25 Travel Tips
Everyone Should Know

Skip to What to pack, Travel safety tips,
General tips, Hiking & trekking tips

What to do before you travel

1. Choose the right destination. Don’t pick somewhere on the other side of the planet if you only have one week, as you will spend too many days travelling and getting acclimatised. Look for countries that suit your budget. Even if you do everything you can to save money in some places you will still end up spending £150 a day, while in others, such as Nepal, you can survive on £30. See safety below.

2. Don’t try to do it all. Unless you have several months it’s better to explore one country properly, or one region of a very large country such as India, than to spend too much time on the road and always be in a hurry. Plan your itinerary within the country carefully and be selective, depending on your interests.

3. VISAs and vaccinations. Check the requirements carefully well in advance.

4. Email yourself a picture of your passport and any other essential documents.

5. Booking accommodation. Only book the first couple of nights and the last before leaving home. Otherwise you will have zero flexibility to alter your schedule depending on whether you like or don’t like a place, how long activities take, if you experience travel delays or bad weather, get ill or have an injury, or if you meet nice people.

6. Choose your companions carefully. Go with people with similar interests. Sometimes do things separately.

7. Solo travel has big benefits: go wherever you like, whenever you like, and do whatever takes your fancy. You will meet lots of people on the way and talk to more locals. Stay in hostels.

What to pack for your trip

8. Travel lightly. You should be able to walk down a road without struggling with your bags. You don’t need all the things you use in everyday life, and opportunities for washing and drying clothes can be limited. Pack once, testing how full and heavy your bag is, then repack, cutting out everything you can. Every unnecessary item you leave at home will make your trip easier. You can always buy a few extra things once you are there. On your return note everything you didn’t use even once.

9. But don’t forget the essentials. Bring all the usual things, and consider the following. Stuff sacks: to organise things in your bag. Earplugs and an eye mask: invaluable for dorms, noisy buses, camping, etc. A dry bag: so that your electronics, passport and toilet paper don’t get wet. Enough warm layers in cold climates. Waterproof trousers: very useful for treks and they don’t need washing.

10. Hiking boots/ trainers. It’s worth investing in good quality, comfortable footwear. Check them out before you leave.

11. Trousers with zipped pockets. Useful for security and essential for treks, on which you just can’t afford to lose your phone, wallet or compass. The more pockets the better.

12. Cover up in the sun. Rather than continuously having to apply suncream bring light trousers, a long-sleeved top and a sun hat. Even if you prefer t-shirts and shorts you will end up with cuts and scratches if the terrain is rough, insect bites, bad tan lines and get cold if the weather changes.

Travel safety tips

13. The country. Check your government’s foreign office website and do some general research to ascertain if a country is safe enough. You are on holiday: being in fear or having the worst happen is not fun.

14. The region. Find out if a particular region or city is dangerous, or only so after dark. Consult fellow travellers and locals when you arrive. Don’t ignore the advice, but do take calculated risks if there are outstanding attractions.

15. Valuables. Don’t flash expensive phones or cameras in cities. Leave your jewellery at home. Back up all your data before you leave.

16. Payment cards and ATMS. Find out what your card provider will charge you for foreign transactions. Take more than one card and leave one in the hotel safe. Find out whether it’s generally possible to pay by card and how common ATMs are. Only carry the cash you need for the day.  However, in remote areas it’s better to carry lots of cash (eg $500) than to be forced to make a long journey to an ATM or to go hungry!

General tips for travellers

17. Buy a local SIM card. Google maps, for example, is invaluable. Some places might have a good signal (even quite remote ones these days) but the accommodation might not have WiFi.

18. Food and drink hygiene. Take a bottle with a water filter plus purification tablets. Avoid tap water, ice, salads and fruit if necessary, and badly-cooked meals. Always carry diarrhoea tablets, as these really work if things go wrong.

19. Talk to the locals. Meeting people is just as important as seeing the places.

20. Language. Even a few words of the local tongue will make a big difference to how well you are received. Download Google translate.

21. Camping. Sometimes everywhere is booked up, or only expensive places or ones far off your route are available. Camping is convenient and cheap (you could buy all the equipment for the price of a week’s accommodation or less). Wild camping is a great experience.

22. What you will learn: That most people in the world are lovely. The plusses and minuses of where you live in comparison.

Hiking & trekking tips

23. Navigation. Take a guidebook or a map, and download an app, but only one that works offline. Apps can be better than maps because they show your exact location down to metres. Make sure you bring enough spare batteries and a waterproof sack.

24. Foot & body care. If you are walking a lot, even for one long day, it is far better to prevent blisters than to have to treat them. In addition to good footwear wear a thin sock liner and a thick outer sock. When I did the Camino de Santiago (25+k per day, for a month) at first I got terrible blisters and experienced painful sores on my body. Then someone told me to put Vaseline on the bottom of my feet, and anywhere else where rubbing might occur, every morning, and I never had a problem again. Don’t ignore consistent pain or the problem will only get worse. If you do you might fail to complete your trek or have to deal with a longer term injury.

25. Take a trekking pole or two. These are not just for old people! They help you go uphill, downhill (saving the knees), aid your balance whilst crossing rivers, allow you to check the ground (mud, water, snow) before you commit, exercise your upper body and keep dogs and yaks away!

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