If you don’t have a backpacking checklist, you’re cuckoo!

by Gemma on October 4, 2011 in Travel with No comments

Ok, apologies for the title, I don’t really think you’re delirious, but is a backpacking checklist such a bad idea?

Every backpacker these days should consider having a checklist of essential items for their trip overseas. That way, just as you’re walking out the door, saying your final farewells, you have all the essentials you’ll need for your trip, however long it may be!

When I left the UK, my head was frazzled…..it was overwhelming saying goodbye to a wad of people! As a result, my last week in the UK was a frenzy! So you can imagine what a salvation it was for me having my trusty backpacking checklist to depend on.

In case you’re frazzled, lazy, or just want a few ideas, these are my top 10 items that are always on my backpacking checklist.

1. A passport with at least 12 months validity. Many countries require travellers to have at least six months validity on their passports after the point of intended stay. Don’t get caught out!!
2. Travel journal…even if it’s simply a little notepad. When you’re flying off on your new adventure you’ll be glad to have a journal with you to record those experiences!
3. Travel insurance. This is an essential item on any backpacking checklist, and I recommend you tick it off before you depart. Better that your insurance company receives a bill than The Bank of I. Make sure you print off the insurance so you have a hard copy with you, and usually the company gives you a little card that you can fit in your wallet with your details on. Get a good deal and compare different travel insurance companies with money supermarket.
4. A decent book….I was once on an airline (that will remain unnamed) without a book , movies or music – just me & a bottle of water! It seemed like I would never get off the plane, every minute felt like an eternity, so bring a decent book with you, so during your travels, you have something engrossing to turn to in those moments of boredom.
5. An international travel adapter. Better not to wait until your electrics have died….buy an adapter beforehand, you can get them cheap as chips on ebay or amazon.
6. Tissues…you never know when you might need them. Enough said.
7. Trunks or a bikini. This is a must! You may find yourself at many a beach/pool party (even if you can’t imagine it now!), so add that to your backpacking checklist and grab yourself some decent swimwear before jetting off.
8. Mosquito spray. Having some mozzie spray before you land means you’ll be able to spray your body before the buggers get a chance to bite you…otherwise it’s itchy ankles for a week…scratch scratch scratch.
9. Sunnies….a must! Protect your eyes from the rays and grab yourself a pair of sunnies.
10. Laundry powder….extremely practical and very handy for little bits & pieces you want clean pronto!

So there you have it, some short & sweet ideas for you to add to your backpacking checklist, you may have 100 essential items or maybe just as little as 3. If you feel yourself worrying about what items to take, remember Susan Heller’s piece of advice…

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money!

Taking the Siem Reap bus?

by Gemma on October 1, 2011 in Travel with No comments

If you are taking a bus from Siem Reap, read this article beforehand. All you have to do is pick your destination, find your budget, then choose your company….VOILA!!

Remember you have a few options when booking a bus from Siem Reap…you can book your seat through either a tour operator or your guesthouse, who will work on behalf of certain bus companies in Siem Reap, or you can book directly with the company, the choice is yours!

Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

General info on the journey

Busing from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh is currently a popular choice for backpackers. Why is it such a popular option? Firstly the price, with prices starting from just a few dollars; then you have the convenience, with buses frequently departing from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh; there is a fairly smooth road between the destinations (National Route #6); and the journey takes only 5 or 6 hours…no wonder so many backpackers take the Siem Reap bus! What’s the damage? Well prices do vary, depending on the level of service, from basic buses with no toilet and basic a/c to luxurious deluxe a/c buses with an on board toilet, entertainment and snacks. All prices increase during festivals and Khmer New Years. With all these companies listed below, pick-up from your guesthouse is included in the price, as long as it’s within 2-3 kilometres of Siem Reap.

On a tight budget!

Taking the Siem Reap bus on a tight budget? No problem!

