{"id":97167776,"date":"2010-05-12T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-12T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/how-to-prepare-culturally-for-an-international-vacation\/"},"modified":"2018-11-02T13:40:03","modified_gmt":"2018-11-02T13:40:03","slug":"how-to-prepare-culturally-for-an-international-vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/how-to-prepare-culturally-for-an-international-vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Prepare Culturally for an International Vacation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><strong>Nobody wants to be a &#8220;touristy&#8221; tourist<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">No one wants to be a cultural idiot on vacation, but it\u2019s easy to become one while away. Just ask the Californians I once met in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/flights\/cheap-flights-to-athens-ath-greece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Athens<\/a> who asked a taxi driver what the religion was in Greece (his response: socialism). Or, for that matter, anyone in America who\u2019s expected a decent or non-embarrassed tip from a Brit (sorry guys).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Nobody expects you to be an expert on their country, but to avoid causing offense by not knowing the basics; you need to know a little. Here\u2019s how to mug up with minimal hassle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Novels:<\/strong> You don\u2019t need to read huge academic tomes to get a feel for the history of a place \u2013 a novel set there will give you an idea, and give you a heads up on the culture as well. These days I never travel anywhere without having read some kind of book on it, whether it\u2019s a historical novel set in wartime Greece or a Harlequin romance based in Vegas.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Films:<\/strong> Like books, films can be a great way of getting a handle on history, especially the darker moments in countries\u2019 past. There\u2019s a whole genre of Spanish films dealing with the Franco years, for example (start with Carlos Saura) and watching Godard or Cocteau films will give you a better feel for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/flights\/cheap-flights-to-paris-par-france\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paris<\/a> of old than any book can.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Guidebooks:<\/strong> Don\u2019t chance it without a guidebook \u2013 unless you\u2019re on a scheduled tour, you\u2019ll need one. You don\u2019t need to follow it to the letter, obviously, but it\u2019s good to have suggestions to hand \u2013 but more importantly, the background reading in the history section is a great pr\u00e9cis of what you need to know.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>News:<\/strong> Check up on what\u2019s going on in that part of the world before you arrive \u2013 it\u2019ll not only help you make conversation, but you\u2019ll understand the feel on the streets. For example, you shouldn\u2019t be getting on a plane to London any time soon without mugging up on the most exciting General Election in generations. Once you\u2019re there, find the local English language newspaper and see what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Language:<\/strong> Even if it\u2019s just bringing a phrasebook with you, it\u2019s good to have a bit of knowledge of the local language. A different culture seems much more within your grasp when you can communicate \u2013 in however basic a way \u2013 with the locals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em>Start planning your next trip the smart way with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/deals\/flight-deals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">affordable fares<\/a> from CheapOair! <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nobody wants to be a &#8220;touristy&#8221; tourist &nbsp; No one wants to be a cultural idiot on vacation, but it\u2019s easy to become one while away. Just ask the Californians I once met in Athens who asked a taxi driver what the religion was in Greece (his response: socialism). Or, for that matter, anyone in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97167776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-travel","category-travel-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97167776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97167776"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97167776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97200765,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97167776\/revisions\/97200765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97167776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97167776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cheapoair.com\/miles-away\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97167776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}