When you visit a new city, you want to believe that you’ll get everything right. Even with all the planning in the world, research long enough to write a novel, and tips from experts and locals, you’re still going to make mistakes. And that’s okay.

In fact, it’s more than okay, because it’s part of what makes travelling such an adventure. Most times, these mistakes are minor, and you’ll get to look back on your trip and learn. I’ve been lucky enough to head back to Paris a few times now and made up for the ways I went wrong.

Want to learn from my Paris mistakes?

Keep reading and hopefully your first trip to Paris won’t feature the same mistakes that I made.

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• If you’ve been walking a minimum of ten minutes longer than you’re expecting to, stop and ask for directions. If you’ve got a phone on you, that’s even better. That’s when you should consult a map before you get too far. Exploring a city by getting lost is a great option. However, if you’re there for a while, that’s a lot of walking. Those extra kilometres can end up being a pain (literally). Admit defeat and get back on the right path with a quick question or a check of your phone

• If you’re going a long distance, take the Metro. While walking is a charming option, it can get exhausting. If you’re there for a while, you’ll want to conserve some energy. Take the widely-available metro for those long hauls that would take up over an hour to walk. You can check out the Paris metro map here if you want to prepare in advance.

• Don’t wait in line to buy your museum tickets. Buy the Paris Museum Pass (after you assess whether the value makes sense), or buy them online beforehand. That will save you time waiting in line to purchase. You can also find out if there are multiple entrances. For example, the Louvre has a back entrance that you can sneak into instead of going through the one at the pyramids, which will buy you more time in the museums and not in the lines.

• Don’t miss out on extra hours and don’t get caught by surprise with museum closures. Many museums in Paris have days off, but not always the same, so you’ll have to do a little research beforehand just to check. However, that research might also yield amazing benefits — for example, finding out the Louvre has evening hours a few days a week when it’s much quieter to explore. Not taking advantage of them is a mistake no one should make more than once.
  
• It might feel a little like homework, but you should do at least a little research before you go. It goes with the above note. Little things can catch you off guard. These things include closures, hours of operation, or even strike actions taking place. Then, there’s things that you might miss and kick yourself over.

• Break in your shoes before you go. This is a huge mistake that I made when a pair of new shoes gave me a blister that was so bad that I was forced to visit pharmacies, bandage my foot heavily, and only wear one pair of sandals for the remainder of the trip (spent limping). Don’t be like me. Break in a pair of comfortable shoes before you go to avoid your toes or the rest of your feet suffering the same feat.

• Lastly, and this may sound like a mistake you won’t make, but don’t forget to eat. Sometimes, you can get so swept up in what’s going on around you, standing in lines, visiting museums, parks, and more, that you forget to nourish yourself. Don’t be like me in that regard. I’ve definitely missed meals by getting so laser focused on seeing as much as I could. That means I wound up paying too much for snacks that didn’t even taste as good as they could have. This also goes to the above point — do your research and come up with some back pocket snack options for where you’ll be.

Is your trip to Paris going to be perfect? Probably not. However, you can work to reduce the amount of stress that you’ll experience on your first trip so that you come away feeling like you have to return not because your first trip was a disappointment or ruined, but simply because there’s just so much more to see.