Travel abroad without a travel agency. Independent tourism. How to find budget accommodation in Istanbul

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Experienced travelers are convinced that traveling does not require a lot of money. The desire to travel and the ability to search for information are enough.

website summarized tips from travel bloggers that will allow you to see the world with minimal costs. At the end of the article you will find a bonus in the form useful information for every tourist. And may you have more travels in the near future!

11. Travel on your own

Traveling on your own, rather than through travel agencies, is both more profitable and interesting. Yes, you will be solely responsible for any problems. But travel agencies decide little in such cases, preferring to blame the airline, force majeure, the host party, and the like.

You can independently create “that” dream route, choose cheap option flight, book the best-priced hotel with a location convenient for you, select a transfer.

4. Rent out your own home while you travel or go on an “exchange vacation”

An exchange holiday is an opportunity for free accommodation while traveling, and maybe even a chance, like the characters in the film, to meet your love.

2. Don't buy what you can get for free

  • WiFi. When booking your accommodation, immediately choose an apartment or hotel with free Wi-Fi. During the day, use free Wi-Fi in restaurants and cafes, gas stations and shopping centers.
  • Area maps. Free cards available on counters in many hotels, apartments and hostels. The map can also be obtained from the tourist information office. As a rule, they are located in the city center or near the main attractions. Download electronic city maps and a guidebook to your phone in advance.
  • Water. In Europe you can drink tap water everywhere. Drinking fountains are installed in many cities, and you can safely drink from them. To check, you can look at

Hi all!

For me, the question “How to start traveling on your own?” even sounds somewhat strange. What do you mean"? You buy tickets, book a hotel and go... or you jump into the car, throw some simple belongings in there and rush off into the beautiful distances. But just recently, I also traveled only on tour packages, when everything was thought out and planned for you in advance.

Yes, this approach has its own charm. You just don’t bother and relax to the fullest. Besides, package tours are cheaper than traveling on your own. The debate about which is cheaper - independent travel or a package tour will last forever! After all, a lot depends on the direction and time of year.

Do you know what annoys me about package tours? Fuel surcharge! Why should I pay it?

For example, now there is Greece at the price of Crimea, just don’t forget to add the cost of a visa and a fuel surcharge.

So, back to independent travel.

How did it happen that I started driving on my own, and alone?

I think several factors played a role.

  1. It so happened that I left my father’s house early, and during the holidays I came to my mother by train. One.
  2. My work involves business trips.

In both cases, one way or another, you have to be independent and plan your trips.

I started traveling abroad quite late, and I consider the trip to Russia to be a turning point. I then purchased a tour, but it was very specific. Transfer from/to the airport was not provided, and I had to fly out from a completely different city than the one I flew into. There were no excursions planned either, and I traveled around all the surroundings by bus on my own.

I express my deep gratitude to the operator Biblio Globus for the opportunity to radically rethink travel!

I also consider our family road trips to be an important stage. This is a kind of extreme and incredible pleasure! You are not tied to tickets, planes and trains. Did you like the city? You can stay longer.

It's time to move on from words to specifics. If you rarely go anywhere, then first try planning a short trip around Russia. Let it be close and not for long, but general principle you will understand, and this is the most important thing. Or another option - when going abroad on a package tour, try to plan an excursion without the participation of a travel agency. Find out on the Internet what bus goes to your destination, how to buy a ticket and what to see.

Now, using the example of a trip abroad, let’s look at all the stages of travel planning.

  1. Deciding on the country, read reviews, look at photos and listen to yourself. Did something resonate in your heart? Great. Let's take it!
  1. We are clarifying the procedure for entering the country. Do I need a visa, medical insurance, financial support? To begin with, you can select a country with lightweight visa regime— Georgia, Montenegro, Cyprus, Azerbaijan, Türkiye, etc. At least there will be one less problem))).

  1. Deciding on the route . Hotel reservations will depend on this. You can fly, for example, to Rome, book a hotel or apartment in Rome and make small forays into the surrounding area. Or another option is to fly to Rome, but plan a trip that involves moving from city to city.To avoid confusion, we make an Excel spreadsheet and write down where and how much time we want to spend.
  1. We book a hotel. When choosing a hotel, evaluate the level of comfort you want to receive, location, and cost. Be sure to read reviews, do not rely on the hotel rating.

