While you’re reading this, I’m in Dublin discovering this city.

While I was preparing for my trip which -by the way, was a very last minute decision, I realised I had no idea about what to visit once there.

I started to browse blogs and travel guides online so that I could have an idea about which places were worthwhile visiting, but then I thought this:

How about asking locals?

In today’s world where we’re all hook up to our phones and have Google as our most knowledgable friend, we tend to forget that one of the best ways to familiarise ourselves with a new place is by connecting with people who actually live there right now.

Locals normally do know best. I know this by experience as my best trips to date have been with local people who knew their place well – and were kind enough to show me around!

Plus, I’ll never forget that time in Seville when, after having eaten in a clearly-not-so-great- restaurant on the main street, I asked in a local pharmacy where the best places to eat where in town and got given the address of an AMAZING and CHEAP restaurant where I had the tastiest tortilla ever !

Locals not only know the best places in town, they also know the worst ones. The ones you should avoid at any cost. The so-called tourists traps.

This is also why it’s so important to know he language spoken in the place you’re visiting.

If you know the language, you can ask local people for help and find out things that you’d never find in a travel guide.

So, what questions should you ask  local people that can help you have a great trip?

Here are some questions that have always helped me figure things out, especially when I was travelling solo.

1. What are the best places to visit in town?
2. What are the best food places? (This is my fav question! :3 )
3. What do you like about this city?
4. Where can I try traditional dishes?
5. What’s the most beautiful thing to visit here?
6. Which places should be avoided ?

And, by the way, if you want to know how to say these questions in Italian, Spanish, and French, I’ve just translated them in all these languages and created a flashcards sets with them in my online Quizlet class. And of course, you can have them.

Click here to get the flashcards that feature these questions in Italian, Spanish and French.

Now, over to you.

What question would you like to ask locals when visiting a foreign country? Do you know how to say it in your target language?

Share your question in the comments below -maybe I can help with translating too!

Ermy***

P.S. Are you travelling to Italy soon? I’m re-opening the applications for  Italian for travellers in a few days, and this time this language course is going to be online too! YAY!   Click here to find out more about it!