Of course, as it turned out, no amount of advance planning could prepare us for the down and dirty, “real life” on the road. The vast majority of the things we learned—how to get from point A to point B safely, tricks to avoid pissing off your travel partners and how not to negotiate with a Vietnamese cab driver—didn’t come from Web sites, Lonely Planet books or even travelers who’d come before us.

These 10 lessons were only learned after strapping on our backpacks, lacing up our hiking boots and actually hitting the trail.

1.  Don’t try to plan too far in advance

In an effort to be ultra-organized, the three of us tried to research all 14 of the countries that we visited (and several that we never got to) ahead of time. We bought guidebooks for each one and wrote our “must visit” lists for each destination. Not only was it completely overwhelming to strategize an itinerary that included so many places, but it was sapping the spontaneity and the joy of discovery. Not to mention, how the heck were we going to carry two dozen guidebooks in our backpacks and still have room for clothes?

via Peter Greenberg.com Travel News

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