  1. We provide travel medical insurance. It is not always required and the choice is yours, but for Schengen countries insurance is required.

You can contact any insurance agent or make insurance yourself online. I recommend two resources - and. The links are my personal reviews and examples in pictures. Cherehapa is a specialized resource focused only on health insurance, while Workle has a broader range of interests.

  1. We make a visa if you need it. We collect the entire set of documents from point 2 and go to Visa Center. In fact, applying for a visa on your own is not at all scary. The list of documents on the embassy’s website can confuse anyone, but if you look closely, everything is not so bad. In addition, you will take exactly the same set of docks to the travel agency.
  1. The best part remains , but an equally important activity is collecting information about the trip. In order not to forget anything, I suggest using my search list:

— how to get from the airport to the hotel;

— currency exchange rate;

— where the hotel is located, mark it on the map ;

local kitchen, features and names of dishes in the local language. What you should definitely try;

— where to eat inexpensively near the hotel, the presence of supermarkets;

— the main attractions of the city and how to get to them;

observation decks;

— interesting places in the surrounding area and how to get to them;

— interesting organized excursions;

— availability of cultural events on your dates (theater, concert, exhibition);

— local cellular(of necessity);

— children's leisure (if necessary): zoo, water park, amusement park, etc.;

— local transport, features of purchasing a bus or metro ticket;

useful phones(n/r, consulate);

— what to bring as souvenirs.

That's probably all you need to know when planning an independent trip. The most important thing is not to leave everything until last, otherwise you’ll have to run around at breakneck speed later)))

Oksana was in touch!

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Not everyone knows, but very useful travel sites. Most of the travel sites and apps on this list have been tested by us personally; there are still some waiting their turn, but that doesn’t make them any less cool.

List: Travel Sites: Preparing for Travel

Travel websites: buying tickets for Buses in Europe

Ecolines. International bus lines that provide connections between 21 countries and 205 cities in Europe. It is the largest and oldest carrier in Eastern Europe. For independent European trips Ecolines is ideal because... the flights are very inexpensive and the buses are comfortable. In addition, Ecolines has a cumulative bonus system, and when traveling actively you can receive free trips. This is more than real! Personally, over three trips I have accumulated bonuses for one practically free move.

Luxexpress. Another European carrier that amazes with its constant promotions and discounts on tickets. For example, you can often travel from St. Petersburg to Helsinki and Tallinn for 400-500 rubles. The number of routes of Lukeexpress is significantly less than that of Ecolines - only 10 countries, but the prices are sometimes simply symbolic, and the buses are more like business class airplanes.

Websites to buy train tickets online

Once upon a time it became a discovery for me, and then a constant practice, buying train tickets online. As it turns out, this can be easily done on the Russian Railways website. Yes, the interface is not the most convenient in the world, but it is a million times more pleasant than standing in endless lines at the cash register. E-ticket printed and presented upon boarding the carriage. It's simple, fast, and also allows you to choose your own flights and seats on board. By the way, today Russian Railways carries out 100 international routes in 30 countries in Europe and Asia.

Tutu.ru. Search engine for air and train tickets in Russia. Convenient primarily complete and current schedule commuter trains.

Raileurope. A service that combines maps, schedules and tariffs of more than 50 different railway companies throughout Europe. The site makes it easy to book train tickets, as well as hotels and travel programs. On a fun note, the site has an encyclopedia of European trains, explaining how they differ from each other and how to have fun while traveling. For travelers big company Discounts are provided both on trains and in cities.

Websites for booking cruises and sea travel

Mcruises. A website where you can choose and book a sea or river cruise Worldwide. The service unites all the largest global and Russian cruise companies, informs about special offers and discounts.

Renting a car for travel

The leading site on the RuNet for car rental abroad. Reservations are possible with more than 800 car rental companies in 150 countries. 20 thousand car rental points, Russian-speaking support service, low prices and the high quality of services has made this service the absolute market leader.

Transfer and so on for travel

Kiwitaxi. If you don't want to rent a car, but also public transport If you are not satisfied, you can pre-order a suitable transfer from point A to point B. How does it work? You find desired route in cities and resorts around the world, you book a transfer online, the driver meets you with your name on a sign and takes you to your place. The service operates in 65 countries around the world.

