#travel advice

Annually, millions of people travel to various countries and places all over the world. While flying is great, it can lead to disappointment for all those flyers that don’t properly plan beforehand. You may use these tips and technique before you depart and travel, whilst packing and as you proceed through the airport to have a worry-free aviation experience. 

1. You have to select your flight seats as soon as possible. The sooner you choose your seat, the more seating options you might have to select from. Those with disabilities should select their chair at least 24 hours ahead of time.

2. You should check-in online and print out your boarding pass beforehand. So long as you aren’t checking baggage, you’ll have the ability to prevent the check-in line and go right to the security. 

3. Always know your transport to and from the airport before. For those who have an early or late flight, you should think about making airport parking bookings for security and convenience, or place to have someone drive you if you’re not driving yourself. 

4. Packing, when it is done the correct way, you can definitely reduce the amount of stress and pressure that comes with flying or flying. Make certain to have a record of must-haves you will need so you don’t leave behind any applicable items. Pack light and bring the things you actually need. 

5. You must remain educated on TSA guidelines. Be certain you check right before you pack. While the rules are strict, it’s vital to obey them. After them can save time when going through the airport security. 

6. You have to pack your toiletries to keep from having to buy expensive things from the airport. Be sure liquids are small enough to place in carry-on bag, or you can haul them in your checked luggage. 

7. Never set your license or cash in your suitcase. You’ll have to offer airport security with your ID, and you might have to have your wallet handy for any bag charges. 

8. If you bring a laptop, be certain that you pack it in a manner where it’s simply accessible so you can take it from your bag when going through airport security. 

9. You have to tag your luggage. Ensure to place your contact information on the labels so that someone can call you if your bags are stolen or lost. 

10. Always place your phone charger on your carry-on bag so you can easily get and charge your mobile phone in the event of a delayed or canceled flight. 

Business Travel Tips and Advice

Thinking the excursion through beforehand will relieve you of the stress of travelling. Some folks tend to combine their business trip with leisure activities; this however isn’t advisable as it causes confusion when planning your own priorities and expenses. 

To begin with make sure all of your flight and hotel reservations are confirmed so that you don’t need to fear at the last moment. You might also follow the steps below to ensure that your business trip is void of pitfalls. Pack Right Packing right is the first step towards making your journey stress-free. 

Taking two little equal sized bags is simpler than cramming all your possessions into one enormous bag. Sort out everything you must carry and keep them individually organized in both bags. Create a list of those things in each bag and set the list on top. 

This way you won’t get confused and it’ll be easier for you to know where everything is. Carry an umbrella if you’re travelling into a rain likely zone. Carry a pair of shoes along with your formal footwear and packaging an additional pair of socks would also be convenient. 

Select the Ideal Attire Pack a sufficient amount of business suits and formal outfits and a few casual outfits for when you have the time to unwind, but make certain to check the weather in your destination on the internet prior to doing this. Another suggestion: to reduce your luggage weight, wear the heaviest of your outfits when you’re travelling. 

When you’ve packed your clothes run through your schedule and be certain that you have a couple of extra pairs of clothing to be on the safer side. Internet Devices When travelling on business it’s probably you will require access to the internet and email constantly, so ensure that your hotel room has access to the internet at the time of booking. 

If you’re travelling to an international destination activate your mobile roaming services by your service provider. Picking the information plans for internet and your mobile sensibly can prove to be economical. Other Electronic Gadgets While most folks will remember to take their notebook, mobiles etcetera most people today tend to overlook their cellular chargers and converter adaptors. 

Ensure that your cell phone is fully charged when you’re leaving home. If you’re travelling to an international destination, check the pin type employed in that country. Carry Medications Although we always hope for the best while we’re travelling it is always advised that we plan for the worst. 

Carrying a couple of standard medicines like paracetamol, antihistamines, pain killers and regular medication can help us be ready for any sort of clinically challenging situation. Eat and Sleep Right Prior to the day of your trip make certain that you’ve got ample rest and the right type of food. 

Enough sleep must assist you remain active even after the long trip. Have food which will make you feel light and give you the endurance to hold yourself during travelling. Avoid consuming alcohol before or during your journeys as it can leave you exhausted and sober. 

Studying Abroad

• You’reprobablydefinitely going to over-pack the first time you leave for a semester. A good rule of thumb for cutting down your luggage is to pack for just two weeks. You’ll usually end up with enough clothes for three, and at that point you’ll hopefully be doing laundry.
  
• Leave behind anything you’ll only wear a few times. Just because you like it doesn’t mean you’ll wear it more overseas than you do in your everyday life stateside.
  
• Your goal is to leave room in your one suitcase to bring back the miscellaneous bullshit you’ll accumulate.
• Bring two pairs of shoes: dress shoes for special occasions and nights out, and everyday shoes, which are going to get beat to hell. I’d recommend leather boots, which generally look stylish enough to wear in a city, but can easily be waterproofed and are fairly comfortable to walk in. If they aren’t, buy inserts. This is so important. Other shoes are at your discretion, but these two are not negotiable.

Shorter Trips

• When it comes down to it, all you need to pack for a short trip are underwear and socks, your passport and wallet, your toothbrush, and your phone. Maybe a rain coat. Anything else, you can live without for a weekend or so. But if you’re missing any of these it’s not going to be a fun time. Trust me on this one.
• Don’t bring your laptop anywhere, unless you’re settling in for daily life at the destination. For short trips, they’re useless: heavy, easily breakable, large, and easy targets for thieves. If you have a smartphone, use that instead. Even if you’re on airplane mode the entire time you’re in Europe, free Wi-Fi is easy to find. 
  

In General

• Buy a little padlock. You can get sets of two in Walmart for about five dollars, each lock a bit larger than a thumbnail. Keep them with you in your purse or coat. You can use them to lock your backpack in a crowd, or your checked bag on a flight, or your purse, or your hostel locker.
  