Capitol Tours
Basic a/c bus with no toilet
Departure Schedule: 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:30, 9:00, 11:00, 12:30, 13:30, 14:30, 15:45 & 18:00.
Price: $4/16,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@capitoltourscambodia.com or call: + 855 63 964 970

Phnom Penh Sorya Transport
Basic a/c bus with no toilet
Departure schedule: 5:30, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:30, 9:00, 10:30, 12:30, 13:30 & 14:30
Price: $4.25/17,000 riel
Booking: You can book online and will receive an email confirming your reservation.

Wallet not so tight?

Want to take a Siem Reap bus with more class? Try Apsara or The Mekong Express!

Apsara Khmer Travel and Tours
A 12 seater a/c mini-bus
Departure Schedule: 07:00, 09:00, 13:30 & 15:30.
Price: $10/40,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@apsarakhmer.com or call: +855 23 216 123

Mekong Express
Deluxe a/c buses (includes audio visual, a light snack and water)
Departure Schedule: 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 & 12:30
Price: $11/44,000 riel
Booking: You can email: mekongexp@camintel.com or call: + 855 63 967 577 or visit their office: #14A, Sivatha Blvd, Siem Reap.

Siem Reap Bus to Battambang

General info on the journey

Bussing from Siem Reap to Battambang is a straightforward journey. The buses go along National Route #6 and then National Route #5 via Sisophon, which are both good roads….resulting in a bump-free journey! The distance between Siem Reap to Battambang is just 180km, so your bus should only take 2-3 hours – so you really have no excuse not to visit Cambodia’s second largest city!

On a tight budget!

Capitol Tours
Basic a/c bus with no toilet
Departure Schedule: 7:30, 9:30 & 13:30
Price: $5/20,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@capitoltourscambodia.com or call: + 855 63 964 970

Phnom Penh Sorya Transport
Basic a/c bus with no bathroom
Departure schedule: 7:30am
Price: $6/24,000 riel
Booking: You can email: 168@ppsoryatransport.com or call: + 855 92 181 800

Wallet not so tight?

Grab a shared taxi!! We have yet to find a deluxe bus/mini bus heading to Battambang…if one comes up we’ll let you know!


Siem Reap Bus to Sihanoukville

General info on the journey

There is no direct bus from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville, all buses go through Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city. Whatever company you choose, you will have to get off in Phnom Penh and change buses, this is unavoidable if using a bus company. All buses go from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, then from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. The bus journey takes approximately 5-6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, then 4-5 hours from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville. If you have the time, why not stop one night in Phnom Penh? You could carry out the second leg of your journey the next day feeling refreshed and ready to hit the beach!

On a tight budget!

Capitol Tours
Basic a/c bus with no bathroom
Departure Schedule: 6:30am
Price: $12/48,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@capitoltourscambodia.com or call: + 855 63 964 970

Wallet not so tight?

Mekong Express
Deluxe a/c buses (includes audio visual, a light snack and water)
Departure Schedule: 7:30am
Price: $18/72,000 riel
Booking: You can email: mekongexp@camintel.com or call: + 855 63 967 577 or visit their office: #14A, Sivatha Blvd, Siem Reap

Siem Reap Bus to Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

General info on the journey

There is no direct bus from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh, they all go through Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital city. The buses go from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, then from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh. The bus journey takes approximately 5-6 hours from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, then 6 hours from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh.


On a tight budget!

Capitol Tours
Basic a/c bus with no bathroom
Departure Schedule: 6:30am
Price: $15/60,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@capitoltourscambodia.com or call: + 855 63 964 970

Wallet not so tight?

