Tips 0221-0240
Tip 0221 Email eye prescription
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As well as passports, resume and any important documents, we recommend emailing to yourself your eye prescription to have to hand, in case you break your glasses whilst travelling.
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There are many countries that can easily rustle up your prescription within a day or two and if you are like me, "blind as a bat without glasses," then lost or broken glasses can be a major problem if you are away from home for a while.
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Tip 0222 Take one key
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When travelling we recommend only taking one entry house key with you, rather than your whole key bunch. Losing the whole bunch can be a costly exercise, where as one key is no problem.
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Even if you have great friends, family or neighbours. They may not be around when you get back.
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Another good tip is to plant your key! Wrap your key in a plastic bag and plant it in the garden somewhere. Leaving your key under the mat or pot is obvious but no would be burglar is going to dig up your whole garden just to find a door key.
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Tip 0223 Pen in Zip
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You will be amazed at how easy it is to gain access to your travel bags. Not only can your locked bag be opened but it can also be closed back up to appear undisturbed.
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Check out our video!
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Tips 0221-0240
Tip 0224 Check tides
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Another obvious tip that many forget or not even consider. There are many applications to this tip but we pick one as an easy way to show the benefits.
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When planning a kayaking trip up or down a tidal creek, think about setting off inland on the last two hours of high tide and return on the outward tide. This makes for easy paddling and a comfortable end to your trip.
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King tides also get you further upstream and places many have never seen or managed to navigate.
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We will be featuring kayaking within this website as we evolve and have extensive experience and great tips and advice for the budding kayaker.
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Tip 0225 Don't pack too early
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Many of you are well prepared and like to get sorted early and plan well in advance. This is commendable but remember, if you pack well in advance, the chances are you will need to unpack again because you have forgotten what you packed earlier!
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If you have the space, allow to gather your equipment laid out, so you can actually see what you have accumulated. Alternatively make a list of what you have already packed and leave it attached to the prepacked bags.
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Tip 0226 Pack wet wipes
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Wet wipes are a great way to refresh yourselves whilst travelling. If you are travelling by car, remember to leave the pack out of the heat of the interior, as they will dry out and be little more than dried up tissues.
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Always have a hand pump sanitiser in your vehicle. There will be many times this comes in handy and even a trip to the local supermarket will have your hands less than clean after pushing a trolley round for just ten seconds.
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Tip 0227 Food poisoning or heat stroke
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I can tell you from experience that food poisoning is not as wide spread as you think. Many people whilst travelling, blame the food for their "Deli belly." Now we are not saying that food poisoning is not a problem in certain areas of the world but many think just because they contract a case of diarrhoea that they have had badly cooked food.
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Many times this is not the case and they have had a mild form of heat stroke.
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People with thinning hair, shaved heads or baldness will get the same symptoms and food poisoning if they do not wear a hat. In severe cases, you could end up in hospital for the whole of your travel adventure.
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So our top tip here is, as with sun protection in general. Cover up! Even when in the sea or pool, think about wearing a bandana or hat.
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Tip 0228 Personal hygiene
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Yes we are going there! Come on people, you may not care if anyone else thinks you stink but the simple fact is, we don't want to sit next to you if you can't look after your own personal hygiene.
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There is nothing worse than having to sit on a 13 hour flight next to someone who stinks of body odour or a bad case of halitosis.
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Freshly laundered clothes, a shower pre departure, an extra top in your hand luggage to change into on long trips and this is a big one "Dental floss" actually works! Most halitosis is remedied by using dental floss that cleans food debris from between your teeth especially from the Molars and Premolars.
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It is said, that you can't tell yourself if you have an odour problem. Rubbish! Unless you have a condition of Hyposmia or Anosmia, you can all tell if you have an odour problem.
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Many people are too scared to tell their friends if they have a problem due to upsetting their feelings. Toughen up and spill the beans, they may be embrassed in the short term but will thank you for it later on.
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Tip 0229 Old pants and socks
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A great way of updating your underwear wardrobe when travelling, take your oldest underwear with you and discard as you go. Also any old "T" shirts and clothing that is past it's used by date.
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This way you regularly update and have less weight to bring back and more room for travel memorabilia or gifts to bring home.
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Tip 0230 Plastic bag
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A must take! Having a large plastic bag for your used clothes will not only separate your used from your fresh clothes but will help to keep your luggage fresh and dry.
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A large plastic bag or two is light in weight to carry, takes up no room at all but also has many other uses.
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You can cover your backpack with one if it is raining, and you can even use one as a buoyancy aid should the worst happen. Keeping electronic gear dry on boat trips or using as a head rest or pillow.
The simple plastic bag is a must.
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Tip 0231 Three Definites
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You will be surprised at how little you really need to take travelling but there are three definite takes for international travel. Passport, Drivers license and money.
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Everything else is secondary and non essential. It may sound silly but make sure you have the 3 Definites on your person as you leave your home for your travel.
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With all the upheaval and stress of packing, timing and worrying about everything and everyone else, you'll be surprised at the amount of people that leave one or all of the 3 definites by the bedside or on the kitchen table.
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We cover more on these items within this website but another useful tip here is, take some spare passport size photos in your passport holder. Some countries have regulation of requirements of extra photos for entry.
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Tip 0232 Box of spares
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This tip is mainly for the self driving travellers. Experienced motorists will probably already have a basic kit for their specific vehicle and this would include probably a set of wrenches, car jack, hazard kit and so on.
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There will be many who have no idea what is under the bonnet, let alone know where to start looking if all of a sudden your vehicle won't start or breaks down. We are not all mechanically minded and this is fine.