• If you use purses or messenger bags, bring a bag with a strap long enough to wear across your chest rather than over one shoulder. Make sure the strap is too thick to be easily cut or snapped by someone sprinting past you. Your bag should be sealed with a zipper, not a flap: nothing a thief could slip their hand into while you were distracted. If there are vulnerable external pockets, only keep things in them that no one will want to steal, like pennies, pens, and tampons.
• Unless you’re going to Northern Europe in winter you don’t need to bring a very heavy coat. It will become dead weight as soon as the weather changes. In most of Europe, a pea coat and scarf over a few layers will keep you warm and remain useful for longer. Check average monthly temperatures for the region if you’re unsure. You should also bring a raincoat, ideally one that folds up very small.
  

If you’re planning a trip through Europe, I’d really recommend you look at rail passes! Especially if you’re planning a longer trip through connected countries, this can be a great way to get around. It removes all the hassle of catching flights, allows for a lot of spontaneity, and depending on where you’re going, it can also be the cheapest option.

About two years ago I spent a month going from Istanbul to Lisbon with an Interrail Global Pass, and while the trip was by no means without flaws (some notable moments include stranding myself on the continent of Asia and that night I spent homeless in France) the pass itself was fantastic. Here’s a rough overview, and if it sounds like it’s in your wheelhouse you should poke around their site!

• Interrail is the less expensive option, and it’s only available if you’ve been in Europe for more than six months. In other words, if you’re spending a year abroad you can get a cheap rail pass just in time for your spring break. The only caveat is that it won’t work in the country you’ve been living in.
  
• Eurail is for everyone else. It’s a bit more expensive, but depending on how far you’re going and in which countries, still worth it.
• Interrail/Eurail passes are really flexible: if you’re taking a commuter train, you show up at the train station, log on the pass which train you’re boarding, and then board it. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. It’s about five hundred times less time-consuming and stressful than planes. For more exclusive trains (overnight, express, etc.) you might need reservations, but these are cheap, and easy to get either at the station or online.
  
• A lot of ferries and buses are also free or discounted with the pass.
• There’s three parts to the process of choosing a pass: first you decide a region. Your options are one country, two to four connected countries, or all thirty-plus in the European Union.
• Secondly, you decide on a time period: one week through three months.
• Thirdly, decide if you want an unlimited pass, which means you can take trains any day within the time period of the pass, or a pass with a specific number of travel days. For example, four travel days in two weeks.
• Order the ticket at least a month beforehand; it can take a little while to arrive in the mail.
• On the pass, there are slots to fill in the train number, time, destination, and origin. Fill it out before boarding a train.
• There is a free app that works offline, and it’s amazing. If you plug in your starting point and your destination, it will show you every train or combination of trains that can get you there, along with duration, times, and whether or not it needs a reservation fee.
• The map they mail with your ticket shows every train route in Europe, as well as the buses and ferries included or discounted with the pass. Everything is color-coded to show commuter trains, scenic routes, express routes, and overnight routes. On the flip side it details all the discounts for non-train transportation.
• Some trains require a reservation fee, even if you don’t have to buy an actual ticket. It’s common for more exclusive trains, such as overnight trains and high speed trains. Spain is the only country I know for a fact requires a reservation for commuter trains (if I remember correctly, the fee is €10). If you’re unsure, look it up.

AirBnB: stay in someone’s home, for money.

• Airbnb lets you filter results by public room (e.g. living room), private room, and private apartment.
• Because they’re people’s homes, AirBnB rentals are all over the map rather than being specifically centrally located.
• Renting a whole apartment can be the cheapest, best option if you’re with a group of people! You can split the cost and have a whole apartment to yourselves. On your own, it’s not nearly as affordable.
  
• Read the reviews, if there are any.
  
• AirBnBcan be cheap, but it tends to be on the pricier side, especially if you’re traveling alone. On the flip side, the accommodation you’ll find on here is much homier than most hostels, often more private, and feels more secure.
• Like couchsurfing, this usually offers more privacy and solitude, but less of a chance to meet other backpackers.
  
• Because it’s a financial transaction, there’s no obligation for you and the host to socialize, although obviously still be polite, and always leave a review after your stay.
• It’s exactly the same as couchsurfing, except you pay money for it and you’re less likely to hang out with the host.

Couchsurfing: stay in someone’s home, for free.

• The most common concern I hear about couchsurfing is a legitimate one. You’re staying with a total stranger; how can you trust them? And at the end of the day it is a leap of faith. But if you read the reviews and the personal profile of the host, you can get a much better idea of what you’re going into. Remember that they’re giving a total stranger the keys to their house. At its core, couchsurfing is about faith in other people: that they’re basically good, and interesting, and worth knowing and helping.
  
• Not going to lie; it’s much harder to find a host as a guy, and you’re going to find a lot of hosts who only accept female guests (with male hosts, this occasionally goes hand in hand with things like ‘by the way I’m a nudist, and in order for me to feel comfortable in my own home you also need to be nude, and by the way I like to snuggle’. Just…close the tab). In general, the people who accept all genders are less sketchy, and I think they’ve got a better sense of the spirit of the thing.
  
• On the website, ignore whether someone is verified or not; it just means they’re paying a fee every month to the website. What you need to look at are the references – the more and the more positive, the better. Again, look for reviews from people like you (especially if you’re a college girl traveling alone).
  

