50 years of travel tips (opens in new tab)

> If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick rarely fails.

Never tried this so I may be biased but in Japan I can hardly imagine this work out more than one out of ten times.

Other than that many great advices. Looking forward to try the laser out and no reservation ones someday.

> If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance. They fulfill their filial duty and you will get easy entry into a local’s home, and a very high chance to taste some home cooking. Mother, driver, and you leave happy. This trick rarely fails.

what the hell

> The most significant criteria to use when selecting travel companions is: do they complain or not, even when complaints are justified? No complaining! Complaints are for the debriefing afterwards when travel is over.

Full agreement! What good is there hashing out a beef when you're on the road? It will only make the trip worse. If I'm having an issue, I'll write it all down in my journal and then put it out of my head and try and focus on the good things.

> If you hire a driver, or use a taxi, offer to pay the driver to take you to visit their mother. They will ordinarily jump at the chance.

Lol. In Thailand mom probably lives far away in a rural village. But lots of drivers have cousins who just happen to have jewelry and clothing shops they will take you to. Some even know a good place to meet local girls.