money with food. But for the rest i have no idea!

I'm used to travel low budget, and i'm a experienced backpacker! Did bunch of hitchikking and camping in south america when my budget was less than 10 usd a day..

was wondering if someone know about food prices (street food) in Tahiti, if the locals also pay the full price for things there, how do they manage to be cheap and about sleeping.. i will bring a tent, hammock and stuff for camping such as stove, sleeping mattress. Any advice? Maybe even a place to stay lol

i'm living on New Zealand so used to "high prices" but seems like tahiti is on another level because of how hard is to get there

i wanna go to belarus some time next month and i know a lot of people there feel iffy about people from america/the uk but how is the racism? i’m half filipino half british living in the uk. idk what i’m perceived as (race wise) but do u think im likely to face discrimination? i’m also 16 and gay - straight passing enough but is there anything i should look out for?

also if there’s anything else i need to know lmk the rules are quite peculiar lol

hello all together!

my girlfirend and I are looking for inspiration for a 3 to 3.5-week trip in january. We considered going for the philippines, but we feel i might be a bit one sided and just too many beaches and less diversity.

Generally we are most fast paced travellers. We like to wake up close to 7 and go to bed by 9 in the evening. With a full day of walking and exploring, which might sound horrible for some person, we are having a lot of fun and bascially the goal is to fall down in bed in the evening feeling dead from all the exploring. We love that.

As for now, we're not really into seeing countries twice, we want to leave some time inbetween. We have been to all of Europe, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, China, and Morocco. For the next trips we dont want to see this again. Surely someday again, especially south korea being out favorite memory.

As already mentioned above, we were looking at the Philippines for about 3 weeks, but we are worried it might be too monotonous (just endless island-hopping, white sand, and boat tours) and a logistical headache with too much transit time for our style. Just not too much diversity and basically filling in beach days unnecesarrily just to pass the time. We really liked south korea, but wont find it here of course, but the idea of mixing nature with cities, smaller villages and fun activities is what we are seeking.

We are workwise forced to go in january. Can be everything up to 3.5 weeks.

shouldnt me the same thing everywhere. That what we are worried about the philippines. Beach stays are 2h, then we want to go again.

We are not fixed on countries or continents. We do not want to see countries twice for now. Wished we couldve done american nationalparks, but wrong time. (should be warm, not snowy)

What would you guys recommend? Any initerarys we can have a look into?
With all the countries ive mentioned above i feel like its somewhere around south america? Let me know please!

Thanks

I'm surprised they haven't been hit with class-action lawsuits for deceptive advertising.

They let you reserve cars they don’t actually have. And then charge you upgrade fees to rent the cars they do have. 

My recent experience: I made a reservation yesterday with my local Enterprise office online and then this morning right before I'm headed out to pick it up they call me to say they don’t actually have any cars at all. Neither do any of their local offices. Next I try Hertz. Great, they have a Corolla for $25/day so I reserve it. I get there and they have nothing even close. No sedans at all in fact, and I had to pay an extra $24 per day to “upgrade” to the cheapest car they did have. So now I'm at $49/day plus taxes, fees, more taxes, and more fees.

I've been renting cars for decades and it used to be the case that if they didn't have the class of car you reserved, they would "upgrade" you for free (though I never enjoyed being upgraded to a gas-guzzler). Hertz tells me they no longer do this.

How is it not illegal bait-and-switch to promise you one rate online and then quote you twice as much when you get to their location?

Need recommendations on where to sleep a few nights in these cities:

-Edinburgh, 4 nights

-Oban, 2 nights

-Glencoe (probably going to choose Glencoe House lodges), 3 nights

-Isle of Skye, 4 nights

Any other cities you recommend spending a night or two in?

We are a more low-key, laid back couple. In our 30s. Most interested in views, museums, events, nightlife, food. Not interested in hiking. Will be renting a car.

This is for spending two weeks in Scotland from approximately October 20th to November 3rd, in 2027.

Thank you!

