t’s a big world and there’s a lot of tips out there, what works in the Netherlands may not work in Kenya or Thailand. However, there’s a general thread of travel hacks that have been crowdsourced the hard way. Those lessons (where you get burned) often have the deepest impact. I just put it down to the price of my education.
Like everyone else I’ve had my share of missteps and scams while traveling, and have developed a few of my hacks or tips I’m always glad to share.
1. Shop less abroad
Most things I want I can buy on Amazon at home. Filling up my limited suitcase space with travel crap is both pointless and a drain financially. My nightmare is dragging around an obese suitcase full of florescent David and Eiffel tower statues, Norwegian sweaters, and Amsterdam stoner t-shirts all across Europe. The exception being country-specific (authentic) items of real value and of course my love of small travel magnets. 😉 Most of the stuff you can buy in travel ghettos comes from China anyway. If you love it THAT much – ship it home.
2. Spend less on hotels
The first criteria is the location. Doesn’t matter how beautiful the hotel is, or what a great bargain, if it’s far from the action you may as well be vacationing on the moon. It will take taxis, buses, or trams to get you into the center. While that might seem like financial savings – it’s rarely a good value since the value can be equated with how much fun you have in the limited time of your visit. I’d rather walk out my door and be right in the action.
Additionally, I love luxury. Give me a big clawfoot tub and a bubble bath and I’m in heaven. But when traveling on longer trips it’s fine to give up some of those luxuries for just a room with a bed – as the real draw is the city outside – hotel money saved can be spent on having fun in the destination. We don’t travel halfway around the world to lounge around a Hilton in a white waffle robe. We come to explore Rome!
3. Don’t hunt your food
I know some people are foodies, I respect that. I’ve just never had much luck finding great food abroad. I’ve been to 5-star Tripadvisor recommendations, guidebook-secret-finds and even some Michelin Star restaurants. While I appreciate the artistry, the pairings of food with wine – honestly it often just seems like a far overpriced and under-proportioned (and under yummy) experience.
I’m happy eating street food, tapas restaurants, and bar fare that’s filling and has a little atmosphere. A big plate of spaghetti or Thai curry for Euro 15 makes me happy in a way that 4 bites of seared reindeer with 22 arctic peas and a few drops saffron sauce for Euro 120 doesn’t.
4. Be wary of TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor – a great resource for getting an idea of the main sites, and their forum is probably the best on the web for getting straight answers that aren’t as snarky as Lonely Planet’s forum.
But for hotels and restaurants, I pretty much ignore the ratings now. It appears they’re unfortunately being gamed with often fake (like Amazon) reviews – they’ve lost my trust. I’m not going to spend 30 min in a taxi to cross a town to have another average meal that suspiciously got the highest ratings in the city. I hope they can fix their trust issues, but until then, I just follow the locals and eat where they do.
5. Cheap airfares aren’t bargains
That initial rush you get when you see a great fare from Asia to Europe is thrilling. It’s also misleading as that fare will probably be the smallest part of your overall travel budget. It’s a great lure to get you to travel but it’s the hotels and daily spending that makeup 80%+ of your spend. You can read an article I recently wrote about this where I breakdown my overall travel budget to prove this: Saving money on travel, forget the cheap airfare.
6. Don’t rush…
That initial high you get when you land in a new place is exciting, adrenaline-pumping, you want to see everything, experience all of it, right now! I tend to take longer trips (2 – 3 months) and I’ve realized I just can’t wear myself out trying to see too much each day. If I’m in a city for three days I’ll try to get up early when the light is best for photographing (skip breakfast) and see a few sites, then take a nice long lunch, return to the hotel for a nap or swim, then head back out in the evening to catch the light at sunset and hit some bars.
The point being, that taking a break mid-day helps you decompress, and assimilate all the new stuff you’re seeing. I enjoy the cocoon of my hotel and an afternoon nap surrounded by pillows. Then back out into the thick of it.
7. Take better photos
First, don’t feel embarrassed to take a photo. You’re probably in a city that has millions of tourist per year and any photo that can be taken has been taken thousands of times. Additionally, you’re probably surrounded by hundreds of other tourists interested in doing exactly what you’re doing – snapping photos and selfies.
