Travel Tips & Recommendations
This page is for sharing the best tips and tricks that we learn while planning and traveling. The world changes so fast these days – it’s not a stretch to say that the logistics of traveling are quite different in 2012 than they were even 3 years ago. So if you’re reading this in 2016, you should probably confirm that this info is still good. Also, please comment if you have better or different ideas.
Tip #1: Get a Charles Schwab High Yield Investor checking account
I learned about this account a few months ago from another travel blog. What’s the big deal? How about no ATM fees anywhere in the world?! That’s right – with this card you can access your money from any ATM on planet Earth without paying any ATM fees or foreign transaction fees. You might scratch your head a little about the name of this one, but don’t worry: you do not need to invest with Schwab. (We don’t currently.) However, you are required to open a brokerage account with Schwab along with the checking account, but you are not required to fund the brokerage account. The brokerage account can just sit there. There are no minimum balance requirements, no annual fees, none of that nonsense.
I estimate that using this account will save us probably $800-1000 over the course of our trip…maybe more. Most people reading this probably will never travel for a year, but it might still be worth looking at. I probably spent at least $75 in fees accessing my money when I was in Spain for 3 weeks this summer. That was about 3% of my total budget, or about a kilogram or more of percebes!
Just to be clear, you are charged the ATM fee when you make a withdrawal by the bank from which you are withdrawing, though not by Schwab. Later Schwab refunds you the amount of the fee charged by the other bank.
Here is a link for more information.
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account
Tip #2: Get a VPN account.
Despite using computers, WiFi devices, and networks nearly every day, I am pretty network-illiterate. To me VPN was always just the thing that allowed me to connect to the office server from home. I understood the basics (“It’s like a tunnel through the Internet…”), but I never appreciated the utility of it until now. I’m still not very well versed in the details, but I think of the VPN as an added layer of security.
We use it any time we are transmitting sensitive information over the Internet: logins, passwords, etc. This is particularly important when accessing bank accounts online while traveling – we do not log in to any of our bank accounts or credit card accounts without first logging on to the VPN. Especially now that all of our Internet activity is over WiFi, we (all of us) can’t be too careful.
Again, I’m not real great on the details, so here is a Lifehacker post that explains what a VPN account is and why you should have one:
We got an account with Private Internet Access for $40 per year. I chose this one because we can use it on Laina’s iPad and my Nexus 7.
Note that you have to have the VPN software installed on whatever computer/device you’re using, so you can’t use a computer at the Internet cafe (unless you install it on that computer first, which might not possible…).
Tip #3: Use VPN to be able to rent or buy media from Google Play
Because Google Play has licenses to sell or rent books, movies, and music only in certain countries, you won’t be able to rent a movie for that 30-hr bus ride unless you can trick Google Play into thinking you are in the USA. This is another time when VPN is useful. Just log in to VPN, open Google Play, and then buy or rent whatever you want. I found that you only have to be on VPN for the purchase and the start of the download. Then you can close the VPN link and continue downloading at much higher speeds than you would with VPN still running.
We tried this with Amazon Prime streaming, but the connection is unfortunately too slow with VPN to stream video. At least in Argentina. Maybe somewhere with super fast internet.
Tip #4: Always carry some US cash in case of emergency
You never know when you might find yourself in a town without any working ATMs, or in a country where US dollars fetch a premium. In those cases, dollars can be a lifeline or maybe just a way to save some money. For example, in Argentina you can save 20% on your lodging in many places if you pay in US dollars. Also, some countries like Bolivia and Cambodia require that US citizens pay for their visa application fee in US cash.
Tip #5: Bring a high-end point-and-shoot instead of a DSLR
I know this will be controversial, but I really feel that a camera that fits in your pocket is a better option for many travel situations than a large DSLR or equivalent. Of course, if photography is your thing, then go with what works for you. But I have seen so many people carrying quite large camera bags, and I suspect that not all of them are photography enthusiasts.
I see at least two problems with big cameras: they are a magnet for thieves, and they are another bulky, expensive item to carry. And if you’re carrying multiple lenses, then you have to have an entire bag dedicated to the camera.
