Read fiction set in the location you’re going to. It’s good to feel romantic about a destination before you arrive. You picked up Franz Kafka’s The Trial. The story doesn’t specify being set in Prague, but Kafka is Czechoslovakian, so it’s close enough.
Good headphones, diarrhoea pills, sleeping pills to avoid jet lag, a scrunchy lightweight down jacket that doubles as a pillow, an iPad loaded up with books, films, games and apps.You can't count on good films on an aeroplane. You stocked up on everything; downloaded 10 episodes of Better Call Saul for good measure. No sleeping pills, though—needed a doctor’s prescription for that.
Never eat on the plane, even if it's to stave off boredom. Or at the very least, don’t accept every meal on a long flight. Show up in a new place hungry. It took everything in you to reject that aluminium-wrapped container of stewed black pepper chicken and rice.
Provoke nerd fury. Write on a discussion board and claim you’ve just had the best _insert food_ in the universe. Give the name of a place and wait for the locals to guide you. The comment you left on a Mark Weins video a few days before is finally gaining traction. You add this beer hall called Vinohradský Parlament to your itinerary.
Splurge on an old, restored colonial hotel. Like the Grand d'Angkor in Siem Reap or the Metropole in Hanoi. Every hotel in Prague looks old and restored; this one’s easy.
Stop buying souvenirs. Your apartment will start to look like Colonel Mustard's club. They’re overpriced anyway... but a t-shirt wouldn’t hurt, right?
Get up at 6am and go to the local market.See what people buy and really eat, and do the same. You haul yourself out of bed and make it to the market by 7am. You queue where the locals queue. Your eyes illuminate upon biting into the crispiest potato pancake you’ve ever had.
Be a traveller, not a tourist. Put the phone down, ask the locals for recommendations. Be polite and respectful while you’re at it. At the beer hall the internet recommended, you muster your courage and speak to the folks seated beside you. You open with a smile and ask what they ordered.
Avoid tourist trap restaurants.You’ll likely find yourself somewhere serving a bogus tourist-friendly version of national cuisine. Your new friends invited you for dinner at their place. You had originally planned to visit Café Louvre, where Kafka used to frequent and write, but it’s your last night here.
Don’t plan too much, make the detour the destination.