Chances are you will NEVER see any of these people again in your lifetime. So, if you see something special, that you want to capture pick up your phone or camera and snap away.
If you feel shy or embarrassed you’ll probably either just take one photo (which will end up being crooked or blurry), or you’ll take a bunch of quick photos of the same thing hoping at least one will come out. This leads to its unique brand of pain which comes when you try to delete the duplicates. How can you decide which is the absolute best? You end up with a phone full of duplicate photos.
I’ve learned it’s better to take a deep breath, commit myself to stand in a place for 2 or 3 minutes – A better photo often just means taking more time, time to really look around you, look at the light, the background (is it busy or plain), looking for power-lines, parked cars, other things your eyes normally overlook but the camera captures. Time to see what’s beautiful about a scene and then move however much it takes to capture it. I’d rather have fewer truly good photos than a ton of average ones.
Paying attention to the light, what’s in the background of your subject, rule of thirds, and how your subject fills the frame all can help with a better end product.
Some people feel they should ask people for permission to take their photo, I try to stay out of peoples space, but I never ask, the street in most countries are public domain and you have no expectation of privacy. The few times people have motioned they don’t want their photo taken I’ve gladly moved on with no hurt feelings. That’s just how it goes.
A great primer on the fundamentals of photography by John Greengo is worth the money. (Note: I have no affiliation, I just really enjoyed the class)
8. Get in shape before a long trip
If you have a phone (and chances are around 100% that you do), you probably have apps that count your steps. On busy days traveling it’s easy to rack up 15,000 – 20,000 steps. This is about the point my body starts to break down, sore feet, tired, grumpy and moody. I’m not an athlete, and 20,000 steps is a lot of walking.
In the weeks leading up to a long trip, I like to do 1hr on the treadmill daily just to increase my overall stamina for those grueling walks all across Paris.
9. Check out Instagram
I’m not a big fan of the fake Instagram photos with added clouds and blue skies, the candy colors and overall fiction that everyone is a little Paris Hilton. That each travel blogger is living off a yacht and stopping on the shore just to drink champagne and party in the city like little kings. Get real. These people are selling a lifestyle brand that is just about impossible to mimic and chasing fame (or dosh). It’s a business with location scouts, a photographer, and some serious post-processing.
Instead, I like to search for a city on Instagram to find photos of places I might want to visit. Often I’ve traveled to a place, only to realize later I missed out on some fantastic spots when I saw them on Instagram. Other people have always been there before you, so it’s worthwhile to take a quick peek and see what they’ve found.
10. Relax
When I first started traveling, I’d make a long list of every place in a city or region I wanted to see, then restaurants, bars, experiences. Then I’d plot them out per day – breaking it into day vs night. That was my travel plan.
Now I just put a bunch of pins in my Google Map and whenever I am I can take a quick look around for something close that seems fun. It beats crossing a city to stay on schedule and being a slave to an itinerary you made on your laptop in bed while watching Netflix 3 months ago.
Traveling with just the map pins and a brief paragraph of the place lets me be more fluid and I normally get to see all the main sites anyway. If I miss one or two? That’s always an incentive to return!
11. A hotel is not your friend
They might be comfortable, an oasis to return to, to recover from over-stimulation but they’re also notorious for wringing every Euro, Dollar, or Peso out of you they can. I seldom eat hotel buffets, and god forbid a dinner buffet. There’s no ambiance, no authenticity, you over-eat and overpay.
I also empty my minibar as soon as I arrive, and stock it with my fave things from 7eleven or a minimart. Why would I want to pay 5 euro for a bag of chips or 8 euro for a beer or Pellegrino when I can get them for 1/4 of the price just down the street. I’m not a budget traveler, but yikes – the prices they ask are sometimes plain silly.
If you’re not careful, eat a buffet a few times during your stay, return home drunk and order late-night room service and raid the minibar you can easily spend more on the hotel amenities than the cost of the room itself. I’ve learned the hard way. It’s just not a good value – at least regularly.
12. Walk more
Walking is healthy and free. Taxis have become so easy to hail now with a plethora of apps that it’s just too tempting to swipe your screen and get a ride you don’t even need to pull out ‘real money’ at the end. But you miss so much along the way, ending up with blurry photos of a city out of dirty taxi glass.
