International Budget Traveling
WHAT TO BRING
The simple answer is "as little as possible". Traveling light will prevent more headaches than almost any other advice you can find. If you can carry-on all your baggage then you prevent the possibility of your luggage being lost by the airline and you do not have to bother with collecting your baggage after your flight.
Budget travel means doing a lot of things yourself. The less things you carry the more energy you have for coping with whatever happens, and the more free you are to enjoy the experience.
Bring clothes that can serve a number of purposes and that are suited to the climate of the place you are going to. If you are traveling to poorer countries you probably will want to buy some clothes there, particularly in much of Asia where hand tailoring is remarkably inexpensive.
Are you going to need to do some walking? Suitcases are fine if you only need to go from the airport to a taxi but improvised travel usually means long hikes and a heavy suitcase will blister your hand and strain your shoulder. If you want to explore beyond the realm of "no surprises" - get a backpack.
TRAVEL SAFELY
Airline travel these days is very safe. Once the airplane lands at your destination, however the tourist is in unfamiliar territory, without even the most basic survival knowledge. It has been remarked that the modern tourist is the least adapted to his environment of all the creatures on the Earth.
Learn all you can about the culture before you go. There are a lot of small things you can do, both to improve your safety and to relate to the local people better. Lonely Planet guide books are recommended - reading one will put you in the country long before you board your airliner.
Most people are honest, people who live in some countries are noticeably more honest than Americans. But not everyone is trustworthy. It usually is not a good idea to leave valuables in your hotel room.
Pickpockets and snatch thieves are a reality in airports and elsewhere. With luck you will never encounter one, but do not count on luck. Keep only a small amount of cash in your wallet and remove everything from it that you cannot live without. Place the remainder of your cash and travelers checks under your clothes in a money belt or something similar.
Your American or British passport is worth up to $10,000 on the black market. If you do not want your name in computer databases connected with the most unsavory affairs, if you do not want to have problems every time you fly, treat your passport with great care.
Other ID, your return tickets and credit cards are also valuable and should be safeguarded. Bring at least two IDs, keep them in different places, but leave at home the credit cards that you do not plan to use.
Make two Xerox photocopies of the front page of your passport (the page with your photo and personal information). Copy the numbers of your travelers' checks and the name and telephone number of the issuing company (such as Visa) on to the back of the photocopy. Then put one copy in an unused pocket of the clothes you are wearing and the other in your carry-on luggage. In other words make back-ups of everything and spread them where loss of one would not result in loss of the others.
HEALTH
This is an area where many travellers overdo it. Unless you are going to a region where there are serious health problems the many shots often recommended for international travelers are often not necessary. Be aware also that there are side effects associated with some injections and that some will make you more vulnerable to the disease after the injection has worn off. Bring copies of any prescriptions you may be taking, (if you bring medicines be sure they are in the original bottle, for the benefit of Customs).
There usually is no need to bring much of a first aid kit, most items are available almost everywhere. A few bandaids and some antibiotic cream such as Neosporin may be helpful.
The most important health recommendation, outside of the most wealthy countries, is do not drink the water. The water the locals drink so freely will make you very sick. It is usually not practical for travelers to boil their own water and most filters are not good enough.
Bottled water (check the seal), soft drinks, boiled tea and coffee should be safe. Freezing does not kill bacteria so ice is not safe unless it is made from pure water. Fruit juice, milk, ice cream and yogurt (curd) are better off avoided. There is no way to fully clean salad greens. Use bottled water to rinse your toothbrush!
If you do get the runs (many people do) try a rehydration powder mixed with clean water. This simple mixture of salts and sugar can be found at most pharmacies.
VISAS AND CUSTOMS
Long before your trip begins, determine what the visa requirements of the countries you will visit are. You may be able to purchase your visa when you arrive, you may not need one, or you may need to mail your passport to the embassy. (You do have a passport, don't you???) Different countries' visas are good for different lengths of time so you might need to plan the order in which you obtain your visas.
Customs inspection can run the range between a bored wave to a three hour ordeal with trick questions and heavy suspicion. Your appearance and attitude are important in determining which you receive, as is what you are carrying, but often it is a case of wrong place at wrong time.
Customs officers are human and sometimes under a lot of pressure. That said, there often is little supervision and a few officers will abuse their power. If you are unlucky enough to be confronted with one of those, try as much as possible to remain calm. Do not let them bait you into anger - this will be considered as an indication that you are hiding something.
At that point in time the officer has near total control and practically all you can do is wait until he becomes bored with his game. If you feel the abuse is serious enough you can try reporting him later. The tourist bureaus of many countries are sensitive to the issue because they do not want bad publicity. High political connections could perhaps put the offending officer in hot water himself.
TRAVEL WELL
So you have your passport and visas, have reduced the baggage you carry to a few pounds, searched through half a dozen websites to get the best ticket --- what now?
Relax. Enjoy the ride. Understand that changes in plans can mean opportunities you never would have found otherwise. The unexpected is your companion on every journey.
At no other time in history have ordinary people had the chance to explore the world as they do today. There still are unique cultures out there not completely over-run by Coca Cola and television. Experience them yourself and you will never be the same.
Photographs on this webpage are from www.sxc.hu and represent all seven continents. Hold your mouse over the picture if you are using Explorer or right click the photo then click "properties" in Firefox to see where they are from.
For Beautiful Jewelry of Nepal and Tibet
See: JewelryTibet.com.
