Universal Travel Advice for Savvy Explorers
- fotaquest
- Nov 12, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Feb 3
Universal Travel Advice for Savvy Explorers:
By Lars Guo
Published: November 12, 2024
Opening message: Hi folks! I hope you all are doing well and have been enjoying the various blogs that have been posted. This one is on travel tips. This could apply to domestic and/or international trips. A slight disclaimer is that not all of these tips will apply to everyone so if it does not apply to you, take it with a grain of salt.
Travel tip 1: Pack ahead of time and do not leave it last minute. The reason is that then you can double check instead of scrambling to get everything last minute. This is very important especially when you have a lot of important items such as medication, electronics, documents, electronics, and so forth. Nothing would be worse than having your day or trip ruined if you could not get onto your flight because you lack a certain item or two for getting on the flight. It would also be a trip-ruin if the medication is important for being able to function properly during your trip.
Travel Tip 2: Have a packing list. Having a packing list will allow you to figure out what you are packing and be able to check whether you have everything that you want and/or need for the trip. This should help you stay organized to make sure you can pack up ahead of time. Having a packing list is a visual reminder on what you should have with you. This will be invaluable when checking your list as you go on your trip and leave on your last day on your trip.
Travel Tip 3: Entertainment is important for all ages. Bring entertainment. Nothing is more boring than having nothing to do while traveling. It will definitely be true that kids need to be entertained and kept busy otherwise they end up cranky or at least most of them do. Teens would have a lot of fun having their devices to play games, but usually the in flight entertainment should do. For adults, it is essentially true. From my experience, I enjoy listening to music, sometimes playing video games, and relaxing. When I was a kid, I played a lot of video games. Some adults may enjoy reading the newspapers as well or reading a book or doing puzzles while on the go.
Travel Tip 4: Bring Snacks. People get hungry or at least I do. The airport food costs a fortune simply because of convenience. This will be a budget killer while traveling. On top of that, except for liquids, you can choose what to bring for food while traveling instead of overpaying for food. Even if you do not want a lot of snacks, it is great to have just in case the snacks that are offered if at all do not align with what you like to eat.
Travel Tip 5: Making an itinerary will be key to staying organized and being able to sketch up all of the activities done and being able to either remind yourself on what to do and/or tell your other travelers on what they are signing up for. It will also allow you to plan out anything that requires advance sign up ahead of time and to record what day that will be happening as well.
Travel Tip 6: Be at the airport ahead of time. Nothing is worse than missing your flight and having to pay extra money for another flight. If not that, staying at the airport for an extended amount of time is also tiring and people want to be able to relax at their destination or returning home. It is also good that you can make sure you can get through security and not have to worry about rushing especially because lines can get packed quickly and being on a time crunch is no fun and can be really tiring as well.
Travel Tip 7: Be ready to count on days that sleep is very limited. This is because you may not be used to your new sleeping arrangements making it hard to fall asleep. Another reason why you will not sleep easily is because of time change if applicable. This will make it hard to relax at night and adjust accordingly.
Travel Tip 8: It is okay to limit your itinerary to one to two activities a day. You have a limited amount of time on a trip. I understand. What is the point in having a trip when there is too little time to enjoy the sights you are seeing and/or everyone is too tired to enjoy it because everything is like a giant whirlwind. Pacing the trip to one to two activities will allow time for people to recharge and truly milk in the activities that you have in store.
Travel Tip 9: If you are in a foreign country, learn some basic phrases in that country's language. This is important to help you get around. It is also very respectful to try to make an effort to communicate with them in their native language. It would be better to have a high level of that language because you will have more opportunities to interact and even make friends with people that only speak that language. It opens a lot of doors.
Travel Tip 10: Make sure you have a method to be able to communicate in case someone gets lost. It is no fun having to keep track of people and/or destinations when everyone in your party is scattered. If not that, if there are things you have to grab like in my case pocket WiFi and/or a rail pass, it is good to have the ability to communicate so you can get everything on time and quickly. I was very worried about not being able to get my rail pass on time and being able to travel around Japan as a result.
Travel Tip 11: At the hotel, ask the receptionist about free and/or low cost ways to get to a variety of places. It will save you a lot of money and a headache of trying to find the best way to get to your destination. At San Francisco, I stayed at the Queen Anne, which is a hotel in Japan Town. As my uncle suggested, I asked the receptionist on the cheapest route to get to the hotel. I only spent $13 to get to the airport in contrast to more than double that if I only took an Uber/Lyft. Also in the same trip, I also learned how to take the busses to save money on Uber/Lyft and finding the cheapest way to go about it.
Travel Tip 12: Have a budget for your trip so you know how much you have to spend on the trip. This will help you determine how much you want to have for meals, flights, hotels, activities, and souvenirs. For international trips, I suggest you budget a healthy amount or a large sum of it since those tend to be harder to get to. Domestic ones do not have to be as high in budget but still budget a healthy amount. For a weekend trip, I suggest about 1000 - 1500 dollars for a single person. For a 2 week trip, I suggest more on the lines of 5000 dollars since you should accommodate for more expenses.
Travel Tip 13: Have an emergency fund built into your trip. Like I said, there could be instances such as missing a flight, injuries, and so forth that require attention that you cannot avoid. It is important to be able to afford something like that so you do not have to tap into other parts of your money in other categories to be able to cover the expense. While I did not have to deal with this personally, I do not like to chance on anything.
Travel Tip 14: Try to take one or two days after your trip is done so you can rest and have enough time to unpack and if you have time change, accommodate for that as well. That will help you get into a normal schedule without lacking rest. It is something that I try to do after a trip. This is true for domestic flights and for international ones, I build in more for a week because the time change tends to be more drastic in change and I would need to re-acclimate to the situation and get back to a healthy schedule before resuming work/school. That is what I did for my Japan trip in order to properly function.
Travel Tip 15: Have a way to record your memories through photos, journalling, and/or different means to. I would take lots of photos. Things can be replaced but memories are irreplaceable. Be able to share and remember all of the wonderful moments you had on your adventures either by putting them into a physical photo album and/or electronic one. Keep a journal to record what you did on the trip. You can use social media to record your trip but definitely be careful on what you post about your trip. Personally, I recommend a physical journal for writing entries and/or if you are like me learning a language, language journals about your trips and/or have one in your native language especially on international trips. For photos, especially international ones, definitely having both a physical and an electronic album would be a great idea. If you want to check out some of the photos of my trips, follow my Youtube channel lxpphotography500. You can always keep tickets for your travels like airplane tickets, movie theater tickets, passes, etc. For my very first flight home alone, I kept my very first airplane ticket. For both of my Japan trips, I kept the tickets, rail passes, etc for memorabilia as well.
Closing message: Did any of these tips help you? Do you think you will apply any of the tips on your next trip? Do you already implement them already? Feel free to comment in the email form your thoughts and if you are up to it, your answers. I hope you enjoyed this blog! I look forward to you all reading the next blog!
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