Traveling Wisdom

Share traveling tips, your wisdom, what you've learned from your experiences and mistakes!

A few travel tips tops and warnings

• If you plan on doing long term seriouse international travel, realize that one day you are going to be on the otherside of the world far from home with either no money, or no way to get to it. plan on it. Know your people skills and have courage. Money is useful but people skills will always get you more. (being 19 year old woman with long blond hair blue eyes long lashes ... doesnt hurt!)

• To echo Zachs comment, Take Toliet Paper. Dont ask, just take it.

• Along with please and thank you, know how to say "where" in other languages.

• Travel buddies are great, but learn to trust your instincts and dont have any qualms with ditching people who make you nervouse.

• accept that someone is going to rip you off. have a good sense of humor. If your feathers get ruffled easily either stay home, or stick to first world countries.

• Money isnt everything. It isnt even close to everything. It will get you there, but what divides the tour bus mentalility of "I came, i saw, i bought am ashtray" from an experience which is something more, is your ability to adapt, change, and plan old fashion fake it.

• sometimes you are going to hate yourself and your life, even if you ARE on the trip of your dreams. know how to handle it.

• keep a journal. really. If only of bus stubs.

All i can think of right now! -Dawn

Avoid weekend travel in the US and Canada. Bus routes are fewer. City Busses often don't run, or have limited schedules. No commuter routes are open. No college routes are open. No public offices are open, should you run into trouble that way either. Nor are banks, so if your ATM card screws up (as mine always does when using it internationally), you're sunk until Monday.

I have recently come across the wonderfulness of something called a Student Advantage Card (kudos for JessicaSkater on this one) It is fabulous. It's $20 (an annual fee i beleive) and if offers savings on anything from plain, train and bus tickets to books,music and clothing. and if you live in a big sized college town it might even be usuable at the bagel place down the street. Its probably meant for college students but i use it and i know JessicaSkater uses it so i wouldt worry if you're not a colllege student. happy savings! studentadvantage.com - EmilyOh

• Hey, yeah, I've had one of those for a couple years. I like them best for train tickets. :) -Luke

as Shippy would say "do up your boots good" love -CallunaIsRad Heather

• In my limited experience, it is fruitless to try to use street names to locate a building in an English city. The English seem to be opposed on principle to actually lableing their streets. It's much handier to watch the names of the shops, if you are looking for St James Street, watch out for St James school, church, laundry mat, park, etc. -Dawn

Here's Jeff's advice: always tell the truth, except to the people at the border. Even if you think you have nothing to hide, you probably DO, especially if you're entering someone else's country. Construct a simple, plausible story that has some truth to it. -jeff

• new thought. Always take a small, decent, light, first aid kit with you. I mean really, enough for a fairly seriouse cut etc. As general good first aid everyone should carry (and no blushing boys) sanitary pads [1]. Seriously they are the best sterial pads to use on a cut in the whole gosh darn universe. Always carry basic drugs from home like pain killers. I wouldnt know, but buy any condoms in America or Canada too, over seas can be worse quality. -Dawn

Oh wonderful thoughts and memories...

• handy wips, the little ones that come in foil packages, can be a savior in a sticky situation
• wrap a few rounds of duct tape around a pencil to take with you. violia! you will have a pencil and some duct tape. isnt that clever boys and girls?
• photocopy all your important documents you are taking with you before you go, like passport, drivers, bank numbers etc. Leave them at home in a safe place that is easy to find. (so that if you get in a bind you can call someone and they can go pick them up and fax them to you, or mail them or whatever) [2]
• mail yourself postcards
• take lots of phone number contacts with you for emergencies and otherwise.
• Always tell people where you are going, who you are going with, and when you will be back for saftly reasons.
• safty pins, buy a big pack of them and pin them on the inside of your back pack, clothing, wherever, so that when you need one they are already there.
• make lists of lists so you dont forget things
• pack light...

       happy trails! (and trains!)
                   -Dawn

Eryn says (on packing):

• Pack practical clothes if you're going to be away for awhile, unless you expect to be going to fancy places. Funky skirts and wild shirts look great, but you're going to feel more comfortable in clothes like kaiki pants and t-shirts. (yes, I've learned this from experience... the last few trips I've done I've dragged practically my entire wardrobe with me, and I didn't need half of it! I'll be doing better this summer, for sure)
• Don't pack jewelry... you won't feel comfortable in it, and chances are you won't be wearing it anyway. It's just extra junk in your bag. If you have to take a lot of jewelry, put it in a makeup bag instead.
• Don't bring your entire CD collection. Believe me, I've learned this the hard way. ;-p

 Gennie says,

• bring a book, trust me. Don't bring all of your books, but a nice one helps, if you are going to be waiting for awhile or what not.
• bring things like nail clippers, a needle, thread, and tape. It comes in handy for some odd reason.
• Drink a lot of water while traveling. Sure you will pee every three minutes, but traveling really dehydrates people..

(I have heard that the human body can only use four ounces of water every twenty minutes, anything extra goes straight to the urinary tract. I hope this information comes in handy ;) -Erin)

Christy suggests:

• travelling does not have to mean going far... or at least this is what I have discovered since getting my driver's license... travelling is when i consider the journey part of the adventure, not just something that must be put up with in order to get where i want to be. Stopping to explore tiny little towns on the way can be wonderfully fun.
• keep a record of what you do on your trip. If time is limitted and you're not one to write a full diary entry about each day, then keep point form notes on what you did. You'll appreciate it later.

