My Top 5 New Things You HAVE to Try When you Travel Abroad

Visiting new countries and trying new things is riveting for me. New experiences are never ending and there’s so much to see and do that you won’t have the opportunity to do once you return home. I’m a huge proponent of eating the specialty foods, and trying new and crazy things that maybe if you were at home you’d find strange. I’ve definitely heard stories from travelers where they talk about a family member bringing food with them because they don’t want to try the local food. I find that absolutely ridiculous!

You should be attempting to enjoy the culture of where you are traveling to, that includes the food no matter how weird you think it MIGHT be. You never know how much you could surprise yourself by branching out and expanding your horizons. That being said, the following are my top 5 NEW things you absolutely HAVE to try in every new country you visit. 

#1 NOMS

The first thing you absolutely have to try when you go somewhere new is the food. If you have been following me you guys know I love me some food. I like to try new things from all over the world. Yes the restaurants we have here are Americanized, but I’d eat Okonomiyaki, Massaman Curry or a good Chicken Tikka Masala any day over a burger. I had polenta for the first time with radicchio when I was in Italy cooked by my host mom. It looked weird but I gave it a shot. Now I crave that meal all the time, and sadly haven’t been able to reproduce it like hers.

I was so nervous to try herring when I was in Amsterdam because you know salted fish. I have to say… I’d eat it again. We actually had it 2 or 3 times while there. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome of eating cured fish. It came with onions and pickles so if you’re into that kind of thing it was pretty good.  I’m telling you, try that meal and eat that weird food because it might just be your new favorite dish. You won’t know until you try.

#2 Formaggio

Cheese. Yes cheese is food. Am I giving it its own category? Yes, yes I am. Cheese is my favorite food hands down. I put it on anything and everything. Cheese boards are my best friend. One of my favorite things to do in a foreign country is to grab a block of local cheese, a slab of bread and munch on it as a snack. We are fortuitous in the US that we have such a large cheese import industry. It makes me immensely happy. There are however tons of other cheeses out there, in other countries, that we won’t see or ever have here.

In Dublin it was a delicious Irish red cheddar cheese, in Italy it was a phenomenal pecorino, and in Amsterdam it was a fresh Old Amsterdam Gouda. Even better, if you can find a cheese shop where you can try new cheeses and see how they make it, please go, if only for my sake!. I came home from Amsterdam with 3 wheels of cheese…#sorrynotsorry. My favorite “new thing” to try in every country I visit. I can’t wait to see which country is next on the list for new cheeses to try. I’m serious about my cheese.

#3 WINE AND BEER

Wine and Beer are ginormous industries around the world. If you get the chance, it’s imperative that you try the local stuff. There’s nothing like a homemade bottle of limoncello from some nonno’s basement in Italy, or a Guinness poured from the draft in a pub in Ireland (I swear it tastes different than it does in the US). I enjoy wine and beer tastings, so I tend to gravitate toward them while on my trips, but you don’t have to do that to try the local booze.

While out at a restaurant always ask what on the menu is local so you know what you’re ordering, and where it’s coming from. In Thailand we ordered the traditional Singha beers to try. I’ve since found them in Thai and fusion restaurants across the US, but make no mistake, it’s a Thai beer. I was excited to try Witte bier and Kolsch style beers while in The Netherlands. It’s the general area of where the Kolsch style comes from so you know you’re getting the best of that style. By the way, I would definitely recommend it. 

#4 Transportation

Travel like a local when you’re abroad! Thailand especially was great for this. Most of the locals ride mopeds around, so we rented one for an afternoon drive to the rain forest. It was so fun, but also a bit nerve wracking because of how they drive. Very fast and no one follows road rules. Talk about a tad bit of an adrenaline rush. You can also get a Tuk Tuk which is a cart-like vehicle driven by a local. It’s a sort of taxi. You don’t have those everywhere, so try it while you can right? *DISCLAIMER* Be careful of local scams, and know your surroundings as best you can before you allow someone to drive away with you. 

Another great example is traveling by train in Italy. Yes we have trains here too, but it’s not your average way of transport in the US as it is in Europe. In Europe as a whole, traveling by train is usually going to be cheap and an easy way to get from point A to point B, including across country lines. If you stay stubborn and try to drive a car like most of us do on average here in the States, you may find that you don’t understand road signs, or know where you can and can’t drive. I’d rather act like a local and not give myself a headache trying to figure all that out. I’m traveling, let me learn some about the culture by participating in it. Am I right?

However, if you MUST drive a car when you’re in a foreign country, there are some things you have to do before you get there. Considering what I mentioned above, how are you going to know the rules of the road, or be able to figure them out, if you don’t have an International Drivers License? Most car rental companies won’t even rent you a car if you don’t have one, so make sure that before you leave home, get certified to drive internationally. Driving a car in a foreign country counts as new things I guess.

#5 Sweet thangs

Our final new thing you HAVE to try in a foreign country is the sweets. Cookies, cakes, puddings, pastries, you name it…try it. I’ve had some of the most wonderful desserts abroad and so many of them you can’t get outside of the country they’re from. If you can, they’re prepackaged and not nearly as good as freshly made from the local spot.

Stop into a cafe and grab a delicious creamy and flaky pastry for breakfast, or a stroopwafel to put over your coffee in the afternoon. Do not forget to get a whole box of cannoli because if they’re made right I’ll eat half…. Or the whole box… In any case, sweets in other countries are made so differently and you can taste the differentiation between US chocolate and Swiss made chocolate. When I was in Japan I had these freshly made red bean cakes that were to die for. I wish I could get them in the states! We had to wait for them to be made, so they were nice and hot. SO delicious! Even cheesecakes are fun to try in foreign countries. They’re made so differently around the world, that I’m always looking to try one if it’s on the menu where I”m traveling. 

Well now I’m hungry and excited to travel again. What’s your favorite piece of advice from this list?!

I’ve just convinced myself to book another trip by going through these must dos. Anyone else? Want to chat about it? Book a call with me! Put yourself on my schedule and we’ll chat about it asap. Fill out the form on my Need a Travel Agent Page? And we’ll get started booking your next dream trip where you can try all the new things!