Follow the Locals

Have you ever visited a foreign country (or city) and weren’t sure about how to handle a certain situation or to simply find the best local food?

I’ve found the best strategy to be: “adopt a local”!

Yes, you can look things up in Google or Yelp to get reviews, but it’s SO much better if you can talk directly with someone that is native to the area and ask them for their advice.

I remember my first trip to Istanbul, where my (new best) local friend told me – “You don’t want to get the kebab here, get it THERE!” …and it was fabulous!

In this video, I’m highlighting one of the local recommendations for tackling altitude sickness: coca leaves. I was fortunate to get to spend a week in Lima, Peru for work and took the opportunity to visit Machu Picchu (on my bucket list).

Yes, I bought the very cool tourist hat, as the altitude and sun at MP can do some damage to my not-so-protected head.

The locals recommend drinking the coca tea and chewing on the leaves (they even have a basket of leaves in the airport when you first arrive in Cusco).

Of course there is a fun follow-on story, but I’ll leave that for when I see you next…

Hire John to speak at your next meeting, conference or retreat about managing stress on the road (or at home)!