• Couchsurfing, like AirBnB, has filters for public rooms and private rooms, as well as smoking/nonsmoking, male or female hosts, and several others.
• It’s polite to bring a small gift to your host. Even a key chain or a post card shows you’re thinking of them. I’ve brought soaps, drawings, and origami in the past. I met a woman whose guest brought her a yellow spoon, which she genuinely cherished several years later. As long as it has a fun story behind it, you can bring just about anything.
• Read both the profile of the potential host and the description of the accommodation, to make sure the location, rules, etc. suit your needs, and that you would get along with the host themselves.
• Personalize your message to potential hosts. The hosts are doing this entirely out of the joy of meeting new travelers and a sense of hospitality. Because it’s not financial, finding a host is based more on whether you, personally, seem like someone they’d enjoy meeting and would trust to visit their home.
• Get in touch with a lot of people. As a general rule, only one in ten will respond, and of those, it’s entirely up to luck whether any of them are free to host you.
• Couchsurfing is a really amazing way to meet locals! I’ve never had a bad experience. Hosts tend to enjoy showing you their city, or if they’re busy, supplying you with the tools to make the most of it on your own.
• It’s expected that you’ll spend at least a little time with your host. Most won’t be able to take much time out of their daily lives to show you around, but it’s polite to spend at least one meal with them. It’s considered rude to treat their house like a hotel, without spending any time with them at all. The whole point of the site is connecting with people.
• Since you’re staying for free, be prepared to help out in some other way. Cook your shared dinner, clean the dishes, buy them a round of drinks, teach them some weird skill you know. Give back.
• A lot of major cities have emergency threads where you can only post within 72 hours of your visit to the city. In case something goes wrong (your hostel burns down, the AirBnB is full of cockroaches, the strange uncle you’re staying with is stubbornly nudist) and you’re facing a night homeless in a foreign city, this is one place to look.
• Fill your own profile out as thoroughly as you can. When it comes does to it, it’s the host who decides if you can stay with them or not, so they need to feel comfortable with you, and vice versa. A profile that gives them a good idea of who you are helps a lot.
  
• Because of the low rate of replies and accepted guests, message hosts three or four weeks before your trip and have a backup plan.

Places of Worship

• In Europe the cathedrals, mosques, basilicas, etc. are often the most beautiful buildings in the city. I am less familiar the attitudes of non-Christian places of worship towards visitors, but you should definitely go into every cathedral you see. They’re like little jewelry boxes.
• Be respectful, first and foremost. It’s someone else’s place of worship first, and a tourist attraction second.
  
• Make sure your shoulders and knees are covered. If you’re wearing a tank top or clothing above the knee, you will be denied entrance to many churches.
  
• If you’re a woman and you’re going to be visiting any mosques (i.e. in Istanbul), pack a scarf to wear over your hair for the visit.
• Churches are beautiful, tranquil places to sit down and have a breather away from the noise of the city, out of the sun or rain or wind. Just be quiet and respectful.
  
• Attending a service in another language can be really interesting, although you should check beforehand to make sure you’d be welcome.

Christmas Markets

• In late November through Christmas, there’s a Christmas market in just about every European city.
  
• The one in Strasbourg is the most famous, but they’re all amazing.
  
• Drink hot mulled wine, which I think is most accurately described by the amazing mollyhall as something that “sounds terrible but it tastes like being kissed RIGHT on the mouth by dionysus. right on the mouth, i swear to god”. There’s nothing I can say that explains it any better than that.
  
• Eat whatever the local holiday food is. Without fail it will be sweet and hot and probably a bit greasy.
  
• Ride the winter Ferris wheel if they have one! Carpe the hell out of that Diem.
  

 Student Discounts

• An enormous number of attractions, museums, and even bars have student discounts.
  
• Even if you’re not technically an EU student, or even a student at all, a relatively recent-looking and not obviously expired student ID card will help you shave money off admission fares and the like. For example, the Acropolis in Athens is free for students.
  
• It’s always worth a shot.

Walking Tours

• Pretty much every city has free walking tours. The quality varies, but it’s a good way to get oriented in a new city, learn a bit of history, hear some local jokes and folklore, and get some context for major tourist attractions.
• To find them, ask at your hostel or Google it. They usually begin in public squares or hostel lobbies, and take an hour or two.
  
• It’s polite to tip the guide, but if you can’t swing the €5 or so at least tell them you appreciated it. They usually understand if you can’t afford a tip; you’re taking a free tour, after all. You’re clearly not rolling in cash.

Street Performers

• Almost always worth stopping for. Follow the music. You’re on vacation and if you want to stand in one place and watch an old man play an accordion for thirty minutes, the rest of the world can be damned.
  
• If you give them money, make sure you’re not tossing out €1-2 coins accidentally. As someone who hurled about €7 of pocket change at a startled and joyous musician my first weekend in France, this is an easy and unfortunate mistake for Americans to make.
  
• On the subject of spare change, keep all the euro pennies separate, because they’re virtually worthless but there’s always a fountain to throw coins into for luck.
  

Viewpoints

• Even if you don’t have a head for heights, I think one of the best things to do in a city is to find high ground. It could be a bell tower or a ferris wheel or just a normal hill, but seeing a city from above is always beautiful, and a great way to mentally orient yourself in a new place.

Europe is so serious about trains, you guys: commuter, high speed, scenic, overnight, express… They’re one of the most common ways to get city to city. Honestly, it’s my favorite way to travel.

• They go everywhere. There are towns you can’t reach by car, but a train blows through them every twenty minutes.
• You often have amazing views of the countryside.
• They’re comfortable: compared to planes, buses, or cars, trains have a lot of legroom, and if you need to move you can get up and walk around.
• Some of the better trains have cafes and dining cars and things. It’s all very romantic. Sometimes they’re double-decked! This delights me beyond words.
  