Walking allows you to stop and photograph whatever you want when you want. Most European cities are quite accessible on foot. If the weather is good – walk. Second up are the new rental bikes and eScooters. These are a lot of fun, and add a different dimension to trekking around town. Taxis should be a last resort or saved for night-time travel or when you have luggage.
13. Find the odd perspective
When standing in front of a big monument. The Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, take the time to walk around it and look for the odd perspective, the weird angles that you might not normally see on picture-perfect postcards.
Adding a different perspective leads to more memorable photos and you’ll often get much better views of the monument and city. Even photographing all the other people photographing the monument can be fun. What’s the point in trying to create the best possible photograph of the same one that’s on every postcard?
14. Plastic water bottle
Refill a plastic water bottle in the airport instead of constantly paying higher prices to buy drinks inside. Unfortunately, now some airports aren’t even allowing you to bring an empty plastic bottle through security. This reeks more of them wanting you to buy inside than it does of safety. But you can always try. I just bring an empty Gatorade bottle and refill from the water fountain vs buying two 3 euro bottles of water. On a long trip where you hit maybe 20 flights, you and your partner just saved Euro 240 and suffered no compromises.
15. Take more tours
I was never a tour person before. I shunned them. I prefer independent travel. However, a good tour can get you to faraway places you might not be able to reach on your own in a single day and see part of the country you would have missed. Like a trip to the Cliffs of Moher from Dublin, or Stonehenge from London. They also give you a break from having the same experience in town each day (walk, eat, photograph, drink, pass out, shower, walk, eat, photograph, drink…)
I avoid the tours I can do myself, I don’t need someone to show me a town I can walk through on my own. But ones that get me out of town when I have limited time are great.
16. Shorter trips with longer stays
I’m the queen of the 90+ day trip. I just love to go and keep going. However, the more travel experience I gather the bigger the appeal for taking shorter trips and staying in each city a little longer. You get to both see more, spend less and it’s less wear on your body/mind.
Six 5 days stays, or 10 three-night stays, that’s a big difference when your goal is to visit every county and territory. But 5 days will give you a much more relaxed itinerary. The downfall, of course, is that every day you ‘live’ in another country costs money. So it’s a trade-off.
I try to give more time to a bigger metropolis, and less time for the smaller capitals and medieval cities. If I love them, I’ll be back.
17. Don’t waste the downtime
When you travel it’s all about hurry up and wait. There are hours spent at airports, waiting in line, traveling by train, laying in the hotel bed recovering or waiting for the nightlife to begin, and of course the long flights.
Don’t waste all that downtime, fill up your phone with an audio-book, work on your writing, blog or journal, even curate your photo and work on social media.
Few things are as depressing as standing in a budget airline line, waiting to check-in and moving your suitcase 1 foot every 5 minutes for 2 hours. Audio-books are a lifesaver as they keep my mind busy in a way that just a music playlist doesn’t.
18. Get comprehensive car insurance
I wasn’t even aware this existed until recently. Unfortunately, there are plenty of dishonest rental agencies that will charge you hundreds of euros for a small scratch on the bottom of their car. Sometimes they don’t even push through the charges to your card until weeks after.
You can get the insurance that will cover all your car rentals, and add a bit of protection from scams. If you’re planning to rent in several countries, totally worth the spend.
19. Travel requires patience and tolerance
Until Star Trek becomes a reality and we can have our atoms beamed across space then we must continue to suffer through archaic travel procedures. Still, it’s like magic compared to how we might have had to travel just 100 years ago.
It’s easy to get annoyed and take it out on others, or your travel partner. If nothing else extended travel will teach your patience and tolerance or it will break you and you’ll learn to love staying at home.
20. Watch out for crazy drinking laws
Beware that some countries have extremely harsh drunk driving laws. In Norway, for example, a single beer can put you over the limit and expose you to big fines and even incarceration. You have to wonder how this works exactly. The point of going to a bar is often to socialize, kick back and have a few pints. With few taxis available in the North, it’s almost impossible to frequent bars unless you can walk to it, but that also sorts itself out as on our trip north there weren’t many bars that I saw. I guess people are doing lots of drinking in their cabins.
However, the same laws exist in their big cities, where there are lots of bars. Again, if you’re not aware of the country-specific laws you could be in for a nasty surprise. It’s illegal to sell a ‘drunk’ person a beer in Sweden. For reals?
