8 Tips before you travel

As I’m sitting here, having my chicken salad in my room, I’m thinking what am I going to write about for my first blog. While I was planning my travel plans for 2018 (and looking at my bbq chicken), I thought why not write about what I would usually do before I travel and share with everyone.

8 Tips before you travel:

1) Pick your destination

It’d be nice to get a globe, spin it and just point at one place. Of course few factors into consideration, such as how long can you get off work, how much is your budget, and what do you want to see and so on. I would start off by covering places I haven’t been, if I have enough to cover for my flights, accommodation, food, activities and some shopping – which is very important to me.

2) Plan your activities

It is important to research about the place/s that you are going to visit, and at the same time, plan for “what if” situation. Example, I’m going to Bali for a beach holiday to relax and to get a tan, I will read on when is the best time to visit and get an accommodation that is closest to the beach. My plan B would be if it rains for most of the days, I will sit in my room and cry all day and then drink latte while writing a blog about my terrible holiday.

3) Ask your friends

If you have friends who have visited the place that you’re going, then you can ask them to share their itineraries, ask for advice on do’s or don’ts, or check your social media to see if you have friends who are staying there so they can offer local recommendations on places to visit. Ultimately, you may ask the GGG – Great God Google.

4) Buy travel insurance

Just in case when an airline loses your luggage, misplaced your phone in a hotel, or accidently fell down while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, it’s always good to have an insurance. Although I know I’ll make sure nothing bad happens, but if it ever happens, at least I know I can get some form of compensation or get medical coverage abroad to ease my financial burden.

5) Prepare emergency contacts

It’s good to know the location of nearby public facilities from your place, your embassy’s contact number, and so on. With everything made available on the phone, it’s better to keep a book with essential travel information such as maps, emergency contact numbers, family numbers, and so on in case you lose your bag or phone.

6) Get necessary vaccinations and medications

I went to get a Hepatitis B shot today, thinking it might be useful when I travel. Then the doctor told me, there are other important vaccinations I may need to consider like typhoid, flu and hepatitis A shots prior to my travel to South Africa this year. I will also pack multi vitamins as prevention, and the famous “Panadol” or for everything else.

7) Learn the basic language

Unless you visit English-speaking countries, it will be useful to learn the basic language like “good morning”, “how are you” or “can I get some discounts”. There are also plenty of mobile apps that can help you with that as well. I’m still learning Mandarin and Spanish, it might be useful at some point.

8) Work hard

Yes, work hard, you must! At least your boss will allow you to take off days you deserve and you will also feel a sense of reward for all the tasks that you have completed. Also it is important to make sure that you plan your absence well with your colleagues so that you could delegate your tasks when you’re not around (and not replying emails when you’re climbing mount Kinabalu). There was a time when I had to answer calls from my client while I was on the second peak of Mount Rinjani – thanks to Telkomsel. Hope you find the information useful and enjoy planning your 2018 travels, good luck!