Mekong Express
Deluxe a/c buses (includes audio visual, a light snack and water)
Departure Schedule: 7:30am
Price: $23/92,000 riel
Booking: You can email: mekongexp@camintel.com or call: + 855 63 967 577 or visit their office: #14A, Sivatha Blvd., Siem Reap

Siem Reap Bus to Bangkok (Thailand)

General info on the journey

The bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok involves two parts; firstly Bangkok to the Poipet border, then Poipet to Bangkok (usually stopping just off the Khao San Road). With most companies there can be a lot of waiting at the border for your connecting bus/mini-bus to Bangkok. Also, there can be a lot of luck involved…if you’re one of the first people to get through the border, you could end up on one of the first buses (usually mini buses) leaving Poipet to Bangkok. However, if you’re one of the last, you could be waiting a long time. Having done this journey many times, the earliest arrival into Bangkok has been 2.30pm, with the latest time being 7pm.

On a tight budget!

Capitol Tours
Basic a/c bus with no toilet
Departure Schedule: 8:00am
Price: $8/32,000 riel
Booking: You can email: info@capitoltourscambodia.com or call: + 855 63 964 970

Hang Tep Travel (no website provided)
Basic a/c bus with no toilet
These guys really have the monopoly of the Siem Reap bus to Bangkok.
Departure Schedule: 6:00, 8:00 & 11:30am
Price: $8-$10
Booking: You can call: +855 12 645 264

Wallet not so tight?

Grab a shared taxi!! We have yet to find a deluxe bus/mini bus heading to Bangkok…if one comes up we’ll let you know!

There you have it!

So there you have it, different companies and trips from Siem Reap to suit your budget! Enjoy your bus journey from Siem Reap! As the Khmers say, Samnang L’ore, meaning Good Luck!!

Where the hell is Siem Reap?

by Gemma on September 28, 2011 in Tips, Travel with No comments
Angkor Wat Siem Reap

Almost every backpacker entering Cambodia visits Siem Reap. Siem Reap is a mecca crawling with backpackers every single day of the year, even in the rainy season! So why exactly is Siem Reap so popular? Well Siem Reap province is home to one of the wonders of the world, Angkor Wat! Angkor Wat, 6km away from Siem Reap, has been described as one of the largest religious buildings in the world and is on par with sites such as the Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China..…no wonder backpackers flock to Siem Reap! So where exactly is Siem Reap you may ask? Well Siem Reap is located in the Northwestern part of Cambodia near the Tonle Sap lake, which runs all the way from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.

Where is the nearest border to Siem Reap?

You may be wondering how you can get to Siem Reap? Well the nearest border to Siem Reap is the infamous Poipet. Poipet is the gateway to Cambodia for many overland backpackers arriving from Thailand. Most backpackers entering Cambodia via Poipet, head straight to Siem Reap. Another option for backpackers, especially if flying from Kuala Lumpur, is flying….

Where is Siem Reap airport?

The airport is only 7km out of town so not far at all! Usually if you have a guest house booked, they will offer a free Tuk-tuk to pick you up at the airport, you just need to provide them with your flight arrival details.

Where is Siem Reap from its capital city?

Siem Reap is approximately a 6 hour bus journey from its capital city, Phnom Penh. Other options of transportation are taxi or flights. Air Asia offer particularly cheap flights from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, especially if booking in advance. A taxi will set you back around USD$50 – but if sharing between 4, it’s not a bad option…..

Where is Siem Reap in relation to Battambang?

Fancy a slow pace of life for a couple of day? Head to Cambodian’s second largest city, Battambang, which is more like a sleepy village. Battambang is approximately a 5 hour bus journey from Siem Reap. Your other option is to take the daily ferry, a picturesque 4-6 hour trip across Tonle Sap lake and up the Sangker river. The daily ferry departs Siem Reap for Battambang at 7:30am and costs USD $25 per person. It’s a picturesque 4 – 6 hour journey across the Tonle Sap and up the Sangker River (this often takes longer during the dry season). A taxi from Siem Reap to Battambang is between USD $10-$12 per person.

So now you know where Siem Reap is….

So now you know where the hell Siem Reap is, why don’t you come and visit? After all, now you really have no excuse!!