Obviously for people who are way into photography it’s worth it to carry a big camera. But the average traveler, a nice pocket-sized camera will probably be all you need.
FYI, almost all of the pictures taken for this blog were taken with a 2.5-year-old Canon PowerShot S95, with the exception of a few taken with the GoPro Hero 2 or with an iPad.
Tip #6: Try traveling without a guidebook
Before this trip, we, like most travelers, relied on guidebooks, particularly the Lonely Planet. The reason these guidebooks are ubiquitous is because they are extremely useful – they make trip planning so much easier, and almost all good guidebooks include sections on history and culture that are helpful to understand the people and country around you.
But there are downsides to everyone using guidebooks, both for you the traveler and for the people and places you visit. The chief downside for travelers is that many of us often end up eating at the same restaurants, seeing the same sights, staying at the same hotels, etc. And if a restaurant or hotel becomes popular due to being listed in a guidebook, sometimes there is a resultant drop off in quality of service or food or cleanliness – they don’t need to work for your dollar anymore. Meanwhile, the unlisted restaurant or hotel down the block that is doing great work misses out on so much potential business because people want to go where the Lonely Planet suggests.
Obviously, if you’re on a tight schedule, a guidebook is an indispensible tool. If you’ve only got a couple weeks for vacation, you want to make sure that you’re hitting the highlights and not wasting your time and money on mediocre restaurants and hotels.
But if you’ve got the time, or the patience, traveling without a guidebook can be a liberating experience. On our travels, we have used a Footprint e-book guide for Bolivia, a Lonely Planet print guide for Cambodia that we found, a Lonely Planet e-book for Laos (thanks Stef!), a Lonely Planet print guide for Nepal (thanks Dad!), and a very quirky 10-year-old guidebook for all of southeast Asia that is made up almost entirely of hand-drawn maps (thanks Yu!). That might seem like a lot, but we have literally gone months without using any guidebooks.
Honestly, the decision to go without guidebooks was made mostly out of necessity: we couldn’t afford to purchase or carry guidebooks to all 13 countries we are visiting this year. But I think it has been a benefit overall, especially since we have had the leisure of winging it most of the time. There are risks to striking out on your own, but there are rewards too. I’m sure we have missed out on some good sights, and the information on history and culture would have been very helpful in some places. But I think we have had some unique experiences that we wouldn’t have discovered if we were relying on a guidebook everywhere we went.
Two final thoughts on guidebooks:
1. Avoid e-book guidebooks at all costs. The ability to easily flip back and forth between the maps and the descriptions is completely lost, and searching and using the index can be frustrating and time-consuming. I love reading books on my tablet, but trying to use a travel guide on it is maddening.
2. Maybe it’s just me, but the Lonely Planet seems to have fallen off a bit in quality in the last few years. The few times we have had Lonely Planet guidebooks on this trip, we have found some of their recommendations to be disappointing or confusing. Obviously they set the standard for guidebooks and will always have a place, but I encourage you to consider other guidebook series.
Tip #7: In SE Asia during the rainy season, use a dry bag as your day bag
A dry bag is useful not only for kayaking and other watersports, but during the rainy season it can keep your camera, wallet, and other important things dry when the rain falls. Storms can hit really quickly during the wet season – you’re probably going to get soaked now and then. The heavier duty dry bags hold up better in torrential rain and can be bought cheaply in some markets here. We bought a 5-liter bag for less than $10 in Thailand and saw them for about $5 in Laos.
Tip #8: A smile will take you a mile.
Awkward, unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and/or downright shitty situations arise every few days when you’re traveling. While these situations can be very frustrating, being polite is almost always your best strategy for dealing with them, even when you don’t understand what’s going on. This is especially true in SE Asia, where politeness is valued and confrontation is very frowned upon.
We saw this in action in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when some other Western tourists got very loud and upset when they felt like they weren’t getting what had been agreed upon for a cooking class. These three women chose to handle the situation by making repeated loud demands, which greatly upset our cooking instructor. It took her an hour or so to recover from the confrontation and get into her rhythm. During our garden walk she asked Laina and I if people in our country were always fighting. Clearly she was rattled by the way the women responded to the situation.
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