Uber. A service that is gaining international popularity for ordering a driver and finding passengers. A convenient mobile application allows you to search, call and pay for taxis or private drivers. The application is available for dozens of cities around the world, including Russia. Using the Uber application, the customer reserves a car with a driver and tracks its movement to a specified point; payment is made using bank card information.

Sites for finding travel companions

Blablacar. Another world leader. A service that unites drivers and travel companions around the world. Just enter the city of departure, arrival and date to see a list of drivers who offer trips along your route and choose yours. Before contacting, you can view the driver's profile with photo, brief information about yourself and reviews. The service itself is free, but drivers usually charge money for gasoline. This is not hitchhiking!

Poiskpoputchikov.ru. The site was created to make it possible to find a travel companion on vacation or on any other trip, from a trip to a neighboring city to a hitchhiking trip around the world.

Travel sites where you can book Accommodation, Hotels, Hostels

A well-known site that presents advertisements from private individuals - owners of apartments and houses. Today it is so popular that I won’t even recommend any analogue, because... I think that all landlords already have pages on , even if they previously preferred some other resource. I wrote two whole articles about this site. This is a really cool resource that allows you to find wonderful apartments abroad.

Booking.com. The world's largest site for searching and booking hotels and hostels. A huge database of options, honest reviews, good prices, excellent support service - this is why so many people choose booking. This site is good if you are planning a trip to Europe, Northern and Latin America, Australia.

If you want to find a good accommodation option in the territory of the former USSR, the search engine Ostrovok.ru is unrivaled here.

For Asia, your best bet is to look for hotels on Agoda.com.

There is an excellent database of hostels on the website Hostelworld.com.

Home Exchange. House exchange. The website's database contains more than 65 thousand real houses in 150 countries. If you own your own home, you can exchange your homes with property owners from another country for the duration of your vacation. The service has existed since 1992, when it all began with a book directory of those wishing to exchange houses.

Well, and, of course, adored by all travelers (and us too) Couchsurfing.com. A site where you can find free accommodation and great company in an unfamiliar city.

Websites for purchasing airline tickets online

ayak One of the most reliable services for searching for travel deals, buying air tickets, booking hotels and renting cars. The site works with hundreds of travel agency and airline sites around the world and selects the most profitable deals for clients. In this case, Kayak redirects directly to the booking pages of service providers

Onetwotrip. About the same as Kayak. True, there are only air tickets and hotels here. Has a cool bonus program. For me, the site is not much different from other ticket search engines, but the number of acquaintances who are ardent adherents of this site is so large that it was guaranteed a place on this list.

Momondo. An international travel website that allows you to quickly and easily organize your trip yourself. On it you can find a whole set of free tools for intelligently searching for cheap air tickets, hotels and housing for rent, as well as rental cars.

Anywayanyday. Russian analogue of the above sites. Winner of many travel awards in the field of online services. Worthy of attention.

Websites for purchasing tours online

Level Travel. If you need organized tour, and I got tired of independent travel in the end, then The best way find great tour is a search engine for Level Travel tours. The service searches all leading tour operators and allows you to book tours directly with them, without the participation of travel agencies. Those. You won’t see any extra charges, and the tour will cost the same as the operator. Too cool to be true, but it's not a dream))

Online hypermarket of tours. The best prices from 120 reliable tour operators.

List of websites for travelers: City maps

Maps.me. Free application for phones on all platforms. These are the only cards we use and they are absolutely amazing! After installing the application, you need to download a map of the country you need, and then the map with all the signs, attractions, hotels, hostels, restaurants will work offline! If your phone supports GPS, then when combined with maps.me, you can forget about the awkward communication in crooked French/Chinese/Portuguese trying to figure out exactly where to get off the bus and how to find the museum.

Translators for travel

Google Translator as an application for Android or iPhone will help you find a common language with foreigners without any problems. More than 90 languages ​​are supported offline, although you need to download the necessary language packs in advance. This translator saved us more than once, but, of course, the translation of phrases is not always ideal.

Travel Sites: Leisure and Entertainment

Geocaching. is a worldwide travel game, the essence of which is to hide and search for treasures. Geocaching has been around for 15 years and brings together more than 6 million people from all over globe. Today there are 2.5 million caches hidden in 200 countries around the world, and their number is growing every day. This is a great way to have fun, find unusual places new city, and meet curious people.

