If vacations are supposed to be relaxing, then why is traveling so stressful? Sometimes, it seems as thought it would be easier to just stay home, but you don’t need to give up on your trip! This article will help you get through the stresses of traveling so that you can kick back and enjoy your time away.
1. Blend In with the Locals
When traveling, you can avoid hassle and reduce travel dangers by blending in. Don’t wear expensive jewelry or location-specific designer brands that mark you as a tourist. Instead, try to dress like the locals do, and don’t draw attention to yourself. Locally-owned businesses and lodging are less likely to be a target for terrorists and pickpockets alike.
2. Bring Things To Keep You Busy on Long Trips, Journeys, or Flights
You should always bring something that will keep you occupied on a flight. A simple entertainer is a pen and paper. You can play games, write poems, draw little sketches, anything you can imagine. This will keep your mind focused so you are not concerned about how much longer the flight will be.
3. Protect Yourself
What types of insurance coverage does your credit card offer? For example, you may enjoy coverage for flights that get cancelled, as long as they were charged to your card. Research can make your trip even better.
4. Bring Your Own Headphones for In-Flight Entertainment
If you are traveling by airplane, be sure to bring along your own headphones. Most in-flight entertainment systems today require that you wear headphones. You may be able to buy them in-flight, but it will be at a greatly inflated cost. Headphones are also a great way to create ‘white noise’ to block out your neighbors and/or the plane noise.
Finally..
Vacations should be fun, not another source of irritation. The tips in this article will help you get through the annoying aspects of traveling, and enjoy all the best parts of it instead. No one should have to spend their vacation worrying. Enjoy your trip, and have a great time!
It had been quite sometime since I started contemplating on getting the Air Asia ASEAN pass to enable me to travel all throughout Southeast Asia for almost 12k, but with last year’s Air Asia 0.01Php seat sale, I was able to book the trip all for less thank 9k. Yay!
You could find out more about the Air Asia ASEAN pass here. Tip: it’s a good buy if you plan on going across Southeast Asia, or just travel within the Philippines.
Why 2 months?
So you might be asking why travel for 2 months?
The answer is simply because I travel and work at the same time. I’m a freelance Virtual Assistant at Upwork.com, formerly Odesk, for 5 years already, and counting.
And YES. I DO NOT TRAVEL FOR FREE. This travelling of mine is ALSO NOT A PART OF MY WORK, and I DO SPEND MY OWN HARD EARNED MONEY FOR MY TRAVELS, contrary to what some people who knew me thought that this is all for free or part of my work. Hindi po. Kung sana lang po, eh di ang saya nang life. hehe.
Two months I think will be enough to give me ample time to be able to fulfil my weekly work hours requirements and at the same travel around.
The Destinations.
So many of you might be asking where am I headed?
Here’s a snippet of the destinations I booked based on the availability of promo fares from Air Asia upon booking last September 2015.
All of the above flights cost me only less than 10,000Php.
The schedule is right there, so if you might be in one of these destinations by any of these dates, let me know. Perhaps we could meet, or maybe I could get a free accommodation from you. hahaha!
Let’s be honest, a big chunk of your travel budget will be on your accommodations.
And since I am a budget backpacker, I opted to stay in the cheapest hostels and dormitels if possible for this trip. I booked my accommodations at Agoda.com. Thanks to their pay later and free cancellation features, you could book way ahead of time and if you change your mind it won’t cost you anything.
Here’s a list of my chosen hostels for my trip, range of cost per night varies and is roughly an average of 200 pesos, not to mention, several of that already comes with a free breakfast. Nice huh?
(Note: the most expensive one is in Singapore (considering that this is one of the cheapest na in that country), it’s highlighted in red because of the probability that I’ll no longer be booking it since I might be staying at a close friend’s place in Singapore. Another good news for that to save me roughly around 2k! Yay!)
Total cost of my accommodations is around 13,000 Php for 60 days.
What travel backpack to use?
For this trip, I’ve considered several options on what piece of luggage should I bring. And after doing my research on a mission to find the best travel backpack, I chose to purchase and use the Osprey Farpoint 55L for this 2-month trip.
It had several excellent reviews online. Some of those bunch of features I came to like about it is its removable daypack with a laptop compartment, lockable zippers, suspension system, internal frame, adjustable shoulder straps, padded hip-belt and a bunch more.
The Farpoint 55 is actually a 40L backpack + 15L detachable daypack.
The daypack can be zipped onto the back of the main backpack.
The dimensions of the M/L size are:
In: 25 x 13 x 12 (height x width x depth)
Cm: 64 x 34 x 30
The Osprey Farpoint has a legit suspension system, so the backpack is comfortable to wear — which is great on those long walks to hostels and in your entire trip.