Don’t let stories of ladyboys scare you!

by Gemma on September 25, 2011 in Funny, Tips, Travel with No comments

Backpacking Asia can be extremely daunting for many backpackers…stories of ladyboys, being planted with drugs and spending life imprisonment in a rotting jail, being kidnapped for an organ in remote areas….wow, enough horror stories to put you off for a lifetime! However, backpacking Asia does not have to be daunting, and with a little bit of prep, reading, know-how and cautiousness, you can enjoy backpacking around Asia and make it one of the best experiences of your life. Here’s how….

Get off the beaten track! Yes Asia may be full of backpackers in certain areas, and increasingly we wonder how much is actually untouched, but you can make backpacking around Asia as original and unique as you want it to be. A way of getting off the beaten track is to go to the places you’ve never heard of, or to ask at your guesthouse…where do the locals go for their holiday or to relax?

Make a difference. When backpacking Asia, you really can make a difference! With tourism increasing at a rapid rate, it is fair to say that tourism can be both a threat and an opportunity to the communities we visit. To each place we visit we can enhance and positively impact the area, or take something away from it. This doesn’t mean you have to volunteer wherever you go, but you can make a difference to the community. A simple, easy way to make a difference is to eat at local places, stay at local guest houses (ran by locals) and consider homestays (staying with a local family and seeing how they live life). All of these things do make a difference!

When backpacking asia, reading about each country you visit either before or during your travels there, can really enhance your understanding of the culture and people. There are some excellent books out there about the history of each country, sometimes told through personal memoirs. For Cambodia, a book which offers a first person account of the Khmer Rouge is First They Killed My Father. Written by Loung Ung, a Cambodian author and survivor of the Pol Pot regime, it displays a personal account of her experiences during the Khmer Rouge years. Books such as this carry a lot of value in understanding the history, politics and culture of a country. Here are some more popular backpacker books to read in Asia, offering a variety of different genres and accounts.

Talk to locals. Often it is the tendency for backpackers to huddle together, but it is so much more rewarding to talk to locals and learn about them. Find out how they see the world and the problems and challenges they face. Learning about another culture is, after all, probably one of the reasons you left your home country and decided to backpack Asia.

Cycle!! A great way to backpack around some parts of Asia is to cycle. If you cycle you will see everything at your own pace, slowly, in a way that you can really absorb your surroundings!
If you want to keep away from the tourists traps, interact with the locals, make a difference and be green, cycling is one way to really make backpacking asia unique! You will also have more time to reflect on yourself and your journey. As Pico Iyer says in his article ‘Why We Travel’.

We travel initially, to loose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again – to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.

Get from Bangkok to Siem Reap in one piece!

by Gemma on September 23, 2011 in Border crossings, Travel with No comments
Bangkok to Siem Reap

The infamous route from Bangkok to Siem Reap is certainly a talked about subject among backpackers. The route can entail a recipe of bus scams, over-priced taxis and visas, and a whole range of crooks just waiting to squeeze that extra dollar out of you! However, it needn’t be a whirlwind of a journey and can be very straightforward with a little bit of research (reading this article will help!) and preparation! So here are some tips to help you get from Bangkok to Siem Reap without going grey!

Option 1: Fly to Siem Reap

Do you want to arrive in Siem Reap from Bangkok in style? Bangkok Airways could be the way to go! There are 5 flights leaving Bangkok to Siem Reap everyday, the earliest flight departs at 8am and the latest flight leaves at 6:45pm. Flights from Bangkok to Siem Reap take 1 hour and 10 minutes, which makes it a fraction of the time compared to trekking overland! However, with fares starting from 5,000 baht, this is only an option if price is not an issue.

If flying from Bangkok to Siem Reap is not within your budget, or you want the ‘adventure’ of crossing the Poipet border, read on for info on carrying out the trip overland.

Travel Overland to Siem Reap

On your Bangkok to Siem Reap trip, you will firstly travel from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet (which is right next to the border) and then on the Cambodian side you will travel from Poipet to Siem Reap.

