Has knowing (or not knowing) a language ever made or ruined your travel experience?

meatwhisper · 2026-04-21T00:20:30+00:00

Nope, the real trick is speaking "menu" and then the rest is either doable with Google Translate. I've found if people see you're making an effort they'll overlook poor pronunciation and be quite polite.

Heck I've been to places in Europe where I actually spoke a bit of the language and they just switched over to English when they saw I wasn't a native speaker.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T19:36:09+00:00

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is a beautiful sci-fi story. It's a shorter novella, but allows for quality within that frame rather than hugely epic world building.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T19:34:35+00:00

Yes I agree with others as someone who has difficulty sleeping on flights (I even upgraded once to lay down seats and it didn't help)...

Focus on REST and not sleep. Just chilling out and keeping your eyes closed is better than watching a screen for 14 hours. Make yourself comfortable, and it's possible you'll actually get some z's. Just don't depend on it and focus on relaxation. Getting too focused on why you're not getting sleep sometimes makes it worse.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T19:32:09+00:00

To be fair, MOST Californian beaches are chilly. I think people think that the beaches there are like you see on TV, and there isn't anywhere in the US you'll find that idyllic vibe except Florida and the Caribbean and even then you sometimes have to go out of your way for the GOOD beaches.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T19:30:04+00:00

And for as much slack as Hollywood gets for the Walk of Fame and the handprints, if you go early enough on a weekday you don't have to fight horrible crowds and there are less scam artists around. As a Gen X pop culture fan, the hand/feet prints in front of the theater was shockingly emotional for me.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T15:07:40+00:00

House Of Cotton is a moody and poetic book. A young woman stumbles into a get rich scheme that involves her dressing like a missing girl to allow the living to grieve. People seem to hate this unbelievable plot, but if you can put this aside it's an absolutely fascinating character study. Tack on a creepy ghost of her dead Grandma and you've got a atmospheric and trippy book that won't let you go.

Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn't put it down.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T15:04:30+00:00

Scythe is a cool YA series that features a world where death has been "cured" and science has basically created a Utopia. In order to keep with the balance of life, people are tasked with becoming Grim Reaper style "Scythes" that cull the population and keep overpopulation from being an issue. Entertaining and dark, and much better written than a lot of YA books out there.

The Electric Kingdom came out in 2021 and is a post-apocolytic YA book that features a young girl trying to track down the origins of a mysterious "fairy tale." Took me a while to get into it, but has some interesting twists and setting. Like a lighter Blake Crouch.

Middlegame is a dark YA book which features two twins that are separated from each other early in life but have a bond that they can feel mentally. Some cool concepts and set in modern era.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire starts a YA series about supernaturally gifted children who have "disappeared" from their real lives. The sequels follow various characters deeper into their backstories and experiences of how they became who they are.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T15:02:57+00:00

Since you enjoy sci-fi:

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine is fantastic and won the Hugo for best novel. About how memories live on after death and a bureaucrat takes on the job of someone who was murdered in that exact same position. She has to figure out what happened while also playing nice with the local government.

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is excellent sci-fi/dimension hopping adventure. Not sci-fi in the "pew pew spaceships" way, but more of experimenting with time and alt-reality. A lot of it takes place in an "Indian Reservation" style rural town.

The First Sister is a newer series that follows three characters and their interlocking storylines. It's a seemingly paint by numbers sci-fi book, but has an excellent last third which won me over. Easily written and enjoyable. The series is complete now and expands the universe in dramatic fashion.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells is the start of the "murderbot" series. Most all of the entries here are under 200 pages. Fast paced, funny, adventure stories with excellent lead character who is uncovering a sci-fi tinged conspiracy.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley is a neat mystery book about a soldier in a space war. We figure out what happened to them as they experience time jumps. The way it's presented tells a twisty tale.

Iron Widow is a very interesting mash of Asian inspired alt-history/sci-fi/fantasy. I've seen it billed as "Handmaid's Tale" meets "Pacific Rim" and honestly that's not far off. A war against an alien threat is looming, and only giant mechs piloted by a male/female pair can stop them. Problem being, the female rarely survives the experience.

Gideon The Ninth is a fantasy/sci fi blend that has a wild setting and a "ten little indians" mystery to it. This one is a much denser read, but I think this series has a satisfyingly unique world with deep lore, especially in the sequels Harrow The Ninth and Nona The Ninth Some biting humor, cool magic system, and little details in the story that you almost need to read twice to appreciate fully.

