The Little Habits That Make You A Dream Guest Anywhere
Travel etiquette no one talks about,
but everyone notices
I never learned travel etiquette from a book. My idea of manners was the classic childhood starter pack: say thank you and mean it, share your snacks, and never interrupt anyone, especially a relative who’s trying to beat a Mario Kart level.
But the more I see the world, the more I realize travel etiquette is not a list of rules. It’s a mindset. It’s the art of being a decent human in a world where everyone is tired, navigating new places, and doing their best not to look confused. It’s how patient we can be. How flexible we get when plans crumble. How we treat strangers who owe us absolutely nothing. It also reveals how easily we can become the unintentional villain in someone else’s vacation story.
Think of this as your gentle little guide to not becoming the villain. Not a lecture. Not a rulebook. Just the stuff no one says out loud, but everyone notices.
6. The Human Roomba Rule
Travel can feel like a full-body sensory workout. New scents, new signs, new sounds, and a new subway system where people move in unpredictable zigzags, all demanding your attention at once.
My little hack? Try not to turn into the Human Roomba. Etiquette in these moments is less about perfection and more about being aware of yourself. You know the move: you stop in the middle of the walkway, you spin, you recalibrate, and ten people nearly collide with you. It happens to all of us. The trick is noticing it.
If you are in a crowded place, remember, you are allowed to be lost (it’s part of the journey), and you are allowed to be overwhelmed. Just try not to do it in the middle of the path that everyone else is using. One small step to the side solves everything. You avoid creating a human traffic jam, and you get the space to regroup, breathe, and figure out your next move without an audience.
5. The Backpack Wrecking Ball
Backpacks are the ultimate travel sidekick. They carry your snacks, your sunscreen, your chargers, your entire personality if needed. They also have one tiny design flaw: turning you into a full-on human wrecking ball without warning.
The swing is real. Someone turns around too fast and suddenly you’re getting smacked in the ribs like you offended their ancestors. Most of the time the person wearing the backpack has no idea they just taken out a stranger behind them.
The fix is so simple. Treat your backpack as if it were twice its actual size. In crowds, keep it in front of you or slide it onto one shoulder. When you turn, rotate slowly, like you’re opening the fridge at 2am and trying not to wake anyone. And on buses, trains, or planes, take it off completely so you don’t accidentally body check half the aisle.
You get to keep your stuff safe and you also get to avoid being a surprise weapon.
4. The Dance of Navigating Shared Spaces
Airports are emotional escape rooms. You’re exhausted, anxious, bamboozled by snack prices, and still expected to act like a functioning adult while trying to figure out why your gate keeps changing.
Here’s the mindset that helps me: I pretend every airport is someone’s house. If you wouldn’t plant your bare feet on your aunt’s fancy velvet couch, maybe keep them off the armrest in seat 14B. If you wouldn’t blast TikToks in your friend’s living room while everyone else is talking, then headphones are the respectful choice. And if you wouldn’t stand nose to shoulder with your nonna while she’s cooking, maybe give people a little bit of space at security.
Treating a shared space like you’re a guest in a home doesn’t just make life easier for everyone, it makes the airport feel a little calmer, a little friendlier, and a lot more human.
3. Learning to Speak Human, Not Perfect
Something magical happens when you try to communicate in someone else's language. You go from being a normal adult to sounding like a toddler, and that’s fine it’s part of the learning process.
In Brazil (and anywhere that doesn’t speak your native language), I learned that you can make people feel respected by trying. Even if the sentences are broken, even if you mix two words you really shouldn’t have. Like that time I tried to ask for bread, but apparently pronounced it in a way that means something very different, very not PG, and very not something you ask for at a bakery. The woman behind the counter blinked, my partner choked back a laugh, and I stood there smiling like a tourist who meant well.
People appreciate the effort. Travel etiquette is not about fluency, it’s about humility. It’s about meeting others halfway. It’s about saying, I know this is your home, and I want to show up in a way that honors that.
2. Be A Goldfish
Travel shows your true colors when everything goes sideways at once. This would be exactly when your inner gremlin tries to clock in for a full shift.
Being a goldfish is basically your emotional seatbelt. Instead of snapping, pause and consider what you might not know yet. Maybe the line cutter is about to miss something important. Maybe the staff is new and trying their best. Or maybe the universe is simply glitching... it happens.
When you choose curiosity over chaos, you stay calm. You stop lugging around a personal thundercloud. You remember almost none of this is personal. It’s very Ted Lasso coded, believe the best, assume kind intent, and let the nonsense float away after ten seconds.
It makes travel feel less like a battlefield and more like a bunch of humans figuring things out side by side. And that is a much nicer way to move through the world.
1. The Leave It Better Rule
This might be the easiest travel rule ever, because it’s basically the grown-up version of “clean up your toys before you leave the room”. Wherever you land, aim to leave it a tiny bit better than you found it. Not in a superhero way, in a human way.
Now, I’m not asking you to scrub grout with a toothbrush or reorganize the minibar alphabetically in your accommodation. It’s about tiny moves that make someone else’s day a touch easier. Like, pick up that napkin that tried to escape your pocket. Push your chair back in so the next person doesn’t have to do the awkward crab side shuffle. Recycle your empty water bottle instead of letting it roll around like a lonely bowling pin. And at your stay, piling your towels in one spot is the simplest little “I see you and I appreciate you” moment for the housekeeping team.
These are microscopic choices that no one will applaud you for. You will not get a medal. You will not get a parade. Not even a sparkly sticker. But they make a place feel cared for, like you noticed it exists beyond your vacation.
When you travel with this mindset, you stop being a visitor and start being part of the energy of the place. You become the reason someone else has a slightly smoother day. And all those tiny good decisions follow you home, which is kind of the best souvenir you could bring back.
It’s not about perfection or polishing your halo. It’s just remembering that someone else will step into the space you just lived in, and leaving it a touch better is the kindest parting gift you can give.
Everywhere Is Someone’s Home
I used to think travel created a different version of me. A bolder me, a whimsical me, and a more patient me.
But travel doesn’t invent a new you, it spotlights the one you already are. If you are thoughtful at home, you are thoughtful abroad. If you are a little chaotic at home, congratulations, you are probably bringing that same lovable chaos through customs. If you try to be considerate even when no one is watching, that energy follows you across borders.
Travel isn’t just about seeing new places. It’s about how you move through those places. How you read the room. How you carry your backpack like it’s a potential weapon of mass inconvenience. How you avoid turning into a human Roomba. How you choose curiosity instead of instant rage. How you try, mess up, laugh about it, and do better the next time.
Being a good guest is not about being perfect, and it’s definitely not about pretending to be a local. It’s about remembering that everywhere you go is someone’s everyday life. You are stepping into their routines, their spaces, their corners of the world that existed long before your plane landed.
The truth is, good guest energy follows you home too. It shifts how you see people. It softens your reactions. It makes the world feel less chaotic and more like a place we are all borrowing from each other.
So pack your snacks and sunscreen and questionable Portuguese. Be curious. Be considerate. Be a goldfish. And most importantly, be the kind of traveler who leaves the world a little better than you found it.
That is the energy you take with you long after the trip ends.
