Start by making a public forum where you can discuss the basic details of your group adventure.
Look out for group discounts- The greatest benefit of traveling in large groups are the discounts.
Break away from the group- Just because you are traveling together doesn’t mean you have to spend every waking moment together. Everyone’s an individual, so give yourself time to break off and do the things that make you happy.
Consider a guest house, hostel, B&B or small pension as they usually offer more access to friendly locals.
I find that it takes that amount of time to feel comfortable.
– Choose a restaurant with a bar and eat there – this is my choice as I almost always meet someone.
– Go to restaurants with communal tables or coffee shops that are the hubs for freelancers. These are social places where you’re likely to meet locals and they frequently offer free Wi-Fi allowing you to stay connected with home.
– Dine in the same place regularly so that you become friendly with the staff.
– Take a book. It will not only occupy you but also signal other people dining solo that you are alone.
Exchange bureaux usually have poor rates and higher fees. Use ATMs to get money and don’t take out large sums at one time. Consider a pre-paid credit card. Keep emergency back-up funds in a separate place from your regular funds.
Exchange bureaux usually have poor rates and higher fees. Use ATMs to get money and don’t take out large sums at one time. Consider a pre-paid credit card. Keep emergency back-up funds in a separate place from your regular funds.
Give someone at home copies of your documents and email copies to yourself. Keep a photocopy of your documents in your suitcase, separate from your original documents. Carry important documents in a secure place such as a money belt.
Schedule your arrival in a new location early — well before dark. Always stay in public. Draw on the support of strangers – people of your choice – if you feel unsafe. Don’t be afraid to be noisy and make a fuss if someone is bothering you.
Pack your own meal on the airplane flight or mode of transportation of your choice. This provides you with an alternative to eating the expensive and typically unhealthy prepared meals offered through the airline. Bring protein- and nutrient-dense dry food that won’t easily leak or get smashed in your bag. Examples include nuts, protein bars and firm fruit, like apples.
Drink plenty of fluids during your trip. If you can, choose water over other beverages while you’re in transit. Milk and juices are adequate, but avoid soda and an excess amount of alcoholic beverages. Avoiding the latter is especially important for minimizing travel-related health conditions, such as jet lag.
Stock your hotel room with bottled water, fresh fruit and healthy snacks like granola bars or fiber cookies. Doing so helps remove the temptation to raid the room’s mini bar, and can be indispensable for staving off hunger between business meetings or tourist activities.
Avoid fast-food outlets. Though they may be a comforting choice when you’re in a new city, these kind of meal options are often high in fat and calories, and more importantly, they may cheat you out of experiencing the local culture. Wherever you decide to eat, focus on meals that incorporate healthy components, like fresh vegetables and lean proteins.
Don’t forget to eat breakfast. This is usually easier said than done in the whirlwind of a vacation. However, breakfast helps prime your system and prepares you for a full day of activities or business meetings. If your hotel offers a complimentary breakfast, choose a high fiber and protein meal, such as whole grain toast with peanut butter, to give you instant energy and fill you up until lunch. This way you may reduce the temptation to snack in a few hours’ time.
For those who never travel with it, you’ll hear things like “Oh, it doesn’t matter if you lose your bags, just travel light with stuff you can afford to replace” or “Medical bills in South East Asia are pretty cheap if you get need to get over Bali belly” or our favourite “Travel insurance companies will just tell you the horror stories to get you to buy insurance”.
The last one is unashamedly true. We absolutely want you to know we’ve had to deal with thousands of emergencies and evacuations over the years. We want you to know that without travel insurance, an emergency evacuation can cost in excess of USD$100,000.
In most cases your travels with go without a hitch. You’ll not have to experience the nightmare of being seriously ill or injured in a foreign country. But if you do, the last thing you want is not having the support or financial means by which to get treated and flown home.
For that alone, travel insurance is worth every cent.
It is highly advisable to learn about the VISA requirements of the country you intend to visit well before the actual date of travel. Genarally VISA requirements vary depending upon the VISA rules of the respective country.
It Depends, probably this is the very basic requirement of your travel, the exchange rates changes on a daily basis, it is advisable to not wait for the rate to come down as the variation is very small generally.
Start by collecting all of your important documents in a travel document organizer ( travel organizer holds a passport, ID, seven credit cards, coins, documents, a boarding pass, and a pen!).
This will help ensure everything you need to get from one place to the next is all in one place. Think about including the following documents:
It’s a good idea to double-check your passports and IDs aren’t expired. You’ll also want to inform your bank if you’re traveling abroad so they don’t assume fraudulent activity and freeze your card. You may also want to email yourself a copy of your passport, driver’s license, medical cards and itinerary, so if anything happens to them you’ll be able to access them online.
The next thing you’ll want to do is prepare your personal item carry-on bag with anything you’ll want with you on the flight. It’s always a good idea to make sure you have an outfit (or two) and a few essential toiletries in your personal item just in case your luggage is lost. If you’ll be traveling around to multiple destinations, make sure this bag has items to keep you cozy on any train, boat or bus rides. It’s always nice to have a bag that’s easy to access so you don’t have to get in your main travel bag each time you need your eye mask. But remember, you’ll be carrying all of this, so keep it light.
