Travelling is something I think everyone should do where they are able, in whatever form that is. Whether its 3 years getting lost in the rainforest, 2 weeks living it up in Bali or a 5day adventure in Rome, travel really can broaden your horizons and change your outlook on life.
Everyone who goes travelling will have different reasons, whether its a small case of running away, having some time to go or fulfilling a life long goal, and because of this, everyone will have different tips for travelling too.
My tips stem from 4 months of trotting around SEA and Australia on my own, and these are the tips I would give my siblings, my friends, my school kids, anyone! So lets get into it:
1) When you arrive at a destination after a loooong flight, try to stay in a private room or with family. The reason why? Jetlag is a bitch. There is no escaping it. It sucks balls and will leave you wiped for the first week of your trip. When I flew to Australia, I purposely flew to Perth first so I could bunker down with family friends, have a safe and secure start and get over my jetlag in familiarish surroundings. When my friend came over to Thailand, we stayed in a private room so she could get over the jetlag and feel better about the culture shock (and the shock of hostels!). I would highly recommend stretching your budget if you can to cover a couple of days in a private room after a 17 hour flight, for peace of mind and not having people constantly walking in and out and disturbing your precious sleep like can happen in hostels.
2) Trust hostel reviews. If its below an 8*, don't stay there unless you have to. This is from experience of walking into a Brisbane hostel, not being booked into the room I requested, no aircon and walking into find someone wanking in the bed underneath mine (and no, he didn't stop). I felt so uncomfortable that I rang my mom crying at 4.30am UK time and booked myself into a very expensive hotel for the night. I had the backup budget to allow this and also it was possibly the best thing I could have done for my mental health at the time. I could shower with music on, watch tv in bed and order room service! Hostelworld is where I booked all of my hostels and would highly recommend booking through them, just set the filter to 8* or above, look for places with aircon and you won't go wrong.
3) Pack light, trust me, you won't need a bigger rucksack than 40L. I am a notorious over packer, having just packed for a family holiday to Crete for a week the same amount of gear for 4 months of travel. I find it hard to let go. Packing light will improve the quality of your trip ten fold. Why? it will be far less heavy. My Osprey Farpoint 40 (the link is to the cheapest place I found the bag) can be taken in hand luggage (which makes things far cheaper on flight baggage). You'll only buy shit that you actually like and care about. You can send things home, I sent home lots of gifts just before leaving Australia, it was expensive but worth it. Yes it's not quite so much fun when you discover Cotton On and how good Malaysian H&M is but trust me, your budget and back will thank you later.
4) If you have periods, stock up tonnes of tampons before entering Asia. It is apparently nigh on impossible to get tampons in Asia, believe me, I tried. Wherever you're flying from to get to Asia, if they sell tampons, buy them. I was lucky that I had three people coming to visit me in Asia who could supply the goods, but if your fully riding solo, a big stash of tampons or one of those moon cup things will be a godsend, truuuust me.
5) Get your phone unlocked before you leave. This was the best thing I did before going, taking an unlocked phone meant I could buy dirt cheap simcards everywhere and not be worried about being unconnected. Yes it might be fun being 'off the grid' to some but I go slightly crazy without Whatsapp, Google Maps and the ability to know where the fuck I'm going. If you're in the UK, all phones at Carphone Warehouse are sold unlocked, and 4g EE Max Plans let you use your data normally in Australia too, which was amazing as wifi in Aus becomes useless after Brisbane (who knew?).
6) Don't be afraid to spend a bit more for more time, comfort and safety. The thing that I was most scared of throughout my entire trip was the prospect of travelling to the Gili Islands. I freaked out alooooot about the boat over as I had visions of torrential rain and capsizing and pirates kidnapping me, how dramatic. I ended up using Gili Getaway who were great. Super clean and safe looking boats, friendly staff, not the cheapest but they came and picked me up and dropped me off for a small fee in Bali which made me feel so much safer. Also if there is ever the choice of a 1 hour flight or an 18 hour train, just take the bloody flight and save yourself some time and patience...
7) Don't book a 3 day boat trip if you know you get sea sick. This you would think would be self explanatory but I clearly didn't listen to myself and paid £450 to sit on a boat in the Whitsundays for 3 days trying not to vomit. It clearly wasn't one of my best decisions and I would only recommend a day trip to the Whitsundays, you cover everything in a day, and save your tummy alot of shit. Oh and if your trip is booked for a week after a cyclone, cancel it and wait for better weather, believe me you'll thank yourself (something I wish I had done!).
8) Tigerbalm is the best thing you can buy in 7-11. Yes the toasties in 7-11 are mega and are worth shitting yourself for (hello dairy intolerance) but nothing beats tigerbalm. Tigerbalm calms those mossie bites down pretty instantly and is great for if you manage to slide down a rock and tear your ligaments, massaged in to help with the swelling. I brought a full tub home with me because it is just the bees knees.
9) Local food is the shit and you should just eat that. Pho is like crack to me, Khao Soi in Chiang Mai will change how you see noodles, Eat your way around George Town and get all the currys down you! AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT DRINK ANY DRINK WITH ICE IN DOWN KHAO SAN ROAD. Don't repeat the same mistakes of me and my friend, you'll massively regret it when you're in a taxi to Bangkok airport and throw up outside the terminal. Stay classy.
10) My final tip. Do not waste your time eating KFC in Australia, it is shit. What is that shit they put on their chips there? Gross. Where you want to be eating KFC is in Malaysia. The chips are ridiculously good and the meal is stupidly cheap too.
My best tip though is make the most of it,enjoy yourself and don't do anything you're not comfortable with. You'll have the best time, meet some cracking people, develop your wordliness and confidence and come back a better version of you, hopefully with a tan.
Lots more photos are on my insta! @livingheather
