Tips for Getting Oriented to a Foreign City

Arriving in another country always comes with a degree of stress, no matter how many times you do it. After a while, you’ll find a certain routine helps you fit in to your new surroundings easier. Here are our tips to managing the feeling of being a fish out of water and getting acclimated to your new temporary home:

1)     Find Some Landmarks—Navigating by landmarks can be very helpful when you don’t have your bearings and all the street names are in a foreign language. Pick something nearby, significant, and memorable to be your lighthouse home. This will come in handy if you need to ask for directions because the average person on the street may not know the name of every hotel or the street where your AirBnB is located but they will know the big landmarks. Similarly, these are a lot easier to enter into a GPS than a long street name in a language you don’t speak.

2)     Get Your Phone Working—There is a lot of peace of mind that comes with having Google Translate and Maps so we make getting our phone working a top priority. Where SIM cards are sold varies from country to country. Some places have shops dedicated to cell phone accessories while in other places they can be found in bodegas, souvenir stands, and tobacco shops. They tend to come in a variety of data packages and are a good value, even for a short visit.

3)     Visit the TI—The Tourist Information stand can be a great place to gather some information that is omitted from guidebooks. They always have good maps and can get you the scoop on local events. We’ve discovered too many cool things after they were sold out or wrapping up so we’ve learned to check the TI first.

4) Rehydrate—If you flew across an ocean to arrive at your destination, you probably consumed just a few beverages on the plane over an 8 hour+ journey. This is a lot less than your normal intake so you need to catch up and rehydrate.

5) Don’t Judge a Place on Day 1—The first day in a new place is rarely when its charms are revealed to you. You’re weary from travel and apt to get lost. You’ll probably overpay for a mediocre meal because you're tired and it was convenient. Recognize that neither you nor the city will have your best foot forward.

6) Brace for a Rough Night—Your body will still be accustomed to the time zone you left and no bed offers you the comfort of your own. A new place might come with some idiosyncrasies that you need to get used to such as a noisy plaza, bright lights, or climate control that is quite lacking. It gets better on night two.