Travel Tips

We took a pile of plastic zip-lock bags along - all sizes. They were invaluable for so many things: compartmentalization, leakage prevention, waterproofing, compressing, sorting and for just keeping your left over lunch intact.

Almost every long-term traveller would do very well to consult guide books every now and then. The guide books generally give great pictures of what to expect from your new destination as well as giving you inside info as to what areas to stay in and what to do there, etc. While we generally found our accommodation without the book we did find it come in handy very often, especially at late night bus drop offs in a new town.

Johan loves guide books and we soon realized the advantage of having comprehensive guide books of each country rather than a general guide book for a collection of countries. We carried the books for the current country and the next one to visit at any one time. We then bought books and sold used ones as we went along.

Most places we went to require bargaining as part of the purchasing process. Bargain well (any budget guide book will have endless bargaining tips for you to choose from) but bargain fair. We encountered a few budget travellers who would not relent until they had bargained every last drop out of often very desperate people in very poor (and very cheap) places...

When travelling through other people's countries don't just go to take as much as you can from them for as little as you can possibly give. We feel one must be willing to give as well - especially when it comes to fair economic support towards the guy on the street.

Since we did not travel with cell phones we had to have a plan for if we lost each other. Fortunately there was internet almost anywhere and we made our plan to go to the nearest internet cafe and e-mail your location and then stay there or go to your accommodation. Have your plan from day 1. We have met people on the road who lost their travel companion(s) months earlier...

We did tons of research before deciding on the ideal backpack to haul around the world for a year. Every compartment could zip closed and be locked. Any compartment (even if you never plan to use it) that could serve as a quick stowaway place for drugs at airports we secured. Straps could zip away for airport handling and we had our bags well marked for identifying from other backpackers' stuff.

They were as tough as nails - no amount of abuse made a dent on them. We were impressed. The most recent travel packs have built in splash covers (very nice - we took loose ones along) and mesh pockets for trekking. One of the most important things is that the bag is comfy.

We would also recommend a smaller rather than larger pack - 65l at most, but preferably 55l-60l. Larger packs just tend to fill up with not-so-important stuff.

We picked up a Pack Safe steel cable lock from Cape Union Mart. While the padlock itself could be better Johan had a great time securing our back packs wherever it was required - to our seats, on top of busses, in our rooms when the security was shaky. It gives you the peace of mind that your pack will not be stolen from the roof of the bus or out of your room or while you are sleeping on the bus - we have met various people who did not secure their packs and whose backpacks found their way into the local economy...

We only believe in one type of combination lock so far (and we don't like carrying keys for key locks around) and that is the black ECGO combination locks which you can pick up in some luggage shops. We had one each at the beginning of our trip but after a theft experience we changed all our combination locks to ECGOs.

The lock is sturdier than most other types but the metal bar is still small enough to lock your back pack. The bar enters the locking mechanism from the side and not from the top so no amount of yanking or blows can release it. We used these locks for the doors of our rooms as well which also made it easier for both of us to move about without a key.

We compiled credit card sized ID cards (which one can laminate) for our wallets and bags. These cards contained info like name, blood type, next of kin (with contact details), e-mail, medical aid details, etc. Most importantly we had NB telephone numbers to call like travel insurance claims, and lost card hotlines for all our cards. This turned out handy when Johan's wallet was stolen in the middle of the night on a boat far away from internet - the boat owners kindly allowed us to make the necessary calls there and then.

We took a bunch of pics from home: us, family and where we live. We also downloaded the typical ones from the web: Nelson Mandela, Table mountain, Soccer, the ocean, the karoo and a whole list of African animals. This is one of the best ways to comunicate with locals (and other travellers) about who you are. We took our pics along on an iPod which worked well.

In the first part of our trip we were often amazed at the generous gifts we recieved from certain locals that we encountered along the way but we had nothing meaningful to give in return. For the second part of our trip we took a few small South African trinkets along. It was a winner move.

If you don't carry a pile of business cards with you while travelling the world do what we did. We printed lots of small paper 'cards' with our name and contact details on (e-mail address and blog address) to give to travellers we met and got to know along the way. They were small and light and we stuffed quite a few in our wallets - you would be amazed how quickly you go through them.

Money is probably one of the things budget travellers talk about the most. Most budget travellers take great pride in how much they manage to get right with the least expense. If that is cool for you - great. It takes discipline which you just have to force on yourself for long enough without folding. If, however you find it is not working: change it. Simple as that. Rather enjoy the time (even if it must become a shorter time or a time minus a certain activity) while you have it. Also, married couples seem to like a little bit more comfort than the single guys - we did. Developing a good travel budget philosophy requires honesty, perseverence, communication (if you are not going solo) and openmindedness.

You can draw cash almost anywhere on your card. Some South American countries let you draw US$ as well (Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador). Just check from a local or a travel advisory whether the ATMs are safe to use (e.g. Venezuela has many reported problems with ATM usage so that most people - including locals - do over the counter withdrawals) and be shrewd when you draw.

A good tip is to take more than one credit card type overseas when travelling through a few countries - we took a VISA and a MAESTRO card along and both were necessary.

Some countries have problems with theft in which case it can be wise to use an account with little money in and a small (if any) overdraft facility. Then one can transfer money into it as you go along. The thing then is just to keep your internet banking as secure as possible. Use the security key-in pads if your bank's web site offers them. Find computers that seem the most trustworthy. We scanned for virusses once or twice (carried a simple anti-spyware programme on a flash drive and used that if we had administrtor access) but we really never had a problem.

Some countries, like Malaysia for instance can do double takes while swiping your card at pay points or even make copies of the card. Never let your credit card out of your sight.

Make sure you connect with a neutral local (some one who can't make money out of you by giving you subjective info) to find out what to watch out for and what is important to know in their country or area. Don't ask leading questions like: "Is the train station over there?" but rather ask "Where is the train station?" And when they tell you - listen!

Keep your budget travel flexible - book little (we did not book 99% of the time) and keep your options open wherever you can.