Feature Photo: M Eriksson Photo: chany14
On Matador’s Facebook page we asked the question: What’s your favorite tip for living like a local wherever you travel?
Here at Matador, we believe that travel should be much more than checking destinations off a list as if you’re shopping for groceries.
“Walked the Great Wall, check. Saw the Acropolis, check. Oh yeah, we did the whole Thailand, Cambodia, Laos thing.”
When I travel, I like to learn the language, ask local women where they buy their clothes, who their tailor is and what styles are in fashion. I not only like to sample local specialties, but learn how to cook them. I look for untranslatable phrases, unspoken expectations and other things that may not be readily found in the latest guide book. I find out what the locals do for entertainment, where they like to eat and what newspapers they read.
Here are some other things Matadorians recommend:
1. Gerard Ward: If there’s a language you don’t know, Google common phrases and write them down. Bring a smile, and don’t be shy about how you look. The first mistake is worrying that you look out of place. You are, but that’s not a bad thing. Drinks make new friends (and loosen the nerves too if that’s an issue). Have fun, and get ready to have a few new Facebook friends!
2. Sara Cashman: Make an effort, no matter how pained, to speak the language. People will you see you respect them, and in turn, open up to you more.
Photo: mckaysavage
3. Kate McGinley: Ask the bartenders/chefs where they go out. They’ll never steer you wrong.
4. Daniel Nahabedian: Eat wherever they eat. You sit with them, chat, gossip and share the same meal. Food is something that connects us all.
5. Aye from GotPassport: I agree with Daniel – food, food and more food. Chatting up with local food vendors is half the fun. Try out the local unique attire (respectfully, of course) if there is one. Shop at a market where the locals hang out.
6. Elizabeth Zito:The key for me has been: plan nothing but talk to everyone. Introduce yourself to anyone you can, without hesitation but with genuine energy, and a door opens to an otherwise inacessible world. Your experience transforms from travel to immersion, and the connection left behind between both parties is substantive and lasting.
7. Moriba Jackson: Take the bus.
8. Cherie Ve Ard: Try to make connections before arriving to a new city – discussion boards, forums, being active in social media, dating sites (even if you’re not actually dating.. just be upfront about it), etc. have all yielded us local contacts for a local’s introduction to various cities.
9. Gareth Leonard: Network & build your own community. This is exactly what I have been trying to do in Buenos Aires for the past seven months.
10. Camden Luxford: Eat in the local markets, and go back to the same stall a couple of times. By day three, you’ll be greeted like an old friend.
11. Matador Associate Editor JoAnna Haugen: Get out of the touristy area.
12. Kimberly Dian Kephart: Take a day off from museums and whatnot to just walk and wander. Always be on the alert for the little surprises right in front of you. Street food. And if you have one, ask your concierge.
Photo: zzclef
14. James Wood: Get a haircut! I always try to save my cuts for my travels. It takes you places only locals go, gives you a side you would not normally see. If you are traveling in the developing part of the world, it also saves you some money.
15. Keith Gill: It depends on the locality, but ask questions and learn. Visit with families. If you can, go out for a day or hours spend some time working with or traveling with people from the area.
16. Matador Trips Co-EditorCarlo Alcos: Actually live there. Stay put for a good amount of time. Travel slow. Rent a furnished flat. Observe. Connect.
17. Laura Byrne Paquet: Read local media online before you go so you can chat about local news. Know the basics in the local language – even just “please” and “thank you” will take you far. Stay in an apartment. Take public transit. Use services like like-a-local.com or Chicago Greeters to meet local people.
18. Liesl Wiederkehr: Go to the laundromat! I’ve met some fun people, gotten great tips on places to eat, visit, shop, etc. (and where NOT to go). You have to wash clothes at some point anyway!
19. Matador Life Editor Leigh Shulman: Ask people who live there what they recommend for food, to see, to visit and to stay. Also, stay a bit out of town. It’s usually cheaper anyway. Otherwise, I agree with everyone else: food, language and couchsurfing.
Do you have any other tips for living like a local while traveling?
Community Connection
Want to learn more about living like a local while traveling? Check out 5 Reasons Why Slow Travel Beats Going on Vacation and Why Travelers Should Spend Time Instead of Money.
About the Author
More By This Author
Related Posts
17 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
That’d be, “to get my hair *SPACE* cut.” Oops!
