10 Travelling Tips

I like travelling a lot, if you ever get to see around this blog you will see some of my trips re-cap. 

Unfortunately I don't get to do it very often, only when I have enough money to do it and time... but I've done it enough to make a list of tips that may be helpful in case you want to make a short trip and keep it in your budget!

1. Find a bed

I believe the most important thing when you already know you are going to travel is to find where to stay! Even though you could do it at the moment of your arrival, is always more comfortable to do it while you're at home. 

There are very good booking sites, but the one i personally like the most is www.hostelworld.com because it offers very good quality places with very accessible places! Also, if you know to which airport, station, or place you will be arriving it offers hostel localization in a map so you can select those closer to your arrival place or close to a subway station and you don't have to walk or go long
distances!

Also, for iPhone users, if you download the app you can add your bookings to your Passbook, and you wont need Internet connection to access the hostel information.

2. Find out how you'll get the money

If you're going to another country, take in consideration that the money used in that other country wont be the same as yours... so you'll have to investigate first of all, how to get that money.

My experience is that if you have US dollars you can virtually exchange them anywhere... but if not, you have to locate the cash machines that will allow you to withdraw money from your credit or debit card; all this in case you cant exchange money in your own country.

3. Know the currency

Once you get your hands on the money, you're going to have to teach yourself how to use it! You don't want to spend all your money on your first day. My suggestion is to find an easy calculation to make a reference against your own country currency; for example, in my country (Mexico) we use Mexican pesos and when I was in China they used RMB or yuan, so i learned that 1 yuan was about 2.1 pesos; so every time i was spending something in China RMB I multiplied it by 2 to know how many pesos it would be and then i decided if i was going to buy or not.

4. How to move

If you're travelling with a budget, the most important thing you have to investigate is how to move around the city, town or country. Public transportation almost always is the cheapest solution to get to places so you'll have to get your hands in a map of the routs or lines of the transport.

In money terms, always make a reasonable budget for transportation because in my opinion is one of the most expensive expenses during a trip after the hotel.

5. Have a map

Always! Always keep a map with you, especially if you travel to a place where you don't know the language. Most of the time, hotel people give you a surroundings map so you know the options you have for food, bar, etc.; and also they have maps of the city or the touristic part at least... well keep
one with you! in case you get lost, you can always ask a local person to locate you in your map and then figure out where to go next; or if you want to get to a specific place, you can point it in your map and get some kind of directions... situations may be countless but, is better to be in any of those situations with a map than without it.

Add to what i just mentioned, if you have a smart phone with you and it has GPS localization, you can use Google Maps app to locate yourself in the map! Even if you don't have Internet or data connection!! How? Most important thing is to load the map image, when you have Internet connection,, maybe in the hotel or in your house days before the trip; when you load the specific part of the map you'll be needing later type in the Search box "Ok Maps" and it will save the map image in your phone memory so that when you need it later you can just open and see the map with your dot moving around it!

6. Manage your money
Again... If you're travelling with a budget, then one of the first things you should think about is how much money will you have for the trip... once you know that do this operation:

Your money (less) Accommodation expenses (divided) How many days you'll be travelling (equals) The amount of money you'll be able to use daily!!

This will help you to plan according to your possibilities, once you cover the hotel or hostel you'll stay the rest will be food, transportation, entry tickets and extras... so if you know how much you CAN use, it will help you plan what you CAN buy!! And, if one day you use less money than your daily average, next day you can use the remaining money and so on!!

Also, if you have a credit card with you you can apply the exact process, so that you only spend what you were planning to spend!

Either way, always remember to have some cash with you! Is always helpful !!

7. Pack only what you'll need
Carrying a big luggage is a pain, specially when you have to carry it up and down staricases to get to places with it! I know, I've been there! For us women, it may be difficult to pack light but i asure you is possible, if you know where to look, I've found that Pinterest often offers good tips when it comes to much different themes, and one of those is travelling so if you visit this link: Pinterest's travelling tips! you'll find out how much can you pack depending where you're going and how the weather will
be, and so on.

Once you settle the clothing; your toiletries and extra stuff is also important. Make sure you pack only what you'll need and in travel quantities, it may be expensive if you buy shampooes,etc small size but it will make your travel bag lighter, and you can throw it away once you finish it... because you will! If you dont want to buy, then get small containers and pour in all your creams and beauty stuff!

As for a towel, you probably wont need to carry one... In my experience, hotels and hostels often offer you towel either for free or for very low prices, and you can save that space in your suitcase, but it is always up to you!

8. Bring comfortable shoes and prepare to walk!
Oh yes, this is crucial! It doesn't mater where you're going the best way to see the world is by foot! See the world slowly at your own pace... stop if you want to stop and go if you want to go. But for all this you need to be prepared, so, don't forget to pack your most comfortable snickers and prepare for the walk of your time...

In my last trip, my phone counted how much steps I took on one day, and it gave me the outstanding amount of 19,000 aprox. steps which is about 20 km aprox... much more of what I normally walk in a month, in my regular rutine! So, shoes are important if you don't to be worrying about them along your trip.

9. Pack some souvenirs
You may think this is for after your trip, but no, I suggest you to take with you some small gifts from your own coutry and culture to give away. It is very common for travellers to meet up, in the hotel or touristic places and become friends, and you will undoubtedly begin talking about your own countries and home, and if you consider them nice people you can give them some small gift for them to remember you... Of course this is an extra, but is always nice to be nice... specially to nice people who deserve it.

10. Plan! 
This is probably the most important one! If you're reading this you have both a Computer and Internet so there you have your most powerful tools to make your trip a perfect one. You can get most the information you want from Internet, like rates, fees, maps, restaurants, etc.

Almost everything, you can get it off from the internet, and this way you won't be wandering around in the other side of the world without knowing what to do... It doesn't matter if you don't finish your
daily schedule... you at least will be doing all you wanted to do from the beginning.

You can be open to new plans in case you make new friends or are tempted by better options, but in case you don't you at least will always have something to do!



So, this is it, this are probably the most important tips I think you should take into consideration when you are prepared to travel... I didn't mention anything about planes because it depends to where you're travelling to, to know how you'll do it... But once you cover that, this tips might be helpful...

Have a nice trip !!

Disclaimer: Images are not mine, I got them from a Google search, all of them are linked back to the original page.