“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
Friday March 29th 2024

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  • HDYTI

    Love #9. Bought this travel adaptor for £17 that converts into most plus shapes and voltages. My best travel gadget ever.

  • Fabiana

    Number 4 is my favorite. It is the best way to eat and you get a peak at daily life of locals.

  • Suki F

    Good ones! I wish I knew about the one of local food when I started traveling.

  • http://mslistologist.com Annette | Bucket List Journey

    Thanks for the fab tips! They are going to really come in handy for my upcoming trip to Europe :)

  • Georgina

    Good
    stuff! Thanks for this update. 

  • Jay

    Thanks for reading Hodgo7,

    I’ve updated the text above to reflect “Trip” insurance (which in th US is complete garbage) versus Travel (aka emergency medical) insurance – which you certainly need.

    Thanks again!

  • Hodgo7

    Sorry Jay I just read your reply about “trip insurance”.

    Our Travel insurance here in Australia is comprehensive (well most policies) which covers you medically etc whilst you are overseas as well as “unforseen” circumstances before you go. It also covers flights, delays etc etc etc…goes on and on.

    :)

  • Hodgo7

    Hi Jay. Not a bad list but the insurance one is the biggest load of crap I’ve read in a long time. Might be different for American’s travelling abroad but I’ve lived O/S for 4 years and now work in the Travel Industry. This is ESSENTIAL when travelling overseas. I mean people insure their house, cars etc but won’t insure themselves ? I mean how much are you worth ? Not sure what insurance policies you have over there but they cover you for sickness (as long as its not pre-existing). I’ve had loads of clients who have paid for trips and a few weeks later broken legs etc and weren’t able to travel and were reimbursed for money that wasn’t refunded from airlines, hotels etc.

    I could tell you dozens of stories about clients having problems overseas and lucky enough had insurance.

  • http://mellifshitz.weebly.com/ Mel Lifshitz

    Though I travel a lot, I haven’t ventured backpacking travel yet.  May be in the future and it sounds so much fun.

  • http://www.mellifshitz.com/ Melly Lifshitz

    Nice list you have here, man.  Also don’t forget to secure copies of your documents.  You may need them it times of emergency or accidents like if you lost your documents or someone just robbed you.

  • Jay

    Black Backpacker,

    Can’t believe I missed responding to this post after I approved it – apologies. Thank you for taking the time to comment and nice site. To your comments:

    1) When I speak of Travel insurance – I really meant “trip” insurance. What you are calling Travel insurance we commonly refer to as Medical/Health care insurance – which of course you need. What I’m talking about is Trip insurance offered by airlines, Cruises and the like. these have nothing to do with Health but refunding the cost of your ‘tickets’. As i said, most of these are junk – but I will update the item to read Tip not ‘Travel’.

    2) Don’t take my point to mean I plan 8:15 Breakfast, 9:00am – Bathroom, etc. It’s not like that – but you should have an idea of what you want to do to ensure you get it all in.

    Thanks again.

  • globalnomad10

    Actually disagree on your points re: travel insurance and having an itinerary.

    Yes there are some unscrupulous insurers that will try to scam their way out of paying for every single claim, but if you stick to the tried and testing companies then you won’t have a problem.

    It’s VERY important to have travel insurance. Suppose you get in a bad accident while overseas and run up very expensive hospital bills while you’re being treated? A good insurer will take care of that. You don’t want to be stressing over how to fork out for the bills in addition to wondering how the doctors are going to stitch your legs back into place.

    It’s good to have an itinerary, yes. But also it is equally possible to go over the top and build a ‘tick list’ of things to do and places to see. So yes, you can come back from a week in Rome, Cape Town or Sydney and say you did all the sights, but if you were breathlessly darting from place to place to tick off each attraction, you weren’t really in the moment and the trip will end up being just one big blur of bus/train/taxi journeys, with a plane ride at the end so you can finally catch your breath.

    I prefer looser itineraries that give me the flexibility to stay in a place for longer if I really like it, and to cut short places that didn’t live up to my expectations. That way, you are truly immersed in your current surroundings and you are not hurried, looking to set off to the next sight as soon as you arrived at the current one.

    Black Backpacker
    http://theblackbackpacker.blogspot.com

  • http://twitter.com/aviewtoathrill Renee King

    One of my goals is to try to pack even lighter. Back in the day, we (my daughter and I) traveled with one carry on each and two checked (large) pieces of luggage. We are now trying to learn how to travel with carry on luggage only. It’s a joy to disembark without ever having to see the luggage carousel at all. It allows us to begin our vacation that much sooner and we don’t have the burden of having to drag more weight behind us and it forces us to pack more wisely.

    I’m entertaining the idea of taking clothing that are pretty much on their last leg and leaving them behind so that it will free up more space for souvenirs, etc. on the journey back home. We are pretty casual people anyway, so it’s not too difficult to get by on jeans, tops and ONE pair of shoes. My rationale? I’m not traveling to win a beauty or fashion contest. I’m traveling to see what’s on the other side of the world, so I plan to lean on the side of practicality.

    Great list, Jay! I will be sure to visit more often and invite you to check out my site too: http://aviewtoathrill.net

  • gwen

    Nothing worse than coming home from a wonderful trip, unpacking and having to wash dirty laundry, so I make it a point to find a laundry mat when I travel. Got lucky in Florence and Rome they were less than a block away. Worked just fine.

  • rockubabe50

    Good..Cool…

    Good..Cool…

    Good..Cool…