• Boarding is virtually effortless. You show up, buy your ticket, validate the ticket, and step onto the train. Sometimes a conductor comes along to punch the ticket, while you lean back and watch the countryside go by.
• Overnight trains are great; you wake up well rested in a new city.
• Rail passes pretty much always give you your money’s worth and more.
• On the flip side, trains can be expensive. Spain’s commuter trains average €100 between big cities. On the other hand, Italy and Portugal have dirt cheap commuter trains. Prices varies pretty wildly by county, and by train type, and by company.
• The speed also varies: commuter trains are pretty slow, although usually still faster than buses. High speed and express trains are typically quite a lot faster than driving would be, but more expensive.
• Some countries, like France and Italy, require that you validate your ticket at machines by the train quays before boarding. If you don’t do this, the fines can be steep. If you aren’t sure it’s required, look it up beforehand.

Hostels are basically cheap hotels where you rent a bed rather than a whole room. They’re also the nerve centers of the backpacking community, and if you do any traveling in Europe you’re eventually going to be spending a few nights in one. Two useful sites are HostelworldandHostelbookers.

• When you’re searching for a hostel, read the reviews. In particular, look for two things. The first thing is reviews written by travelers like you: ‘solo female backpacker’, ‘mixed group of college students’, etc.
  
• The second thing to look for in reviews is the word ‘bedbugs’. If you see that, fuck right off.
  
• The ideal hostel has a kitchen, and is located within walking distance of the city center. A location near a bus/metro stop or other transportation center is fine too, but make sure you know when transportation shuts down for the night and starts up in the morning.
• Hostels are usually pretty cheap. They’re always cheaper than a hotel, and usually cheaper than Airbnb. The typical price range for a bed in a dorm is €10-20 a night (although this changes depending on whether it’s high or low season, a weekend or weekday, a big room or a small one, etc.)
  
• The guests tends to be largely college-aged and friendly. It’s not uncommon for groups of strangers to spontaneously go see attractions together, or go out drinking. This is a great way to see nightlife if you don’t want to go alone! Just make sure you’re reasonably comfortable with the people you’re with, and that you know your way back, or at least have the hostel address written down.
• Hostels are good if you’re traveling alone and want to socialize; stay in the kitchen or common room. But they’re also good if you’re traveling solo and just want to be left alone, goddammit. If you’re on your bunk in the dorm, most of the time no one will bother you.
• I’ve never personally had a bad experience in a hostel, barring the one time I ended up accidentally watching The Ring in Budapest with forty Russian girls (and this was bad less because of the situation and more because I cannot handle horror - I was diagnosed with insomnia when I was a teenager because I was too embarrassed to tell the doctor that the PG13 Scary Movie 3 was the reason I pretty much hadn’t slept for three months). Just keep your expectations low. It’s not a hotel, it’s a roof over your head and a clean bed and a safe place to store your bags. Sometimes they can be genuinely luxurious, but don’t expect anything special.
  
• Rooms are sorted by number of beds (usually 4 to 16), mixed or female-only, public or en suite bathroom, and public or private room. Don’t book private rooms; it’s not worth the money. I usually stay in the largest mixed dorms, and although I realize this isn’t for everyone, as a single female traveler I have never had a bad experience. Regardless, many hostels have female-only dorms, which I know makes some people feel much more comfortable.
  
• The workers at a hostel are often travelers themselves! They’re great resources if you want advice on what to do in the city, where to get a really good meal, and things to see off the beaten track.
  
• Who you’re sharing a room with is a grab bag. They might snore, or leave/arrive early in the morning, or have their stuff spread around half the room, or start fucking on the bunk above you. On the other hand they could be silent, sweet, and polite.
• If you’re a light sleeper, bring earplugs. Even if your roommates are quite, hostels in the city center can have a lot of ambient city noise.
• Because you’re sharing a room with strangers, security is a concern. I’ve never had anything stolen, but it’s always worth being paranoid. Many hotels provide lockers; if you have a small padlock you can lock up anything worth stealing overnight. If there’s no locker, put your valuables in your purse and use it like a pillow.
• Some cities have a guest tax (Rome charges €3 a night) that won’t be included on the booking service, and has to be paid on arrival.

Phones

• What you do about your phone depends on how long you’re there.
• For short trips, just keep your phone on airplane mode. You’ll have Wi-Fi often enough to check in, and you don’t want to pay roaming fees.
• If you’re in Europe for longer than a week or two, you have two options. The first is to get a new European SIM card. I don’t know much about this, or about how it works country to country, but I do have some friends who really wanted to be able to use their iPhone like a phone rather than a glorified iPod, and that seemed to work for them.
• The second option is to keep your smartphone on airplane mode and use it when you have Wi-Fi, and to buy a second phone for emergency calls and texting European friends. A cheap flip phone won’t put you back much; you can load it up with a few euros and use it for whatever your airplane-mode smartphone can’t do.
• A third option is to download an app like Whatsapp or Viber, which lets you call or text other users of the app for free, as long as you both have Wi-Fi (Thanks, aknowledgeseeker!)
  

Wi-fi

• It’s pretty easy to find free Wi-Fi in most European cities. Some places to find it on the go:
• Private shuttles, and many public buses
  
• Cafés
  
• Libraries (you can almost always print things at libraries too, for just a few cents a page)
• Obviously, internet cafés (another place to print things)
• Airports
• Wherever you’re staying: hostels, Airbnbs, couchsurfing hosts. It’s extremely rare these days to find accommodation that doesn’t offer it.
• City centers: some cities, such as Florence, are beginning to offer a free wifi connection throughout the historical center. All you need to access it is an email.
  

Banks/Money

• Accessing money abroad can be irritating. I don’t have to tell you this, probably.
  