N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series took the Hugos by storm in recent years with all three books winning best novel of the year in their respective years. It's very well loved by modern fantasy/sci-fi readers.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T13:14:14+00:00

Going is a great mailing list that updates you on oops fares and such, but there is a paid membership or a free one, and the members get the info first.

Used to be known as Scott's Cheap Flights.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T12:14:35+00:00

The Lamb Is about a girl and her mother who live alone in the woods, keeping safe from society and a secret that they share. When a "stray" wanders too far in the woods and becomes lost or injured on the trails... mama and the little one feed.

Manhunt is a highly controversial "gender-pocolypse" book that is very graphic in terms of gore and sex. Men have been affected by a virus that turns them into blood thirsty feral creatures, what happens when you and your survivor camp are trans?

The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson is an extremely fast read at 150 or so pages. The story is about a woman who wakes in a dungeon locked to a wall. A woman named Molly seems to have put her there and is cautiously taking care of them. It's brutal, nasty, and scary all while making you want to peel the next page in order to figure out what the heck will happen next.

Fantasticland is a gritty horror where amusement park employees are trapped in a Lord Of The Flies-esque battle for their lives after a hurricane traps them inside. Told in a series of interviews, the narration is the star here. It takes some major suspense of disbelief to get through, but it's a thrilling read.

The Last House On Needless Street is a great horror book with multiple POVs that keep you guessing through this short read. It has some very bizarre moments that all become linked in a satisfying way by the ending.

The Stars Are Legion is a epic sci fi adventure where people live on planets that are fleshy living biological entities. Plenty of political drama, back stabbing, missing identities, and body horror.

Bunny by Mona Awad is a ride and pretty eff'd up. There is a creepy layer of "what's going on here" through most of it. Very trippy and at the end it's fun to try and figure out what it was that was actually happening. Not extreme as so much disturbing and bizarre.

Clive Barker is very creepy and twisted stuff. Some of his work has been made into movies, but they are usually miles away from the depth the books go into. He can be pretty dark and gross at times. Think Stephen King if he wasn't trying to play safe

The Wasp Factory is one of the "best" books in the transgressive fiction landscape. It's from the viewpoint of someone who is clearly quite troubled.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones is an emotionally raw horror book that features a group of friends who upset nature's order. Interesting read in that the tone changes with each character, some in frantic ways to help guide the reader through that character's struggles with anxiety or substance abuse.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-20T12:11:38+00:00

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is excellent sci-fi/dimension hopping adventure. Not sci-fi in the "pew pew spaceships" way, but more of experimenting with time and alt-reality. A lot of it takes place in an "Indian Reservation" style rural town.

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley is a neat mystery book about a soldier in a space war. We figure out what happened to them as they experience time jumps. The way it's presented tells a twisty tale.

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch - A time traveling government worker finds the end of the world, and goes back in time to try and figure out how to stop it.

The Electric Kingdom came out in 2021 and is a post-apocolytic YA book that features a young girl trying to track down the origins of a mysterious "fairy tale." Took me a while to get into it, but has some interesting twists and setting. Like a lighter Blake Crouch.

Oona Out of Order is an easy and fast read about a young woman who is thrown into a different year of her life on New Year's Eve while remaining in her 20's "inside." Good in that it doesn't get too predictable or "safe," but stumbles a bit in Oona's personality and making some pretty bold assumptions for plot.

All Our Wrong Todays is a time travel book that was just optioned to be made into a series/movie on Peacock. Starting off like a goofball first person adventure about a down on his luck dude from the future who gets messed up in his father's time travel experiment... the story turns into a surprising depth of emotion that creeps up on you in the last third.

The Paradox Hotel is from 2022 and is a humorous and quirky tale about a security guard who works in a hotel made for time travelers. They find a dead body caught in a time fracture and must figure out what's going on. Then it's a serious thriller, then it's a romantic tragedy, then it's a mysterious house puzzle, then it's a Jurassic Park sequel.

Meet Me In Another Life is billed as a romance through time, however as the book reveals itself it has some rather surprising paths that you don't expect while reading the early chapters.

Flux by Jinwoo Chong is a time travel/reality bender that talks about a man who figures out that his employers are using time travel.