Nanny states are always annoying when coming from someplace like the Philippines where we have more freedoms. I don’t condone drunk driving, but really – one beer and you’re over the legal limit?
21. Smiles are free
I’m not a unicorn and butterfly type of girl. So I try not to give out a lot of silly advice like never say no to an experience as you don’t know where the yes can take you. However, a simple smile can go a long way and helping out a bad situation or diffusing something goes awry. It can also help if you’re lost, having ticket problems, need help or trying to figure out which of the 5 ferries you need to be on in 5 minutes.
Acting completely helpless, and showing your big eyes also does wonders. If you have it – use it. People are genuinely helpful once they realize you don’t want anything from them and seem like a nice person – a smile is almost universal and costs you nothing.
But be aware in some countries a smile is somewhat strangely not the norm like Japan, China, Russia, and some Nordic countries. In Japan, they often look more at your eyes to determine your emotions. Here’s an interesting article about it on another site – The Meaning of a Smile in Different Cultures
22. Take the bus?
Trains in Europe are just so romantic. The stations are huge and full of yummy comfort food. The trains are clean and usually, on time, have WIFI and the views fantastic. But, in some countries (especially eastern Europe) buses are far better than trains (and sometimes the only way). Always check to see the bus option before committing to a flight in Eastern Europe. If it’s a 4hr train ride but a 45 min flight you’ll probably do better taking the train, by the time you get to the airport, wait around on both ends, etc. If it’s a 6h bus ride – is it that much of a difference? Take the bus and see the country instead of seeing another airport and the tops of clouds.
23. Reward programs
Sign up for all air travel reward programs, and use the numbers each time you book. If you can pick 2 or 3 that are the most useful – keep using those. You can even sell some of your miles for money when you accumulate enough of them. Online forums like Flyertalk have more information than I could ever type. Credit cards that give travel miles are also awesome.
24. USD still reigns
I’ve read some recent travel bloggers who advise bringing Euro instead of USD as the USD is no longer the world’s standard. As far as I’ve seen that’s just an opinion or political rhetoric. The USD is still the most changeable currency on the road. As long as the bills are clean, not torn, or have even the smallest rip – you should be fine. Note, don’t wrap your bills in rubber bands as that can rip their edges.
When traveling in Africa etc make sure you see what currency they use, obviously Euro is preferable in some countries. I tend to carry both. 70% USD 30% Euro.
25. Use Cash
I use cash whenever I can. I pre-pay for my hotels on Booking.com a few days before I leave, pre-pay as much of my transportation as I can, and then am just left with spending money. I dislike using my credit card for anything on the road. Even when hotels want a deposit I’ll pay with cash as it can sometimes take a long time to release the funds, and a few times I’ve had to follow up long after a trip is over to get the refund.
Some of you earn miles with your card, if so – makes perfect sense to get free miles. But for me, I only have a few cards I can use when traveling, and the more I swipe the more chance someone will use my card illegally. I’ve had it happen twice and it really can screw up a vacation – waiting for them to send a card to the address on file (in the Philippines) then waiting for the PIN code to arrive separately – then having someone FedEx it to wherever I am.
I don’t need to worry about ATM charges, conversion fees, etc. On the other hand – if I ever get robbed, well – then that’s the end of my trip I guess.
26. Wash clothes in the sink
I tend to wash my clothes in the hotel sink each evening. It’s fast, easy and free. I used to use the hotel laundry which is slow, and expensive. Eventually, an upscale hotel in Frankfurt lost my favorite pair of jeans I had for many years and that was it for me. In Europe, the fees for laundry can cost more than the clothes themselves. 11 euro to wash a t-shirt I paid 8 euro for.. Hello?
Every few weeks on the road I might splurge for laundry service to get some of my clothes super clean. But the hotel sink does just fine. You can buy single packets of Woolite or Tide to take with you, also. A universal sink stopper. If you don’t have a stopper a plastic bag wadded up will work almost as well.
I just run very hot water, add half the soap, soak the clothes for a half-hour, then add more soap and give them a good scrub, rinse them with cold water and hang them. The next morning they’re clean, dry and ready to roll.