Bangkok to Aranyaprathet

You may wish to hire a taxi from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet if you are travelling in a group or if price is not too much of a consideration. Your other two options are the train or bus.

Option 2: Train it from Bangkok’s Hualamphong Train Station.

There are two trains every day from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet (both are 3rd class only trains). 3rd class means no air conditioning (although with the windows open you’ll get a nice breeze coming through), the trains also have toilets and sinks, which will come as a relief to you! The morning train departs at 05:55, the afternoon train at 13:05. The trip takes around five hours and is extremely cheap, at just over 50 baht. In order to arrive in Siem Reap from Bangkok on the same day, you must take the morning train. If you take the afternoon train, you’ll have to stay overnight at either Aranyaprathet or Poipet. The train from Bangkok to Aranyaprahet is slow but offers beautiful views of the countryside and you have the opportunity to meet many locals. You’ll also have the opportunity to purchase local food offered by the numerous vendors that walk up and down the carriages..including fish, fresh sweetcorn, papaya salad and numerous other delicious dishes! So if you have the time, it’s worth embarking on! For more details head to Seat 61.

Option 3:Take the Local Bus to the border (Aranyaprathet)

Why not bus to Siem Reap from Bangkok? Buses to and from Aranyaprathet (Rongklua Market) use Bangkok’s Northern Bus Station (Mo Chit). Both first-class and second-class buses leave from the ground floor of the terminal and prices start from 160 baht. Buses leave every 30 minutes and the trip takes four to five and a half hours. Buses depart Bangkok to Aranyaprahet between 04:00 – 18:00.

At (the scetchy) Rongklua market

The tuk tuk will drop you off at the border where you need to go through both the Thai and Cambodian immigration and customs.

Passing the border in one piece!

The Poipet border crossing opens at 07:30 and closes at 20:00. Clearing Thai immigration is simple, make sure you have your thai departure card with you and filled in, otherwise you’ll be pointed to the side of the room, have to fill in a departure card and queue again (you would have been given a departure card on your arrival into Thailand). Most nationalities need a visa for Cambodia which you can get on arrival, for the price of US$20,and this lasts you a month!! Make sure you have enough US dollars, otherwise you’ll be paying a small fortune in baht with their awful exchange rates! Another option, for the extremely pre-planned is to get your visa before you arrive, which you can do online…it costs the same amount and saves you being a victim of one of the many visa scams.

Getting the hell out of Poipet

One of the best things about Poipet is seeing the back of it!! A taxi to Siem Reap shouldn’t cost more than US$30. Some guesthouses in Siem Reap offer a pick-up service from the Poipet border – check with your guesthouse to see if they can arrange this for you…make the journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap as smooth as possible!!

Poipet to Siem Reap

Luckily this road has greatly improved in recent years and its notoriously poor conditions are now a thing of the past! The road is now perfectly fine and a trip by shared taxi from the border to Siem Reap can take as little as an hour and a half. Once you have crossed the Poipet border, you will be taken by a free government bus to a bus station/taxi terminal where the buses are pretty much non-existent and the taxi prices are high and supposedly fixed…I recommend haggling as much as possible at the taxi terminal, and they will most likely bring the price down, but it might take ten minutes of them talking amongst themselves, as it means an ‘official’ looking the other way!

Watch for the scam buses

At Khao San Road, you’ll see minibuses offered from as little as 250 baht for the Bangkok to Siem Reap journey. These are scams which will entail your bus stopping an an unofficial visa office, and you’ll also be left waiting at the Siem Reap bus/taxi terminal where the bus to Siem Reap that you were promised never actually arrives!! In some cases, this border crossing has taken backpackers over 20 hours to carry out…we know you want an adventure from Bangkok to Siem Reap, but that just takes the pie! Enjoy your trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap!!

