🌎 General Travel Tips

Download these Apps to make your trip planning smooth and easy:

• Currency

• Hostelworld

• Expedia

• Google Translator

• Couchsurfing

• Google Maps – This may seem obvious, but make sure that you download the Google Maps app, and also download the maps for the countries you will visit to be viewable offline before you go.  The little blue dot will show you where you are, even if you don’t buy a SIM card or pay for any kind of service in your destination country and just leave your phone on airplane mode. 

• TripAdvisor 

• Airbnb

• Uber- You can use Uber internationally, seamlessly. In many places, such as Mexico City and Manila, it is also rumored to be considerably safer than taking a taxi, and much less of a hassle- no need to beg the driver to use the meter, or have directions lost in translation. Use my referral code 9lomy for $5 off your first 3 rides. 

• Mobile Pass – For US Passport holders re-entering the US. This is the Fastest way through Customs

Websites I love and recommend

• www.expedia.com Some people hate this website, but I like it because they save your information, I login via Facebook, so I don’t have to remember a password, and I can book a flight in less than 30 seconds, although to be honest I always recommend double checking the price directly with the airline, and if you’re doing a round trip- try pricing it out as two one-way tickets. Mostly this is more expensive, but randomly, it’s much cheaper. The same is true if you’re buying a multidestinational flight, many times it’s cheaper, but many times it’s not. I prefer to buy separately if possible, in case you miss a leg, the rest of the flights won’t be automatically cancelled. 

• www.hostelworld.com This is my preferred hostel-booking site, I like using the map feature to find a hostel in the exact location I want to be. 

• www.hostelbookers.com Sometimes hostelworld doesn’t seem to have a good option, so I’ll try this one and they do have different properties sometimes.  Remember when booking online, that in many countries without high internet penetration rates, like Ethiopia, only the high end hotels were bookable online. The cheapest hotel online would be $100 but there were many, many hotels available walk-in for around $10. 

• www.travel.state.gov Looking for Visa requirements? For US passport holders, this website is the definitive answer. Look up the country specific information, and skip to the “Entry, Exit and Visa Requirements” section. I wouldn’t say to ignore the travel warnings, but take them with a grain of salt and realize that other countries have issued travel warnings against the United States after incidents like bombings, which don’t necessarily suggest that the US is an extremely dangerous place to visit. 

• http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data THE BEST place for information regarding how to get a prepaid SIM card in every country. I’ve found it to be very accurate

• https://www.printfriendly.com  Printing a million things for your trip? Pass the URL through here and cut out the crap! I love it! 

• www.theflightdeal.com Sign up for the daily newsletter. They will send you an email everyday with how to find some of the best fares. If you find one you want, buy it IMMEDIATELY. You *almost* always have 24 hours to cancel. They aren’t ALWAYS the cheapest fares, but many times are. They don’t promote airlines that don’t earn miles- so you’ll never see budget airlines or Turkish airlines. It’s a great place to start- particularly look to see if the fares advertised there allow for a stopover- and take advantage of it! 

• www.skyscanner.com Use this if you have ultimate flexibility! I love the “Everywhere” feature. 

• www.kiwi.com Try out the "nomad" feature! 

Know your budget airlines (They won't show up on search engines)

• Ryanair- Dublin Hub, Good for travel within Europe or to Morocco

• Air Asia- Kuala Lumpur Hub, Awesome for traveling within Asia

• Nok Air

• Vueling

• Norwegian- awesome for traveling from the US to Europe and from Europe to Asia

• Level- Barcelona Hub, good for travel between US and Spain

• Allegiant Air- Awesome for flying to/from rural cities or small airports in the US. Limited routes and dates, but much cheaper than any other options for places like Rapid City, etc. 

• Wizz Air – Budapest Hub, great for travel between Western and Eastern Europe

Bring your Student ID

Not everywhere accepts US student ID’s – but most do so ALWAYS ask for the student price (You can continue to use it for YEARS after you graduate if it doesn’t have dates on it- if you’re a terrible person *cough*cough*). Some places require you to present an ISIC Card (International Student ID card)- However, if you’re getting it only for discounted admissions, unless you’re on a very long trip, it’s most likely not worth it. It’ll depend on your itinerary. 

Planning Vs. Winging it

I’ll be honest- I figure out the places I want to visit, and typically buy whatever flights necessary to link up my trip all the way back to my point of origin. However, as far as accommodation I mostly wing it.  If I have a flight, I’ll book a place for the cities immediately prior and following that flight, as I know the date is fixed.   

I personally prefer this style of travel because it provides the most value- I see flights as the biggest variable cost of travel so getting cheap flights is crucial to my strategy. Hotel prices also fluctuate, but more depending on season than from day to day. 

That being said, if you’re the type of person who likes to plan accommodation in advance, I recommend leaving one day open every week or so that you could add on to one city or the next, this will give you at least a smidgen of flexibility. 

Adopt a “Close your eyes and slide your card” mentality

This obviously doesn't apply to everything, but I think it helps me sometimes when I'm trying to decide if an entry fee to a museum or landmark is "worth it" to me. If it's a place I'm interested in, and I'm at the place, I tend to be more willing to spend than on other expenses. It's cheaper to visit while you're there than to return, always. 

Don’t talk talk in the tuk tuk or you’ll get your phone take taken!

I got my iPhone stolen while using it in a tuk tuk.  If you aren’t familiar with what that is, it’s basically a covered motorized trike that doesn’t have any windows. We were stopped in heavy traffic when two guys on a motorcycle drove by, one driving and one sitting backwards. The guy sitting backwards grabbed my phone and they sped off. It happened really quick- no time for me to react at all. Of course they’re on a motorcycle so they could easily go through the traffic, I was stuck in the tuk tuk, and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do. 

This style of theft is very common in certain parts of Asia, and also applies to purse snatching by people on motorcycles.  Always tie your luggage down when you take a tuk tuk and be aware of your surroundings. 

How to NEVER miss a Train

Lets face it, every group has a straggler, and you don’t want that person to be making you miss your train, especially if it has infrequent departures. I have travelled Europe with the Eurail pass, taking trains almost daily, and have learnt how to solve this problem: take charge to do the research about train time departures, and report to the person who is always running late (in my case it was my sister) that the train is departing 10-15 minutes prior to the actual departure.

How this works: Let’s say the train from Paris to Amsterdam leaves at 9:30am, you would simply tell your traveling partner that it departs at 9:20am.  I’ve found that the most hustle from my sister came in the last 10 minutes before the scheduled departure, where she would finally start to walk really fast/run, just to arrive at the platform with the train already leaving the station.  We missed a couple trains this way, so I came up with this idea.   The next time we went to get on a train, not only was I way less stressed about making the train (I knew we had 10 extra minutes), but even when we “missed” the train, there was ALWAYS another one in only 10 minutes! My sister even mentioned to me at one point, “Wow, it seems like there are trains to anywhere all the time, like I could just show up at the train station at anytime and go anywhere” Literally she said this on a train that operates once daily, that we “missed” at the fake earlier time, but made it because I reported the departure as 10 minutes earlier than what it really was.  

Get Tested for STDs when you return home (and before you depart, for that matter)

You should already be getting a full STD panel every 3-6 months depending on your lifestyle, however STD prevalence varies by geography so if you've had unprotected sex during your trip, it's best to simply get tested when you return, regardless of if symptoms are present.