Izi travel. A service that contains a large, high-quality, and most importantly free collection of audio guides to cities and museums. Before your trip, you can install the izi.travel application on your smartphone and enjoy excursions from professional guides, as well as amateurs. Some content on the site is paid.

A site designed for booking Russian-language excursions around the world. Today it offers 4088 excursions in 566 cities around the world.

Tripster. "Our people all over the world." The service carries out two large project: unique excursions from local residents and an international community of travelers, which is presented in the form of a giant forum with questions and answers about any city on the planet. If you have absolutely no idea what to do in the city, ask a question on this forum and get recommendations from the locals.

Stay.com. A site that creates for you an individual guide to the most interesting places selected city. You select interesting attractions, and the service creates a detailed guide with maps and descriptions, which you can print or download to your mobile device and use offline. And all this is free!

Free Travel Sites

Workaway. The leading site in searching for volunteer work abroad. Volunteering means an extremely wide range of tasks: from teaching English (for example) to building a farm, from working in a hostel to caring for the elderly. As a “salary” for their work, volunteers receive housing, food, interesting communication, immersion in the culture of the country, and often other bonuses (discounts on excursions, participation in master classes, etc.) Transport must be paid for independently.

European Voluntary Service. European Voluntary Service. Within the framework of EVS, dozens of programs lasting from 2 to 12 months operate. All of them are funded by the European Commission, and the programs can be both inside and outside the European Union. These projects, as a rule, have a social orientation and are designed for young people aged 18 to 30 years. The candidate is required to possess certain skills, level of a foreign language, and sometimes have a special education. The European Commission, in turn, covers the costs of accommodation, food, transport, insurance, daily expenses, a cycle of training, including language courses and 90% of the cost of the flight.

Study tours to Poland. STP are study visits to Poland for students, young professionals and professionals from Eastern European countries (North-West region of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova). The program is divided into two large blocks - for students (from 18 to 21 years old) and for workers (no age limit). The trip is completely free: participants pay for travel, accommodation, meals, all activities during the visit, as well as visa processing.

Travel Sites: Other

Wikibook on hitchhiking. If you're planning a hitchhiking trip for the first time, this tutorial has absolutely everything.

Wikitravel. A project whose goal is to create a free, free, up-to-date and reliable world travel guide. There are currently 1,657 guidebooks in Russian and other articles written and edited by Wikitravelers from all over the world.

And a bonus, final link - Travelzakladka. A site that contains sooooo many (more than three hundred!) different travel resources: top LJ, websites, VKontakte communities, independent blogs, magazines, TV channels, TV programs, hotel search engines, maps, forums, train tickets, language tourism, exotic tourism, extreme tourism, visas, guidebooks, tour operators, cruises, diving, car rental, air tickets, insurance, YouTube travel channels, travel blogs on Instagram.

Do you want to travel on your own, but don't know where to start? Are you wondering how to start traveling? The answer is here!

How to start traveling on your own?

There are 2 points in this question: psychological and practical. There are clearly more sites covering the practical issue; there is nothing complicated here, you just need to take it and do everything step by step, as experts advise. But a logical question always arises, if everything is so simple, why are there always more people dreaming of traveling than those who actually decide?

Here psychology comes onto the scene, and it turns out that someone is afraid to leave their comfort zone, someone is held tightly by their parents or loved ones, someone is simply afraid because they are not aware enough, but from time to time they still present it to the world. mine - I want to go on a trip. In this article I will tell you about both the psychological and practical aspects of this issue.

I want to travel a lot - where to start? Psychology

    1 - Desire

It’s as simple as that, you critically need desire. “Yes, yes, that’s understandable,” you might say. But wait. Desires are different. You can lie on the sofa, dream how nice it would be now on the beach under the palm trees, show the world your “ I want to go on a trip" and do nothing. But understand, in order to start traveling not on tour packages-twice-a-year-for-a-week-to-Thailand, you need to radically change your life. And to decide to make changes you need a very strong desire. So that it’s clear to you, no further without traveling - well, no way at all. All! It's propped up!

I often heard from people that traveling is too expensive, saying that I want to travel, but I don’t have the money. But there are so many responsibilities that keep you in one place. And while some are held back by circumstances and lack of money, others travel. If you really want something, you will have it. If you really want to start traveling on your own, then you won’t make hundreds of excuses, but simply find a way. “Circumstances” are just a convenient way to ignore your own fears.

