learn a foreign language before travel

If you brush up on key words and phrases before traveling to a new country, you will save yourself time and money. Before leaving on a recent trip to Italy, I made sure I knew how to order certain food staples (coffee and croissants) and ask basic directions. Instead of asking everyone if they spoke English, I was able to figure things out on my own and not look like an uber-tourist. From a purely logistical point of view knowing bits and pieces of a language helps you get on the right trains and navigate a new city with ease. It doesn’t take a lot of advance preparation to be able to nail down the language basics and the rewards are well worth any level of effort.