50 Tips To Help You Live Your Travel Dreams
Everybody dreams of traveling, be it exploring through some of the world’s most popular sites, kick-starting the adrenaline rushes with some of the world’s extreme adventure sports, studying the rich historic and cultural sites or just simple relishing the wonders of mother nature, there isn’t probably anyone on the whole who doesn’t dream of traveling.
So, here we have come up with the tips that can be quite helpful to live your travel dream and make it a smooth-pleasant adventure.
1. Start Saving: If you have realized that traveling is your life, then, start saving money and cutting off extra expenses. Even cutting a cup of coffee a day or smoking habits and reducing the number of days you spend on movies theatres can save a lot in the long run.
2. Find your inspiration: The world is filled with pretty majestic and heavenly destinations, so, find a place that you want to prioritize in your bucket list. Whether it be just a photograph or video, if you have prepared a list to visit your favorite destination, this will help you put a double effort to make your traveling plans successful.
3. Use the help of vacation manager: You can also hire a travel manager who can oversee all your travel and itinerary plans. This way you can enjoy the budget-friendly traveling destination with the help of the industry experts that also won’t be too harsh on your savings.
4. Manage your time efficiently: If you are stuck with a 9-5 job, it can be pretty hard to get any extra time to manage your trip. However, in such cases, you could properly manage your weekend times, special holidays, or utilizing your annual vacation; see the opportunity and grasp it to explore the world.
5. Be realistic: You above all should know what your limitations are, don’t plan a trip, and think about just winging it. Make a proper thought out plans considering the time on your hand and the budget for the trip, so, you will stay motivated to make another trip shortly.
6. Set timelines: Just preparing a travel plan isn’t good enough, you should also set a timeline to complete that goal. This a very essential step as you won’t drop out the idea of your travel plan, scheduling a reasonable time to accomplish the goal has a higher possibility of you actually achieving it.
7. Tell your family and friends about your plan: Letting your friends and family in your plans will open up opportunities for great advice and tips. If you are lucky, they might also put in some extra bucks if you are running short or better, they might want to tag along with you making it a fun trip.
8. Be a little selfish: Mostly good people have a habit of putting the need of others before their own wishes, be consistent, and stay loyal to your plans. Don’t pitch in extra cash to buy a special gift on any birthday or cover other’s share in a restaurant, think about your travel plans, and nourish it with those savings.
9. Explore the border countries: The shortest expedition can be planned in the countries at your borderline, you don’t need a long holiday to visit the country nearby, also, the budget and exchange rate can be quite friendly. You could pick an exotic destination in the neighboring countries and have a blast on your short route exploration.
10. Sign up for rewards: There is always some sort of reward programs or offers going on in the market, you could sign up for such programs and collect rewards points for shopping expenses. You can also use the travel credit card programs which offer points and chances of free accommodation or flights with your daily purchases.
11. Start small: Traveling always doesn’t has to mean that you going halfway around the world to have the greatest time of your life. You can travel the beautiful locations in your country that you have yet to visit or just a weekend getaway at your hometown, just start traveling.
12. Make it a little flexible: It quite alright to make a schedule when saving for your trip, however, while traveling makes it a little flexible. You don’t have to plan out your every single itinerary on your trip, plan only a few activities and enjoy the rest of the time at your own pace.
13. Take the discount deals: Especially on the occasion of the festival or big events, there are a lot of discount deals going on in the tourism sector. You could use this opportunity to efficiently plan your trip co-ordinating with such major festivals and occasions, making it a budget-friendly journey.
14. Connect to people in your travel: When you are traveling, you will meet a lot of people from different parts of the world, start building connections with them, and slowly expand your travel network. By building a connection with other travelers, you will be able to come up with great ideas for the next or invite each other for the adventure in your countries.
15. Pack skillfully: If you are a new traveler, it can be quite hard for you to decide what to include in your packing and what not to. Rather than packing 4 extra pairs of shirts and jeans that carry the essential stuff like GPS, waterproof jacket, hiking boots, and camera. Also making it a light packing will save you from the burden of extra weight charge.
16. Don’t be afraid: Traveling is a way to explore the wonders of the world and a journey to find yourself, so, don’t hold yourself back and be afraid to take the step. It is also said that traveling helps to shape a person by the things they learn in the journey; embark on this exploration to learn about the world and about yourself.
17. Establish the tradition of houseguest: It doesn’t matter whether it is your old school friend or a relative, establishing a tradition of inviting them over and you going over to visit them will open up opportunities for a lot of traveling. This way you can easily plan the travel to an exotic destination near the home of your friends or relatives cutting off a lot of expenses.
