Tag Archives: travel tips

Advice On What To Pack For A Long-Term Trip

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Packing is never an easy task. When I started packing for my year-long trip, it was one of the most difficult parts to planning for the trip. After a lot of trial-and-error and getting some experience on the road, I was able to finally settle on what the perfect things to pack were.

If you’re considering a long-term trip yourself here is some general advice:

  • Figure out approximately how often you want to do laundry. My recommendation is every 5 days. (If you start out with 5 days of clothes, as you travel this number will steadily increase – not because you buy more clothes but because you’ll wash things in the sink and your smell test will become easier to pass.)
  • You’re not traveling to the moon; don’t pack for every imaginable situation. If you need something you can almost always find what you’re looking for or something close to it at your destination.
  • You can send things home too. If you end up packing too much, not a big deal. Sending packages home is reasonably priced.
  • If it gets cold, you can buy a jacket. If it’s hot you can buy extra T-shirts.
  • Think versatility. Almost everything in your pack should serve more than 1 purpose. You’ll see what I mean below.

To see a detailed list with pictures of what I packed for my year-long trip check out the full post.

If you’re a female, you may be more interested in the female edition.

Travel Writer Interview & More Travel Tips

2152923603_7d7f42e390Travel-Writer Interview

Over on the travel blog, Runaway Jane, there was a guest post recently published by travel writer Mark Hodson. It’s an excellent read for anyone interested in travel writing. Mark started travel writing full-time in the mid-1990s and has seen the industry change a lot since beginning. In the article, he provides many great insights on why the industry has gone through so much change. At the end of the article he also explains why it’s so easy to become a travel writer today and also why it’s even easy to get those coveted free press trips.

You can read the entire article here – http://www.runawayjane.com/who-would-want-to-be-a-travel-writer/

Travel tips, travel tips, travel tips!

Finally, as someone who’s always on the look out for more travel tips, there was a great post over on the Travel section of Reddit.com. The topic was, “What is the single greatest piece of travel advice you have received or can give?” There were 166 comments. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“You’ll end up with either a good time or a good story” – Rodnet

“Pack half as much as you think you need and be ready to spend twice as much as you think you’ll need.” – Unicynicist

“Remember that you are in the air and flying, remember that not too long ago that was impossible, be happy you’re not spending three months in a covered wagon getting to where you’re going.” – XLII

“Carry a tool that you can use as a can opener, a fork, a knife, and a wine opener. You save a lot of money going to a market for food.” – Parle

Check out all of the tips here: http://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/fzk1o/what_is_the_single_greatest_piece_of_travel/?sort=confidence

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Three Travel Tips – GroupOn, Wikitravel & Room77

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Here are 3 recent travel tip discoveries & the associated web sites:

  1. GroupOn, LivingSocial, etc. – Unless you live under a rock, you’ve most likely heard of these flash deal sites. One overlooked way to use them though is for your next vacation. A few weeks (or even months) ahead of time, start subscribing to the daily deals for your destination. Find deals for great restaurants and cool activities. There are deal sites like these all over the world now as well.
  2. Wikitravel.org – This is my go-to site for general travel-planning information. They have good overviews for each country and most cities worldwide. For really popular destinations the information goes really in-depth. Like all wiki’s though, you should take the recommendations with a grain of salt. Anyone (e.g., hotel and restaurant owners) can easily go in and recommend their own places.
  3. Room77.com – This is a new company that launched last week. They’re the “SeatGuru for hotel rooms”. Not all hotel rooms are created equal and this site will help you find and book the room with a great view. They’re only in 16 cities so far, but expanding quickly.

Jason Demant is the co-founder of Unanchor.com, where you can find self-guided tour itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @Unanchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Travel Tips For Writers: Bring Toilet Paper

Travel Tips for Writersby Joe Wallace

Classy picture, eh? But it grabs your attention and I definitely want to turn your attention to this most delicate of all travel writing and traveling writer tips–ye olde “necessary room”.

The experienced world traveler knows that bathroom facilities around the world vary wildly from our western comforts; from the squat-style privvies of Japan to the “go in the alley” free-for-all in some other places.

One of the most important travel tips I can offer–and not just one handy for overseas travel, mind you–is to carry your own toilet paper. You NEVER know when it will come in handy and it has uses beyond the obvious. Continue reading Travel Tips For Writers: Bring Toilet Paper

Travel Tips – Setting Up Your Money For Traveling Internationally

organizing_moneyOne of the most common questions I receive about traveling is: “what bank and what credit card should I use while traveling?”. After doing countless hours of research on the subject, and spending the last year traveling abroad, I’m confident I’ve found a good way to set up your money in an efficient manner.

A quick warning: Unfortunately, the following information is only applicable to people from the United States. I apologize to the international audience, but I have yet to find similar options in other countries.

For banking, I recommend using Charles Schwab as your primary account. Why is Charles Schwab great? They have all of the traditional features one looks for in a bank, but in addition, they do not charge any fees for using other companies’ ATMs and they automatically reimburse you when the ATM you’re using charges you a fee. They even reimburse when international ATMs charge fees. At the end of every month, along with an interest payment, there’s a line-item that reimburses you for any fees charged by ATMs.

Tip: If you go with Schwab, make sure to track your ATM fees, especially internationally, as I’ve noticed they do not catch and reimburse you for all of the fees. A quick and easy phone call takes care of the mistake.

For credit cards, I recommend Capital One’s No Hassle credit card. They offer cards with a $0 annual fee in a cash rewards flavor and an airline miles rewards flavor. What makes these cards great is the fact that they do not charge any exchange rate fees (normally 3%). In fact, Capital One apparently even eats the 1% exchange fee that Visa and MasterCard charges.

Together, Schwab and a Capital One credit card make a great combination while traveling abroad. Their excellent exchange rates and lack of fees mean you can worry about finding your next travel writing story, rather than worrying about how you’re going to pay for your next meal.

Jason Demant is the founder of UnAnchor.com, where you can find detailed do-it-yourself travel itineraries for your next trip. For the latest on travel-writing you can follow him on Twitter @UnAnchor, or join the I Love Travel Writing Facebook group.

Cool, Bite-Sized Travel Tips

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This site offers some great travel tips for those of you out there looking for a little advice. Want to know about air travel? It’s here. Need a romantic getaway? Look here. Tips for traveling while pregnant? Yup. Cruising, men’s and women’s travel and so much more are all covered here. The bite-sized tips are great reading and can be of personal use or spark an article idea.

Writers–be sure to check out the section that offers laptop computer tips. Very cool.