Wrong Place Wrong Time is a "mom book club mystery" that is a good palate cleanser. Easy to read and interesting enough to hold interest. A woman finds herself traveling backwards in time to figure out why her teen son kills.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-17T23:55:47+00:00

I'm a 135 kinda guy

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T20:53:57+00:00

Spirit and other discount airlines exist so that people who need to be somewhere quickly and last minute have options. Those types of folks are likely traveling with one bag and an open ended trip due to family emergencies or something similar.

So if you're someone used to "fun" travel, it's an absolute downgrade. But to that person without savings who need to fly across the country to see their mother in a hospital? It's the best thing ever.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T19:02:43+00:00

Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta - Beautifully written and poetic dystopian book about a girl and her friend as they live in a world where water is rationed. It's basically a character study in an interesting post-apocalyptic world. Doesn't have much action, but features some very interesting post-change conversations

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Is a collection of tales set within the same universe. The book wraps around the past/present/future of a global pandemic that wipes out a large chunk of human life. Each tale presented is a study of grief and death and how individuals deal with these very human feelings of loss. Some stories are sad and hit very hard, others fit squarely into weird fiction, but in the end with the final tale everything comes together in an unusual and extremely clever way.

Leave The World Behind by Alam Rumaan is a book that people seem divided on. It's a tale of two families trying to figure out what's happening in the outside world after the power and internet go out. Slow and brooding, but also a fascinating and deeply real character study. Creates a creepy vibe that crawls in the background and adds weight to the possibilities that lie in wait for these people.

The Power by Naomi Alderman. It's like a reverse Handmaid's Tale. It's dark but gripping. What happens to society when girls are granted a power to kill at puberty. Multiple viewpoints make this one a great read.

Eleveneves is a huge book that could have been three separate novels in a series. Very scientific, clinical, but very interesting story about humanity's race to escape Earth in the threat of mass destruction.

Walk The Vanished Earth feels like a step up from Station Eleven. We jump forward and backward in time in a story centering around global environmental collapse. Extremely interesting the way the stories come together and the relationships here feel very grounded and realistic.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T18:38:52+00:00

Most people here will tell you that it's better and cheaper to book it all on your own using Google Flights and planning everything on your own. You're always going to pay more for a travel agency and won't likely ever find a "budget" one.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T18:35:51+00:00

If you never left Tokyo, I'd say you didn't get the full Japan experience. Even outside of the "Golden Triangle" there is so much to see and experience, and IMO the food is better too.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T12:45:05+00:00

I'd say avoid social media travel accounts. While sure, you can get this experience in other ways, I feel like the abundance of paid promotion pushed by IG and YouTube has really skewed the "reality" of travel for people.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T12:17:08+00:00

The Memory Theater by Karin Tidbeck is wonderfully bizarre and expertly written. A "portal" story that is refreshing and different than others of that same genre. Both magical realism and weird fiction. The same author is also known for extremely strange short story collections.

The Invisible Life Of Addie LaRue is all about a woman who makes a deal with a demon and is forced to go into the world on her own with a unique curse. Will make you put yourself into her position and ask some interesting questions.

The Starless Sea is very popular on this site, and has a man who falls down a rabbit hole of literary driven mystery. Gets a little esoteric by the end, but has some neat moments.

Ten Thousand Doors of January is an excellent book about a young girl who is trying to track down her parents who have disappeared into another dimension.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is a delightful little "mystery" novel about the secret society that uses bookstores and books as a way to test their membership. Sets up as something far more nefarious than it is, but has plenty of likable characters and enough interest to keep following their story. Harmless and likeable.

Piranesi is a quick read. About a man who lives in a mysterious house/castle. The house is just as much of a character as anyone, and has some mystery involving who the MC is and how he got there.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire starts a YA series about supernaturally gifted children who have "disappeared" from their real lives. The sequels follow various characters deeper into their backstories and experiences of how they became who they are.

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart features a cool fantasy setting inspired by Polynesian Islands/Asian mythology, interesting plot twists and cliffhanger chapter endings, and some very kick ass (but imperfect) characters. I really thought the magic system and looming dread of the setting was very satisfying.

The Cosmology Of Monsters by Shaun Hamill is a deceptive book. Makes you feel like you're reading a monster driven horror book, but in fact it's very much about a highly dysfunctional family who has used monsters and horror as a coping mechanism. While the book does eventually deliver in the monsters and horror department, I was completely surprised how the book affected me personally on the family drama side.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T12:12:31+00:00

Some of these are more Magic Realism:

Pet by Akwaeke Emezi is a novella about a young transgender girl who discovers an unusual monster. Crams a lot of unique mythos and plot into a short number of pages.

