ULTIMATE TIPS AND TRICKS GUIDE FOR YOUR TRAVELS
Congratulations on making the decision to start your travels and begin the adventure of a lifetime! It can be the most rewarding and memorable experience, you'll make friends for life and treasure the memories you make, you will not regret it! It can be a bit overwhelming trying to figure out where to start when planning your travels, so we've put together the ultimate first time traveller guide.
PACK LIGHT
The temptation to pack your nicest clothes and products is strong but trust us: you will never wear or need them. It’s normal to wear the same pair of shorts and top most days so pack light! It’s much easier to carry a 10KG backpack on your bag, than 15. We recommended buying some travel cubes (try Amazon, you can usually find a bundle) and having each one designated to a different type of clothing. The general rule is don’t carry anything that weighs more than 20% of your own body weight. Make sure you bring light cover ups for when you go into temples, as you have to have your shoulders covered before going in.
SOCIALISE
Meeting new people and going to things you never usually would can be the best things about travelling. Whether you backpacking across South East Asia, sailing around Croatia or going around Latin America, you can meet friends for life! We have people that travelled with Tru 10 years ago that are still in touch and have travelled again together!
PREPARE
If you’re travelling with a small group of friends, or by yourself, preparing a general route or a travel plan would be really useful. Having a general plan means that you can plan your travel route, overnight buses and trains fill up fast. There's always travel shops dotted around the busiest parts of the city that can help you plan your transport, just have a look at what a few different ones offer so you can compare prices. Oh, and please have your vaccinations, travel insurance, flights and Visa's sorted before boarding that plane! Most reputable health websites will list which countries require which vaccinations.
BE READY FOR OVERNIGHT TRAVEL
Overnight buses and trains can be hellish. They can be so hot, but if you’re close to the air con you’ll freeze. Wear light layers underneath and a hoodie on top. Also, the driver will hit his horn every 5 minutes of the journey so bring airplugs and an eye mask unless you want to be woken up at every set of traffic lights. You also won't stop that many times so bring snacks!
DIVERSIFY YOUR FINANCES
There is unfortunatley cases of card machines swallowing banks cards and theft. So, we recommend having accounts set up through Revolut or Monzo for easy access and carrying cash. Especially as many shops in Asia tack on commission when you pay on a card machine.
So, there you have it! The best guide of tips and tricks to travelling for the very first time. If you're not sure on where to actually travel, we have tours to Asia, Europe, Latin America and Oceania! There's so many different tours to choose from so if this sounds like something you wanna do, contact us here, or email us at info@trutravels.com!