• If you’re on a short trip, just withdraw cash from ATMS and stick to that. Some banks, like Bangor Savings, will refund international ATM fees if the machine puts them through separately.
• Some places won’t accept US cards without chips; cash is the most likely to be accepted, and in some countries preferred.  
• If you’re in Europe for a longer period of time, look into bank accounts. Many countries won’t allow you to open a bank account until you’ve lived there for a certain number of months, but if you’re studying abroad, your host university might have an agreement worked out with a local bank.
• If you can open an account, keep in mind when moving money into it that many banks charge a fee for sending and receiving wire transfers. Depending on the cost, you might be better off withdrawing cash from an ATM and depositing that.
• Tell your home bank where you’re going so they don’t shut off your card.
• If you get a local bank card, tell that bank where you’re going if you plan to leave the country. A debit card it preferable to cash, but only if it works.

Maps

• Your options are physical and electronic maps. Use them both.
• You can get physical maps for free in airports, hostels, and tourist information centers. They’ll be pretty shitty, to be honest. They’ll probably have blocky illustrations of tourist hot spots which may or may not be facing in the right direction. A lot of small streets will be left nameless or not included at all. Nevertheless, these are good for orienting yourself, keeping as souvenirs, and jabbing a finger at when you need directions and can’t speak a language.
  
• My favorite thing about physical maps is that other people can write all over them. I have a map of Rome where the Vatican is covered up by a drunk Texan’s directions to a gellateria you can’t find on google maps. That shit’s worth more than gold.
• My favorite phone map is an offline app called Free City Maps/City maps 2 Go, which allows you to download a complete map of a city or region. It comes with information about most of the shops and attractions, shows you where in the city you are at all times whether or not you have service/WiFi, and gives you distances between your current location and wherever you want to go. Uses significantly less battery life than Google Maps, doesn’t disappear when you close the app, and also lets you drop stars everywhere in the city you want to go or remember. My favorite part of the app is that it lets you add notes to your stars, so you can remind yourself that this is where you got the killer gelato, for example.
  
• If the above isn’t an option, but you have a smartphone and Google Maps, load a map of the city while you have Wi-Fi. Load the entire city, zooming in until all the streets have names, and leave the app open (battery permitting). Once you leave Wi-Fi, you can’t load any more of the map, but the blue dot that is you will move around the map to show where you are. I believe this is because of satellites and GPS, but my grasp of technology is admittedly shaky. Regardless, you’ll be able to see exactly where you are and often which direction you’re facing.
• If you load Google Maps, drop pins or add stars to locations you want to visit, to tell more easily if you’re in the right area and going the right direction. It makes finding specific small businesses easier.
  

Currencyand Cash

• You’re going to have more types of currency than is convenient or useful.
• You’re always going to lose out in the conversion. Even if the rates favor you, the commission that moneychangers charge will not. Because of this, try not to convert the same money multiple times. Fortunately, in the Eurozone, you don’t nee to worry so much about this.
• You can always find currency exchanges in airports, and generally in city centers. If you have rarer currency, like Icelandic Krona, airports are more likely to accept it.
• Keep the smallest, virtually worthless coins in a separate pocket to throw into fountains for good luck.
  

Crime

• Don’t ever keep valuables in your back pockets. Because your front pockets probably aren’t sealed I’d say avoid that too. Same goes for open coat pockets, especially because they’re not up against your skin. Try to keep valuables in a safe purse, or in the inside pocket of a coat.
• Be extremely wary in crowds, where you’re being jostled around and might not feel someone getting at your belongings.
• Be cautious at street performances and other situations that may be intended to distract you.
• Probably goes without saying, but never leave your bag unattended.
• If you travel alone, have a fuck-off walk. Look like you know where you’re going and have people waiting for you. You’re much more likely to be targeted if you seem uncertain, lost, or just uncomfortable.
• If you know a language that’s rarely spoken in the area you’re visiting, you can use that to dodge out of conversations with particularly insistent hawkers. It doesn’t take much Swedish for them to realize they can’t communicate with you.

In general

• This is terrible advice, but especially for short trips, remember: you don’t have to be healthy, you just shouldn’t be hungry.
• Cook for yourself. Make sure your accommodation has a kitchen you can use. You’ll save so much money.
• Pasta and rice are very cheap, very filling, and travel well. Both can be fancied up with whatever sauces or vegetables you can afford. Canned beans are cheap, good protein.
  
• For food during the day, or if you’re staying somewhere you can’t cook, bread is easy to find in corner stores, very inexpensive, often vegan, and goes well with just about everything (cheese or sausage and a bottle of wine is a proper picnic). Try to buy small baguettes; large ones go stale before you can finish them. Cereal bars are also filling and easy to travel with.
• Apples and bananas travel well, last a while, and can be taken anywhere. You’ll see a lot of small fruit stores open in the early morning. In the spring, at least in Athens and Lisbon, you can find strawberry vendors selling the bruised strawberries for €1/kilo.
• Tap water is almost always safe to drink in Europe. In several cities, there are public drinking fountains in the streets that draw on the fresh springs below the city. Rome in particular has a lot of these. Put your finger over the mouth of the spigot to make it come out the small hole on the top like a drinking fountain.
  
• Many couchsurfing hosts will feed you at least one meal, although they’re not in any way obligated to.
  
• Many hostels have a free food bin full of things previous residents have left behind. You can find a lot of pasta and rice, usually some condiments and spices, and often treats like cookies. Some hostels also offer free breakfasts or evening snacks. If you can, hoard that shit. It literally kept me alive the week I went to Ireland and forgot to bring any money with me.
  
• If you’re vegetarian or vegan, cooking for yourself is going to be the easiest way to make sure everything you’re eating is safe. Most food packaging in Europe bolds the ingredients that could be allergens, such as milk and eggs, making it easy to scan for things you can’t eat even with the language barriers.