27. Bid your way to upgrade your airline seat
Some airlines start sending emails out a few weeks before your flight offering to let you bid on an upgraded seat. The website you visit has a meter/gauge with the probability your bid will be accepted. If you offer the minimum USD 150 usually they make it look like you have no chance. But that’s not true.
For long flights (over 10 hr) I’ve tried it a few times and had one success and one failure. If the minimum bit was USD 150 I offered $181 and got a first-class ride with seats that fully reclined in its pod. It was a dream – I didn’t even want to sleep as it felt like such luxury! Worth the price of a night in a hotel.
I don’t know how to hack this system, my thoughts are that the majority of people will bid the minimum USD 150, or $151 – then will jump up to $200, etc. For me, I always use $181 or something close because it’s in between those two so I’ve cut out all the minimum bids – and just hope others aren’t willing to pay $200 or more for a one-way trip. I guess you could offer an odd number like $208 if you want it etc.
28. Perfume Atomizers
I love perfume, but TSA doesn’t seem to like my big bottles, nor does my suitcase. I’ve been using Travalo perfume atomizers for the last few years and love them. You can’t just pour your perfume into any smaller bottle – once the perfume mixes with oxygen it starts to degrade. You need to keep it sealed. Thus the appeal of the much smaller atomizer. You pull off the cap of your perfume bottle, put the atomizer on top and simply pump it up and down until it’s full. One Travalo lasts me for about a month of daily use. So I normally carry two.
On the final flight back home I stock up on the big bottles in the Duty-Free shops, at that point there’s not very long to carry it around.
29. Use hotel safes – but with some caution
Apparently, it’s pretty easy to get into some hotel safes, I’ve seen videos where you can just hit the safe with your fist on the top to open it, also hotel staff in some dodgy countries can get in with a key or default code. I prefer to spread my money and valuable around.
Most of my valuables tend to go in my Rimowa suitcase (locked), with a band that goes around it (locked) and a small wire lock I place to a piece of furniture. Anyone who wants to get in my suitcase is not going to be able to do it discreetly.
If you have a travel partner, mixing up your money with their suitcase and carrying some pretty much guarantees you’re going to be fine. My travel partner also has some of these cool Speakeasy boxer briefs with a zipper in them and pocket. Now, I know I’m sounding paranoid at this point – but some countries you’re more likely to get into trouble than others.
30. Changing money
Always check the exchange rate via an app on your phone and get the quote from the money changer before they take your money. They should hand you a piece of paper with the rate and final exchange rate before u hand over your cash… Sometimes, as in Italy, they will trick you – by asking to count your money, to see if it’s real and then refuses to give it back if you don’t like their horrible rate. I threatened to get the police involved as the agent offered me half the worth of the money and she just shrugged. However, when I pointed my camera-phone at her she hid her face and ran to the back.
31. Become a bookkeeper
No glasses required – just use an app on your phone (I use Checkbook to record spending and Currency app to show exchange), or even a simple notepad on your device to record EVERY single yen, dollar, peso or euro you spend… You don’t have to be detailed… If I’m at a bar I might put 47 – beer, 12 mini-mart, 10 taxies… That’s good enough.
Once you have it in the app or spreadsheet you can track your average daily spending in each city, country, and region. You can use this to plan your next trip and even see where some of your money might be wasted.
Surprisingly some of my highest daily rates are in the cheaper countries because things seem so inexpensive I buy and splurge more, whereas if I’m in a Nordic country I understand things are expensive and am more frugal.
32. Game Booking.com
You can use booking.com to book your hotels early (up to 6 months or more), use the pay at hotel option and free cancellation – now you’ve secured your room. Then a few weeks before your trip go back to those hotels on booking.com and see if there’s a cheaper rate if you pay immediately.
Often if you used the ‘pay at hotel option’ you might get something like USD 635 for 3 nights, but just a few weeks before your booking you can get a pay now option for $560… You can also get breakfast included and if you’ve booked a lot of hotels this can save a lot. Other times there is no difference in price, an increase, or just a negligible amount USD 20 or so…
Still, it’s worth a try. I’ve saved more than $700 on longer trips.
