Ideas & Tips
Reading various texts and articles about some topics such as important and essential-to-know points before and during the trip, familiarity with the destination climate, learning some practical words and expressions of the target language, etc. can give the tourist a clearer view to have a less stressful experience. So, it is recommended not to lose the opportunity of reading the articles below.
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Travel TipsOmani Accent
Greetings
تحية
Good morning
صباح الخير
Good afternoon
مساء الخير
Good evening
مساء الخير
Hello/Hi/Hey
مرحبا
How are you?
كيف الحال؟
How is it going?
كيف الامور؟
At the Airport
في المطار
I’m thirsty. I would like some water.
آنا عطشان اريد ماء
What time is my flight?
ساعة كم الرحلة؟
What airline am I flying?
على اي خطوط الطيران؟
Where is my gate?
اين البوابة؟
Where is the restroom/toilets?
أين دورة المياه؟
How much does it cost?
كم يكلف؟
On the airline
Are meals included?
هل الوجبات مشمولة؟
May I have something to eat/drink?
هل لي بشيء لأكله/أشربه؟
May I purchase headphones?
هل يمكنني شراء سماعات رأس؟
What time is it?
ساعة كم؟
Customs
I have a connecting flight.
لدي رحلة متصلة.
I am travelling for leisure.
أنا أسافر لقضاء وقت الفراغ.
I am travelling for work.
انا مسافر للعمل.
I will be here for ……. Days.
سأكون هنا لعدة أيام.
I am visiting my family.
أنا أزور عائلتي.
I am staying at ……
سأقيم في....
Arriving at your Destination
Do you have a map?
هل لديك خريطة؟
Where is the currency exchange?
اين الصرافة؟
Where is the bus stop?
أين هي محطة للحافلات؟
Where can I find a taxi?
أين يمكنني أن أجد سيارة أجرة؟
I would like to go to ……
أود أن أذهب إلى....
Do you know where this hotel is?
هل تعرف مكان هذا الفندق؟
I don’t understand.
ما فهمت
I don’t speak English very well, please speak slowly.
أنا لا أتحدث الإنجليزية جيدًا ، يرجى التحدث ببطء
At the Hotel
Does the room have a bathroom?
How many beds are in the room?
كم سرير في الغرفة ؟
I would like a queen bed, please.
اريد سرير كبير.
I would like two double beds, please.
أريد سريرين مزدوجين من فضلك.
What floor am I on?
الغرفة في اي طابق؟
Where are the elevators?
وين المصعد؟
How do I access the Internet?
اريد واي فاي.
Is there free breakfast?
My room needs towels.
احتاج الى فوطة.
My room is messy and I would like it cleaned.
اريد تنظيف الغرفة.
How do I call for room service?
عطيني رقم خدمة الغرفة
How do I call the front desk?
اريد رقم الاستقبال
Around Town
Where can I find a grocery store?
وين البقالة؟
Where is the hospital?
وين اقرب مستشفى
Where can I find a restaurant?
وين اقرب مطعم ؟
Where is the bank?
وين أقرب بنك ؟
How do you get to ….. ?
كيف تحصل على… ..؟
How far is to …. ?
كم يبعد عن…. ؟
Direction
It’s to the right.
يمين
It’s to the left.
يسار
It’s straight ahead.
قدام
It’s at the corner.
عند اللفة
It’s two blocks ahead.
قريب
At a Restaurant (all in English)
A table for two.
I would like to drink …..
May I see a menu?
I would like to order ….
I will have a salad.
I will have soup.
I will have chicken.
I will have an appetizer.
I would like desert.
May I have the bill?
Common Problems
I have lost my passport.
لقد فقدت جواز سفري.
Someone stole my money.
في شخص سرق فلوسي.
Help!
ساعدني
Be careful! Put on your mask.
لبس كمامة.
Hilda CarterApril 27, 2024
Travel TipsTips to have a Safe Travel
Tips to have a Safe Travel
1. Do Research
As soon as you make up your mind to travel somewhere, you have one primary important project to do; research, research, and research! You may ask yourself what’s the reason for so much insist on doing the research before travelling?! Or you may think we are exaggerating about it because you didn’t do research before your previous travels and you didn’t face any trouble. Yes, you were lucky! But always remember that it is out of control and you will make better decisions if you are aware of that situation. Also, you will enjoy better budget management and take more activities into account in your itinerary. First of all, try to understand what types of activities are available at your destination which can help you plan your itinerary and take the time to find online resources. Second, research is needed to perceive the vaccinations or any other kinds of medical precautions for travelling abroad. You should be aware of your destination required items such as checking with your health provider or going to a travel clinic. It’s also fruitful to check the Center for Disease Control and Prevention website to know more about infectious diseases and their consequences on humans. After that, you should check the currency and try to use the currency of the intended country during your travelling. Finally, try to learn more about culture and cultural differences to be able to interact appropriately with locals and don’t get shocked by some differences from your own culture.
