Any well travelled person will have one experience when they have no ideas where they are. Having the ability to get around safely is something every traveler should consider before they leave their home. As someone who uses Google maps to get around in a city I have lived in for seven years, I can’t imagine having to navigate a city without technology. Technology is different depending on where you go. I highly recommend looking at reddit pages for the country you are travelling to. Here is a list of things that you should know before travelling:

• Local transportation apps
  • Asia: Grab (SE Asia), GoJek (Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam), Bolt (Thailand), InDrive (Thailand), DiDi (China)
  • Europe: Citymapper, Moovit, Google Maps, Maps.me, Uber, Free Now, Bolt, Cabify (Spain, Portugal), FlixBus, Trainline, Omio
• Cost of different forms of travel
  • $ Public transport
  • $-$$ Private busses
  • $-$$$ Ride shares – depending on the type of transport. In Thailand you might be in the box of a truck with locals.
  • $-$$$ Private drivers – depending on type of transportation.
• Safety and comfort of different forms of transportation.
• High traffic travel times.
• If you are driving abroad always have:
  • International drivers licence,
  • Maps, and
  • Insurance.

Different forms of transportation will vary in safety, affordability, and comfort. Some would say that safety and affordability are in opposition and you have to tradeoff one for the other. In some cases this can be true, especially when there is little public transit. In Bali, Indonesia many people would rent scooters for very cheap without having insurance or a license. Even some of the locals don’t get insurance, so if you take a ride with that person you are also not covered by insurance. Because of this, I often took a car when travelling in Indonesia, despite it being significantly more expensive. Transit might also be very cost affordable and safe, but not very comfortable. In Athens, Greece, they had fantastic public transit but it was usually overcrowded. At busy times in the day you were lucky to be standing and not having another person physically touching you. This was in the late spring, so I can’t imagine how busy it would get in the summer. In Greece taking a taxi or a car was a very similar cost to in Canada, which becomes very expensive if you are travelling around a lot. If you plan to rent a car in Greece, they are almost all standard. Automatics book up months in advance, so do your research to figure out if you need a car early if you can’t drive standard.

I highly recommend getting to know the transportation options while abroad. Not all cities have great public transport, or any at all. In some places, when you book accommodation it is customary to send a driver or pick up your guests. Every place we stayed at in Bali sent cars or had pre-arranged pickup drivers and connected us with them. Airports are one of the most likely places to get ripped off, especially in Asia. Knowing the approximate cost of a ride can potentially save you a lot of money. This applies to any area frequented by tourists, so consider walking to less busy areas before you book a ride. During busy times transit will often be packed and the cost of rides will increase significantly. I would highly recommend learning what peak times are to avoid the inconvenience of travelling during these times.