Hey there! I’m Susan, I write for Writer Cheap and I characterize myself as an avid traveler. It’s my life. I am eager to share my traveling knowledge with you based on my years of experience on the road.
I remember my very first trip. That feeling of trepidation and uncertainty! Above everything, I was terrified that I would forget or lose something important. I spent most of my time Googling information on the best travel tips, travel scams and more.
To help other budding travelers out, I’ve compiled this list of useful travel tips to make sure you have a hassle-free trip!
If you’re planning a trip of a lifetime, make sure you consider all angles and do your research accordingly. Some places become super busy during high season, making it unenjoyable. Alternatively, if there is a popular festival or event going on, accommodations might be fully booked out so make sure that you keep that in mind when planning your trip.
These along with looking into the overall visa restrictions of each place, important customs, and general information can make or break your trip.
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When booking airline tickets, I recommend using airline aggregator sites like Skyscanner to help you find cheap deals. After you’ve selected a flight, I usually click on to the actual website of the airline to see if they can offer the same flight.
If they do, I book it directly with the airline so that if anything goes wrong, I can deal with the airline directly rather than the flight aggregator. You can also check our article featuring our top travel hacks on how we manage to book cheap flightsall the time!
Plan Enough Time Between Transfers
One of the worst feelings ever is finding out that your flight has been delayed which result in you missing your connecting flight. If there is one thing I learned, it is to always make sure to leave enough time (4-5) hours to catch connecting flights.
While this seems excessive, believe it or not, budget airlines are notorious for flight delays and more and often do not take liability when you miss your other flight. This has happened to me with causing me to miss my long-haul international flight which was not cheap to rebook!
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Often times, flying can be expensive, especially if you’re on a tight schedule. To mend this, you can look at alternative transportation like trains, buses, renting a car, or even making the most of ride sharing programs. From experience, renting a car has been by far one of the best decisions ever because not only does it help me get from point A to point B, but it also saves me transportation money when wanting to see all the tourist attractions.
Always Buy a Local SIM Card
If you want to avoid getting lost, trust me, getting a sim card in every place you go to is worth it! Just having the convenience of using Google Maps makes it worth it! In Europe, you can even get away with getting one sim which is valid across the European Union.
In Asia, it is so cheap to get a mobile sim which you can easily top up at almost every corner store.
Get Your Documents in Line
Before your trip, make sure you save the phone number of your embassy which you can easily call if you get into any emergencies. I also advise you to make some copies of your passport and insurance documents which you can submit to your embassy if you happen to lose the originals.
Informing your bank of your travel plans and making sure you can access your accounts while traveling is essential. This will ensure that your credit cards and other debit cards are not flagged for illegal use which often happens when you keep moving locations.
Make Sure You Don’t Leave Without Travel Insurance
Another travel MUST-DO is to sort out travel insurance beforehand. While it sounds trivial, it is super important and can save you lots of money from unwanted travel emergencies. World Nomads is one of the most popular out there due to their incredible coverage for activities on the road.
While I could go on and on about other helpful traveling tips and tricks which I picked up over the years, the best piece of advice I have is to just go for it! Traveling will be one of the best experiences ever and no matter how much you want to plan things to a tee, sometimes, it is better to just go with the flow and enjoy the experience.
Hopefully, this article has encouraged you to get out of your comfort zone to pursue your dreams of traveling the world.
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