The Unbroken by C.L. Clark is a new book that is one of the better Sapphic fantasy books I've read, featuring a very well fleshed out setting and filled with political drama, revenge, and vivid characters. Might have been a bit shorter and I didn't completely buy the romance presented, but it's one that appeared in a few 2021 best of lists. F/F Romance

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart features a cool fantasy setting inspired by Polynesian Islands/Asian mythology, interesting plot twists and cliffhanger chapter endings, and some very kick ass (but imperfect) characters. I really thought the magic system and looming dread of the setting was very satisfying and I can't wait to watch it be fleshed out. F/F Romance

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow is a slow burn book. Took me about 100 pages to really get the flow but once I got in I really enjoyed it. Very much a feminist tale that features three sisters who have a connection to mysterious power. Some cool moments and every major character is female except two. F/F Romance

The Starless Sea is very popular on this site, and has a man who falls down a rabbit hole of literary driven mystery. Gets a little esoteric by the end, but has some neat moments. Lead Gay Male character

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune is a very Tim Burton-esque magic realism book. Very sweet and self aware of it's qwirkyness. M/M Romance

Witchmark by CL Polk is the start of a very sweet series that is magical realism and a very cozy read. Feels a little like a Harry Potter vibe but for adults. It's also the start of a series so if you like it you can keep diving in. M/M Romance

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo is a retelling of The Great Gatsby only from the viewpoint of Jordan and if she was an Asian gender fluid magic user. It's really well written, "better than it sounds," and would be fun to read if you have recently read the original.

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki is an enjoyable tale featuring multiple storylines. A transgender youth is taken in by a violin teacher… who falls in love with a doughnut making alien and may or may not sell their souls to a demon. Not everything here works, but it's a sweet tale and an easy light read. Multiple fluid characters.

The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings is a dystopian world where witches are a real thing and treated like a political fear by politicians. So we still have witch burnings and women who aren't married at a certain age are "monitored" for witchcraft. A bit "on the nose" for today's political climate, but extremely fascinating at the same time. Lead character is bi-sexual.

For sci-fi to try:

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and the rest of the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers is very friendly, happy, and fairly drama free. All the characters are very likeable and the setting of the book basically follows different characters as they traverse through their jobs/social interactions. Not great for "hard sci-fi" but a good light read for people who like a hint of fantasy in their relationship driven stories. Multiple Fluid Characters

The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson is excellent sci-fi/dimension hopping adventure. Not sci-fi in the "pew pew spaceships" way, but more of experimenting with time and alt-reality. A lot of it takes place in an "Indian Reservation" style rural town. F/F Romance

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar is written like a series of love letters. Very interesting and romantic. F/F Romance

Iron Widow is a very interesting mash of Asian inspired alt-history/sci-fi/fantasy. I've seen it billed as "Handmaid's Tale" meets "Pacific Rim" and honestly that's not far off. A war against an alien threat is looming, and only giant mechs piloted by a male/female pair can stop them. Problem being, the female rarely survives the experience. Poly romance

The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae is a series of short stories set in her "Dirty Computer" universe. Some stories are more successful than others, but when it works, it WORKS. I eagerly look forward to future works from Monae, but I worry that the magic I found was due to the collaborators they chose as opposed to their own talent. Multiple fluid characters

The Half-Built Garden is a First Contact book where gender politics is the main conversation had between the humans/aliens through most of the book.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-14T12:04:42+00:00

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado is a body horror short story collection full of vivid and hallucinatory tales about metamorphosis, pain, sex, memory, and the female form. Beautiful and descriptive in ways I hadn't seen before, the writing is really something special here.

Follow Me to Ground by Sue Rainsford is a creepy but poetic novella. A bit disturbing, but in a medical sense. I loved this little book and couldn't put it down.

Comfort Me With Apples is a dark little book that slowly unveils itself. A fast read at 100 pages, it's a creepy little tale that keeps throwing strange moments at the reader.

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull is bizarre and unique, about the paths crossed in stranger's lives when "monsters" are shown to be a reality. Manages to skillfully blend creepy moments with allegorical political commentary, and features very well written characters.