18. Rent a vacation house or lodges: If you are planning a long vacation with your friends or family, renting a vacation house or lodge will help you save a lot of cash. Eating out on foreign countries can be quite expensive; you can cook your own meal in the lodges and vacation house with kitchens, saving a lot of cash.
19. Freelance or do part-time: Working on a second job if you are covering a full shift can be pretty harsh. You can look for alternative options like a part-time shift or freelancing to get some extra cash that will be quite a handful while planning a vacation.
20. Make your business trip a vacation: Planning a vacation while you are on a business trip on a foreign country can be quite efficient. You can take a few days off before the business work or after completing your business work and set out on the exploration of the country.
21. If you really love it, make it a career: If you have immense love for traveling, there is also an opportunity for you to make it a full-time profession. There several types of jobs like making commission by booking travel for others, work as a travel agent or choose the profession in the airlines’ sector.
22. Join volunteering organizations: Being part of the volunteering organization also come with a lot of benefits. You can dedicate your extra time to a specific location where the organization will pay for food and lodging facilities. Also, several volunteer organizations plan frequent international visits for work and to promote the organization, so, you will be traveling back and forth on several occasions.
23. Choose the student exchange program: If you are a fresh graduate, looking for a field to specialize in and simply love traveling, you can use this opportunity to choose the student exchange program where you can be part of new culture and tradition. This way you can guide yourself in the exploration of totally new surroundings and continuing your academic goals.
24. Enjoy the local dish: In your travel, it will be quite problematic if you are a picky eater and have a taste for only local cuisine. There is a possibility that your destination might not serve the dishes that are homely, so, start a habit of exploring the local dishes and relishing them taking into consideration the food you are allergic to.
25. Travel insurance is mandatory: There are a lot of stories where travelers have injured themselves while setting out an adventure of exploration of the rural areas in their destination. Thus, a sensible way of traveling is getting travel insurance firsthand to save the extra expenses if by any chance, something goes wrong.
26. Carry spare passport-sized photos: Getting permits and filling up several forms can be quite a hassle while traveling; you will also need photos for completing several documents. Therefore, carry a few extra passport-sized photos with you, so, you don’t have to look for local photo studios or pay an extra charge.
27. Learn a few words in their language: Learning a few phrases and words of the country you are about to travel will come quite handy. You will be able to ask directions or start a conversation easily opening with those words; also, the native people will love your effort trying to speak their language and may help you wholeheartedly.
28. Choose hostels over hotels: Picking up a hostel for accommodation facilities over a hotel come with a lot of benefits, it is less costly as well as you will have the opportunity to make friends who have set out on the adventure to explore the destination.
29. Be a travel blogger: Travel blogger is a respectful and a good-paying job that will open up a lot of traveling opportunities. If you are working as a travel blogger for a company then, the company will cover all your travel expenses; a fitting job to live your dream of traveling, and making the money at the same time.
30. Carry sleep masks and earplugs: The most essential part for the next day’s refreshing expedition is a good night’s sleep. However, in some cases like noisy surroundings, train operating nearby, or drunkard a singer trying his best, there are several things that can interrupt your sleep. So, carry a pair of earplugs and sleep masks to have a sound sleep and wake refreshed the next day for a fun-filled adventure.
31. Secure the stash of emergency cash: Travel with the most widely accepted currency during your travel as a stash for emergencies. You can never be sure whether you will lose your backpack or get robbed considering the areas. The emergency hidden stash can be quite helpful in these situations to get food and accommodation facilities, and, call for help.
32. Be calm in every situation: During your travel, things will not always sail smoothly as you have planned it. There may not be any traveler in the world who hasn’t experienced mishaps in their journey, in case, things don’t go as planned, prepare yourself with a contingency plan and look for an alternative solution rather than getting upset.
33. Make a checkout list: Listing all the important things you are carrying with yourself in your travel like phone, money, power bank, camera, laptop, etc., will help you a lot while you are checking out of the accommodation facility. This way you won’t lose any of your important stuff and have a well-organized packing.
34. Pick shoulder season over the high season: Traveling in the shoulder season has a lot of perks, in such season the prices of the different kinds of services like food and accommodation facilities relatively drop and you will find quit less crowd in the major tourist attraction of the destinations.
