What First-Time Travellers Tell Us Afterwards

It was easier than they expected

This is the most common single sentence we receive, in some form, from almost everybody.

Not that nothing went wrong. Things went wrong. The point is that the imagined difficulty was consistently larger than the real one, and that the real problems turned out to be solvable in the moment.

They packed too much

Nearly universal. People come home having worn about half of what they brought, and having bought the one thing they did not pack.

Nobody has ever written to us to say they wished they had brought a bigger suitcase.

The plan was too full

The second most common regret is scheduling. Three days, four neighbourhoods, two museums and a day trip, and a lasting memory of being tired.

The people who did less consistently report better trips. This is uncomfortable to accept before you go and obvious afterwards.

• Fewer things, done slowly
• One anchor a day is enough
• The rest days are the ones people describe fondly

Somebody was kind to them

Almost every account includes a stranger. Someone who walked them to the right platform, translated a menu, refused payment for something small, or simply waited patiently while they counted out unfamiliar coins.

First-time travellers often expect indifference and find something else. It changes how they talk about the place afterwards, and often how they talk about people generally.

They booked another trip

Within a few months, usually. Often somewhere slightly further, or slightly harder, or alone when the first one was not.

That is really the point of a first trip. Not the destination, but the fact that it turns the question from whether you can into where next.