Eating Out

• Even if you can’t afford it often, try the local food wherever you go. It’s such a huge part of every culture. For the widest spread of traditional foods, I’d recommend that at the very least you try a street food, a pastry, and a drink. Sweet or savory, snack or meal, coffee or tea or alcohol: doesn’t matter. Do some research and figure out what seems worth the money.
• If you want a proper restaurant experience, many restaurants in the center offer fixed-price menus. For €10-20, you pick an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert from about half a dozen options each, and enjoy a pretty fancy, decent-quality meal for not too much money.
• It can be difficult to find restaurants that are specifically vegan or vegetarian, but in many countries there are vegan or vegetarian options available. In Italy, for example, you can order pizza marinara, which is pizza without cheese: just flatbread and tomato sauce and whatever other toppings you want. With a bit of research you should be able to figure out some options to look for in most cities.
• In many countries, sitting down at a restaurant or café costs twice what it would if you got your food or drink to go, or ate at the counter.

Over the past 6 years, I’ve traveled to 40 cities in 17 countries, several more than once. And I did it all while holding down a demanding, full time, normal office job with as little as 2, sometimes 3 weeks of total paid time off per year.

But I spent several years before that without traveling at all.

In the earliest years of my career, suffocation gripped me. I only had two weeks of paid vacation per year, and I never really felt like I could take any of it. In fact, I don’t think I really did. Maybe a Friday here and there, giving me several random three day weekends but no real break - no real adventure. 

After all, I was pretty laughably broke. And I didn’t have anyone to travel with. And I wasn’t sure I was brave enough (or that I even wanted) to go alone. I figured - I’m young, I have the rest of my life to travel (not: I’m young, I should travel now!).

It was only after I learned about travel hacking that everything changed and I started taking my travel dreams more seriously. I had never heard of travel hacking before reading Chris Guillebeau’s blog in 2010. I devoured his advice with gusto, and before long had enough points and miles to take me anywhere I wanted to go around the world, twice over.

Taking these steps finally forced me to get out of my comfort zone and realize my dreams of seeing the world.

Finally, I saw that I was the only one getting in my way. With the cost of the flight - typically the biggest expense of a trip - covered, I had no real excuse financially. 

So I stopped wasting my vacation days. I started taking all two weeks of my paid vacation at once, and then padding it with the weekends surrounding.

The result: annual 17-day vacations in which I could reasonably squeeze sometimes 5 or 6 different places in 3 different countries. If I didn’t have my full two weeks, because I needed an extra day for a holiday or family event, I would arrange my travel around a holiday, so that was one less vacation day I needed to spend.

Once I started doing this, all of my other excuses fell away.

Read the full blog post (and grab my free PDF summarizing every one of my trips since 2011, including how much I spent and how I managed to get the time off) at travelpaintrepeat.com:

“Yes, you can have a full time job and still see the world (here’s how I do it)”

Earlier this year, I visited Vietnam for the first time. The northern part of Vietnam is much different than the south, even now, and you should definitely make a point of hitting both on any trip to this incredibly underrated country. 

And yes, you can do it in a week if you’re super pressed for time, like me. I wrote a new blog post over at travelpaintrepeat.com with my 5 tips for making the most of a week-long trip to Vietnam. Check it out!

>>>>>>>How to Make the Most of One Week in Vietnam<<<<<<<

Hi friends! 

I just wanted to give you an advance heads up: Travel Paint Repeat is being revived and revamped, and as part of that, it’s moving off Tumblr and onto its own site! The domain (travelpaintrepeat.com) will be the same, but we’ll be hosted elsewhere on a beautifully designed new website. So if you rely on Tumblr to find my new posts, that won’t work anymore! If you’d like to keep up with all the fresh, useful articles and travel advice coming your way, I highly recommend signing up for my email list! I’ll be sending out updates over the next few weeks with new posts to read and inspire your next trip.

Here’s the link to subscribe: http://www.travelpaintrepeat.com/subscribe

Thanks for reading Travel Paint Repeat, and happy travels!

-Megan

“Remember, travel is a game, and the game is rigged. You can choose your own adventure and go anywhere.” - Chris Guillebeau

I first came upon the term “travel hacking” in 2010. I was a fan of Chris Guillebeau’s blog and finally decided to buy one of his Unconventional Guides. It was actually not about travel - it was about making money as an artist. After flipping through it, I realized I wasn’t the right audience for it, as it was written for artists with less experience at actually making money from their work. So I wrote to Chris, gave him my feedback, and asked if I could return it. Before I hit send, I made a tiny decision that has changed my life forever. I asked if I could instead exchange it for Frequent Flyer Master. Chris agreed.

Because of what I learned in Frequent Flyer Master, I’ve been able to travel the world every year since, flying for free on strategically earned miles. I’ve visited Colombia, Spain, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Croatia, Brazil, and Mexico, going away for 2 weeks at a time, averaging about $2,000 spent total per trip. All this despite my full time job, student loans, and middle class income.

So I wanted to tell you about a new travel hacking guide that Chris Guillebeau released just this week.

It’s called Upgrade Unlocked and it covers all aspects of travel hacking, not just the flights (on which Frequent Flyer Master goes into more detail). It also focuses on how to get that elusive upgrade, so that travel hacking doesn’t have to mean travel bumming-it. Best of all, it’s super cheap - just $39 for the basic version, with 2 levels of “upgraded” versions that are just $58 and $97 right now (introductory sale price).

If you dream of traveling but think you can’t because you’re not made of money, I highly recommend you check out Upgrade Unlocked. Click here to learn more and get a free preview of the guide.

Check out some of my past articles on my own travel hacking experiences: 

How I Afford Travel: Badass Trips on a Not-So-Badass Budget
How I Fly Around The World For Next To Nothing

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New here? Let me come to you! Subscribe by email to get more articles like these (plus some extra fun stuff) delivered straight to your inbox: http://travelpaintrepeat.com/subscribe

Give this to your parents, friends, significant others, coworkers, random people, or anyone else who tries to warn you about the dangers of travel. I’ve been to post-revolutionary Cairo in 2012, Colombia, most of the pickpocketing capitals of the world, and a variety of other places where I felt more safe than I have in many neighborhoods in America. 

