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Top ten tips for independent travel
by Gillian Kennedy

First a few small things to make your life that little bit easier:

1. Each time you take an international flight, make sure you have a pen in your pocket so that you don't have to rescue your day bag from the overhead locker and dig around for a pen when you have to fill in landing and customs cards.

2. Bring a torch with you (a small Maglite is ideal) if you anticipate staying in any rustic/rural accommodation with outside toilets or individual cabins.

3. Using vacuum bags (available from hiking/adventure shops) helps condense what you pack in your rucksack into a smaller space as well as protecting your belongings from spillages or marauding bed bugs (who apparently like nothing better than to hop into your luggage to move on somewhere else if you are unlucky enough to stay somewhere infested with them).    

Now to keep yourself and your belongings safe:

4. Only carry with you what you need on a particular day - leave credit & bank cards, passport and surplus cash secure in your hotel, which is much less likely to be robbed that you are! Even in countries where you need to be able to prove your identity, carrying a copy of your passport will normally suffice. The exception among the countries we have been to is Ecuador where you are supposed to carry the actual document. However we were still advised by hostel staff to carry a photocopy as the slight chance of being hassled by the police for a couple of hours for not carrying the passport was considered less of an inconvenience than the expense and hassle of having to replace a stolen passport.  Save important information on your email account and keep a printed copy e.g. bank & credit card numbers and card loss phone numbers, passport details and the like. Then if the worst does happen you are prepared.

5. You are most vulnerable to theft when you are carrying everything you possess with you. If the hostel or hotel you are staying in offers pick ups from the airport, bus or train station and the cost of this is not extortionate then arrange a pickup with them - having a lift waiting for you minimises the likelihood of you being robbed on the way to your accommodation.

Now for some tips on planning what to do and see:

6. Even if you are not normally the type to plan ahead, try to find out if your visit coincides with any major festivals or holidays. That way you won´t arrive somewhere and have nowhere to stay, or else not be able to leave a place because there is no public transport or the buses are all full.

7. To help decide where you want to go, what you want to see, where you want to stay/eat TALK TO PEOPLE. While advice from guidebooks (we mainly use Lonely Planet) supplemented by websites (such as the Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree) is essential, the best advice is to be had from such people as fellow travellers, hostel owners and workers, guides and the like.

More than once we have changed our plans after hearing about somewhere interesting from someone we got chatting to. However, do consider the ulterior motive someone may have when they are telling you something e.g. are they trying to sell you a ticket to a particular place. Remember too that the advice offered by fellow travellers is a product of their personality, preferences and the time they spent in a place. For example, if they were sick during their visit, they are not likely to have had a great time there.

And how to maximise your enjoyment of the trip:

8. Learn some of the local language. In Latin America you will struggle if you cannot speak any Spanish at all, while if you can speak a little you will find everything so much easier. An English/Latin American Spanish dictionary is useful here. People in South America are very friendly and love to ask you where you are from, what it is like, what family you have etc etc. Being able to chat to local people adds hugely to your experience of any country.

In Asian countries you will find that a lot of people having contact with tourists have some level of English. Even so, knowing a few key phrases (yes, no, please, thank you, even “you are beautiful”) goes a long way and will often be rewarded with a beaming smile. Vietnam is the only country where we had to learn how to say “go away” to the aggressive sellers!

You might not need to learn the numbers in a foreign language, as normally either sellers know the English numbers or use their fingers or a calculator to tell you the price of something.

9. Remember that EXTROVERTS HAVE MORE FUN. Force yourself to talk to people even if you are naturally reserved. Meeting new people, be they locals or fellow traveller can completely transform your experience of a place.

10. Remember that you have got to expect to experience both peaks and troughs when you are travelling for any length of time so don’t expect every day to provide that WOW! factor. Be RELENTLESSLY POSITIVE AND OPTIMISTIC. If you’re not enjoying a place, maybe you're not looking hard enough at what it has to offer. Learn more about the place and how locals spend their free time. The Grand Canyon was first described as a “dismal abyss” by the leader of the first US government expedition to the Western Grand Canyon in 1857/58, so attitude obviously has a lot to do with our perceptions of a place.

First published in VISA issue 64 (December 2005)