There are many reasons to travel, taking a gap year, just finishing university, spontaneous decisions or even retirement plans. No matter which reason you picked we all know traveling is not the easiest of projects to plan for. Especially if you are traveling far, across several countries or even continuants. Then we can see just how important planning actually is, which Sedunia in Malaysia helped me with. Believe me, I am talking from experience, having traveling across South East Asia and closer to home around Europe. So read on and lets take a look at the pointers you need to be checking before heading out and seeing what planet earth has to offer.
What should be known as the most crucial and important item when traveling is occasionally left at home altogether. I am of course talking about our passports, without this, you are not going anywhere fast. Make sure its in date too; I have cut it close traveling with a passport only valid for another 6months which means some countries frown upon. Additionally to this, if you are traveling across countries the appropriate visa’s needed to be filled in. Now being English I have the advantage of traveling within Europe without the need for visa’s and it’s a real luxury but when traveling within certain countries in SEA, I found myself having to fill in forms and was occasionally unprepared. You have been warned!
Medical vaccines are of course important particularly if traveling within under developed countries, malaria tablets are also occasionally advised. I ended up having an appointment with my doctor who gave me the necessary jabs there and then, easy enough to sort out and ensures you are not going to get any nasty stuff while away. Which leads on to my next point, if traveling to a warm country use sun cream! I made the classic error of not bothering my first day in SEA, I then looked like a lobster for the following 2 weeks. Needless to say I then started using a lot of sun cream and not being directly in the sun at peak times.
‘Internet or no internet?’
My final recommendation is whether you decide to take a laptop or not. With sites like Facebook so popular now we all want to share what is happening in our lives. In my case, I ended up taking a blackberry tablet, which was small in size and good enough for taking around with me. I would never for instance take my Macbook pro because of the danger of theft, especially in rural areas. The tablet was not so expensive which meant if something had have happened, I would not be totally devastated. It also provided me with having everything I needed to connect to people back home, uploading pictures, Skyping and emails etc. I know many would say taking a laptop is unnecessary now but for most in the current day and age it is becoming a necessity.
I hope my experiences will help some of you overcome the problems you face when preparing to travel. Some of you might feel scared or nervous about the adventure you face, its normal and I promise you seeing the world is the most amazing adventure of all.
Bio: My names Chris and I love traveling! Growing up in the UK and now living in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia I love to spend my weekends going away and exploring the fantastic world we live in and helping people see similar sights just like me! During the week you can find me at my office job carrying out consultancy.Â
