Whenever you’re looking to travel, it’s always worthwhile to do a little due diligence and read up ahead of time – whether looking at cultural differences, looking at the most recommended locations to visit or things that you’d be better off avoiding – a question that’s often asked with this however is in regard to rules that are often regarded as quite strict, are they something to be followed to the book or is there a little leeway? We’ll take a look at whether or not following rules whilst on the road could hurt your experience, or if it’s worth staying on the safer side of things to avoid any potential issues on your journey.
The first to note is always that laws are laws and getting around them comes at your own risk – this is something that has become particularly noteworthy in countries that aren’t afraid to deport visitors who choose to ignore what’s in place. The most common over the past eighteen months has come in the form of mask mandates as stories have flooded feeds of those who ignored these mandates and found themselves in a spot of bother, but also extends to things like gaming as a list of examples here show a growing number of popular gaming sites that are playable, but certain apps too like VPN’s need to be monitored for online usage too. Another big one is social media as not all countries allow all platforms and getting around restrictions could land you in trouble.
When it comes to cultural expectations and what you should and shouldn’t do, this is where things become muddied – expectations have certainly changed over the years and tourists are often given a little more leeway that they may have once done, but if you’re planning to stay in one location f or a longer period of time it’s certainly worth following the rules more as something strict rather than something to be considered – in certain locations like Dubai, this could be something as simple as holding hands in public – whilst it isn’t illegal, you may get stopped for doing so, and whilst attitudes towards public displays of affection are a little more relaxed for tourists in some occasions, if you’re staying for longer you’ll want to make sure you fit in more and avoid anything that will make you seem more like a tourist.
There’s a lot of grey area here for what you should and shouldn’t be doing – best bet is to follow any concrete information you can find, if there’s anything you come across that has some uncertainty then it may be worth posting on public forums for locals and getting their opinion, but you don’t want to be caught out and land yourself in a spot of trouble simply for not reading up ahead of time.
