General Tips

My Common Travel Tips

These travel tips here are just common travel tips to anyone.

• Travel light – Do not bring too many things.  Too many times have I seen people who leave with half of their closets and personal belongings only to realize that not only do they not need the things, but also that they are exhausted from carrying them all.  When packing consider that you really do not need it.  Just bring essentials and basics.
• Ask questions – People who ask questions learn things.  If you see something that you do not understand, chances are you will continue to not understand it until you ask someone to explain it to you.  Try it out, you will not regret it.
• Don’t over plan – I have seen many people who backpack and try to plan out every day and week perfectly, but realistically that just does not work out.  Things change when you are traveling, you may want to spend more time in one place than another, or see something that you had not planned for.  Go with a loose itinerary at best.
• Go for the strange – No, not everything.  What I mean is do things that are new and different to you.  Say yes to new experiences, but just use good judgement.  A large part of traveling is experiencing what you do not have at home.
• Travel Smart – Keep your wits about you when traveling, especially if you are traveling by yourself.  Keep track of your valuables and be mindful of your surroundings.  You are your best defense against problems on the road.
• Try to blend in – Blending in on the road is a good trick not only for the experience, but for your safety and your budget.  The more local you look and act the more people will treat you like them.  Outsiders are generally just put into one category, charged higher prices, and targeted for scams.  Granted you cannot blend in everywhere, but what I mean really is try not to stand out.
• Think twice before you judge – Seeing something strange does not make it wrong.  People around the world have different customs and cultural practices, sometimes they can be drastically different from your own.  It does not make them wrong, they just have a different perspective on how you arrive at a common solution.
• Journal – Writing a journal is an effective practice that helps you to collect your thoughts and experiences.  It is a way of working through things that you have seen and reflecting.  Keeping a journal is also neat because you get a chance to reread later in the future and remember your trip vividly.

Budget Specific Travel Tips

• Make good use of research usually you need to read past the tourist offerings to find good deals.
• Stay as far as you can from anything aimed, created, or targeted at mainstream tourism.  They overcharge greatly and give you less.  Surely, you cannot avoid everything, but do not be a sheep.
• Learn the power of bargaining.  Bargaining is the way of the world, learn to do it and you will save a sure buck.
• Mix your methods.  Be open to traveling in new and differing forms such as carpooling.  If you use trains, planes, and autobus try to do cross-research to see which offers the best deals.
• Use grocery stores and buy street food.  Grocery stores are cheaper than corner stores.  Street food is cheaper than restaurants.  Make good use of them.
• Time sacrifice – If you are open to odd hour travel, you can likely get better deals for tickets.
• Do it like a local – Locals eat, sleep, and party for a fraction of the cost of tourists.  If you listen and watch where they go and how they do things then chances are that you can catch on.

This is a short list of my travel tips.  Hope that you find them helpful.

Check out my other articles

Looking to stay in shape while traveling?  Read my short tips on keeping fit and working out while traveling.  Click here for the article