Having backpacked, suitcased and travelled with the wife across Europe, the South Pacific and Mexico, one thing I always do is get blazingly tired and hungry and end up at McDonald’s. I know I know, you should never eat at McDonald’s when you travel, that’s why you must learn the menu of the countries you are visiting.

Traveling in a country that doesn’t do English can lead to what I call “Fatigue Burgers”. Fatigue Burgers occur when you are really tired and really hungry and every menu you read looks like gibberish. So as you stumble from window to window looking for the French word for "Moons Over My Hammy" you will inevitably come across a McDonald’s, which will beckon you with its familiar point-to-order menu. As you sit with a bunch of other deranged Americans enjoying your junk food chemical burst and sanity begins to return, a little twinge of guilt also joins the senses.

That’s why when traveling, it is important to learn the basic foods you are comfortable eating. Learn the words for chicken, beef, potato or whatever main foods you can pretty much eat with anything. That way when you look at those infinitely confusing menus on the go you will be able to identify something that should at least be edible. “But they are in my guidebook” you say? Sometimes you can be so tired not even that will come to mind. After walking the Vatican Museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Coliseum and the Roman Forum all before lunch you can become a two-year-old kid who needs a nap pretty quick. Memorize your basic foods, some of their snack foods and popular dishes and life will become much easier.