↵ -
I got my hair done in some little Laotian town, I can’t even remember the name, and it was an incredible experience. I was a redhead then, and I’m always on the pale side, so I had the entire salon and I think most of their neighbours in to peer at me, chat, do my nails as well for free.
Of course, not speaking the language, I did ended up with a cut I hated….
↵ -
Yeah getting my hair cut abroad is something I tend to avoid, unless there are enough local people with curly hair. In Morocco I got my hair cut at a tiny, local place where they blow dried my hair stick straight in “Moroccan style,” but the next day when it went back to curly it didn’t look nice!
↵ -
I love the haircut suggestion as well! When staying in Manila my friend’s family tried to convince me to get a cut at the local Quezon City barber shop. I insisted that I would wait until I got home to my regular salon. Totally regretting that decision, even if I didn’t like the cut it probably would’ve been a great experience.
I have a question for Kate McGinley:
How exactly would you go about talking chefs in a foreign land? While I agree that they would probably know some great local hangouts, aren’t they usually too busy during a shift to come out to the dining room and chat?
↵ -
Thanks for these tips. For me, any insights into how locals live makes the travel experience that much richer. Really, there’s no other way I want to do it.
↵ -
I’m siding with taking the bus or riding the rails.
↵ -
I try to make myself available in public, away from other travelers. Usually by sitting in a park or somewhere outside. Not only do I get to observe and see what the people do day to day, but also people normally chat with me and interesting things always happen. When I do get a conversation started, I always ask them about their life. I’ve learned such cool things doing this.
Also, buying food in a market like the locals is big… most of them don’t go to a restaurant 3 times a day for all their meals.
↵ -
Haircuts worked for me as well… very funny sometimes.
I suggest: ask any friendly looking people with a car to do a sightseeing tour of the city / abroad… You’ll see places a guided tour never stops by. And sometimes you end up at their families for dinner. Just invite them for all meals and pay the fuel and some tip should do it.↵ -
I’ve gotten haircuts in Thailand and Burma. Quite an experience. The head and shoulders massages are fantastic.
So many variations on how to live like a local when traveling. Good tips!
Thanks for including me!
↵ -
All of these are GREAT ideas. Thanks Heather for putting them out there.
For anyone (and everyone) totally sold on them — on the value and importance of local travel — you’re not alone. Still somewhat hidden from view is a growing collective (currently more than 75 partners) of local-travel organizations and travellers pushing to lift local travel into the mainstream.
In support if that is a non-commercial site promoting the growing general local-travel trend and helping to rally the local-travel troops at http://www.LocalTravelMovement.com.
↵ -
Great piece & great ideas, matadors! We’re putting all your tips into practice this year as part of our Grantourismo project: http://grantourismotravels.com/
My other half, Terence, is having his cooking skills put to the test every 2 wks when he learns to make a quintessentially local dish from a local.
Obviously, we’re going to recommend renting an apartment over a hotel too (seeing that’s what we’re doing this year!) but we also recommend enrolling in short courses and walking tours with a local, and not always for the tour – we became friends with an artist we did one with in Montmartre and even managed to get a dinner invitation to her home!
Avoiding cafes/bars/restos on main squares and in touristy areas and instead opting for off-the-beaten track options in everyday neighbourhoods – and asking those bartenders/chefs for tips as Kate suggested is definitely working for us too. Football games and other local sporting events are great too.
But mostly, we think simply watching and then adjusting to the ebb and flow of everyday life, whatever that may be, is the key. For us, it’s by far the most enriching way to travel.
↵ -
Aside from living and working in London for 6 months, which definitely worked, I agree with the food. Food markets are the perfect place to meet locals and I never thought about the hair cut one. That’s such a good idea!
↵ -
My preference, as someone above noted as well, is to just move to a new place, rent a flat, get a job and live your everyday life as your neighbours do: shopping in the markets, taking buses, drinking tea, etc. I’ve done this since 1994 in Eire, London, Cape Town, two cities in Turkey (including Istanbul for 4 years) and now going on 18 months in Shanghai. I like developing routines and rhythms, greeting my banana guy as I pass by every morning, or getting my coffee from the same cafe at weekends, or nurturing chef-customer relationships at a few low-key restaurants nearby. In our little neighbourhood, we have so many small, intricate every day relationships that make me feel like I am a part of something bigger. I don’t feel that when I am just passing through (and I have done just that many times over the years).
↵ -
I got my hair cut in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan and I loved it. One of the best experiences ever while traveling.
↵