People travel for the same reason they buy cars or a new iPhone. If you need something, you do everything to get it. That's the whole secret.

  • 2 - Focus

To begin your independent journey around the world, you need to be “sick” of travel, and your life revolves around this desire. I'm serious. Everything that is important to you happens to you. Critically important. Therefore, maybe stop visiting cafes so often or wherever you go there? Yes, you will have to give up some things, save on some things, and it will be worth it!

This paragraph closes the question " Where can I get money?"You need to save money. Before going on my first trip, I saved for a year. I stopped going to cafes and learned to cook decently, I watched movies online, I practically didn’t buy clothes, I was probably lucky that at that time I didn’t have girls. Although who knows where the root cause is, but that’s not the point now.

To save money for travel, you need to control your cash flows - write down all expenses and income. Yes, it's boring, but I said that I would have to change. You quickly get used to this, and don’t entertain the illusion that when traveling you won’t need to count money, this skill is more important there than at home, so it’s better to get used to it in advance. For such purposes, I use the Family Accounting program. It is convenient, easy and free. There are analogues for smartphones, depending on which one is more convenient.

Another little piece of advice, it’s better to save a certain amount for travel immediately after receiving your salary. This important point, it will be much more comfortable. Believe me, it’s easier to plan for a smaller amount in advance than to try to pull out extra money in the middle of the month.

  • 3 - Moral preparation

IN long journeys Many things will happen to you that cannot be predicted, and you will not be prepared for it. But that doesn't mean that if you've never committed trip around the world or have not dedicated your life to wandering, traveling is not for you.

Travel is wonderful. Life is short and I don't think you want to live it in one place without ever seeing the rest of the world. You will be able to discover all the beauty of this world - from chaotic Asian markets and beautiful European cities, to impenetrable jungles and exotic wildlife V central America. Wherever you go, something new awaits you every day - new places, people, experiences.

Many people are accustomed to thinking that traveling is necessarily expensive and you simply cannot afford it. I sincerely hope that as you read this blog you will understand that this is not the case. I don't earn much, but I know how to count money and find inexpensive ways to travel. I work hard to make my dreams come true. Frankly speaking, it is possible to start traveling the world without money, and I will definitely write an article on this topic.

At least start with something simple. Take it and go on a weekend trip to a neighboring city or go on a trip around your city. Because you need to be prepared for travel, first of all, mentally.

  • 4 - Determining direction

The importance of this stage cannot be overestimated. Here we are slowly moving from theory to practice. It’s not for nothing that they say: those who are informed are armed. You need information to decide where to go, how to get there, where to live, what to eat, how to protect yourself, where to go if something happens, and many other important questions.

To understand which countries to start traveling from, read the article “My TOP 5 inexpensive countries for vacation.” It’s better to start with something inexpensive and well-trodden by many tourists, very good option for the first independent trip there will be Southeast Asia. Write your list of countries you would like to visit and let’s move on to practice.

How to start traveling on your own with minimal costs? Practice

By the way, I want to say that traveling with tour packages is not always more expensive. Maybe you shouldn't bother independent travel, but it’s better to contact specialists. I'm not dissuading you in any way, people are just different. How to determine which clan of travelers you belong to? Here's a little test:

  • Are you ready to take the time to create your own journey?
  • Are you a free spirit and don't like following a schedule created by someone else?
  • 5 - Visa

Find out if your chosen country requires a visa. For this task I use the Timatic service.

  • 6- Flights
  • 7 - Accommodation

For the first couple of days, book a hotel, hostel or guesthouse, depending on your financial capabilities. It will be possible to find something better and cheaper on the spot. Perhaps you will decide to stay longer and rent an apartment, or perhaps you will move on. Finding suitable accommodation clearly requires a separate article, and I will definitely write it (and here is the article How to find a good and inexpensive hotel), plus my favorite service for finding inexpensive accommodation.

  • 8 - Route

In general, I rarely recommend using guidebooks, but if you are planning to travel on your own for the first time, it is better to purchase one. I used to always use advice from Lonely Planet; their guides are rightfully considered the best, they will help you create the optimal route. This is one of the most exciting activities, be sure to try it!

