Author: Sean Keener

Top 5 Travel Tips for New Travelers

Today on the 2015 Indie Travel Challenge we asked you:
Nov 6 - question
 
Here at BootsnAll, we’ve come up with our top 5 tips for new travelers that will help you feel more confident traveling.

1.  It’s not as scary as you think.

We are taught to think everywhere is dangerous and everyone is out to con us.  That is so far from the truth.  You still need to practice caution and common sense, but most of world is the same as back home, if not actually safer.

 

2.  If you aren’t sure if you’ll need it, you won’t.

Seriously, take half that shit out of your bag.  Unless you are going only to places way more expensive than your own country, you can buy everything you need abroad and usually cheaper.

  • You don’t need an ambulance sized first aid kit.
  • You don’t need 3 pairs of shoes.  
  • You don’t need enough survival rations for a zombie apocalypse.  
  • You don’t need insane survival skills either to travel the world, however a way to learn these would be at BUSHCRAFT & SURVIVAL Skills.

Seriously.  If you even remotely think “Will I need this?” or “What if it…”  it means you won’t need it, and it won’t ‘whatever’ enough times to warrant the extra weight.  And, the less you carry on your back, the happier you will be.  Trust me.
 

3.  Be Respectful.   Seriously.

Going into someone’s home (town, country), getting smashed, talking down about how people live, getting more smashed, puking and trashing a beautiful beach under the full moon, then hangover-hazily walking up a beautiful mountain while talking other traveler’s ears off about how drunk you got and how many people you you’ve banged while wasted – IS NOT TRAVELING. (Plus no one believes you actually banged that many people).  It’s called being a deuche and it’s obnoxious.  If you want to party and trash somewhere – stay home and do it.  

Traveling is about learning, understanding, and RESPECTING the people and places you go.

This is not what respectful indie travelers do. Photo by Joe Stump on Flicker - Aftermath of a Full Moon party in Thailand.
Trashed beach after a Full Moon party in Thailand.  This is how NOT to be a responsible indie traveler.
Photo by Joe Stump on Flicker

4.  Everyone does NOT speak English.

We (especially in the USA) are taught to believe that most people in the world can speak some English. That is so far from the truth.  There are over 7 billion people in the world, and only about 500million native English speakers.   There is also about 1.5 million English learners (people learning English as a second language), although this by no means they are fluent. But let’s pretend they are.  That’s only  2 billion people who speak English.

That still leaves 5 BILLION PEOPLE WHO SPEAK ZERO ENGLISH!

Basically what we’re saying is be polite and try to learn a few words in the native language – even if it’s only “please”, “thank you”, and “Do you speak English?”.  You can learn those phrases on the flight or bus ride to the next country.

 

5.  You will freak out and it’s ok.

You will freak out at least twice during your RTW trip.  

The first time will happen before you even leave on your big trip. One day you will freak out and stress about things like:

 ‘Am I ready?’
‘What if something happens?’
‘What if I forget something?’
‘What if I get lost?’
‘What if I get some crazy new bubonic ebola and turn into a rabid zombie and start attacking people then get chased by a band of natives who want to behead me because they’ve mistaken me illness for demons and I’ll have to hide in the woods and live with wolves?’

When this happens, stop packing, stop planning, get a nice big glass (bottle) of wine, and pop on a relaxing, mindless tv show, or read a calming book.  You’ll be fine in the morning. We promise.

The second time you’ll freak out is about a week or so into your trip.  

Even if everything is going great and you feel no culture shock, you will suddenly one day freak out.  It could be for an hour or a whole day but it will happen.  When it does you’ll feel lonely and alone, not want to do anything, you’ll get a headache from listening to a foreign (or not your native accent) language, and you may want to curl up in a ball and cry.

So do it.

Just go do it on the beach with a good book and maybe a drink, and wait this feeling out.

Remember this is totally normal.  You aren’t weird.  It’s not that you can’t hack long-term travel.  This is just the awe and adrenaline wearing off and you suddenly realizing you are on your own, and totally responsible for yourself (responsibility is stressful).  This ‘what-did-i-get-myself-into!?’ feeling goes away anywhere from an hour to a day.  Use this to have some ‘me’ time with a good book on a beautiful beach. When you feel better, brush off the sand and go explore.  Or, go buy a 4 scoop gelato for lunch.

Remember, with full responsibility comes full ability to eat ice cream for lunch without anyone judging you. 

This is a ‘No-Judgement’ zone

Those are our top 5 tips for future travelers.  They may not be as specific as “make copies of your passports,” but they are very important aspects of travel that are often overlooked in most ‘travel tips’ articles.  And also remember – You are now part of the BootsnAll travel community for RTW and long-term travelers.  If you ever need advice before, during, or after your trip, we are here for you.  Just write us on any of our social medias!