Traveling with a friend is a lot of fun. Travelling solo can be even more fun, if you’re prepared. Below, you’ll find nuggets of wisdom built up from years of travelling. Give the tips a thorough glancing over, and enjoy your travels. Come back happy and safe and ready to select your favourite photos for this year’s photo frames (check out these customised photo collage options).
Passport check
We’re going to start with something that you may think is blindingly obvious, but even if you do know this tip, it’s worth double checking. Often, you cannot travel if you don’t have at least 6 months left on your passport expiry date. Now, keep in mind that when you leave for your trip, you may well have 7 or 8 months left on your passport. But if you plan to be away for three months, you’re going to run into issues when trying to return. Always take the full duration of your trip into account when checking whether you have enough time left on your passport for your travels.
Use incognito windows in internet cafés
Some internet cafés are well lit friendly places, with coffee and muffins. Some, however, feel like backstreet affairs run by opportunists, who in exchange for extortionate rates, will offer a slow connection speed and a sticky floor. Far be it from me to suggest any of these places are up to anything less than above board, but it’s probably best to use an incognito window when going online in an internet café. Just to be on the safe side.
Travel with baby wipes
Travelling means that sometimes, you’re not going to be in the comfortable places or situations you and your body may be used to at certain times of day. To put it bluntly, you might get caught out by a call of nature, and you may have to run into a supermarket or public lavatory where you cannot guarantee that there will be toilet paper. Anyway. Moving swiftly on.
Email copies of any important documents to yourself
This is pretty self-explanatory. But it’s worth noting that many people depend on their phone or tablet when travelling in order to show their booking in the form of an e-ticket or QR code. When your battery runs out, you may be able to access your email from another device to save your plans. This actually happened to me on an internal flight in France. My phone was dead, but I was able to use another phone to access my email and show my booking.
Last tip… don’t bother with “travel clothes”
By all means, purchase some snazzy new clothes for travelling, but try to avoid those purpose made ‘travel clothes’ at all costs. They’re covered in zips, and although they’re meant to be breathable and will claim to be made from the latest space age air-flow materials, you’ll feel like a baked potato within minutes. They also tend to come in bizarre bright yellows and reds. Just wear your normal clothes.
Feature Photo by Ibrahim Rifath on Unsplash