35. Avoid the money exchanger at the airports: Never use the airport currency exchanger in your travel; these types of airport exchangers have a reputation for providing the worst currency exchange rate. Use the exchange services of the bank or exchange agency near your hotel or just outside the airport which will exchange the currency in the fair ongoing rate.
36. Always pack a night before: Either you are setting out on a vacation from your home or leaving the vicinity of a hotel, you should form a habit of always packing a day before. Doing this will ensure that you won’t leave any of your stuff behind and that your early morning packing won’t affect the plans and schedule for the next day.
37. A good camera is pretty essential: It is the hobby of the travelers to explore the different parts of the world live in the moment, and capture them on the lens. So, to collect all those memories you need a good quality camera, invest in a good camera that will help your relive the moment when you look back at those memories.
38. Work on your travel: You could also make some extra cash on your travels that can help you extend your trip. You can help around the gardens of the hostel you are staying at or working on the reception as a part-timer or work as delivery agent etc., to make some extra bucks on your travel.
39. A proper health check before you set out: Doing a throughout health check before leaving on the vacation or keeping up vaccines and medication, before you leave, will be more secure than filling-in on the foreign countries. So, make it mandatory to do health checkups before traveling to have a pleasant expedition.
40. Use a VPN: In your travel, you will be using a lot of free wifi hotspots and unsecured networks. Installing a VPN on your phone, while surfing will protect you from malware and hackers. Also, you can use it to change your phone’s location to watch your favorite shows and movies if your destination doesn’t have access to it.
41. Join travel groups and forums: Joining a travel group and the forum will help you make friends quite easily, you can find the events and trips plan the group is going to organize and if you can make it, tag along on the fun group adventure. These types of groups and forums will also provide different kinds of tips and not to miss attractions to make your travel enjoyable and smooth.
42. Download the region’s map and carry handy local maps: You need to totally understand the areas in the region before heading out for a stroll, downloading the map of the region can be quite handy so, you don’t get lost. Further, carrying the local maps with you will guide you to the major and not-to-miss attractions of the region.
43. Keep yourself hydrated: Especially when you are traveling in the harsh hot regions, you need to be very careful about frequently hydrating yourself. Even during safari and hiking carry water or energy drinks to frequently hydrate yourself so you won’t feel dizzy, weak, and tired in the expedition.
44. If you find McDonald’s and Starbucks, they have wifi: The internet can be an issue when the accommodation facilities you are staying at don’t have wifi or the data package in the country can’t keep up with your needs. In such cases, you can find Starbuck and McDonald’s restaurants that are near your hotel as in most cases the chain restaurants of the major food restaurants always have wifi.
45. Carry a power bank: Preparing yourself with a power bank in case there are some issues in the local electricity services or you run out of battery in the middle of a tour can be a lifesaver. Always pack these in your backpacks so you can use it in emergency services and entertain yourself in the situation of a power shortage.
46. Multi-plugs are crucial: The regions you are traveling to will not necessarily always have a top-class staying facilities, sometimes you will have to make things work out with a sing power socket. Don’t miss out to pack the multi-plugs in your trip, with the help of these babies you can charge your all set of gadgets at once.
47. Track your expenditure: It is quite ok to get flexible during your travel and spend more than what you had estimated, in traveling these things are quite normal, However, you need to be careful about tracking your expenses, it is very essential that you don’t go way over the budget that can affect your plans for the coming days. Put a margin for every day, deciding that you won’t spend above the margin on that particular day.
48. Always carry essential like sunscreen, bug repellant, and sunglasses: Traveling consists of a lot of exploring, meaning that you will spend a lot of time outdoors. Setting on an adventure without sunscreen and sunglasses can be quite harsh on your skin and eyes if the sun is pretty harsh or you are traveling through the dusty environment. So, make sure you put on the sunscreen regardless of the weather, in addition, always carry bug repellants to protect yourself from bug bites while exploring the wilderness.
49. Use waterproof backpack: Securing your gadgets and documents are very essential in your travel; you might have to carry these things almost everywhere you travel. But, the weather is not always what we expect so, in case of a sudden change in weather or traveling through the water region on your jungle safari, the waterproof backpacks can come quite handy.
50. If you got time, take a class: Life is a long journey where we are constantly learning new things and developing as a person. So, why not make your adventure more meaningful? Different countries provide different kinds of packages for classes like you can learn rafting, kayaking, paragliding, etc. in Nepal, similarly, other countries are also known to provide lessons for fishing, paddle boarding, and so on. Enroll in any classes that interest you and develop a new skill that will put you at advantage on your next trip.