Julieclipse notes:

• I've learned this as well... since NOT getting my driver's license. I literally can't count the number of times that I have been overwhelmed with thankfulness that I am not an automobile owner. Walking/biking/busing/sailing/canoeing across the tiny city that I call home makes most of my journeys into adventures. Even going to the doctor or getting groceries is an adventure when I'm forced to pay attention to my surroundings. When I am in the world. When I have to invest time into what I'm doing. It helps that I'm usually accompanied by Ryan and possibly others. This type of travel... perhaps call it community-travel... is the staff of my locally-centered college life.

• And my contribution to the packing-list topic. Here in South Florida, there are a few things that I've found particularly useful for this type of travel.
• My favorite is a water bottle with built-in filter. These are inexpensive, but difficult to find. The filters last roughly three months. They don't protect against diseases or anything like that, but they strip out chlorine and some tap-water minerals. As someone who grew up on well water and can't stomach city water, I find them endlessly useful.
• Also important, as has been mentioned, is a list of friends/acquaintances and their contact information (phone numbers especially, also e-mail, s-mail, webpages, etc.). Put it in a condensed grid form, print it out on one or two sheets of paper, fold it up, and encase it in some thin plastic (a bag or pouch or something) in case it gets rained on (been there).
• Small change (particularly if you're not yet comfortable asking for it on the street). For bus-fares, for pay-phones, for a piece of fruit, a cup of coffee, to give to someone else who needs spare change, whatever. The best thing to do is hide dimes and quarters places that you don't usually look. Put some in your bike repair kit. Put some in your first aid kid. Coat pockets. Boot pockets. Back pack pouches. Purse pouches.
• Hair ties / rubber bands. File this under "You'll need it, don't ask why" along with safety pins and duct tape.
• A small, cheap musical instrument. My personal favorite is a handmade bamboo flute, cost $16 with case that I keep looped around my belt buckle. Ocarinas are ideal for this and harmonicas work too, and I'm sure there are many more possibilities. not only can you play while you walk/wait at bus stops/wait for rain to stop/etc., but they're great conversation starters. You don't have to be good at it (I'm not).
• A watch. At least consider it. There are benefits to going without one, but there are benefits to having one too.

The World Traveler Speeks!! (i.e., zack, feeling cocky)

(Mostly suggestions for international travel,)

Toilet Paper. If I was to make one single suggestion, it would be toilet paper. It can be used quite nicely for it's original purpose, or for blowing ones nose, cleaning public toilet seats, and more other purposes than you can imagin, or would want to. Oh, and a comming-by-it tip, if you're traveling outside of what is generally considered "first world" areas, don't expect to find toilet paper in public restrooms, I forget about europe but I think they tend to be pretty good. Hotels will usually have it, but they get the cheep stuff quite often, however, if you're flying: Every airline on the planet (on planes bigger than 20 seaters at least,) will have excess toilet paper, and the vast majority of them will have the good stuff, and won't notice if a couple roles disapear.

Ritzy Hotels (Once again, this works most places in Asia and Africa, but the states, canada, and europe it's iffy) Anywhere poor, if you're obviously a tourist, even a packpacker, you can usually walk into a 4 or 5 star hotel and use the bathroom with no questions asked, just look like you're supposed to be there, you shouldn't need to ask where the bathroom is, it's back more into the hotel than the front office, but not too far, there should be signs saying "toilet" or "WC" (rarely will you see a sign for a "bathroom" anywhere out of the US) Oh, and those hotels are probably another easy supply of nice toilet paper.

Papers On my trip I went a step further than Dawn, I made two photo-copies of everything, my mom kept one copy at home, And I had the original and one copy. If you have more than one bag, put the real thing in say, your day-pack or waist-pouch, and leave the photo-copies barried in your other bag, or, if there are two people, each carry your own originals, and the other's photocopies. (photocopies should include the numbers for travelers checks so you can cansel them)

Money Be warry when exchanging money, how and where you do it can make a huge difference. Usualy you get a different rate when exchanging cash than travelers checks, and some places you can get a better rate for larger bills, esspecially the new one-hundreds. Also, shop around, each coutry does it differently, some places only official banks or whatever are allowed to change, and the rate is regulated, but most places it's a free for all, so shop around. If you are going from one country to another, and you have local currancy left, you'll usually get a better rate in the country the currancy is from, so exchange your change right before you leave... the airport is best for that; after you've checked in - you may have to pay an airport tax on international flights, and it's usually expected in local currancy. However, when arriving in a new country, though you probably need to change a bit to get anywhere, changing at the airport may be a bad idea, you know, the whole captive audience thing.

Anyway, the main rules of money exchange are this:

• 1) You will be losing a little money every time, avoid having to change the same money more than once.
• 2) On the other hand, almost always, the more you exchange at once, the less you lose.
• 3) Haggle. Bickering over the price is expected a lot of places, this doesn't go just for money exchange.

[1] this is true! My dad got a huge gash on his hand, and mom whippped out a sanitary pad (or was it a diaper... hmmmm), and it caught and mopped up the blood. Sanitary pads are MEANT to do that... 'member?

[2] Of course, please be aware of the personal risks of having your social security number (particularly if it's on your painintheasstoreplace social security card) on your person or available. Just read up on it before you decide how available you want it to be. Don't know if our non-US friends have to deal with anything similar. ( Julieclipse )