Subjectivity from the preparation stage
Sharing about her trip to Da Nang with a group of friends, Nguyen Minh Phuong (21 years old, Hanoi) said that her first mistake started right from the preparation stage.
“We booked air tickets and hotels quite early, but did not check the schedule carefully. Closer to the departure date, we discovered that the flight schedule was changed and a friend in the group had a duplication of exam schedule, causing the whole group to have to change the entire schedule close to schedule” - Phuong recounted.
Not only the schedule issue, subjectivity also affected the trip right from the start. "I only brought light luggage because I thought going to the beach did not need much preparation. But that day the weather changed, there was rain and cold wind. One friend caught a cold, had to stay at a hotel almost all day, causing the schedule to be disrupted" - she said.
According to Phuong, the most regrettable thing is the psychology of "going out, you don't need to calculate much". That is what caused her group to incur more unexpected expenses. "We had to change cars, change sightseeing hours, even miss a few spots that were booked in advance. At that time, we realized that if we had prepared more carefully, we would not have been passive like that" - Phuong shared.
From her own experience, Phuong believes that a common mistake of many young people is to overconfidence in service booking applications and ignore checking information. Just a small change in flight time or weather can affect the whole trip. After that, the young girl learned from experience and always made a very detailed checklist before traveling and sightseeing.
Not thoroughly researching the destination
If Minh Phuong had problems in preparation, Dao Thi Huyen Trang (22 years old, Hai Phong) clearly remembered that the mountain trip was not as expected due to lack of understanding of the weather.
I thought I just needed to book a room and set off, otherwise I would explore gradually. But when I got there, everything was far from imagination. The day I went, the fog was very thick, almost no mountain scenery could be seen. Activities such as trekking or going to the village were also limited due to bad weather" - she shared.
Not only the weather, but also the lack of understanding of local culture also caused Trang a lot of confusion. She did not know some regulations when taking photos in the village area, or the way of communicating appropriately with local people made Trang feel quite passive, not really integrated into the experience.
Besides, the cost is also a problem that she learned a deep lesson from. "I did not pre-order a car to travel from the center to the village, so I had to rent a private car at a higher price than expected. Then I realized that not planning carefully caused me to incur a lot of cost overruns" - Trang said.
After the trip, Trang decided to completely change her travel habits. "Now I always learn very carefully about the weather, means, and culture before going. I think freedom in travel is good, but you must be prepared to fully enjoy it" - she shared.
Making mistakes when traveling is inevitable, especially for young people. But from those shortcomings, each person will learn to better prepare for the next exploration journeys.