2. Have Travel Insurance
I remember that I was always worried during my travel, especially when I was in a taxi, bus, or train. I used to put my backpack instead of a pillow on the train to be sure it won’t get stolen. Now, there are no other worries about my valuable stuff, especially about my laptop, camera, or cellphone. Try to get travel insurance and be comfortable because if you lose them they will be replaced by a new one; it doesn’t matter how careful you think you are, it may happen. So, for sure try to guarantee your travel with insurance and take it into mind to choose those with Covid-19 coverage.
3. Luck up your Valuables
You may think lucked backpacks will minimize the opportunities for thieves. But you should know that a lucked backpack is not a scary deterrent because the zipper will easily be opened by a sharp object. Don’t get scattered mind and keep an eye on your valuable stuff. One thing you can do is to ask your hotel maid for secure storage options, room safe, lockers, or a locked storage area. You shouldn’t also carry a large amount of money with you. Before leaving your city, let the bank know where you are going in order to create an international account for you so that you can receive money from the ATMs with your credit cards. It would be a good idea to use a neck wallet to keep your cash and credit cards close to your body but it may be annoying when you need to take them in and out often. The best way can be using mobile payment applications. Don’t ignore the effect of body language and the message your body sends to scams and thieves. If you are sitting in a comfortable manner without much attention to your surroundings, they won’t lose this opportunity to deceive you. Try to keep your head up and demonstrate you are aware of what is happening in the surrounding area.
4. Don’t be in Attention Center
When you’re travelling abroad, try to dress as the locals do and don’t be an obvious tourist. Women should put emphasis on this issue and get rid of unpleasant attention by dressing appropriately. There is another important factor regarding your dress: you should be culturally sensitive to dress codes to respect local expectations and as a consequence, enjoy your trip. If your destination country is a certain Islamic one, there are some requirements that tourists must obey such as covering arms, legs, hair, etc. You should take care not to use flashy jewellery which makes you an obvious target for robbery. Deposit them to your family or friends especially while travelling to crowded areas. One of the most important tips is to drink responsibly, and don’t forget safe drinking in public specifically if you’re a woman. Also, in case you prefer participating in the local nightlife, take care not to be in danger of scams or robbery.
5. Have Copies of Documents with you
There are some essential documents you need to have during your journey: driver’s license, passport, travel visa, all identification docs, travel insurance plan details, travel itinerary details, tickets for events, and COVID-19 travel docs. You should take some copies of those you think are more essential not to be in trouble if they get lost.
6. Let the Family Have Your Itinerary
No matter how old you are and how expert in travelling! When you decide to go on a journey, try to share your detailed itinerary with one or multiple people you trust. Unfortunately, we don’t get the importance until we face troubles on our trip. Some people complain that they are not a child anymore and there is no need to explain where they exactly are, but it’s a wise job to do so because you may yourself fall into trouble and need help or something happens to your family which you are not aware of. There are lots of people, especially those experienced ones that share their detailed itinerary even when they have a trip on a short distance.
7. Ask Locals for Help
When you are in a new and strange place, the best and most efficient way to gather detailed information about places is to ask for help from locals. But you should also pay attention that all strangers are not trustworthy to help you. You should test the perceived information; the wisest way is to check that information by asking two or more people to be sure you have the right details because robbers or scams will not lose the fortune to deceive a tourist or give him/her wrong details/address. If you’re intended to participate in some tours or call for a tour guide, locals are the best choice because they are familiar with that environment better, they can help you while facing problems, you can make new friends and sometimes get familiar with their families, and you will pay directly to the locals. Generally, it would be a good idea to learn some basic self-defence techniques and learn when to apply them. We don’t mean that you should have black-belt skills, but be able to defend yourself in unpredictable dangerous situations. As the author of Sam Harris stated:
“Do whatever you can to avoid a physical confrontation, but the moment avoidance fails, attack explosively for the purposes of escape.”
8. Don’t Trust Strangers
In the previous section, we suggested you receive help from locals but there is a caution here. If you are a nice guy, you may always think all people are as nice as you. However, there are lots of dissimulated people that you should take care of; it would be better to avoid giving information to strangers about your place, your aims of visiting, your job, etc. Don’t allow strangers to enter your room in the hotel or carry your stuff. If you need room services, call the person in charge of doing that and take your valuable things with you.
9. Don’t Put Yourself in Danger
Lots of people like having photos of all places they visit to share on Instagram or save in their albums. That’s interesting but sometimes, it can cause problems. Be careful not to do risky activities just to receive likes on social media. We’ve heard several news about people falling down from the cliffs or being attacked by wild animals when they were trying to take different amazing photos. Thus, pay attention to your personal limits and consider posted signs to avoid dangers. As the last point, try to respect locals and keep places clean in order to receive the respect back and spend a memorable time.