As an added benefit, the shoulder straps and hip belt can be zipped away behind a flap so you can easily and safely check it on a plane or carry it without fear of getting a strap caught.
Overall
So yeah, the Osprey Farpoint is a great backpack. It’s comfortable, it’s durable, it’s functional… it’s just an excellent travel backpack. (FYI, I’m not paid by Osprey for this. hahaha!)
Packing Light with Travel Cubes (aka Packing Cubes)
Another technique I’ll share with you on how to pack light is by the use of travel cubes such as this.
They sure does magic in compressing your luggage and keeping them organized. Hence, why I was able to fit my life in the next 2-months in this single backpack.
My Itinerary?
For the first time, this is perhaps one of the trips that I came unprepared with an itinerary.
In all my previous travels, I’ve always managed to create an itinerary on what to do, must visit places, must eats, etc., on the places I’ll be visiting, then print it out before heading to my trip.
But this time, with a lot of other things going one, including transferring to a new house, I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had time to do my research and create an itinerary.
So I guess, I’ll just be planning upon arrival in my destination. Any suggestions if you happen to have visited the place already is very much welcome. =)
Lucky No. 13?
Just a little bit of thought that I’d like to share by the way.
I don’t know what’s with the number 13 – but I’ve noticed that my travel dates are both starting and ending on the 13th. My travel date starts today, September 13th, and I’ll be returning back here in the Philippines on the 13th of November, exactly 2 months after.
A little bit earlier in the airport as well, I found out my backpack weighed approx. 13kg.
And if you’ll notice, the number of destinations I have above (pic shown again below for reference) is 13.
Anyway, since then I really haven’t considered this number as a bad luck, perhaps this will be my lucky number for this trip. 😉
My Travel Thoughts?…
This is by far my longest travel away from home to date since I started traveling.
I admit, I’m a bit scared, nervous, with no thoughts on what to expect, afraid that homesickness will struck me along the way. Yet, at the same time, I’m also flooded with excitement on the new places that I’m about to visit, new faces that I’ll be meeting, and a whole lot more.
The DOT’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines!” slogan has spark the imagination of a lot of people. And so to take my part in my country’s tourism campaign, I’ve gathered 100 photos from all over the web and compiled them here. These will be a series of 5 posts, each containing 20 photos (along with their sources).
So sit back, relax, and have fun because It’s More Fun here in the Philippines always, in all ways.
Finally Sunday came, and we’re off to witness the 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2012.
This year’s Fiesta re-ignited not just the hot air balloon burners but also interests in everything in flight: hot air balloons, training aircraft, helicopters, commercial planes as well as sky diving and paragliding. For four days, about a hundred enticing hot air balloons of different fun designs from a dog, to a panda, to a huge ice cream, floated above the enthusiastic crowd. Continue reading →
Finally Sunday came, and we’re off to witness the 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2012.
This year’s Fiesta re-ignited not just the hot air balloon burners but also interests in everything in flight: hot air balloons, training aircraft, helicopters, commercial planes as well as sky diving and paragliding. For four days, about a hundred enticing hot air balloons of different fun designs from a dog, to a panda, to a huge ice cream, floated above the enthusiastic crowd. Continue reading →
It was this same day last week when a significant number in my life changed, a new year had begun, new life, new hope, new dreams.
Dreams and visions floating in the distant innermost depth of one’s soul, lingering… clinging… wringing… waiting to be found and realized in a visionary’s mysterious being. And just like how clouds float in the distant skies, these dreams amazingly exposed their beauty on such lovely day of my life.
And so here are some of the myriad images captured by the scenic speck of my eyes in the glimpse of a minuscule lens of a wary traveller. Continue reading →
This year Adventuroj decided to spend her birthday away from the routinary parties that one used to have. Instead, she went on a sojourn into a place where she hadn’t gone before – and as usual another adventure had begun, this time at the Pineapple Capital of the Philippines, the Province of Bukidnon. Continue reading →
17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.
Below is a video from a fellow traveler at heart that I’d like to share.
After I quit my job last year, I packed a bag, grabbed my camera and bought a one way ticket to London. 17 countries later, I put together this time lapse video of the many amazing places I came across. – Kien Lam
If there’s one thing in this world that may be received by giving – it is happiness.
As put forth by the Second Splendid Truth: One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; and One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.
Yes I am a firm believer of this, and I hope you are too. As such, I’d like to offer this section of my blog to make myself happy – by making you happy.
A lot of my friends say that one of the qualities they like about me is my ability to make them laugh. No matter how corny or not my jokes are (which most of the times are :D), the thought that these bring forth a smile to other people’s faces is enough to make me smile as well. Continue reading →
The Adventures of AdventuRoj! 