Hello all I’m born and raised in Toronto and will be flying to Japan in December and I just had a question of how cold will it get? I’m not expecting like -20 or anything but like should I bring a winter jacket, bomber jacket or would a hockey Jersey itself be enough 😅? I plan on visiting the Simanami bike path, Kyoto,Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, Mt Fuji, Chiba and will be staying with my friend in Kashiwa.

I'm planning a graduation trip for next summer, and I'd really love to go on a guided tour of Mongolia. I know it's not the most typical choice for a grad trip, but I want to do something truly memorable and Mongolia's landscapes look absolutely incredible.

Right now, it's just me and one of my friends, so I'm wondering if Mongolia would be too challenging for two girls to travel to, especially since neither of us has ever travelled without a parent or guardian before.

I know it would probably be quite expensive with just the two of us, but I'm trying to convince a few more friends to join us for now!

I'd love to hear your thoughts or experiences, especially if you've been to Mongolia with a small group of friends. Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I’ll be traveling to the United States with Turkish Airlines (THY) in about a month. I have dual citizenship, but my last name is different on my two passports.

Since this is a business trip arranged through the company I work for in Turkey, I need to book my flight using the name on my Turkish passport. However, my US visa is in my other passport, which has a different last name.

Could this cause any issues during check-in, boarding, or entry into the US? Has anyone been in a similar situation before?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I recently took a flight from Malaysia to Pakistan. The flight was initially delayed for over an hour. This was communicated 6 hours before the flight. Which is fine, I would rather know before I get to the airport.

Everyone reaches the airport, we board the flight but it is not moving. 10 minutes pass, then 20 and then an hour, with zero communication as to what’s causing the delay. People are getting agitated, people with children are worried because economy section is getting suffocating due to air conditioning not working. The flight attendants don’t know anything.

Then people crowd the business class demanding answers. Finally after 2 hours, the pilot announces there is a delay due to something called a data recorder box not working which is required to work before flying and there is no issue with the aircraft. Passengers are not allowed to off board while the data recorder is being fixed despite the plane getting increasingly hot. Not even people with a children that are crying non stop.

Finally after 3 hours the flight takes off. The attitude of the cabin crew is dismissive and kind of hostile.

I am wondering how flights to “developed” countries are when there are delays and how those passengers are treated.

My wife and I are headed to Tokyo in November and we’re very excited. It’s both of our first times leaving the US. I have flights and accommodations already booked and passports in hand. Everything is ready and set.

But..

Upon filling out the visit japan web forms, I came across the question of “have you ever been convicted of a crime in Japan or any other country?” This instantly sent me into a panic because 13 years ago, I got a DUI. Very stupid I know, but I learned my lesson and even quit drinking.

I am struggling with the decision to put ‘yes or no’ to that question. I am leaning towards just being honest because everyone I’ve read said that it’s not a reason for denial but the discretion lies with the officer I get on the day.

Does anyone have experience with this that they can share to help alleviate some of my anxiety? I would very much love to be excited for the trip and even the flight, but this is weighing on me.

Thanks all.

Looking to take a trip to LATAM in January and spend time in a small touristy town or two. The problem is my partner gets really carsick, so we are hoping to keep any car/bus travel to less than hour, unless the roads are exceptionally flat and smooth (like in the Yucatan). Something like Antigua, Guatemala (been there however).

Looking for a chill relaxing vibe; history, architecture, and art; proximity to natural spaces to explore (not necessarily hiking, but just nice views); and good local food (and ideally coffee too). Also ruling out southern South America due to travel distance for only a 1-2 week trip.

Hi everyone, I am planning spend 3 - 4 weeks to take a break in Dec/Jan. I am located in US now and looking for some places. What I am looking for:

• Mid Dec to early Jan
• With snow, i love snow!
• Small towns but with gas, grocery stores, restaurants. Not a big fan of large cities
• Safe and affortable. I may stay in Airbnb or extended stay hotels.
• If closer to ski resort, would be a plus, but not required.
• In my mind, they are college towns, such as Ann Arbor?