33. Medical
If you’re in Asia and need medical attention, and you’re in an expensive country like Japan or Singapore – sometimes it’s better to just fly to Bangkok get world-class treatment at a hospital like Bumrungrad – you can trust them, and it’s affordable. Same goes for poorer countries with dodgy care. Just take the flight out. Even in the Philippines, if I need real care – I fly to Bangkok where they still have a better overall system. This is assuming you don’t have travel health insurance – which you should and is often mandatory for some visas. I use Pacific Cross Travel Safe Insurance – you can buy it right online.
34. Get rid of your currency before you get rid of the country
Spend all of you local currency before leaving the country you’re in, it’s very difficult (sometimes impossible) to change once outside of the country. Usually, it’s cheapest to change it back to USD or EUR instead of the next countries currency. If you go to a place like Egypt and forget – good luck finding someone to exchange it – you’ll end up with some expensive souvenir Monopoly money.
35. Leave your PHP at home
Don’t carry Philippines Peso with you, hardly anyone will take it, and they’ll reduce the worth by 30% or more. Just transfer it to dollars or Euro before you leave the PI. Also, there is some kind of arcane restriction at the airport that you can’t carry out more than 10,000 PHP – or I guess they can confiscate it… So if you have more than that leftover, by the time u get to the departure point of MNL airport – just divide it up with your partner so you both have less than 10k. I’ve never been asked.
36. Be honest instead of polite
You walk out of your hotel and someones there on the street trying to sell you something you know you’ll never want or need, like a tour to the local gem shop or some other rip-off plan they’ve dreamed up. Don’t say maybe later or tomorrow just say no thanks and keep walking. If you say anything else they will often use that tomorrow to hassle you the next day. They can occasionally be quite aggressive if you’re a girl and they can see they’re guilting you. A simple no is the way to go. Give them NO HOPE.
37. Theft
We normally think of pick-pockets as nimble men that circulate and crowds, bump you and there goes your wallet. Or a razor blade to your backpack or purse. But that’s not true in all parts of the world. In Asia, it’s often a bunch of small kids that come to you with their hand open and out – looking for some money, and then you’ll feel one tiny hand reach into your pocket or purse from behind… I tend to use the force-field method of keeping my hands out to keep them all at a distance, or to keep my hands inside my pockets to keep this practice down. While I’ve never been pickpocketed on the street, I’ve known people personally that have been. It often leaves a bad taste in their mouth about the city they’ve visited, when it’s just an extremely small minority of criminals. Keep your purse strapped across your chest and in front of you.
38. Bye-bye cash
Some countries in Europe (especially northern) are phasing out money. You’ll need at least a visa debit to go to some grocery stores and restaurants. If you have only cash you’re out of luck. The thing is, it’s not always clear until the bill comes or you’re at the checkout register. It’s an embarrassing lesson to learn that will leave you checking the bottom of the menu for the cashless warning, or looking at the outside of the grocer to see if it’s card only.
I can’t imagine traveling without some cash. Cards get lost, stolen, malfunction and more often skimmed and you’re left in a foreign country with no access to cash unless you have a bunch of cards.
I’m guessing this trend will continue as governments continue to phase out money so they can track your spending and earnings much easier. Already the 500 Euro note has been phased out. A real bummer – as we had problems changing ours a few years ago in Europe. Who wants to carry a wad of 20 or 50 euro notes around if you can just pack a few 500 notes and break them down easier on the road. There’s plenty of reasons to carry large notes when taking long trips rather then evil uses or money laundering the govts promote. No matter how they brainwash you to think otherwise. Anyway – watch out for these cashless places that are creeping up quickly.
39. Are RTW tickets still a good deal?
It used to be that RTW tickets like OneWorld use to be the best option, but now there are so many low-cost carriers and options of trains that I wonder if you can’t get a better deal going point-by-point travel. Getting a ticket from Bangkok to Copenhagen for $220, Copenhagen to Iceland for under $100, Iceland to America for under $150, From Amsterdam to Lebanon for $75, etc. It’s hard to look at the USD 3,500 – 6,000 prices for RTW tickets and wonder if it makes sense… I guess if you’re trying to reach rather expensive locations – Moscow, Cape Town, Argentina, it can make sense. But point-to-point travel using major hubs like Hong Kong, Paris, Frankfurt, Bangkok can lead to some cheap itineraries.
