Do you ever feel like, on some trips, everything goes smoothly and you get to do and see everything you want, while other trips everything seems to go wrong? Sometimes I get really down on myself when I make a travel related blunder. Part of me wants to say: “You have so much travel experience, you shouldn’t be making such silly mistakes.” However, there is another side, a nicer and more logical side that says: “Every trip is different, you prepared for this as best you could with the time, resources and knowledge you had at the time.” In my trip to Buenos Aires, I made some mistakes, but I also learned some very important lessons.

1. The Spanish I learned in school did not come back to me. I took a few years of Spanish in college and while I was nowhere near fluent, I could get by. Last time I was in a Spanish speaking country I was only a year or so out from my Spanish education and with no refresher, I was easily able to recall key words, phrases and most importantly numbers. Now, several years removed from the last time I used Spanish, I was struggling to regain the language. By the end of day one, I was so embarrassed by how little Spanish I remembered, I stayed up half the night (maybe that was the jetlag) attempting to relearn as much of the language as possible.

• Takeaway- Always spend a few days or weeks brushing up on some essential words and phrases of the national language of the country you are visiting.

2. I did not research holidays and store closures during my trip – Going into the trip, I did not have any solid plans for my time in Buenos Aires, but I did have an idea of what days I wanted to do specific activities. This ended up being for the best as upon check in to the hotel, the front desk agent informed me that Monday was Día de la Soberanía Nacional (celebrated on the Monday closest to the 20th of November). Many of the stores, restaurants and museums may be closed. She advised me to double check if things were open before I went anywhere that day. Had I done better research, I would have known about the holiday and made plans to take my day trip to Uruguay that day instead, where things would be more likely to be open. A few of the things I planned on doing were closed that day, but I reorganized some of my plans and ended up having plenty to do.

• Takeaway- Always look into local holidays before your book your trip. Things may be closed, significantly busier, or entirely booked and sold out due to a holiday during your stay.

3. I missed the best day for the open market – Similar to my second mistake, I did not do enough research on the San Telmo market I wanted to visit. If I had, I would have known that Sunday is the best day to go. Any other day the indoor market itself is still worth a visit, but you can see all the stalls in about 25 minutes and then maybe grab a coffee or a snack. Sundays however, vendors come from all over to set up extra stands and the market extends out into the street. There are stands for crafty goods, clothes, jewelry, antiques and snacks as well as street performers.

• Takeaway- Again, do your research before you go!

4. Hotel sink laundry- this one is not specific to Buenos Aires, except for the fact that this was the first time I did any kind of major hotel sink laundry. I am not a fan of checking a bag; I have only done it a handful of times in the last 15 years. Every time I do, I get a little pang of anxiety that something will happen to the checked bag. I prefer to travel with a carry on friendly bag, really making the most of everything article I pack. E was a little hesitant on this plan so we decided to wash some items in the hotel sink halfway through the trip. I brought a little packet of laundry soap, some string for a clothesline and ended up spending most of an evening hand-washing all of our socks, underwear and some of our shirts. I tried my best to wring as much water out as possible, before I hung things up to fully dry, but everything still took forever to dry! We had to limbo under the wet laundry line for 2 full days before everything was dry enough to put back in our suitcases. I looked into laundry services at the hotel and it would have been incredibly expensive. Later I discovered there were Laundromats nearby that would have been a much better option in the long run.

• Takeaway- sometimes it is just better to spend the money to get something done right.

Everyone is going to make mistakes, it’s human nature. It’s also sometimes just how it goes when you are going somewhere new. The trick is to learn from your mistakes and try your best not let it ruin your trip. What are some mistakes you have made while traveling? What did you learn from your mistakes?

Cheers,

JetlagLeah