Your ideas and suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you!

Day one: Hungary!
-arrive later in the day
- maybe restaurant depending on how late we land

Day 2: activities!
- mini pig cafe or zoo cafe
-Margret island
- st.Stephan basilica
-fisherman bastion
-buda castle
-restaurant (mazel tov)

Day 3: more activities!
-Hungarian national museum
-chain bridge
-cat cafe
-parliament building
-church of our lady
-silver line dinner cruise

Day 4:
-vajdahunyad castle
-city park
-hero’s square
-brunch

Then either leave in the morning on day 5 to take a train to Prague.

Questions: is this a realistic itinerary?! And is Budapest gluten free friendly? Like Is there a lot of spots that are or small amount of places? And has anyone taken a train trip from Budapest to Czech and what was your experience? Any other recommendations for restaurants and unusual places? Was also thinking about visiting the country side but not to sure how to get around.

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I are planning a 16-day self-drive trip in Morocco this mid to end November. We want to keep the schedule relatively flexible, but here is our initial idea for the route:

Day 1: Marrakech

Day 2–4: Imlil & Atlas Mountains

Day 5: Aït-Ben-Haddou

Day 6–7: Dades Gorge

Day 8–9: Merzouga

Day 10–12: Anti-Atlas drive (overnight somewhere like Taroudant)

Day 13–16: Agadir

Any tips on November, must-avoid scams/places, or driving realities (checkpoints, speed traps, road conditions) for tourists? Any regional food must-tries or underrated scenic stops along this specific route are also highly welcome! Appreciate any advice!

Thank you 🇲🇦

Hello! New to this thread.

I am travelling to India for the first time ever in about 2 weeks (from Canada). I’ve already gotten my eVisa and it’s Granted but I have some other questions. I’ve also never travelled outside of the US and Canada so this is very very new to me, and I have a lot of travel anxiety so I thought I’d come here to ask my questions.

1. what to expect in terms of the process at the airport and security and stuff. again I’m super anxious so if you’ve experienced travelling to India on a tourist visa and can give me a detailed step by step process of what happened with lots of detail that would be amazing.

2. are there any documents I should have printed out?

3. what’s the deal with the biometrics stuff? i read I need to have my biometrics scanned or something. is that just at the airport?

4. any other helpful tips or advice you can give me! :)

other notes: I won’t be alone, i’m going with my boyfriend who is an Indian citizen, and we won’t be staying at a hotel or anything because we will be living with his family at his house.

Thank you so much!

I would give zero stars to this company if I could. This company is one of the worst I have ever dealt with. I booked the best fare class I could months in advance, at a premium of over €100 per ticket. On the day of my trip just a few hours before departure, they downgraded me to the lowest fare class. There was no time to make alternative accommodations. Our train cabin was disgusting, covered in stains - and NO LADDER to get to our bunks. The water provided in our room had been opened previusly and was half empty. They refused to refund more than €25. The contact information on their own webpage is WRONG. When I finally tracked down correct info, the phone just plays a recording on a loop saying they are very busy, then telling me I was the first in the phone queue. After 15 minutes of waiting on holddd, it said nobody was available and hung up on me. I called back several times, for the exact same pattern to repeat. I contacted them on What'sApp after spending 20-30 minutes scouring the web for the correct info. Their only response was to politely tell me to F off, that they were "terribly sorry" for their garbage train and last minute downgrade, nevertheless they refused to offer any refund commensurate with the lowest fare class travel they provided versus the highest fare class I paid for.

Has anyone done this (fairly) recently? Within the last few years? Are there any recommendations for places to visit, or a route you liked best? Did you go on the Trans Siberian railway? Planning a trip like this (in the next 1-3 years) I’m particularly interested in Kakhassia, Sakhalin, Vladivostok. Would also like to explore the indigenous cultures of the different ethnic people that live there.

Important: I don’t need information on visas/travel into Russia, just any tips for an itinerary. Thank you!