My best tips for inexperienced travellers! 🛫 - Prepping & Packing for Safety and Security! 👨‍✈️

Hey Hive/Steemit!

We're back again with another @travelfeed contest! I participated in the last one where I wrote about 3 places in Singapore that I would recommend visiting and I was so surprised to see that I got in the top 4! Yay!

Anyway, the contest
this time is to write about our tips for inexperienced travellers. I've
travelled quite a number of times in my life, but I definitely didn't
find the true joy of traveling until I met Sean and we started traveling together. But along the way I did pick up a couple tips that I think may help!

Instead of a content page, I made a nifty infographic instead!

Infographic made with Canva

1. Preparations

I'm not sure if I should cover bookings because I'm pretty sure everyone knows about flight aggregator sites
like Expedia and Skyscanner and Booking.com. But also every airline may
have their own special bargains from time to time so be on the lookout
for those.

Source: AsiaOne

Anyway, after making all your bookings, keep all your details and
reservations such as flight and transport information and accommodation
addresses on your calendar. I'd recommend a digital one like Google
calendar that saves to a cloud so you can access it across devices.

This way, you don't have to fumble through your emails (or worse,
actual papers) to look for attachments and whatnot. You have all your
information like your flight/train number, timings, platform/gate
number, Airbnb address, etc. all in one handy place!

Source: Lifewire

2. Research

Read up about the country/city you're visiting! This step can get
pretty overwhelming, so I'd suggest searching for specific things like
good spots to visit that align with your interests, whether it be
museums, mountains or malls.

You may also want to search for the best mobile data options
available either in your local country or your destination; whether it
be VPN, wifi routers, data SIM cards, etc. because one of the worst
things is not having reliable internet access.

We took this picture at Disneyland Paris for a contest organised by Hippocket Wifi and we won! Woohoo! 😄

Another important thing to research is how to get around efficiently -
is there a public transport system or do you have to rent a car; how
much it costs, and the routes you can take safely. Also, if there have
been any accidents or disasters in the area you'll be going.


For example, when we went to Paris there had been some workers going on
strikes and the train system was impacted. We were mostly unaffected but
there was one day where we were stuck in a station for more than half
an hour waiting for a train!

If you're traveling to a brand new country I recommend asking people
you know/read online forums for places to visit, or if you have someone
to guide you there that's even better!

3. Packing

There are a few sub-points for this one so bear with me.

a) Always have more cash than you need on hand, especially if you're going to a not-so-developed country!

We learned this the hard way the first time we went to Batam,
Indonesia, for a weekend. We found out the hotel we had booked required
us to pay a deposit of 100,000 IDR and we had only brought around
250,000 IDR. So basically we were pretty much broke after giving them
the deposit. We only had 1 night after the first day (which was a day
tour) but that second day we basically couldn't do much because we had
no cash!

Thankfully we're easily entertained so we just went walking around the nearby mall and found some cheap grub for dinner.

b) Pack for appropriate weather!

This is pretty much a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised at how often
people underpack. Always remember to check the weather conditions of
the place you're visiting multiple times prior to your departure; you
never know how it'll change especially these days with global warming
and whatnot.

c) Have a small anti-theft bag for all your valuables and keep it on your person at all times

Source: Shopee

These are small hip pouches or cross-body bags you can use to keep
passports, wallets, phones, etc. Hide them under your coat or jacket so
they're not easily seen and snatched. Nowadays there are really good
ones that are anti-slash, waterproof etc. so they won't be easily stolen
(compared to pickpockets). These small pouches are especially important
during flights to keep your travel documents like your passport and
tickets accessible and secure.

d) Use your luggage space efficiently!

Source: gfycat

This tip actually encompasses quite a few different tricks so I'll just list them one by one:

• Write a categorised packing list, i.e. electronics, toiletries, shoes, clothes (outerwear, tops, bottoms, undergarments, etc.)
• streamline your wardrobe:
  I read about a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 rule for a weeklong trip by NYtimes that's actually really helpful. Basically you only bring 5 sets of
  socks and underwear, 4 tops, 3 bottoms (and pajamas), 2 pairs of shoes
  and 1 hat/beanie. Of course you'd scale these numbers based on your
  duration of the trip, but don't extrapolate too much either, since
  there's always ways to do laundry for really long trips. 
• Roll your clothes!
  
  Rolling will compress your clothes so they fit better especially in the
  little gaps at the corners of your luggage. It will also minimise
  wrinkles and makes your clothes more accessible!

(NYtimes article)

Source: Luggage

• Use storage bags/packing cubes!

On top of the rolling, this also helps you maximise the space in your
luggage and categorise your clothes better! This way, you can organise
your luggage according to how you planned it in your list. These packing
cubes also help to keep your clothes and more importantly, your luggage
clean to maximise its durability.

Source: Traveler's Buddy

Once you've packed your cubes neatly, time to utilise them Tetris skills and fit them into your luggage (heavy stuff first)!

But always make sure not to stuff your luggage to the brim so you
have room for souvenirs! Or, you can "cheat" and bring/buy an extra
carry-on for that I suppose.

Also, get a luggage cover while you're at it (if you're not using a hard cover luggage).

And this is just personal preference, but noise cancelling headphones are a lifesaver on flights!

And that's all for my tips!

I know exploring a new place can be scary and anxiety-inducing (I
know I always get anxious myself), but remember it's all to have fun!
We're fortunate enough to be able to fly frequently and affordably these
days (well maybe not this year but you know what I mean), so make the
best of it while you can!

I remember reading about some people who spent all their lives
working and constantly looking forward to when they retire so they can
travel. It always baffled me why they have to wait. I mean, family
commitments aside, you never know what life can throw at you so take the
leap and go for it! Travel doesn't have to be expensive as long as you
spend within your means. And what's important is the experience and
memories anyway.

Personally, I can't wait until we can travel again. But until then it's always fun reliving the memories and writing about them!

Thanks so much for reading!

To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!

More info on this contest can be found here:

Contest: My best tips for inexperienced travelers! (Prize Pool - $100)

If you're interested in more travel content, I'm currently writing about
our trip to Japan back in 2016! Check out my latest post here:

TacoCat’s Travels #75 (Japan 2.0): Shopping at Snoopy Museum! 🐶

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