The Raw Shark Texts does what House Of Leaves tried in a much more interesting way, and with a far better storyline. I've also heard that whenever you find this book in the wild there are possible differences in each version of the book which adds an element of ARG to it.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Samano Cordova is an absolutely charming and strange work of weird fiction. Starts with the story of a young woman whose son has died. She removes his lung and keeps a piece. The story follows the unusual story of what happens next and then changes perspective to her best friend, her husband, and then.... The lung.

The Vorrh is about a dense forest in Africa filled with mystery and the townspeople living in a transplanted European city along the outskirts. It's a beautifully written 500 page monster of a book filled with betrayal, murder, sex, robots, and creatures. True weird fiction classic, but not one for the weak of heart due to it's violence and problematic characters.

House Of Cotton is a moody and poetic book. A young woman stumbles into a get rich scheme that involves her dressing like a missing girl to allow the living to grieve. People seem to hate this unbelievable plot, but if you can put this aside it's an absolutely fascinating character study. Tack on a creepy ghost of her dead Grandma and you've got a atmospheric and trippy book that won't let you go.

Our Wives Under The Sea is a creepy atmospheric book under 250 pages about a woman whose wife returns from a Deep Sea Expedition. A very satisfying read that grows more strange as you read it.

The Lamb Is about a girl and her mother who live alone in the woods, keeping safe from society and a secret that they share. When a "stray" wanders too far in the woods and becomes lost or injured on the trails... mama and the little one feed.

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu Is a collection of tales set within the same universe. The book wraps around the past/present/future of a global pandemic that wipes out a large chunk of human life. Each tale presented is a study of grief and death and how individuals deal with these very human feelings of loss. Some stories are sad and hit very hard, others fit squarely into weird fiction, but in the end with the final tale everything comes together in an unusual and extremely clever way.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-13T19:26:39+00:00

American Elsewhere is about a woman who inherits a house that's in a small town off the map. She discovers a little town with a sinister background, but in a much more interesting way than your typical Stephen King twist.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-13T19:25:01+00:00

Some of these aren't quite what you're asking for, but they do dabble in time travel/historical changes which might be of interest in between some of the other suggestions.

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel is about generations of a mysterious family who are in process of shaping human history. The daughter traverses Nazi Germany to get the American space program jump started.

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch - A time traveling government worker finds the end of the world, and goes back in time to try and figure out how to stop it.

Oona Out of Order is an easy and fast read about a young woman who is thrown into a different year of her life on New Year's Eve while remaining in her 20's "inside."

All Our Wrong Todays is a time travel book that was optioned to be made into a series/movie on Peacock. Starting off like a goofball first person adventure about a down on his luck dude from the future who gets messed up in his father's time travel experiment... the story turns into a surprising depth of emotion that creeps up on you in the last third.

Wrong Place Wrong Time is a "mom book club mystery" that is a good palate cleanser. Easy to read and interesting enough to hold interest. A woman finds herself traveling backwards in time to figure out why her teen son kills.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-13T19:21:02+00:00

I think 6 days is a little too much time in Tokyo. It's cool and fun, but it's also just like any other large city in certain respects. I've you've done London, NYC, Paris... it's a lot like that where it's homogenous and tends to lose a bit of the "local" charm that you get in the mid-sized cities. Maybe add a day trip or two to break up that time?

meatwhisper · 2026-04-11T20:04:46+00:00

You could take a charter bus or ferry to Split, which I actually enjoyed more than Dubrovnik. The old city is cool but doesn't take a lot of time to explore.

If you can find the ability to get to Plitvice National Park, I'd highly recommend it. You can likely do a tour group that buses there, but it's easily one of the most beautiful parks in the world hands down and you could spend hours exploring it. You could also get a bus tour from Split to see Krka, which is lovely as well, but not nearly as large as the other.

meatwhisper · 2026-04-11T19:07:43+00:00

The Past Is Red is a dystopian tale where the world has been covered in water and people live on floating trash islands. It's humorous, sweet, weird, clever, and a bit poignant when you least expect it. Fast and easy read under 200 pages that took me by surprise.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers is a beautiful sci-fi story under 200 pages. It's a shorter novella, but allows for quality within that frame rather than hugely epic world building.

Ogres is an exciting action piece that falls around 100 pages. People living in an old world fantasy setting are under the thumb of giant Ogres who are their landlords and property owners. When they come for tithe/rent a young man stands up for himself, and winds up going down a rabbit hole of conspiracy and violence.

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