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You will be surprised though how easy most vehicle problems can be fixed by the road side and unless you have roadside assist, you could be in for a long wait or severe delay.
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Having just a few spares in your kit can get you out of trouble and fellow travellers will always try to help if they can.
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We will have a list in our "Lists, Inventories and Itineraries" section coming soon on this website, of minor spares that everyone should keep in your vehicle that will assist you in getting back on the road again with minimum effort.
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Tip 0233 Pack light but!
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Packing light is always the best way to travel but make sure you are not caught out by the weather.
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The main issues in weather are sudden changes, unforseen or freak conditions. Any one of these can make your travel experience a nightmare at worst.
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Light weight waterproofs, layers and thermals will greatly reduce your chances of Hypo or Hyperthermia.
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Sturdy footwear is often heavy for packing and we suggest to help bring your travelling weight down for say low airport luggage fees, is to wear all your heaviest clothing whilst getting to your destination.
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This may seem a little cumbersome for travel but remember, places like airports are probably the only place you will have assistance for travelling. They mostly have air-conditioning, trolleys for luggage, seating for resting and you will have plenty of time to relax and strip off any heavy items of clothing once through check in.
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Tip 0234 Home Irrigation
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Unless you have great neighbours like us, when travelling there is a lot of things to think about whilst you are away for more than a couple of days and we go into this in great detail in the processes section of this website.
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Our top tip here is to invest in an automatic home irrigation system. Now I know what you are thinking, costly, a lot of work and difficult to install, right?
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Well actually it is not that bad at all. You can pick up an auto timer for your outside tap relatively inexpensive nowadays. As a quick fix we recently bought one, it cost us AUD$25 and with a soaker hose that cost just $8 we don't have to worry about our herb garden and veggie patch at all.
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Obviously you can all do better than this and installation of most is so easy with DIY connectors and piping easily available at your local hardware stores.
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Tip 0235 Save money
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Whilst travelling there is a lot you can do back home to save money and many forget to turn the power off to a lot of things that you normally leave on whilst at home.
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Turn off and unplug all you televisions. Having your TV on in standby mode, uses up to 90% of the power that is used when the TV is on!
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Things like constant emersion heaters, spa's and the like. Do they really need to be churning over if you are not there to use them.
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Think about a spring clean prior to departure. Wind down and slowly use up all of your freezer/ fridge compartments for a clean down and shut down and restock on your return. Have you a spare beer fridge in the garage that is not full.
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Fridge and freezers work far more efficiently when fully loaded. Now we are not suggesting go and stock up pre travel, in case of power outages and loss of good food but filling empty spaces with either empty boxes or cheap bread will reduce the air capacity that the freezers sensors pick up and thus will save power and you money.
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You will be surprised at how much you can save by just being a little prepared.
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Tip 0236 Buy a local sim card
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Don't get caught out when travelling internationally on the costs and fees from your internet providers and mobile phone companies that slap on exorbitant amounts for usage overseas.
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Many experienced travellers will of course know this but many get caught out still. It is so easy to get a local sim card and local internet dongle for your needs whilst away from home. Many suppliers of these will be more than happy to set you up if you purchase from them.
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If you don't do this there will be times when you will either need to use in an emergency or you will think "Oh one call won't be that much" and more than wipe out the few dollars needed to by a local sim.
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Tip 0237 Compass hand held
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We rely so much on modern technology nowadays that we sometimes forget that often technology breaks down or power runs out! One of the most important pieces of equipment out there for travelling is a simple hand held compass.
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This goes for many items that we now constantly use and take for granted, like our mobile phone, tablets and computers, lighters, torches and many more that we have simply forgot uses power that is not sustainable forever.
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For serious travelling you will need to rethink a little and have some items on you that do not breakdown, run out or malfunction.
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A simple compass is a must and even if you break that, there are other ways of making a compass should you be in a spot of bother.
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It takes about 5 minutes to learn how to operate a compass effectively and we strongly recommend you revise up on this one thing that could possibly save your life.
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Tip 0238 Sun, cream and 30 minutes
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We are surprised at the amount of people that have absolutely no idea about sun, cream and especially the 30 minutes.
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As mentioned before, the sun is a powerful force and leads to many problems that are not so obvious to the naked eye. Heat stroke is common in over exposure to the sun. Cancer of course is a big one and skin melanoma is prevalent in hot and sunny countries.
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Many slap on sun cream far too little, far too late and the wrong type for their skin.
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Our top tip here is and not many people know this. Sun cream takes at least 30 minutes of absorption before it works on your skin. Don't wait until you are getting hot before you apply your sun cream. Having said that, it is never too late to apply sun lotion, unless you already have third degree burns and you are in hospital!
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Tip 0239 Luggage tags
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So many of you are still putting your full details on your luggage in case it gets lost.
Let me see, let us all put a banner up to say I'm off on holiday for two weeks, here is my address so you know I'm not in and you can go round anytime and rob me!!!
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Come on guys, get with it. If you have to put anything on the outside of your bag, all you need at most is a last name and post code. This is more than enough information to get your lost bag back to you safely.
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Many of you have even got your house address on your keys. What are you thinking???
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Tip 0240 Hotel keys
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Again, like tip 0239. Just think about security a little whilst you travel. Most hotel keys are very distinctive.
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When you go out from your accommodation at any time, either leave your keys at reception where you are known or keep you key securely hidden away and out of sight. Leaving your room key out on the table, by the pool or bar, lets others know where you are staying and more importantly that you are not in your room.
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We will have a whole section on security in our processes section of this website and soon to be in our features section.
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