If this is the first trip you are ever going to take abroad then you need to read this. If you are a long term traveller, then you will recognise the signs, in fact you will have made many of these same mistakes yourself. Here is a list of seven things that any first time traveller should avoid.
Sleeping Bag
Well, you are a backpacker, so you definitely need a sleeping bag for all those adventure holiday experiences you will be having as you travel the world? Wrong. You will be sleeping in hotel rooms and dormitories. The only time you need a sleeping bag is when you go camping and you didn’t bring a tent. Throw it away and while you’re at it, get rid of the…
Backpack
Just because you are backpacking around the world doesn’t actually mean that you have to buy a backpack. It’s big, it’s heavy and to be honest, it means that you have brought too much stuff. Empty your bag, go back through what you think you need and only take what you actually need, which includes…
Shoes
The moment some of us land in a foreign country with an exotic sounding name like Thailand, one of two things happen. We buy ridiculous t-shirts with the name of the local beer printed on it and/ or, we forget to wear shoes and enter expensive restaurants wearing nothing but a sarong. Don’t! Put your shoes back on your feet, wear a t-shirt, and if you are a man, get out of that skirt! Honestly, if you are feeling that laid back, why did you decide to buy a…
Backpack Protector
When was the last time that you saw a woman walking down the high-street with wire mesh around their handbag? Nope, me neither, which is weird when you think about it, because the average handbag has a purse and a mobile phone in it. The average backpack on the other hand is filled with week old smelly clothes. What the backpack protector is good for is making it impossible for you to open your bag in a hurry. It’s actually really frustrating, but you should be used to that by now, because you bought a…
Waist Wallet
Which is possibly the most pointless invention in the world, because it is completely impractical. You want to pay for the bus, hang on a minute, I just need to reach into my waist wallet… There’s a reason you don’t wear one in your every day life. Not only is it completely impractical, but it tells every criminal within a hundred yards that you have all of your valuable personal belongings around your waist. That’s not really a problem though, you probably haven’t even noticed you are walking into the wrong part of town, because you are reading your…
Guidebook
The single heaviest item in your hand luggage and in the age of smartphones, probably one of the most pointless. Instead of walking around flicking desperately through your huge book trying to find the right page, buy a local simcard and just use google. It’s amazing, they have internet all around the world. In fact it’s so fantastic that you might actually be hallucinating, which is possible because you’ve been prescribed…
Anti Malarial Medicine
This is the one time I’m going to hold back from taking the piss. There are places in the world where you do need to take anti-malarial medicine. It is also true that there could be malaria in the place you will be visiting. However, having lived in many cities where there is malaria, I can tell you that doctors do over-prescribe anti-malarials’. So make sure you have good health insurance, but use your common sense and try not to take anti-malarial medicine for months on end.
I agree with this! As a frequent traveller myself, instead of carrying around heavy guidebooks I always have my iphone with me, and on the I have kindle and other apps that contain the local guidebooks along with many other useful apps to help assist me.
Traveling is a bug, and something that when you start you cannot stop. Just pays to be smart about it. Love sharing my experiences and tips with others, makes traveling more fulfilling.
Definitely agree with you on that one Cassidy. Between my kindle and my phone I have all the information I need đŸ˜‰
Ha! Great post. I have to agree with all of the above. My partner and I were wondering if there was someone at the airport in Thailand passing out Chang beer shirts and saggy pants with elephants printed on them. I would add #8 traveling too fast and trying to see it ALL to the list.
Beer t-shirts seem to be obligatory. Strange how people never do it in their own country… I think “travelling too fast would make a good no. 8.
First of all like to thank for this useful post.I also like to agree with this post.Here include all the things that travelers should keep in mind.
Those are practical, funny tips. Funny but true. Maybe I was paranoid but the first tip I got on my first travel was …. Keep your passport, your plane tickets and your money close to your chest!
Most important tip for sure. Enough people have arrived at check in only to find they forgot their passport or found out it’s about to expire…
:))) My wife forgot passports in the plane while returning from Greece. So, damn true. But yet funny and charming memories.
Yes it is a very charming memories. :)))
This made me laugh so hard. I just remembered about my first backpacking trips. I think I made all of those mistakes.
Hahaha Thank you so much for this.
You nailed every single one. We also have a huge problem with people walking around barefoot. You see travellers walking around India with no shoes on their feet but they are hanging off of their backpacks.
Many people there cannot afford shoes and it’s almost like a slap in the face. Just the way we see it.
Put your shoes on in the cities and take them off at the beach
Haha, this really made me laugh. I’m glad I’ve already read so many posts like this before my big trip, I feel like a well seasoned traveller!…Delusional.
The only thing I am thinking of taking from that list is malaria tablets. You’ve made up my mind about the money belt. Pointless.
Haha, very on point. I have been guilty of the “no shoes” and the “local beer t-shirt” thing đŸ˜€ There is one exception to “you won’t ever need a sleeping bad because you will sleep in hostels”: in Iceland the cheap hostels don’t give blankets to guests, you have to pay extra, because they assume everyone has a sleeping bag anyway, which is ironic for a country that literally has the word ICE in the name…
I totally agree to this. There are so much to learn. Of course, traveling for the first time may not be easy but I guess reading articles like this is very useful to come up with different expectations to have the best travel for the first time.
I can’t stop my laughing :D, 100% true even me in my 1st trip i forgot my passport in flight. Really very useful information. Thank you for sharing such things with us.
Very good approach to so important things. I love your photos. Personally i know how important is good preparation to travel.
thanks for this very good post! I found it very interesting and useful! keep up the great work! looking forward to reading any other articles on your site!
Awesome blog atravellersjourney.com, I would love to travel in Switzerland. I am gonna follow your tips thanks for sharing.
100% agree with your article. great article and very informative for new travelers
Thanks for share helpful information for traveler..I agree if any one plan trip..then he/she should remember that things.
Actually the first time I went back-packing on my own to the South of France I did take a sleeping bag and the way things turned out it was a good job I did.
When I arrived on the Mediterranean coastline I didn’t realise that it was the start of the french national holidays, so everywhere was really busy and rooms were very expensive. Needless to say I ended up at the local campsite in a place called Cassis. When I said I would like to book in for a few nights, I was asked what size was my tent? My answer of course was that I didn’t have a tent, but fortunately I did have a sleeping bag.
I slept on the floor in front of the campsite bar for the next 10 nights and had one of the best holidays ever, making friends with Dutch, German and of course French people who thought it was hilarious that the English guy turned up without a tent!