Better Late Than Never: Dan Pink’s Five Tips for Traveling Abroad

family, happiness, lessons learned, retirement, travel 1 Minute

As I was writing the headline for this post, my first thought was – some readers would probably prefer the Never versus the Late. But for me, I’ve got some catching up to do with Mr. Pink’s Pinkcasts, so here we go.

Let’s cut right to the chase; here are the five tips, followed by Dan’s video, filmed in Copenhagen. A city high on the list of places I want to visit.

  1. go to the highest place you can find for the incredible vista and to get a sense of the layout of the city
  2. buy a local newspaper, even if you can’t read it (hmmmm….)
  3. ride public transportation to get a sense of the daily life of the people who live there
  4. go to McDonald’s to see what local specialties they have (and you’ll get to hear Dan curse on this one – I was shocked!)
  5. go to a grocery store

It seems like the central theme of his advice is to act like a local as much as you can.

Now if he could only include advice on how to afford such travel…

*image from Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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64 thoughts on “Better Late Than Never: Dan Pink’s Five Tips for Traveling Abroad”

  1. Only 2 that I disagree with. What good is a newspaper if you don’t read it?? And I don’t read newspapers, remember. 🙂

    No way do I want to go to McDonald’s when there are a vast array of different restaurants to choose from that I can’t find anywhere else and that will have ethnic food.

    YES! When you learn the tip of how to afford to travel abroad, please blog about it.

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  3. There are several tricks you can try, that will help you to afford to travel abroad. One involves hopping onto a slow moving freight train. You can also put the address of your preferred destination on a large box, then throw some stamps on the box and climb inside. And you can join the French Foreign Legion.

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    2. I’ve used public transit in a few different cities in Europe and in SIngapore (which was by far the best), but they were all better than what we’ve got in Philly…

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  5. Dan’s tips aren’t bad. Reading a newspaper you can’t read sounds strange but there is some benefit to it. When I’m abroad I often watch news programs in a language I don’t understand. Just seeing the stories they cover is interesting and I can usually get some idea of what the basic reaction is even though I don’t speak the language. Instead of going to the highest point in a city, I find that taking the often maligned Hop On Hop Off Bus is a good way to see the city quickly, get the lay of the land, and see what looks like worth further exploration.

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  6. Since Dan has the travel advice covered, I will tackle the “how to afford it” question. It is simple. Become a nationally syndicated columnist and podcaster, film one three-minute podcast in the country you are visiting, and then write it all off as a business trip.

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  7. I love the get the high view of a place, can even be a trip to the top floor of a tall building in your location. (free). I love the get the newspaper suggestion, it does show you a lot about a place, even if you can’t read it. (cheap). public transport, absolutely, get right in there with the locals (cheap and often a fun adventure). mc’donalds, interesting to see their take on the food we all recognize, (don’t have to eat it, just check it out, or get their version of something like French fries, can’t really go wrong there. (cheap or free). local grocery store – absolutely, see what they have and buy yourself something you can identify with but that has a bit of an unusual twist to it. (cheap.). all in all, good suggestions, I love to get right in the mix with the local people, places, foods, and customs when visiting a place, (except for eating odd meat products, which is the same policy I have here.) you learn everything you really need to know from the locals. now, I just have to figure out a cheap flight and accommodations and I’m really to roll!

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  8. I do all of these when I travel except McDonald’s because they don’t have vegan options everywhere. I usually check online first and if they have plant based options I go otherwise I always prefer trying local restaurants.

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  9. Grr! I only wanted to comment but this stupid WP app make it easy to unfollow (I think I did 😅) back to the topic. The only thing I agree with him is the last. Go to supermarket. The rest seemed dumb. Haha High places got to be buildings since Denmark is flat land. As for the rest I don’t even know what to say. Although he is funny to watch haha

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  10. Not sure Mr Pink really nailed this one. Rather than sampling the local cuisine, I suggest a down and out dump that looks like it’s been there for 50 years. I agree with the public transportation part. I really enjoyed doing that in France. Oh and does renting a scooter count a public transportation? Also a great way to see Paris.

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    1. I agree; some of these suggestions are odd. I’d rather find where the locals eat; hopefully it’s not McDonalds…

      and I’d rather ride an electric bike than a scooter…

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      1. Our Uber got caught in a yellow vest protest and the driver said he had to give up on our ride. The scooter trip across town was one of the most exhilarating things I ever did. Dangerous a hell, but really fun.

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  11. As you know, we travel a lot. The only reason to go to McDonald’s is to use the facilities. I don’t even buy a newspaper at home so I would never buy a local newspaper overseas? I do watch the news though in the language of the country. And I watch Italian news at home to keep my ear ‘tuned’. My advice, find a place to eat that does not have a menu in English, Chinese and/or with pictures of the food.

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