~ Top Travel Tips ~

Immerse yourself in the local culture~ to eating their food, and having conversations and learning their language (at least learn how to say hello, bye, please and thank you), volunteering at local charities, and asking for recommendations of places you could go that no one else knows. THIS IS HOW YOU FIND THOSE HIDDEN GEMS!

Don't Use a Suitcase its easier to travel ~ I feel like this is a simple one. but its so crucial as long as you do your research on a good backpack they are so much easier to get around especially if you're moving around a lot (doing different tours, going into the rainforest ect....)

Best days to book flights ~ from my experience the best days to book flights from the Uk is Monday- Wednesday. these seem to be the days that I find the best flight deals on and they always work out cheaper than the rest of the week.

Don't Be Afraid ~ it seems scary but this is going to be the best decision you ever made. This will open your eyes to the basic privileges we take for granted in out day to day life. this will educate us more than school ever did. It's a new way of living (or even old in some cases, but its new to us). Just be open to new experiences and don't hold back or you might miss out.

Take a padlock with you ~ if backpacking you will most likely be staying in hostels, airbnbs, shared accommodation, and not the luxury hotels with 24hour security and code lock safes in every room for your valuables. Now we may not have that but, they do offer spaces for you to keep your things safe. With one catch... most of them you need your own lock so if you don't have that you'll be lugging your important valuables everywhere with you and honestly i don't know if thats better or worse!

Towel and Pillow case ~ Okay so guaranteed you'll need a towel at some point, right? I'm telling you a microfibre camping towel is the way forward. Takes up barely any space in your bag, dries extremely quickly and is so lightweight you wont even notice the difference when carrying it. Pillowcase is also recommended as stated earlier you will most likely be staying in shared accommodation just makes you feel a little more fresh and hygienic.

This can also double up as a travel pillow if you pack it with clothes from your bag!

Budget your trip ~ Just have to clarify i don't mean plan out the exact amount you are going to spend each day because you could never stick to that. i think one of the main joys about travelling is you really get to grab life by the balls. you really learn to live in the moment and don't pass up any opportunity that you really wanna do deep down.

So yes, that means some days you might spend more than anticipated, but thats okay.

As long as you prioritise the most important things like food, shelter, water you can worry and about everything else later... but obviously try not to get to this stage... its not healthy to worry and stress.

Just have a general idea of how much you are going to spend in each city/village. you can do it by country. However, it wont be as accurate as if you separated it. One thing to think about is the high and low seasons. these are the times that they get high volumes of tourism and of course that means they will put their prices up. That also leads on to thinking about if you are travelling to those touristy destinations as the same thing applies but it'll be more expensive all year round and it increases even more in high season.

Having a budget and sticking to to it as much as possible is key to maximising your trip!

Bank Cards - I made as many accounts as I could before I left because I know what im like with losing bank cards and I knew it would be a pain in the ass if I lost it whilst travelling. Also you'll find better exchange rates if you get online banks they seem to have the best. When I was there I'm pretty sure Starling had one of the best ones also alongside Revolut.

So I took my main bankcard and then I made loads of online banks, I had a monzo, chase, revolt and starling. funnily enough I think this is the longest time went without losing even one, but I met plenty of people who didn't come prepared like me and had lost their cards or the card machine ate them. Trust me you don't want to do this and not have another one to use.

I also made sure I just seperated my money into all of them just incase anything happened, this did prove to be an issue when I broke my phone, couldn't access my online banking and needed to take money out but couldnt remember all the pins though lol. there's pros and ons for sure