You need a trusted person at home (especially useful if you can remember their phone number!), a photocopy and scanner(optional), your passports, the emergency numbers for your ATM/Credit Cards, your travel Insurance Document and emergency numbers.

Photocopy your passport – if you’re travelling with someone, get a copy with both passports on the same piece of paper. Leave a copy with your trusted friend/family at home – next, have one each in an accessible place – you will be asked to for passport details on checking into many hostels and hotels – you don’t want to be rummaging around under your clothes every time – the only people that need to see your identification are border guards and police (and if you get asked by police, go to the police station with them, do not hand over passports on the street – common street scam). Finally, for extra security you can scan a copy of your passport and email it to your self, in the event of losing everything.

Copy down all the emergency telephone numbers for your credit/ATM cards onto two pieces of paper, one for your underclothes wallet, one for a trusted person at home. Also email a copy to your on-line web mail account. In the event of a robbery, it is crucial that you contact these numbers as quickly as possible to avoid being liable for any losses to your accounts.

Get two copies of your travel insurance document, one for your underclothes wallet, and one for your trusted home person.

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Travel Guide – Passports and Visas

There are lots of things to do before you travel – by being prepared your journey will go more smoothly, and in the event of an emergency you will have a fall-back.

Visit (links to government sites): US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland all have travel advice sites. (TBA)

Passports and Visas
For every country you want to visit – find out if you need a visa. For a list of embassy and consulate websites, visaproject.com is a site that can help you. Check it out.

Examples: European Union – citizens of member countries can travel around freely, no visas required. Americans can travel to the European Union without visas – be aware that not all of Europe is part of the European Union – Ukraine is not a member and many nationalities need a visa. Europeans need a visa for visiting Australia!

Before applying for a visa, check out your passport, how long is it valid for ? If it is not valid for more than 6 months after the expected end of your travels – get it renewed – many countries require you to have a period of validity on your passport of 6 months beyond your entry, for example Australia.

TravelTIP: Look after your passport – on the road it is one of your two most important possessions, the other being your money/atm/credit card. Do not let these get damaged or stolen. Get an under-clothes wallet, and a watertight plastic bag that is slightly larger than your passport – a zip locking freezer bag is suitable, with a piece of rigid (but thin plastic) that is the same size – place your atm card, credit card, rigid plastic and passport inside the water tight bag, and place all this in your under-clothes wallet. Keep some of your money, a photocopy of your passport in a more accessible place, as you’ll be asked for your passport details quite often for administrative purposes, such as checking in to hostels and hotels – so use the photocopy instead.

Travel Guide – Money

Where is your money going to come from on the road? Experienced travellers usually have a variety of sources. Hard currency – US Dollars, Euros, GBP ( Pounds Sterling) in that order are the most readily exchangeable (nearer Europe swap the Euro and dollars position) – it’s recommended that you have about enough cash for a week of survival (lodgings, food) in your destination. Avoid using this money – you’ll lose out on exchange rates trying to get it back later.

Next – your credit card and your ATM card – make sure that they don’t expire mid trip! Get replacements if this is the case. Some people recommend splitting the locations of cards between your pack and your person – the logic being – if you are robbed and your stash is discovered, then at least you’ll have some money/ATM card elsewhere. I keep my cards on my person and hide some of my cash in my pack My logic is “if I’m robbed – my pack is the most likely thing that would be taken, from the top of a bus or when sleeping on a train, so why lose something as important as an ATM card ?”

Travel Guide – Medical Kit

Always carry a small medical kit, which should include: bandages, pain killers, antiseptic wipes, antiseptic cream, plasters, scissors, throat soothing tablets, iodine, diarrhea tablets, etc. Put this in your backpack, not your daypack (carry on luggage), when flying – to avoid problems with airport security.

Travel Guide – How to Pack

Right, so you have all this stuff and you have to get it into this now much smaller backpack. Packing will become second nature to you after months on the road, but for now it’s all new. How do you do it ?