Must see Backpacking tips if you’re heading to Asia

by Gemma on September 22, 2011 in Tips, Travel with No comments
Must tips for backpackers

Here are a few backpacking tips that I recommend reading before you head to Asia!

Firstly, an important tip for all backpackers…..learn to say at least hello! Even just learning one basic word shows the locals in any country that you want to make an effort and communicate with them. It generally makes locals happy when backpackers make an effort and more often than not, you will see a big huge grin gleam back at you.

Let’s move onto the subject of money…always an important subject! Make sure you know the currency and are aware how much money you give someone and how much you’ll get back, this will save any arguments!

Whilst on the subject of money….carry small amounts of cash of you! My friend, who will remain anonymous, travelled to Chang Mai last year and withdrew 5,000 baht at the ATM, he didn’t return to his backpackers and leave money there, instead he kept his wad of cash out with him all night. Long story short, he got pick-pocketed as he stumbled home in the early hours and was pretty gutted….better to leave your cash in a safe or leave different amounts of money in different places! As my mum often tells me, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

At borders, an important tip to remember is know exactly how much a visa is and carry USD as they can be used throughout Asia, especially for your visa. This saves them charging you in another currency and you forking out a hell of a lot more. I’ve seen it happen at the Poipet border on numerous occasions and if you have the right currency, there is more chance of this corruption stopping! Also have passport photos with you before you go! You need them for visa applications and you have to pay more at the border when you don’t have them, they come in useful and I recommend them!

Let’s now look at some backpacking tips for transportation…I recommend checking out Airasia as they are fantastic for cheap flights, sometimes they can even be cheaper than travelling overland! So, before undertaking a 72 hour bus journey, go online and see if you can knock 70 hours off your trip!

When travelling by train within Thailand or to Thai borders, remember that the cheaper tickets often go very early and in fact sometimes need to be booked a few days prior to departing. So if you know you’re going to be spending 2 days in Bangkok before heading to Koh Phang Nan (for example), get the tickets right away, and that will save you having to purchase first class air conditioned tickets on the day! Check out Seat 61  for train times and booking information.

Being in Asia means you have to consider the blood-sucking fiends that are mosquitos! You should take anti-malaria tablets with you, but don’t buy all your tablets before you go! I know this sounds strange and possibly controversial, but the tablets are a hell of a lot cheaper in Asia, and to my knowledge and experience, just as good…I’ve been in Asia a year now and touch wood, those mozzies haven’t got the better of me yet!

Another important tip for backpackers it to check where you need malaria tablets. Me and my travel buudy Chloe spent our first few weeks in areas which frankly, did not need Malaria tablets (we spent a lot of time shopping in the big cities!). Taking anti-biotics long term, which malaria tablets are, is not great for your body, so check where they are necessary and where they aren’t. Click on www.traveldoctor.co.uk for some helpful information and backpacking tips.

Buy decent mosquito repellent, such as jungle fever, with repellent you get what you pay for and there is nothing worse than scratching your ankles all night long…arghhh!!

Another little backpacking tip is to haggle!! Haggle, haggle, haggle, even when you think the prices are fixed! Fair enough, if you go to a nice restaurant, or in a metred taxi, haggling is not your best bet. BUT, there are so many things you can haggle over!! When I arrived in Asia last year, I thought everything was cheap anyway, so felt abit of a tight ass asking for things even cheaper. However, if you want to travel for a long time and don’t want to constantly be over-charged, develop the art of haggling, it’s a lot of fun too!! You don’t have to do it aggressively! I often look off into the distance when given a price, as if in a state of serious comtemplation, that usually does the job!!

Finally, some good old fashioned common sense advice…make sure you keep hydrated! Back in the UK I often relied on cups of tea for hydration..I certainly didn’t feel like drinking tea in Bangkok, so you need to drink, drink, drink in Asia (I’m talking about water!)…this will stop headaches, light-headedness and is the way forward! Oh, and if you do drink plenty of water then I think you’re entitled to a bucket or two, not that I’m recommending that, of course!!

