a list with travel advice, as noted in Vienna

a list with travel advice to myself, for the next city trip, with some anecdotes.

1) Remember. + Listen.
remember this list. and those other pieces of travel advice you received in past journeys. or, well, go ahead and learn those things once more through your own experience.
and this one: Listen to advice. (or, well, go ahead and ...)

+ Stop and Smile at a Stranger
a travel picture to go with this thought: this is from the u-train station near museum quarter. the 2 yellow posters are part of the Kunsthalle art initiative "100 Handlungsanweisungen" - "100 Instructions of Action", here is more (including instruction clips): 100 Instructions.



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2) MAPbefore going on the trip, mail the tourist offices of the city, and ask them to send a tourist info package with city map + a public transport map (and a museum overview). then KEEP BOTH MAPS in your backpack, even when your are convinced you know your way around by now. a map helps tremendeously to find the way, either by yourself, or when asking citizens.

remember: old city centres with their labyrinth of streets are a perfect place to get lost. and when the streets are narrow, no landmark will help you, especially in flat cities like Vienna: you won't see it unless you stand right in front it, and sometimes not even then. like here. this is 30 steps from Stephansdome, Vienna's famous all-overlooking church. 




3) PHOTOS
take your camera. and the cable to connect to a computer. AND the battery charger. even when it is "just" a 4-day trip, and the battery lasts really long. it's sheer luck that the friend that is with you while your camera starts to move towards "low energy" has exactly the same type of camera and a charger.

ask right at the entrance of the museum whether photos are allowed. don't assume that Klimt and Schiele photos can't be allowed, just to find out in floor #6 that you could have brought your camera, too.

and this one:
take too many pictures.
and:
try to capture the context.



and a note on my camera: i used to have a Canon Ixus, but then switched to Panasonic Lumix last year, after trying the camera from a friend. the exact version i have is DMC-TZ5 (it’s not the latest version, but really works fine). in Vienna, i had a small laptop with me, that’s how i could adjust the photos before uploading to the blog - i usually do some standard photo edits with all photos, so that the images keep their sharpness and brightness when they are downscaled and uploaded. (here's another blog note on the Lumix, from the time i bought it: details of the everyday)

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