“Oh, you don’t want to stay there. That’s where prostitutes have been known to ply their trade.”

This was probably the first time I realised that hiring my local guide was the best decision we made when travelling in India.

When we were planning to take 10-day trip around Delhi, Agra and Jaipur in India, we meticulously planned out our trip.

We found places to eat, hotels to stay at and things we absolutely MUST do while there.

It was purely by chance that we encountered Gary.

We had planned on spending a couple of days in Agra, visiting the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and a few other attractions around the city. But because we wanted to maximise our time, we thought it best to consult a local guide.

And so, using a site to find guides, we came across Gary, a tall, well-spoken Sikh guide who quickly won us over with his knowledge, but also with his willingness to tour “his” city.

We met him outside the Taj, and he gave us a wonderful tour through the site. As we were leaving, we were discussing our next days’ plans when we came to mention the “hotel” we had booked.

Gary looked shocked, and that’s when he was encouraged to stay on.

He made a couple of phone calls and got us into the Ramada hotel at a rate that I’m sure even staff could not get. He arranged breakfasts and dinners there and refused to accept anything extra for his efforts.

Gary went consistently above and beyond during our time in Agra. He adjusted our tour to accommodate the children with us, made sure we were well hydrated (India’s pretty hot, in case you didn’t know) and even exchanged my money directly from his wallet so we wouldn’t have to find a bank.

We made the decision on the spot to hire Gary to tour with us the entire time, taking us through the cities around the area that I knew and loved.

After all that, we got more than a good experience and great photos, we made a good friend for life. Gary invited us back to Agra, but this time to stay with him and his family. I have no doubt that we will be back, and his hospitality will exceed any 5-star hotel.

Living like a Local

But our experience in Agra was not what other people experienced. We read reviews and heard from other people. They complained how crowded it was, how pickpockets stole their belongings, how tourists made the trip uncomfortable, how the rates were too high…

When you plan to travel as a tourist, unfortunately, you have to do what the tourists do.

You fight the crowds.

You see only the tourist sights.

You eat at boring restaurants.

You miss out on the best experiences.

Gary showed us behind the scenes at a few places. We actually got to stand, by ourselves, in an unfinished restoration of an immaculate marble temple that was not even open to tourists.

We ate the best food. We found excellent markets to shop at. We got to see what the locals loved about that city.

And we would not change it for the world.

Have you ever travelled like a local? Have you skipped the queues for over-hyped destinations? Have you discovered hole-in-the-wall places where the locals like to go?

Because, once you do, you’ll never go back to travelling as a tourist again.

Are you travelling to somewhere you’ve never been? Are you looking for an authentic experience? A peek behind the curtain? A life-changing moment? (And believe me, some foods qualify as life-changing.)

Where do you start? You start by speaking to a local.

Hiring Locals as Guides

There are a number of great sites that let you connect with locals. Tours By Locals and Showaround are great places to start.

By talking to them, or even hiring them as your personal guide, you’ll get insight that no other tourist will get. You can find the best deals, eat at the best restaurants and see what you HAVE to see.

Even if you’re not going to hire a guide as we did, you can always just chat with a friendly face who’s more than willing to point you in the right directions.

Stay Like a Local

Airbnb ‘s famous slogan is “Belong Anywhere”.

Because they believe in living like a local. You can avoid the tourist traps that hotels are, and you can live more or less anywhere.

If you plan on spending any amount of time in a place, it’s better to feel as though you’re coming home at the end of a day rather than going back to your room.

You can use a service like Couchsurfing to connect with someone and stay at their place.

If you’re travelling with a large group, you can choose to rent a villa and enjoy some of the luxuries of home while you’re living abroad.

Some villas even have multiple bedrooms and private pools for you to enjoy. It might even feel so good that you never want to return home.

Eat Like a Local

There’s one habit we get into wherever we go.

We always ask our taxi driver one question:

“Where do you go for lunch?”

As a rule of thumb, the taxi drivers know the best places to eat. It’s cheap, it’s good, and it’s easy to find.

They do not eat at over-priced, over-hyped restaurants. They eat at little, unknown places: eateries, cafes, and stalls that are worth their weight in gold.

Plus, you’ll get to experience local food, not some fusion or imitation that is not actually anything like the real thing. Some of my fondest memories are of eating at street food stalls and getting friendly with the guys running those stalls.

Can I just give you my three rules for eating street foods? I have never been ill when following these rules:

• The stall has to look good
• The stall has to smell good
• The stall has to be busy

If it is not surrounded by flies, standing next to a skip, or completely isolated, you’re in good hands with a local person producing authentic foods that you could not replicate in any kitchen.

Pay Like a Local

Whenever we were travelling, we assumed that we were getting the “foreigner” price.

Any tourist market, tourist destination or tourist restaurant will price up foreigners who do not know the local exchange rates. You get charged double, triple, five times the local price, and most tourists do not know better.

When you travel like a local, you get to pay the local price (or pretty close to it). Whenever we wanted to buy something at a market when we were with Gary, he would bargain for it and get a price that I knew I had no hope of ever getting.

 

Think Like a Local

“Instead of bringing back 1,600 plants, we might return from our journeys with a collection of … life-enhancing thoughts.”

• Alain de Botton, The Art of Travel
  

This point is probably the most important part. I believe travel is about learning to think differently.

You see and learn new ways and new customs, and you can take new thoughts home with you. It’s the most beneficial part of travel, in my opinion.

Your trinkets and your souvenirs are going to your shelf, and you’ll probably lose interest in them.

But if you learn to do something in a new way, that could end up changing your life forever. The only way to do that is to think and live like a local. Put aside the way you think things SHOULD be done, and instead embrace the new ways.

Eat at different times. Walk slower. Spend more time chatting over coffee or tea. Learn to appreciate a new way of living.

 

I’m all for tourism, but I strongly believe the best trips you’ll take are the ones where you live like a local. That’s where true memories, true change and true friendship will come from.