How to Stay Safe While Traveling

It’s worth noting that many parts of the world — including a lot of popular tourist destinations — are less dangerous than the United States. Some people have a perception that the life they know in America is quite safe, but the rate of violent crime in the U.S. is high for a developed country. In any given situation in life — getting in your car to drive to school or work every day or just crossing the street — there is a certain risk involved. Before you consider the danger of visiting a foreign country, do not discount the danger you face and mitigate successfully everyday. I like to frame it like this: Imagine you’re a parent or teacher, and think about the advice you might give a born-and-raised, sheltered suburban kid about staying safe on a trip to New York City. This is, in essence, good and solid advice for any person about to travel to most major tourist destinations around the world.

Click here to read the full article on eHow: http://bit.ly/ehowmvg18

Advice for the young, ballsy, and indecisive.

I’ve received a lot of questions from readers lately about careers and jobs, mostly from those in high school, college, or recent graduates. The questions take many forms and specific topics, but the underlying panic is:

“What the hell should I do for a career?!”

Some people seem to know innately what they were born to do, and forge ahead accordingly. Meanwhile, others struggle with the big life decision of settling on a career path. I’ve been on both sides of this coin. I’m only in my late twenties and still figuring things out myself, so I don’t suggest that I have all the answers - but I have learned a few things along the way.

Here are my words of advice, along with a few tools and resources that might help if you’re feeling stuck, indecisive, or anxious about the pressure to Choose Your Perfect Career.

First of all, though, let’s agree on one thing:

The concept of a “perfect career” as we commonly think of it is bullshit. It contains the romantic, narrow, and dangerously incorrect notion that there’s only type of job, profession, or career that you will ever be happy in.

Throw away the fairy tale.

There are no such thing as soul mates, and there is no such thing as your one true perfect career. You can be happy doing a variety of things for love and money.(click to tweet)

I held onto this belief for way too long. From a very young age I believed with full conviction that the life of a gallery-represented painter was the only career that would make me happy, and my ability to achieve this was the only measure by which I could consider myself successful (I know, heavyright?). I drowned my creativity under waves of pressure and perfectionism, trying to live up to my own lofty expectations in an intensely competitive and completely nonsensical market. Thankfully, I was able to dig myself out of this, with my love of painting fragile but intact, and my sense of self sharpened. 

Chances are you’ve been trained to think very singularly about “what you want to do for the rest of your life.” You’ve been (or will be) asked to choose a major in college, maybe even put through lessons and too many extracurricular activities and given aptitude tests. And yes, to get through a college education you will need to choose a major and place your bets on a particular course of action. But the truth is, you are a dynamic, multifaceted being with so many potential directions. You will do many things in life, go down many roads you can’t even foresee right now. And what specific topic you choose to study in college really, honestly, will not matter in the long run, in most cases.

What does matter is what you choose to do with your unique matrix of interests, useful skills, and knowledge. I believe firmly in the concept of designing your own career path. Not everyone has the same path towards the same job (I’m a former painting major now working in social strategy at an advertising agency, for example), and the landscape changes every day. When I was in school, and for even a few years after, the job I have now didn’t even exist.

An entrepreneurial attitude to your career and life is no longer optional. There is no longer a blueprint to follow. You’ve got to make your own way.
(Click to tweet)

“Great! Except… I have no idea where to start.”

If you weren’t blessed with a strong passion or career direction early on in life, please know that you are in fact, quite normal. You probably even hold the advantage - you’re open to many things early on (remember how my initial passion turned out to be quite narrow?). At this stage, it’s a good idea to do some research - about yourself. You are always changing and growing, so no matter where you are in your career, it’s always helpful to check in and get to know you a little better. In my experience, there’s no better way to do this than to put pen to paper.

1. If you want to know yourself, start writing.
Guided writing exercises and workbooks were most helpful to me when I broke free of the idea that there was One True Thing I was supposed to do in life. At that point, 3 years out of college, the girl who always knew what she wanted to do with her life found herself squarely on her ass, unemployed in a new city, wondering anxiously what was next. 

Books can help you, and even give you a somewhat false sense of productivity, but nothing helped more than digging up my own words and arranging them on paper in a way that made sense. It’s totally a metaphor for what’s going on inside you - a jumble of confusion, the right parts are there somewhere but out of order. In a very real way, writing helps put the puzzle pieces together. 

I spent a lot of time reading and poring through books, digital downloads, and countless articles online, but nothing helped guide me through this messy, transformative process like The Desire Map by Danielle Laporte. 

Because of the writing exercises and guidebooks I found in The Desire Map, I came out on the other side a little clearer, and with a firmer understanding that how I want to feel every day should be at the core of these important life decisions. Once you know this, you have your very own proverbial North Star to guide you in countless ways.

(Full disclosure: if you click the link above and decide you want to try The Desire Map too, I’ll receive a small percentage of the sale - but please know I would never endorse something I didn’t use and love myself. In fact, I purchased The Desire Map years ago and still refer to the scribbled notes I took in it frequently.)

And if you already have a passion, and are sure you know what you want to do, great! 
As you get older and more experienced, be open to letting that unfold and evolve. I clung desperately to this narrow idea of what I was supposed to do with my life mostly out of fear. Everyone my whole life expected me to become a successful artist, and I’d seen so many people give up along the way – the last thing I wanted was to be seen as giving up too. But after a while, I realized I’ll always be an artist so long as I keep painting, external recognition be damned - and anyone who thinks otherwise can jump in a lake. Plenty of successful artists hold down day jobs, and many even keep them when they don’t need the money because they like them and find them fulfilling. It doesn’t have to be so black and white.

