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Screwing things up while traveling is a given.
- In March, I left New York to travel around the world as Business Insider's international correspondent. In total, in my life, I've traveled to 30-plus countries.
- While traveling I've made tons of dumb mistakes that I'd like to avoid in the future. Everything from getting pickpocketed in the Mexico City metro to getting tricked by a fake taxi.
- Learn from my mistakes and save yourself some aggravation.
The idea that travel is an adventure is one of the oldest clichès in the book. But, it's a clichè because it's true. And, on adventures, things go wrong. Often.
I've made so many mistakes while on the road that it would be impossible for me to recount them all. I've worn the wrong footwear on hikes and ended up with blisters as big as my heel. I've been pickpocketed not once, but twice. I've taken a metro in the wrong direction a dozen times. The mistakes never end.
But that's also what I love about travel: the constant sense of exploration, of trial and error, of sketching out new terrain on your mental map.
Below, I've collected as many of the mistakes as I can remember that I've made while traveling. There are a lot. Perhaps you'll learn from my mistakes and save yourself some aggravation.