After travelling both Internationally and Domestically for about 20 years I have learnt some things that make my trips easier. Here are a few of them.
- Always book the motel for the first night. This will give you opportunity to orientate yourself to the country
- Always have a pickup organized after a long haul flight. I hate getting to a country after 10 hours in the air to then have to work out the shuttle, tax, or train system. I would rather walk out of the airport to a guy holding a sign with my name on it and its all organised. Any other time, I am happy to work it out on the run, but not after more than 6 hours in the hour. My brain is fried. Its worth the extra $50 it may cost you.
- As a general rule – best exchange rate is via taking cash out of the ATM – but check your country of origin’s ATM availability rate. For example some parts of China simply don’t have many ATMs around.
- Buy expensive luggage. Cheap bags last one trip….maybe.
- Make sure you turn data roaming off on your phone and ipad.
- If you are going for a walk at night – ask the concierge if its safe. Don’t just assume. Melanie and I walked in LA for about 1km from the motel we were staying at and when we got back, the concierge couldn’t believe that we would be so stupid as to go out at night. He was surprised we didn’t get mugged.
- I take half a sleeper on the plane on a long haul flight. Forces me to sleep.
- Get on the flight last – look for a bank of empty seats. I always get on last and if there are a bank of 4 or 5 seats empty I sit in them. Perfect. Never ask a hostess if you can sit there as they will say after we take off and by then someone else will have them
- Have travel insurance
- Always leave a copy of your itinerary, passport, insurance policy with family
- Take a power board so you only need one power adaptor and you can charge all your devices.
- Its worth paying the little bit extra for small bottles of stuff like shampoo, shaving cream, etc rather than dragging three months supply around the world with you when you are only going for 10 days
- Get relevant Vaccinations
- Take a box of museli bars – they are good handy snacks
- Never ever joke with Immigration. Ever. Melanie still hasn’t forgiven me for an incident at the US/Canada border.
- When flying to somewhere through somewhere else – most of the time you can stay in the city for 24 hours with no additional airfares. Do some research and get a cheap motel and go exploring. Its amazing what you can see in a well thought out 24 hour period. I have done this in Hong Kong, Singapore, KL, Dubai and New York. In New York in 24 hours I went up the Empire State Building, visited Ground Zero, threw snowballs in Central Park, had dinner in Times Square, went over to Ellis Island (this is where the statue of Liberty is), shopped at Macy’s and had coffee in Starbucks over the road from Wall Street. I also bought a dawg from a street vendor – it was disgusting. Lol
- I always have $50 in US currency in $10 lots – doesn’t matter what country I am in – US dollars will get me out of a pickle if I don’t have local currency.
- Always carry a card with the motel name and address on it: both in English and the local language if different. Then if you get hopelessly lost, the worse case scenario is you jump in a cab. I always try and identify a tall landmark close to the motel that will be easy to see from around the city.
- I always carry a USB stick and back up my photos onto the stick so if I lose the SD card or the camera gets stolen – I don’t lose precious photos
- Never eat hamburgers from Jakarta Airport – Worse case of food poisoning I have ever had.
Categories: Travel
peterpilt 
Some more tips to add,
* In Asian Countries and catching a taxi, insist on meter charging rather than the price they tell you if you do not know what it should cost
* If you need to take a suit, first thing you do when you get to a Hotel is hang it up in the bathroom then steam the room with the shower hot water for 30 min, in 3 hours they will looked pressed and fresh
* When in Melbourne, don’t catch a cab, go to the front doors to the men wearing black, for $10 more you get a very comfortable limo ride and look professional when you roll up to see someone
* Know where the hospital and Australian embassy is located in any country you visit
* In Asia, Buy your suits on day 1, gives you time to check and adjust if needed, Mine have always been perfect though
* Always take stemital and anti Diarrhea tablets when traveling abroad
* Upon arrival, lock your passport in your Hotel safe and leave it there until you leave, do not carry it around with you,
* Go for a walk and eat breakfast, it will be better and far cheaper than the Hotel
* ALWAYS ask, ” any chance for an upgrade” you can score yourself a business seat every now and then
* Try not to let bathing water enter your mouth or eyes when in Asia
* If you bank with ANZ, There are ANZ ATM machines throughout ASIA, this will save you on certain fees
* When exchanging AUD, Only exchange a little at the destination airport ( never Australia), then go find a western Union booth in the street for the rest, you will save heaps as they offer very competitive rates in Asia, much better than the airport.
* If you get a fine in ASIA, ALWAYS ask for a receipt, The fine will magically get cheaper by around two thirds, seriously!
We are going to India in October for 10 days any tips?
I love number 8.