10 City Girl Tips for Urban Vacationers

Ride: One Passenger at The Other End.I’m spoiled by Portland. It has all the nightlife, live music, amazing food, and art scene of a big city (well, almost), while still being completely walkable from west to east in under an hour. It’s bite size, manageable, and if i get half way across town and realize that I forgot my ID, I can usually make it home and back in under half an hour on foot. Unfortunately, when traveling to other more densely populated places, I often forget that this is not the case pretty much anywhere else.

For anyone who has ever been on a city vacation, the rule is generally that once you leave your hotel/motel/hostel/squat, you’re “out” for the remainder of the day until you’re ready to head back and collapse into unconsciousness. The pleasures of the city are great, but if you’re trying to squeeze all the magic into just a few days, these 10+ hour adventure days can be pretty rough. But If you’re unwilling to sacrifice your jam packed itinerary, you’d better make damn sure you’re ready before you head to the train/bus/taxi/trolley/sidewalk.

Rule #1: Be one with the public transport.
There is a thin line between being so cheap and delusional that you convince yourself you can cover an entire metropolitan area on foot (your bloody stumps will likely get you about half way there and then require a box of bandaids and an expensive cab ride to get you back), and being so financially foolhardy that you blow through your entire wad paying cab drivers because you’re afraid you can’t read the subway map or don’t want to accidentally step in pee at the train station. It’s going to be ok. Just get yourself an all day transit pass, download a public transport app (pretty much every major metro area has one from Boston to San Francisco), and…

Rule #2: Leave the germaphobia at home (or at least carry some hand sanitizer). On any given city trip, there will be sticky subway seats, questionable and soapless public restrooms, and oozing street vendor food with inadequate napkin supply. Cities are full of people, and people are full of germs , and dirt, and in some cases bedbugs.  Obviously, don’t go exploring the city with your tongue, but also don’t ruin your trip by being afraid to touch anything. Do however…

Rule #3: Be prepared. It’s time to channel your inner Boy Scout. Be careful not to lade yourself down like a pack mule, but do make a tidy little emergency kit with some basics like: hand sanitizer, tissues or napkins, band aids, pain killers, payphone quarters (your phone could die or get lost), cab fare, a bottle of water, and a snack so you don’t get cranky on long subway rides (or so you don’t have to pay $6 for a street cart pretzel). And if you have a smartphone…

Rule #4: GPS is your friend, and there are a ton of great navigation apps you can download before you hit the streets. If you should wander away from the subway station and get turned around, or end up in a part of town where people are less enthusiastic to give directions to tourists, GPS can help guide you safely back to your base camp.  Also, a good mapping program can memorize your chosen destinations, and help you make your most efficient plan of attack. But what it probably can’t tell you is where to…

Rule #5 Find the bathrooms! Cities are not kind places for those of us with tiny bladders. A long subway ride can end in an emergency situation, and if there isn’t a Barnes & Noble right off the train stop… let’s not go there. Luckily, there is yet another app you can load on you phone (are you sensing a trend here?) that will help you find a public toilet faster than you can sing that “gotta go” jingle from those awful commercials. So unless you have a toddler with you on your city adventure, you can probably skip the extra pants in your emergency kit. What you shouldn’t skip however, is…

Rule #6 Wear (or at least bring) comfortable shoes.
Remember that time I talked about bloody stumps? Even when you’re using an appropriate amount of public transport, city trips still involve a lot of walking. This does not mean you need to wear a pair of geriatric grade walking shoes, but you should completely ignore the women getting off the subway in 4 inch spikes (they’re mutants), and strongly consider a pair of sneakers, or at least cushy flats. And for the love of god, do not use your big city trip as an excuse to break in new shoes (I speak from experience! Picture it- Atlantic City, 2002- Cute espadrille wedges, and a blister the SIZE OF A PEPPERONI). And while you’re getting dressed…

Rule #7 Layer! Weather is a fickle fickle mistress, and you don’t want to be deep in the heart of the city when a freak snowstorm or unexpected heat wave descends. And even if there should be no notable weather shifts, stores and restaurants have wildly varying AC/heat conditions. If it’s 95 outside, it could be 60 inside at your chosen dinner locale. Or, it could just get chilly after dark. The point being, make sure you’ve got on flexible attire that will serve you in a variety of temperatures. That said…

Rule #8 Pack light. Being prepared it great, but having a rolling suitcase of costume changes and emergency items is ridiculous and impractical (and a beacon of your tourist status). A couple of flexible layers, and a small backpack or messenger bag should be more than adequate. Coco Chanel once said “When accessorizing, always take off the last thing you put on”. Pack everything that you think you’ll need the night before you go out, and then do some editing in the morning. If you’re planning on shopping, a slightly larger bag could be in order, or some of those reusable totes that pack down really tiny are also cool. Although before you go and fill those totes with snow globes and t-shirts…

Rule #9 Don’t blow your load. The city is seductive, and everything is like 10 times more expensive than it is in your hometown. I wouldn’t be a very good personal finance blogger if I didn’t recommend creating a budget before you even get on the plane. Be realistic, but be firm. Leave your credit card in the hotel room if you cant be trusted, but just make sure that you’re not bringing home a boatload of revolving debt as a souvenir. Give yourself and allowance, and spend your time taking photos of the incredible sites rather than shopping for miniature pewter replicas of them.

So if you’ve followed steps 1-9, at this point you should be comfortably but stylishly attired, with a bunch of helpful apps loaded on your phone, and a tidy and lightweight pack of emergency goods strapped to your back. You should know where you’re going, and how to get there taxi-free. But before I push the little birds out of the nest, I have one last bit of advice…

Rule #10 Be careful! With cities come higher crime rates. I am proud to say that I’ve never had a close call while vacationing, but it can happen. If you have a friend who lives in the area, give them a jingle and ask them which neighborhoods you should avoid. Or at the very least, keep careful track of your stuff and your travel companions, and consider avoiding getting blitzed too far away from your hotel (or at all). And of course,  little mace in your travel bag is also not a terrible idea.