Simple tips: keep the heavy things towards the bottom of your pack, put the lighter stuff and things you’ll need soonest nearer the top, not forgetting to make guide books easily accessible.

Travel Guide – Driving

Hire a car or buy a car ? Buying a car in New Zealand is really popular. For some the road trip is the ultimate form of travel. Independence, complete and total, and you can go places that no bus or train could get you to. Two major options – buy a car, only applicable in some countries, and you have to consider insurance requirements, and other legal requirements. Also if you own a car and it goes wrong you bear the cost of putting it right. Renting a car is a simpler option – but can be more costly. However, it has the ultimate flexibility of not having to be responsible for any repairs, or selling the vehicle at the end of your travels. Do be aware accidents and claims against the insurance of the vehicle might apply to your insurance when back home.

Travel Guide – Driving

Hire a car or buy a car ? Buying a car in New Zealand is really popular. For some the road trip is the ultimate form of travel. Independence, complete and total, and you can go places that no bus or train could get you to. Two major options – buy a car, only applicable in some countries, and you have to consider insurance requirements, and other legal requirements. Also if you own a car and it goes wrong you bear the cost of putting it right. Renting a car is a simpler option – but can be more costly. However, it has the ultimate flexibility of not having to be responsible for any repairs, or selling the vehicle at the end of your travels. Do be aware accidents and claims against the insurance of the vehicle might apply to your insurance when back home.

Travel Guide – Budget Airlines

The single most popular form of travel for the independent traveler. Fast, economically the cheapest, with a high safety record, the jet plane has revolutionized the travel industry. Had Jules Verne been alive today we would have been reading “Around the world in 80 hours”, which gives some idea of the revolution that the jet has brought about. Unfortunately, despite its many advantages, there is one large negative to jet travel, which has been largely ignored until today. This is the huge amount of CO2 released during each flight. It is possible that as the world grows in knowledge and concern about the damage that this release causes, the cost of jet travel will rise. Combined with jet travel’s dependency on oil, the age of cheap flights that we currently see might be limited.

Now back to the good news. Flights are at the moment cheap, plentiful, and go to just about everywhere; it seems in this day and age that there is nowhere in the world that is more than 48 hours from anywhere else.

Single tickets

Buying single tickets from place to place in the course of your travels is the most flexible way to travel. It is also more expensive than a return flight, or a Round the World Ticket. However – it is possible to pick up cheaper local options from local travel agents than you may find on the Internet, or from travel agents back home.

Travel Guide – Backpacks Versus Suitcases

Ok so you are planning to travel, and considering taking a suitcase:

Advantages of a suitcase are: easy access to the contents, less likely to get caught in baggage conveyors, easier to store, great in airports and hotels when the little wheels touch down and smoothly roll on the concourse floors.

Disadvantages You can’t carry most suitcases for more than a few minutes. This is the main and most important disadvantage. From the point you decide to take a suitcase instead of a backpack you are tied to taking taxis, cars, booking your hotels and hostels in advance. You lose freedom. This is the advantage of a backpack and for the independent traveller freedom is one of the most important features of the journey.

Travel Guide – Backpacker Travel Insurance

Backpackers Travel Insurance

The Travelblog Travel Guide tries to be as unbiased as possible, offering only the best advice and does not normally recommend particular products and companies. One exception is made here: for backpacker insurance, no company has yet offered a product that competes with World Nomads in terms of features and price. They offer travel insurance to all countries – (with sensible exceptions – you aren’t covered for travel to war zones) – and do not leave out the most interesting places, like other insurance companies do. You can also purchase your insurance when you have already left! – Since most backpackers leave travel insurance to the last minute – and beyond – this is a fantastic feature. In addition, should you decide to stay on beyond your original travel dates, you can get a new policy on the Internet without having to be in your country of residence. For these reasons Travelblog Travel Guide unreservedly recommends World Nomads, but you should nevertheless still shop around.