  • 9 -Luggage

The next step is to collect your luggage and first aid kit. It would be useful to read the article about the required minimum of things. There is nothing complicated about it, the main thing is to leave everything unnecessary at home and not forget what is necessary.

  • 10 - Insurance
  • 11 - Vaccinations

To protect yourself, especially when traveling to African countries or South America, you need to get vaccinated. Are vaccinations required when entering the country of your choice - ask Google. I usually don’t vaccinate, this world is not that dangerous. In Goa, for example, people are more likely to die from coconuts falling on their heads than from a malaria mosquito bite. But if for your own peace of mind you need to play it safe - please.

  • 12 - Stop reading articles about how to start traveling - start!

When the first time the idea comes to how to relax without a tour operator, it may seem that it is very difficult and it is better to trust in the hands of professionals. In fact, the organization independent rest, this is an exciting pastime and is an integral part of travel.

As you know, all people are divided into leaders and followers. Leaders organize their holidays on their own, while followers prefer to use the services of a tour operator. Naturally, if it is alien to you to make any decision on your own, then you do not need to force yourself and contact one of the nearest travel agencies.

Today we will learn how to travel independently and find out how to relax without a tour operator. If you have previously purchased package tours, then you know what they give you: copies of air tickets, hotel reservation (voucher) and a copy of the insurance policy. For visa countries, a visa is still issued, although in some countries it is done upon arrival at the airport.

Airline booking

In order to buy an air ticket, you do not need to go to the airport or ticket office and waste a lot of time. Now is the age of information technology, so you can book an air ticket without leaving your home via the Internet. We go to, enter the estimated dates of your trip and look at ticket prices and the number of transfers. If you are satisfied with all the conditions and price, then fill in the details of your passport and pay for the ticket using a payment card. Copies of tickets will be sent to your e-mail and can be printed on paper. At the airport upon departure, all you need to do is show your passport and you will receive a boarding pass at the check-in counter for your flight.

Booking a hotel

With the help, we select accommodation at the resort you have chosen, taking into account the price and quality of the services provided. Just as in the case of air tickets, we reserve a room by providing your passport details and paying with a payment card. If you are not going to spend your entire vacation in one hotel or resort, then it will be enough to book a room for a couple of days. If it turns out to be good and you want to stay longer, you can extend it on the spot, but be aware that during peak season all rooms may be booked in advance. It is not necessary to check into a hotel, since local residents Quite often they rent out their apartments or villas to tourists at quite affordable prices. The advantage of apartments or apartments is the presence of a washing machine and the absence of annoying staff who are always begging for tips. The latter is quite typical for other Muslim countries.

Insurance policy

Most countries in the world don't require travel insurance, but the stingy one pays twice, so it's best to have it just in case. You can buy an insurance policy online on one of the sites providing these services. Also, if you do not trust online purchases, you can go to the nearest insurance company. Depending on the country and the amount of coverage, insurance can cost from $15 to $30 for 14 days.

Visa

Basic tourist destinations, except for the countries of the European Union, are visa-free or conditionally visa-free for Russians, which means they can apply for a visa upon arrival in the country. For example, such conditionally visa-free countries are Egypt and Türkiye. To vacation without a tour operator in one of the EU countries, you can apply for a visa at the consulate of the country where you are going to vacation, at your place of residence. For this, you will need copies of round-trip air tickets, an insurance policy and a hotel reservation. Plus, you will need to pay a consular fee for a visa.

Transport

Upon arrival at the airport of your resort, naturally, no one will meet you, since you are vacationing without a tour operator. However, some hotels offer a free service such as transfer from the airport to the hotel. Check with your hotel in advance if they provide this service. If not, then when you leave the airport, take a taxi and go to your hotel, where your room will be waiting for you.

Excursions

Some sights can be explored on your own, especially if they are located in the city itself. However, when it comes to excursions, you can buy an organized tour from one of the street tourist offices. The benefit of an organized excursion will be the availability Russian speaking guide, who can tell interesting things that are not in printed guidebooks, and this also eliminates possible problems with language barrier. Also in many countries there is tourist buses, which have an audio guide in the main foreign languages, and which travel to the main attractions of the city and make stops near them. This is the best way to explore the city and its monuments.

That's all science! Now you know how to relax without a tour operator and can safely prepare for your vacation.