We recommend you consider using a small daypack or backpack as your personal item. Here are some good things to include:
Technology
Health Items
Whatever you’re planning, we recommend luggage that is versatile, lightweight and big enough to hold all your essentials. The most important decision you’ll make as far as luggage is finding a piece that’s versatile and can fit lots of gear while also being easy to carry. If you’ll be going through different types of terrain, or switching from airports to cobblestones, having a bag with the option to roll it or carry it like a backpack or duffel is handy.
When you have many different types of activities and a variety of gear to pack in your suitcase, keeping everything organized can be a challenge. One of the best things you can do when you’re packing for any trip, especially one that requires you to pack lots of layers, is to make sure you use packing organizers. Keeping your suitcase organized with packing organizers will make it easy to get from one place to the next without having to rearrange your entire bag every time you reach a new destination.
You can keep clothing organized in compartments based on outfit type or activity type using packing cubes. These are zippered organizers that make it easy to keep your bag organized and neat and provide quick access to all the different things you’ll need during your trip. You can use Pack-It™ Compression Sacs or Pack-It™ Specter Compression Cubes to reduce the volume of your clothes by up to 80%. This is especially convenient for bulky items such as sweaters and jackets.
Here are items you don’t want to forget:
You’ll want to pack lots of clothing options if your trip will take you to a variety of places. Having options doesn’t mean you’ll need to over-pack. Just pack smart. Include clothing that can be worn on your adventures and then dressed up slightly with a different pair of shoes and a scarf. You may want to try creating a capsule wardrobe – Lady Light Travel has some great tips for how to plan a travel capsule wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe allows you to pick versatile clothing pieces to mix and match so you don’t have to bring separate pieces for each outfit.
If you’re carrying on, keep your toiletry bag light and TSA-compliant. The TSA’s 3-1-1 rule makes it easy to remember: liquids, gels, aerosols, creams, and pastes must be 3.4 ounces (100ml) or less per container and they must be in a 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag. To make this as easy as possible for you, we have a set that includes four 3-ounce silicone bottles in a quart-sized clear pouchthat’s wipeable and has a water resistant zipper. Click here for more info about TSA rules regarding what you can pack.
Don’t forget the following for your toiletry case:
A lightweight, versatile day bag can be used in a variety of ways and help you stay comfortable and prepared.
In most large cities, travelers should always be on the lookout for pickpockets. The easiest way to keep your belongings safe is to keep them hidden and close to you. One way to do this is to stash your valuables underneath your clothing. You can do this with a money belt, hidden pocket, neck wallet, undercover bra stash, leg wallet, or holster. All of these options let you keep your valuables, such as passports, credit cards, and cash, close to your body and away from prying hands. You can review the different styles here to choose one (or more) that works best for you and the type of travel you’ll be doing. You may also want to consider choosing one that has RFID protection. RFID protection keeps your passports (issued after 2006) and credit cards/debit cards safe while travelling. Identity theft can occur when someone is able to “read” through your purse or pocket, because these items contain microchips with information stored on them.
Overseas travel is an expensive proposition and difficult for many families to afford. Still, there are ways to lessen the financial burden of an international trip so you can see the world without breaking the bank. Here are a few:
Get the best exchange rate. There are essentially three ways to exchange currency: converting cash at a bank before your trip, using a currency exchange service like the ones found in airports, or simply using a credit card, in which case your money is converted automatically upon making a purchase. So, which is the best option?
According to an exchange rate study conducted by Card Hub, international travelers can save up to 15% by using a credit card. More specifically, major worldwide credit networks automatically provide the best exchange rates possible–currently 14.7% better than the currency exchange companies that operate out of airports and 7.9% better than the average major bank. Yet you can’t just open a major credit card account and expect those savings.
Get a no-foreign-fee credit card.
Over 90% of all credit card issuers charge foreign usage fees, which inflate the cost of any transaction processed outside the United States. No foreign transaction fee credit cards don’t have these fees, however, making them perfectly suited for overseas spending. In order to use one of these cards to your full advantage, you should adhere to the following guidelines:
Consider cash and debit cards.
Though the majority of your purchases abroad should be made with a credit card, you’ll need some cash for cab fare and the few stores that inevitably don’t accept plastic. Opening a low-foreign-fee debit card and making ATM withdrawals during your trip is the least expensive way to access cash, as the low exchange rate that applies to credit cards also applies to debit card transactions. If you’d rather not worry about finding an ATM as soon as you arrive in a foreign country, convert a small amount of cash at a local bank before you leave. In doing so, keep in mind the following tips:
Consider these final tips.
Regardless of which debit or credit card you use while traveling overseas, it’s important to:
It is highly advisable to share you arrival information to your family and friends, including your schedule, place of stay, duration of stay.
Normally there is no thumb rule is there for tipping but internationally it is suggested to tip atleast 10% of the restaurant bill while dining, and a $10 is a quite a decent tipping amount to offer to a room service guy or a driver . But it totally depends upon the depth of your pocket. There are a few countries where tipping is not expected or considered rude namely Japan is one such example.
Its always a good practice, while travelling abroad, to buy a loacl SIM card to connect to your near and dear ones, and its a very basic need of a modern man which lets you do so many things in a few clicks.
It all depends on the personal choice, if expert to be believed, if you are going to stay in a city for a longer duration ,it is advisable to book your accommodation and transport at-least for the day of arrival, later on you can change to a different place or hotel.
© Copyright 2017 by - IML Travel Services (P) Ltd.
MINISTRY OF TOURISM, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
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