40. Supplements and prescriptions
If you’re on medication bring your RX with you from your doctor. I don’t worry so much if they’re absolutely up to date, but you might want to depending on the country your visiting. I’ve never been asked. More concerning are vitamin and supplements. For instance, between my partner and I (who loves supplements) we take 15+ pills a day. Stored in individual little plastic pill packs. On a 90 day trip that’s a lot of pills 1,350… It takes up a significant amount of room, about half of a shoebox.
I’ve had customs look a few times at my mound of pills but never say anything. There’s no way to bring the bottles as 15 supplement bottles would take up too much room. Instead, I take photos of the bottle with the pill it contains right outside of it. Then I also take pictures when we line all them up before a trip… That’s an hour-long endeavor – making 15 rows of 90 pills. At least they can visually understand what’s going on.
I’ve never been questioned, and hope that day never comes. On the good side, as the trip progresses and you take your supplements your space opens up for more souvenirs
41. Digital locker
Before I go on any trip I scan in every document as a PDF, there are phone apps for that as well. Then I create folders for each stop in my iCloud account and all PDFs sit in there – plane tickets, hotel reservations, tickets, and tours. Along with all my data – credit cards, passport, primary tickets, yellow fever vaccination, etc.
I can easily access them at the airport to show my tickets and I never have to worry about missing anything – it’s all in iCloud. Not on my phone which could get lost or stolen.
- HInt: just uploading it to iCloud isn’t enough. You have to open it once you’re your phone so it’s in local memory. Otherwise, you can’t open it at the airport or wherever unless you have access to wifi.
- Also, take photos of both the front and back as often the back has the phone numbers to call.
42. Tipping
Take 5 min and use Google to check the tipping recommendations for the country you’re traveling to. Some countries like the US pretty much demand a high percentage. Other EU and Asian countries don’t expect it, and might even be put off if you do it. Or just leave change on the table. Other countries it’s normal to round it up. But round it up to what? Other places will automatically add a service charge to your bill. And still, other countries have started expecting tips from foreigners in tourist areas. It gets pretty confusing.
Dinner is usually expensive enough. I think the restaurants should pay a fair wage to their staff and not depend on patrons to make up the difference. What are you paying for? Someone walking from the kitchen to your table and putting down a plate of food?. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
I try not to over-tip and I guess don’t under-tip either.
43. Bargain without losing your cool
When bargaining and someone starts with 300 Baht, I’ll instantly ask for 2/3 less: 100 baht. They’ll usually drop to 50% pretty quickly (150 Baht), and we can meet in the middle – maybe 120 baht. Sometimes it can feel insulting though when you know something is worth 100 baht and they open with 800 baht. Instead of getting angry or insulting them – just walk away. If you’ve already been bargaining and they won’t budge, again – just walk away. If they let you go then it probs means you’ve hit their rock-bottom price. The price they need to make a profit on their investment. Most all the authentic goods you’re trying to buy are most likely made in China anyway – so just walk a block away, find the same item and you’ll now know the real price and can bargain more effectively.
On the other hand, if you’re in Bangkok bargaining with a taxi, and they’re opening bid is crazy high, feel free to give them the virtual finger and walk to the next taxi, some places have taxi mafia and their only business is scamming you. As a general rule, never approach a parked taxi – they’re waiting for suckers. Flag down one in motion and get them to use the meter. Meters can be wrong too, tho rare – I’ve had it happen twice.
Also, look at the money when you give it to them and say it out loud – I’ve also fallen victim to taxis switching my big bill for a smaller one.. (that’s always fun) 😉
44. Be prepared to sweat
If you travel be prepared to sweat and be out of your comfort zone. Travel and comfort are not synonymous. Travel can be taxing and draining. Laying in bed, with the air conditioning on high and buried in feather duvets while watching Netflix, surfing on my laptop with some bubble water and a snack is about the most comfortable I’ve ever been. Second, up would be a hot bath or a good deep massage. Travel is like – er… none of these things, you have stressors of getting to the train or airport on time, hot days in the sun, lots of walking and wear on your body, getting lost, your brain getting attacked by a million bits of colors, movement, and sounds. Travel is NOT comfortable. It’s not something that comes to you. You have to work for it, go out and get it, spend for it even suffer for the experiences. Even if you stay in the nicest accommodations and eat the best food and are carried around on Palanquins and litters – travel will still be hard. Deal with it.
