The Travel Game: Restaurants to Rooms

We all tend to search the internet to find the experiences of others when we travel. But how often can you trust the information you find?
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We all tend to search the internet to find the experiences of others when we travel. But how often can you trust the information you find?
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What is the guy raving about the pizza in Berlin LIKES a thick gummy crust, what if the woman raving about the pasta in Detroit is used to the Olive Garden and thinks pasta should be the texture of pudding?

Ask the locals: Common wisdom, yet try asking the locals in Minneapolis and see where you end up. Instead ask people who share your tastes.

As a chef food is number one for me and while it is difficult you have to learn to sift through the mess on the net to find what you like.

Discount Yelp entirely. You cannot begin to find credible information on this site. Good reviews are often written by staff and friends and horrible ones by the competing businesses. If you want to google to learn more about their 'business' model, then do so, but never use it to find good food when traveling.

What about TripAdvisor?

Be careful. A lot of Americans are into BIG portions and VALUE for money, meaning they want to be fed like pigs in a trough. Especially families with growing children. In the South of Spain some of the most highly reviewed restaurants were tourist trap buffets. Yea, tourist traps, keep in mind that tourists keep them alive, and a lot of tourists love them.

Yet Trip Advisor can be helpful.

Read the WORST reviews. Find out who the biggest critics are of any restaurant you are looking at, then see why they disliked it and then read their other reviews and find out what they liked.

The guy who trashed one place for 'it's mushy pasta' also had a review of another that talked about the perfect chew of his pasta at another restaurant.

You got it, start with the bad reviews and see if they align with your tastes.

My own method...walk, read menus.

If a menu has 56 items on it, I guarantee you most of them will not be good. They are likely re-heating frozen food.

Look for small menus with a point of view. Ignore menus that are obviously trying to pander to Americans. Nachos..no thanks.

...and if you see uncredited signs like 'Voted the Best' with no reference as to whom the votes came from, you can pretty much be sure the owner voted it himself. Run far, run fast.

When it comes to hotels I am pretty easy. If there are no bedbugs, and the room is clean and comfortable I am good. I don't need 4 or 5 stars, I have stayed in some great pensiones and hostels.

I have used AirBnb but find that in many cities, the rooms are way outside of the city center and in many cases you can land a hotel on Priceline for less money. It is no longer the bargain it once was.

Decide what matters to you in a hotel. Some cannot travel unless they book an expensive American Chain with eggs for breakfast, that's fine, just know yourself and what matters to you.

I tend to use Priceline and avoid all places that say 'family friendly' To me it is not a vacation of screaming children are involved.

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