#I mean they did spend like 500 years looking for the skeleton key and went around the world | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ally-onthemove-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Things to Know

A massive component of travelling is preparation and it’s a sad fact that no matter how much you think you’ve done, you will always have overlooked one bit or more. Whether it be that you didn't realise how much food would be or accommodation, or whether you didn't take into consideration how much it would be for shampoo like we did, there will always be something you’ll wish you’d have sorted a little better before setting off.

International currency withdrawals:

Our primary and be it biggest thing we needed to sort was our form of extracting money whilst we were away. We had spoke to everyone we knew that had travelled, read copious amounts of blogs and researched it until we were blue in the face, but a month before we were due to set off, all we had was a list of possible cards and no actual outcome.

We flicked between our options and a ‘Monzo’ card looked like our destined choice. We had previously sieved through an abundance of travel card companies and all had good qualities about them, but Monzo seemed the best and came highly recommended. We signed up and whilst being placed 11,000 in a queue to receive a card, we read up on them once more.

There was a little charge to use the card abroad, but not extortionate. It covered the vast majority of currencies and had an easily accessible app that enabled you to put money on the card. However, only £3000 annually could be taken out. For people doing a short trip, this may well be the card for you but for us, doing a year long adventure, we would most definitely be needing more than £3000. This isn't to say you cant pay on card for things above that amount but that just made a simple situation, complicated.

It was at this point, that now placed 9000 in the queue, I decided to look at what my bank would charge if I used my normal visa debit.

The answer to that question would be £1.50 a transaction but what I did spot out the corner of my eye at the bottom of the page was the credit card section.

Santander and in-fact many banks, offer a credit card with no transaction fees for abroad withdrawals, no limit to how much you can take out and no limit to what has to be in your bank to claim one. (However, you do have to earn over £8000 annually to be able to apply for one). Within three days my shiny black new credit card had arrived and as i banked with the same company, my online banking conjoined with my current account, making them easily accessible.

What a bank rarely advertises is that you don't have to spend negatively on a credit card, you can in fact use it like a current account and put money on the card and take it off. This is what we have done for the entirety of our trip, using the card for both Ellie and myself, as being a student and not earning over £8000, she couldn't apply for one.

The only set back to this card is that it takes three days for the account to reset itself, so once you have put money on your card, it wont show up as there for a few days, but it is there and you can take it out, you just have to keep a track of what you've put on and what you've withdrawn.

Backpacks:

Currency withdrawals all taken care off, the next thing on our list was backpacks. Again, we researched this topic and after speaking to quite a few people, we decided against getting the biggest litre capacity available and instead opted for the 60L with the 20L rucksack attachment.

This allowed us room to be novice packers, whilst not being ridiculously heavy when carting it around.

After going to many shops and trolling the internet for a bag we agreed on, we by chance ended up at Mountain Warehouse in Freeport and as luck would have it, they had a sale on. We purchased ourselves two 60L backpacks with the 20L add-on, waterproof cover and a durable zip. After having £200 set to one side for our backpacks, due to the sale we only parted with £60 and as a result purchased a mosquito net each, two traveller sleeping bags, a hydration pack and two micro-fibre towels. The overall price tag still coming in at under £200.

We have still yet to use the sleeping bag and mosquito net but it was an item we both thought we’d rather have, than not have.

Now we had bought the bags, our shopping spree for clothes commenced and after purchasing copious amounts of vests and shorts, we packed them away into our bags as to save them for travelling.

The toiletry shop:

For this we headed straight to our local supermarket and spending over a hundred pound each, we bought one each of everything we could think of. Sunburn, shampoo, conditioner, plasters, bite cream, bug spray etc.

The one thing I would recommend is stocking up on shampoo, shower gel, conditioner, sun cream and bug spray. As much as this will bulk up the weight of your luggage and you will inevitably have people tell you ‘you can buy all that out there’, I really would recommend doing it anyway.

It is true, you can buy that stuff in every country you will visit, but at a inflated price. Bug spray is a necessity found cheaper and with a higher concentration of Deet out here and tampons, pads and clothes can be found for reasonable prices, but the likes of shampoo, not so much.

It is a often unknown fact that most Asian brands of creams contain whitening agent, meaning us tourists that no longer want to don our shade of white, have to buy imported brands. We bought a bottle of Nivea sun cream in England for £3.99 before we left and three months later, went to a shop to buy some more, only to find the same bottle and other brands, for £12. Needless to say, we held off until we were in a different country, but the price remained the same. This also happened with facial scrub, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel: all coming in at 3x the price you would pay at home.

Travel Insurance:

We had read up on many companies offering travel insurance and there were several that came highly recommended, however most came with an upwards of £500 price tag attached.

Possibly one of the last things we sorted, I spent months researching which company was best, reading trip advisor reviews and comparing prices.

Eventually and and after exhausting almost every option, I stumbled upon Alpha Backpacker Insurance and after doing a quote, we each payed just over £100 and have no excess to pay should we need to use it (for an additional £100, Ellie also attached gadget insurance to her policy, covering her belongings for anything up to £1000).

Booking.com:

This has been our only source of accommodation searching. With it’s reviews attached to each hotel/hostel and an average rating, it was easy to find the best places for us and with their app allowing for easy use, it took mere minutes to book.

Also, thanks to the refer a friend bonus scheme they have running, Ellie and I refer each other and every few weeks, we both have £15 returned onto our debit cards.

All items checked off our list, we packed our backpacks, ensuring they were under 20kg as most of our pre-booked flights only allowed that as check-in and made our way to the airport.

Backpack checklist:

Clothes (We took enough for a week as laundrettes are easily accessible and cheap)

Bikini

Hat (Sunstroke is a bitch, let me tell you)

Slides

Trainers (Hiking isn't as fun in slides or flipflops and the dirty streets of india in between your toes isn't a cultural experience I recommend)

Poncho (It doesn't rain much but when it does, it does!)

Camara

Phone

Plasters.

Bite Cream

Bug Spray

Shampoo

Conditioner

Shower Gel

Razors

Tampons/sanitary towels

Antihistamines

Tissues (Not all toilets come with toilet roll)

Germaline

Blister plasters

Vitamins

Suncream

Aftersun

Moisturiser

Facial scrub

Travel Insurance

Passport

2x copy of passports

Visa’s

Money

Wallet

International driving permit (Acquired from a select number of Post Offices for £5.99)

Sleeping bag

Mosquito Net

Antimalarials (Dependant on countries you are travelling too)

Hydration pack (Optional)

Towel (You’re not going to want to use all the hotel towels you come across, I can assure you)

Toothpaste

Toothbrush

Vaccinations (The essentials such as TB, Polio and Typhoid are covered on the NHS, the additional recommended but not essential come at a cost, but for piece of mind, I’d advise getting them)

Padlock (Especially if staying in dorms. TSA approved ones can be found in most places, meaning if the airport have to go through your bag, they wont rip a panel open, as they have a skeleton key)

#travelblog #travel #blog #information #advice #backpack #lgbt #world #srilanka #india #thailand #laos #vietnam #cambodia #writer #explore

1 note · View note