Here are some of my favorite travel tips! Some are from my own personal travel experiences and others have been borrowed or stolen along the way!
Clean your house before leaving and change your bed sheets so when you come home you have a fresh clean bed to relax in.
If you’re going to do a tour, pay the extra money for a private one, you get a totally different experience. I’ve done group tours too and it’s never as memorable.
Don’t wait until you’re older. Take every opportunity to travel that you can!
Be flexible with your travel plans. Unplanned adventures are often the most memorable.
It’s more the advice I give to others too “scared” to go alone. I say, “life is short, tomorrow isn’t promised, your life may change a lot in the next year—jobs may come and go, as will money, so just go. Find a way, pinch pennies, be uncomfortable—there is always a way if you want it badly enough.
Never travel anywhere with the attitude that you’ll never return.
Bring half the clothes and twice the money! 😉 Never pack more than you can carry, especially up stairs.
Make sure you have the right electrical plug for Europe.
Travel insurance.
Add international phone plan.
Take the time to sit and hear stories from locals. (Older generations) You will learn and experience so much. It also gives you an appreciation for a place we are just passing through. Eat, laugh and dance with them
Also spend a day in a city that you have a layover in. Plan wisely and check wait times for tourist spots.
Just expect travel days to be a hassle and with kinks. That way if most your flights etc go relatively smooth, you’ve lucked out. And if they get problematic, oh well.
Stay away from all inclusive resorts and try to spend as much time as possible being with the locals and supporting the local economy,there’s nothing better than local knowledge or home cooked local food
It’s okay to take a day “off” as you travel. Just hang out in your hostel or hotel, watch foreign TV, and rejuvenate.
Travel as far as you can for as long as you can! There will come a day when you will be afraid to get too far from your doctors! ❤️
Take a sarong. Best advice ever. It’s a Light weight towel, cover up if you drop your clothing in the hostel shower, extra sheet, casual shirt, dorm room curtain, Picnic blanket, headscarf, Does it all.
Be safe- street smart.
Know exchange rates well.
Don’t flaunt money, keep money in different areas on you, always be aware of people getting close to you when walking around. No expensive jewelry, buy some fun stuff as travelling. Support locals.
Don’t be afraid to experience every trip like it’s your last trip as it very well could be your last trip. Life is short. Stay in great hotels, eat better meals, meet people, and plan an itinerary that makes you happy.
If there’s places you want to see and things you want to do, don’t wait for anyone else or anyone’s permission. Just go and do it!
If something goes wrong (and it will), get over it and move on. If there is something you want to go, see, do or buy (and it’s within reason), go, see, do or buy it. No regrets later.
Don’t be afraid to go alone. Ummmm I’ve had some of the best trips ever simply because I didn’t have to compromise
Don’t be afraid to take that trip alone, and if you think your pack is light enough IT ISNT!
Always bring baby wipes as they are useful in so many ways
Always travel with emergency toilet paper 😂
Some places you just have to cross the road. Don’t wait for a gap, just step out and commit. The traffic will move around you like a school of fish.
Get comfortable with getting lost in a foreign city. Seriously, tell yourself that if you get lost you’re not gonna starve or freeze to death because you’re in a city and you can always get a taxi back to your hotel, eventually, even if the taxi is overpriced. Point is: go wander even if you’re afraid.
Place your money in different compartment or pockets just incase your get robbed.
You can’t see it all.
Stop waiting around for someone to go with and just go!
The two most important things to pack are flexibility and adaptability.
Speaking louder in English does not translate any better to a non-English speaker
Don’t take so many pictures you miss the trip.
Always have a credit card with you that is just for emergencies. That way if you get lonely, scared, miss friends or family you know that you are never more than 24hrs away from home. It makes the world seem smaller. When I travelled alone I found that very reassuring, and never needed to use it!
Also, in those solitary times look to the stars. Find a constellation – mine was orion. I knew that back home my friends could see it too. Somehow it reassured me that they were close.
Get food from the grocery store sometimes to save money (especially in Iceland!)
Balance days with an agenda with days that don’t have an agenda. Surprisingly those unscheduled days turned out to be quite memorable!
On deciding to travel solo “it’s a lot like hanging from a cliff… desperately trying to hold on. But when you let go you realize you were 2 feet from the ground and you land in strawberries!”
Always always always remember that someone is trying to pick pocket you.
You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Take the trip now.
Wherever you travel, have a lot of SOUP to enjoy.
S: mile
O: pen mind
U: understanding
P: atience
“Vagabonding” by Rolf Potts… Like, literally the whole book.
Get up early and go to busy monuments/museums during the first hour that they are open. Few crowds.
“Always pack a swimsuit”
Information is Ammunition, Baggage is Bondage.
You have the most amazing experiences and never know who you ‘re going to meet when you step out of your comfort zone! Be open to possibilities and opportunities!💜🌻✈🌏
There is nothing quite like getting on a plane to unchartered territory and realizing that the world is your oyster. So many choices, so many places…just pick a place and go. Do not wait. So many amazing moments are missed by overthinking, contemplating, just say yes and go!
Xoxo,
Heidi