Which leads me to my second piece of advice…

2. If you want to understand how others have done it, stalk people on LinkedIn.
When I was “squarely on my ass” and unemployed with no direction, the reason I figured out what kind of careers might be a good fit for me is I incessantly stalked people on LinkedIn. 

Get on LinkedIn if you’re not, and search for people who started from similar places. It’s not hard to reverse-engineer their career paths. How did they move from one job to another? The more digital-savvy of them will have very complete profiles that easily allow you to examine how they got from A to B, or what traits or job responsibilities helped them pivot from one industry or role to another if something wasn’t working for them.

LinkedIn recently even launched a tool called Field of Study Explorer to make your stalking/reverse-engineering even easier. Check it out in their new blog post (well worth a read all on its own), “Does Studying Fine Art = Unemployment? Introducing LinkedIn’s Field of Study Explorer.” 

A writer for Mashable also tested this idea, working with LinkedIn’s data science team  to find his “future self” among other LinkedIn users with a similar background: “How LinkedIn Found My ‘Future’ Self.” 

In my case, there were several people who unknowingly helped me understand what my possibilities were, but one in particular later became my friend. One day while searching for profiles and jobs on LinkedIn, I saw that a fun-looking woman around my age named Elysa had attended my university for a graphic design degree and worked her way from designer to well-known leader in the field of digital strategy (and a successful blogger to boot!). She was kind enough to meet me for coffee on her way to a speaking engagement at SXSW. I learned so much from that one conversation – as a jobless 25 year old, I understood at that point that the only thing separating me from progress was myself.

The only thing was, I still needed to figure out how to make money from what I’d discovered with The Desire Map.

Remember that unique matrix of useful skills, interests, and knowledge I mentioned earlier? 

3. Well, here it is:

Click here to use this Google Sheet for yourself: http://bit.ly/gridtoolmv

It’s critical to remember that if you want to make money at something, it has to be useful to others. This very basic principle applies whether you’re someone’s assistant (no shame here, I’ve done it!) in which you are selling your organizational services in exchange for benefits and a salary, or you’re a gallery painter selling the product of artwork that brings real joy to its new owners.

To understand these transactions as anything else (I’m just an employee! I’m not selling anythingor,I’m not selling a product - how dare you, I’m an artist!) is to not fully understand business or the real world, or as Ramit Sethi calls it, the game being played around you. And the sooner you get on board with this concept, the better equipped you’ll be to find a career that both makes you happy and makes you money.

My very sincere advice would be to think long and hard about what you enjoy doing (even just hobbies - doesn’t have to be “job-like”) and what you’re naturally skilled at (things like “being a good listener” and “talking to people about their problems” totally count here, by the way) and compare that to what you think might actually be useful to random people you don’t know. Put more simply,

What are you good at or enjoy doing that solves other people’s problems?

Start there. With some soul searching, writing, and very realistic analysis, you’ll find yourself starting down a path to a long, lucrative career path that is uniquely yours, fun, exciting and never static.

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I understand that some people may be intimidated by the world of travel hacking and frequent flyer miles, or just not interested in putting in the time or effort that it can sometimes require (though the rewards can be incredible!) - but that doesn’t mean they want to overpay for flights and vacations. Even I occasionally choose to pay cash for flights - like on my upcoming trip to Brazil, because I wasn’t comfortable waiting to find out if any airlines would open up reward seats on high-demand flights to the World Cup. It pays to know which sites are going to help you find the best deal - and I’ve outlined a few of my favorite in my latest article for eHow:

Save Money on Travel with These 4 Websites

Money-savvy travelers have never had a wider variety of digital tools at their disposal for finding low fares and prices. As a seasoned traveler, I’ve found the following websites and digital tools most useful for saving money on amazing trips. Add these to your budget travel toolkit by bookmarking them now.

Click here to read the full article on eHow Money! http://bit.ly/ehowmvg3

It’s been a pretty cool week for me as a blogger! In addition to my article, How Budget Travel Can Lead to More Authentic Experiences being featured on the front page of eHow, Yahoo Travel has selected Travel Paint Repeat as its Tumblr of the Day! 

Here’s what they had to say:

Visit Travel Paint Repeat for insights into how travel can change us, and to peruse the gorgeous photos; stay for the money-saving tips and travel hacks.

Click here to see the full feature.

ThanksYahoo Travel for sharing my travel writing and photography with others. 

A few weeks ago, eHow approached me about writing a weekly budget travel blog for their Money section. This is my first official paid writing gig, and I’m excited to say it’s going well – today they even featured my first article, How Budget Travel Can Lead to More Authentic Experiences, on the front page! This week’s article is about how you can save money on pretty much any trip by following 4 basic principles. Let me know what you think!

The 4 Basic Principles for Saving Money on Any Trip

Unless you’re among the top 1 percent of the wealthiest people in America, you’re probably interested in saving money during your trips. After all, it’s widely believed that just getting to your destination is already incredibly expensive (although many of my readers know that doesn’t have to be the case) — so of course you want to be efficient with your money elsewhere. Here are the four basic principles I follow whenever I travel to get the best, most authentic experiences, for the least amount of cash.

Click here to read the full article on eHow Money! http://bit.ly/ehowmvg4

I have some exciting news! eHow approached me to write a weekly budget travel blog, and my first article has just been published: 

How Budget Travel Can Lead to More Authentic Experiences

Many people who want to travel say that money is the biggest obstacle keeping them from booking a trip. But if you plan ahead, it can be affordable — and sticking to a budget while traveling doesn’t limit you from having amazing experiences. In fact, the restrictions of a tight wallet can actually enhance your trip.

Click here to read the full article on eHow! http://bit.ly/ehowmvg1