An Essential Backpacking List before heading to Asia!

by Gemma on September 21, 2011 in Tips, Travel with 1 Comment
backpackers-list-for-asia

I was absolutely elated when last year I purchased a one way ticket from Heaththrow to Bangkok. I skyped my travel buddy Chloe and she began filling me in on the infamous Khao San Road….cheap buckets of Samsong whisky would be guzzled, pad thais would be consumed and we were going to have a ball…what a trip it was going to be!! Various thoughts crossed my mind ‘hair straighteners or not?’, ’2 or 3 inch heels?’

Writing an essential backpacking list was not on my agenda, instead we both merely discussed the travel itinerary of our first night in Bangkok, i.e. what roads and bars Chloe would take me to! Unfortunately,  I didn’t ask myself ‘what do I really need before I head off on this adventure?!’ So in answer to this question, here is an essential backpacking list for you before you hit the road less travelled (or not, as the case may be!)!

Copies of all documentation! Make a copy of any ID you have, including your passport, National ID card, driver’s license etc, as well as a copy of your travel insurance, that way if you loose something, you have back-up. This is the most important thing to remember on this backpacking list.
This brings me nicely onto my 2nd point, make sure you have travel insurance! Travel insurance is a must and put time aside to do some serious web research. I unfortunately didn’t do this…and now have a policy where just looking at the excess makes me wince!

Compare Travel Insurance makes the task a lot easier. You are able to search across a broad range of features and the website does the task of finding a plan that suits you.

Get your jabs….go to visit your doctor at least a couple of months before you head off!! I turned up at my doctors a week before I left the UK, and she so furious that I swear I saw some foam on her lips! There are so many jabs to consider too…hepatitus, tetanus and the list goes on. I wouldn’t want any of you to get the scolding I had…keep on the right side of your doctor!! Also make sure they give you a booklet on all the vaccinations you have had up until now.

Bring a notepad to keep notes about the places you’ll visit! I now have a notepad with business cards, scrawls about my highs and lows (there’s not been much in between!), as well as contacts of interesting people I’ve met. It’s also something to show the Grandkids!! Ok, lets not think too far ahead!

Have more than one bank card! I currently have three bank cards with me (a mixture of credit and debit), and it’s a relief to know that if one went missing I wouldn’t be totally screwed! Also, never keep them all together on your travels either.If you do get into a bit of trouble and get your cards stolen, Western Union has destinations all over the world. You can easily get money sent to you wirelessly if there are no other options.

Make sure you bring a padlock! I recommend bringing at least two padlocks with you on your travels! Make sure they’re a good size and strong, because although there’s a lot of good will and kindness out there, you have to protect your belongings, just like anywhere in the world!

Get your phone unlocked…an unlocked mobile means that you can use any sim in your phone and it’ll work! In Thailand it’s as cheap as chips to call internationally with some  Thai networks, and this is also true of a lot of countries, so if you can, ger your phone unlocked before you head off!

Do some research before you go! As much as it’s exciting to just turn up at a place and have no idea where you’re going/staying or what you’re doing, research can pay off!! Even if it’s just writing the name of a good guest house in the area…it can save you a headache in the long run!!

A handy little resource that I simply must add to the backpacking list is Sky Scanner. This site does the hard graft of searching the cheapest airlines based on the destinations you enter. You can even search over an entire month and view the best places to fly depending on price. The site enables you to type in more than one destination into the “TO” field which means you can compare destinations, dates and prices – that means less clicking on the mouse, and more time and money to spend on your travels and your leaving party, of course!

So, finally on the backpacking list…have a goodbye party before you go, or a meal, or whatever you choose to do, but do say goodbye to all the people that are important to you, and let them know you’re prepared for your adventure and what an adventure it will be. If you didn’t write a backpacking list, print this off and pass it off as your own!