10. Learn about Scams
Everyone thinks s/he is so smart to be scammed but it can happen. As Matt suggests out of his several years of experience in travelling, there are several common travel scams such as broken taxi meters, overbooked/closed hotels, free bracelets or rosemary, spills on your clothing, fake police officers, the attraction being closed, friendly ATM helpers, flirtatious local woman, fake transportation tickets, fake hotel wakeup call, motorbike rental damage, fake WiFi hubs, child/injured beggars, group photo offer. Be aware and conscious about what is happening around you. You can read more about the travel scams and proposed avoidance ways on the link below: https://expertvagabond.com/common-travel-scams/
Lily ChristiansenApril 27, 2024
Travel TipsTen Simple Points before Leaving
Going to travel always makes people preoccupied with lots of things to do before leaving. In urgent situations, you may miss some points. Here, we provide travel tips and suggestions to remember those essential points.
Learn and use common target phrases
Although English is the most useful and common language for travelling and there are always some people in your target country to help you with the English language, it would be somehow different and attractive to learn some common phrases of the local language. Trying to speak the same as the natives is a kind of pleasure for yourself and a feeling of a closer relationship with the natives. However, we do not mean to be a fluent second language learner and we do not recommend you to spend lots of hours and energy on learning that language; it simply means that you can just spend some hours each week before your trip and try to use some common phrases to be able to communicate with them. Such phrases could be “thank you”, I’m sorry”, “I need help” and some other phrases that you think are necessary to know during your trip.
As an example, we have an article containing some Omani words and sentences which might be useful
Try to find out about and respect the local culture
Awareness and having more information will never hurt anyone. Sometimes, travellers may face trouble due to making some unconscious mistakes that are offensive to the locals. In order to prevent these sorts of problems, it would be better to prepare a good history book and become aware of the rich history and culture of that country. This way you will experience a more enjoyable, safe trip and be sure that you can help other travellers and you will even have extra information than the natives.
Get travel insurance
One of the best-offered travel tips is to suggest you get travel insurance before leaving home. We cannot guarantee that accidents will not happen to us; they can happen everywhere: when you are on a luxury cruise, passing across the street, or during your flight. If you don’t have insurance, you should spend lots of money on emergency vehicles and hospital bills. Therefore, try not to put yourself at risk.
Take your kids with you
It can be considered a fact that traveling with children is hard and exhausting at times, especially when they are infants or toddlers. Preparing hygiene products, taking care of them all the time, helping them with doing personal things, etc. are among the difficulties of traveling with children.
Nevertheless, you should take into account that this would be a highly valuable opportunity for your children to become aware of cultural differences, learn how to cope with different strange situations, and be more educated, informed, and sensitive adults in their future lives.
Don’t forget that your children can make you laugh more and activate your curiosity “Mommy, what is that?”, “Daddy, why is that like this?”.
Don’t spend beyond your planned budget
Writing down a detailed plan for every specific part of your trip is more manageable and reminds you not to spend more than what you decided before. It doesn’t mean that you should not do the kind of activities you like or not visit places which you are interested in, but it means that you try to obey your planning to prevent forthcoming stresses. For sure, going back home with a mountain of debt makes you regretful and prevents future memorable experiences you could have during trips. As an example, you can spend less money on stay reservations and spend more on experiences. On the other hand, make a plan, be flexible, and don’t over plan.
To manage your budget and know the exact amount of money you need for different kinds of costs, we recommend to you our budget management tool.
Make your family and friends aware of your plan
We hope you always have your desired trip and be able to follow your plans. However, as you know, travelling is risky and doesn’t go on exactly the same way we planned. Even if you have no family or friends to be in contact with, it would be wise to inform your relatives about your plans, the exact place that you are, and write them your hotel address and phone number to contact and help you while facing unpredictable and emergency situations.
Don’t postpone reservations for cheap flights
It is a wise job to reserve your flight ticket as soon as you make up your mind about your travelling destination. When you decide to have a trip, especially those flying abroad, be smart and do not lose time searching for lower-price tickets and reserve them as soon as possible. There is another way like using a travel VPN and changing your IP address to a country with a lower income, then you will receive recommendations for flight reservations with lower prices.
Take extra credit cards and cash with you
Always being supported by two things is better than just one. According to the place you are travelling to, there may be some places like supermarkets that require cash, while you may need credit cards in other places to be able to buy or satisfy other needs. Thus, it is wise not to limit yourself to one of them in an unpredictable context. If possible, try to provide the U.S. dollar because it is the most common currency in most countries.
Better to hire local guides
Besides saving more money, hiring local guides has more merits than tour operators. In this case, you are directly paying the money to the intended person and supporting locals. They are more familiar with their environment and guide you better on how to face some problems. You can make more friends, become immersed in their culture, and learn some points about their language better than going through books.
Be comfortable and take suitable clothes
It is highly recommended to pick up your comfortable clothes, which don’t need ironing, comfortable shoes, more socks, and underwear. Try to take some pictures of your luggage not to lose them and have their exact characteristics when there are similar ones or when you need to describe them to the person who is in charge of finding your bags. As the last point, try to have some blister care with you so as not to suffer from blisters on your foot during walking tours.
Prof. Lucile Hickle Jr.April 27, 2024