45. Don’t try to recreate a previous travel experience
Maybe you took a trip before to Angkor Wat, alone. Now, you’re going with your travel partner. Scrap trying to recreate those magical nights from your first trip because the place has probably changed and so have you. I’ve often found myself chasing the past, trying to recreate something for someone else – or just looking for familiarity. But that excitement you first had in a new place is gone and can’t be fabricated on demand. It can feel disheartening.
Instead of rushing around to the places that moved you, focus on your partner – and what they’re seeing through their eyes, and follow the direction they want to go. Really, who wants to pay for the same trip twice, the past is the past. Let it be and discover a new Cambodia instead.
46. Reduce expectations
It’s impossible to have NO expectations. When you’re headed to a new place you probably already have positive (and sometimes negative) perceptions of what you’ll find there. Think Berlin will have the best nightlife on earth? Think Paris will be quaint and look like a pastel Instagram filter? Think India will be nothing bout touts torturing you?
Whatever your expectations – you’re ripe for making those come true (the negative ones) or being let down when you discover that Paris is flooded with tourists and Berlin is a lot of people standing around on street corners eating slices of pizza and getting drunk, or the big clubs have door checks and you might not make the cut.
If there’s one expectation that’s good to carry with you, it’s that the new places you’re about to see are probably nothing like you imagine them to be. Enjoy them for what they are.
47. Write it down
Daily. We love to travel but when the party is over we’re left with a few photos and fewer fleeting memories. An entire day can be reduced to 20 min seeing some monument, or a week into a couple of quick snapshots pieced together in your head. We just lose a lot of information. Writing down your day can help you remember what you did that day. Day by day. Who knows how you can use that later, a blog, a book, giving advice to another traveler or just reading back over a trip 10yr later.
48. Things will always go wrong
Regardless of meticulous planning, expect the unexpected and when it happens don’t freak. Roll with it. I have a hard and fast rule that I never run that I borrowed from Cary Grant. When you run you’re out of control, you’re sending messages to your body that you’ve lost control, flooding your body with adrenaline, causing the fight or flight mechanism to kick in. It’s all bad for you, bad for your immune system, bad for chronic inflammation. And just feels bad.
If I’m in an airport and it took 90 min longer than it should have to get through immigration – my gate is closing in 10 min and it’s a mile away – so be it. I’m not going to run across the airport like a horror movie victim. I’ll walk, and if I miss it, then I’ll catch the next flight. Never run!
49. Sometimes you need to be a zombie
In some countries, people have made scamming you into an art form. Like I think they’ve gotten a degree in psychology – they always know what buttons to push to make you feel squeamish and guilty. The fact is, you’re probably a nice person when someone says hello you naturally want to say hello in return. If someone’s following you or harassing you it’s not in your nature to stop, confront them to tell them to stop. Visiting the Giza Pyramids is a great example of an instance where you will be hounded from the second you enter the gates until the moment you leave it.
If you don’t respond or just shake your head no and don’t make eye contact your likely to hear some harsh words ‘Ah, you think you’re too good to talk to me!‘. Again, they’re just looking for a reaction, and angle in – trying to guess your nationality (language) so they can make their sales pitch. It’s very difficult at first to say no, (or nothing at all), but it’s more distressing to have guys following you and pressuring you.
Some travel bloggers will tell you to say yes to everything, smile at everyone, feel bad for people doing rough jobs – but please, go to Giza and tell me how that strategy worked for you. Especially on a. hot day with lots of walking under the grueling sun.
Sometimes I simply put in my headphones, turn on some music and if anyone says anything insistent I just point to my ears and keep going and I always wear sunglasses. I have no earthly idea what they’re saying and they know they’re not being heard so they (usually) move on to an easier target
50. Travel is supposed to be fun, if it’s not fun – go home
Sometimes long trips turn out to be too long. If you find that cities are blurring together, you’re getting fatigued or sick, and you’re not enjoying the trip, then what are you paying for? Travel is expensive, if it’s not fun, just go home and live to fight another day. My partner and I did this last year – we were supposed to end our Trip in Ibiza and Santorini – but he had just had enough for one trip. That’s cool – now we’ve planned a follow-up trip for next year when we can hit it fresh.
