If you want to make your dream to travel beautiful destinations a reality, this ultimate guide to vacations and long term travel is for you. It will provide you a whole new way to travel. Before you step out in the real world of traveling, you must be aware of few essential tips before planning your trip. I am going to share those tips in the form of the ultimate travel guide for your easy reference. A traveler must update with these tips to have a good traveling experience. Ignorance of the same can turn your trip into unsatisfactory and money-wasting one.
No doubt that you already know the difference in vacation and long term trips. Shorter trips are vacations. Long term travel includes a planned trip to several destinations. There is no such standard definition for long term travel but this is going to be your ultimate travel guide. It is for people who love traveling, like to get all information and guidance at one place.
You can plan for a short vacation or long term travel. This ultimate travel guide will guide you in both scenarios.
Sometimes it may not possible to be certain with the kind of trip you want to plan. It depends on your on-the-road experience. In my experience, short term and long term travel, both have their own advantages. In the beginning, you may face several travel mistakes. But, with this ultimate travel guide to travelers, you can decrease the changes to have bad experience.
Traveling is a never-ending process of continuous learning. Travel with our tips in the back of your mind for good traveling experiences.
Everything you need to do before leaving for your destination
1. Put your finances in order
When we plan a trip, the first thing we worry about is our travel budget. There is no formula to check the exact cost of a planned or unplanned trip. We recommend you to create a pre-travel budget and a travel budget. Travelling can be expensive. With the right budgeting technique, we can save some money for our next travel. It is always a wise step to set-up the auto-payment method for the period of your journey. It will save you from paying late payment charges. I am sure that nobody loves paying late payment charges.
When you plan a trip, call your bank to let them know about your travel plans. Credit cardholders must inform their companies about the expected transactions and journey. Credit cardholders can have extra benefits while traveling. Do a review of loyalty programs on your credit cards. Cards offer cashback and loyalty reward points on travel tickets and hotel bookings. One must never miss these benefits available on their credit card.
2. Debts and on-going subscription
I am not your financial adviser. But as a traveler, it is well advised to pay off your debts before you travel. It gives you a huge relief while spending throughout the trip. Did you pay attention to your monthly subscriptions? In today’s world, it is a norm to put few essential services on a monthly subscription. Services like milk deliveries, gym membership, and newspapers. Consider putting on hold your monthly subscriptions for some time.
3. Take care of transportation needs
It can be a disappointing situation, you find your car not working when you return home. It is better to take your car to a mechanic and get a proper car service. After this, park and cover it in a proper manner. Do enquire about the availability of transportation required in your journey. Book your air ticket, cabs on time. It also helps you with savings. Fare of air ticket tends to increase with closing departure time. Last-minute booking can be expensive and risky.
4. Care that your house needs
Travelling or going on vacation is not like grabbing your travel bag, putting the lock and off to your destination. It’s easy to forget about a few tasks which are compulsory to perform. Don’t forget to clean your house before you go on vacation. Take out the trash, especially from your kitchen. Doing so gives you a clean and tidy space to rest on your return. Lock your house properly. If you have rented any flat, consider informing the tenant. It is also considered safe to inform your friends and relatives about your travel.
5. Care that your health requires
Travel and health are two sides of one coin. Experts say that travel is good for health. On the other side of the coin, to keep traveling one must stay healthy. Ignorance towards preparation required by the body can put us at risk while traveling. While planning a trip, put your health at the top in your checklist. Are you planning to travel soon or in the nearby future?
Everything that is required in your trip preparation
Trip preparation depends on your destination and the duration of the trip. Travel related Health risk also depends on your destination, itinerary, duration of the journey and your medical history. Like we stated above, travel improves health and you need to healthy to travel. We are sharing simple day-to-day preparation which will be helpful in the preparation of your trip.
6. Attention your health requires
When it may not be always possible to do exercise in our day to day life. Our body requires little care to prepare itself to fit for a trip. In routine life, we are always occupied in work and office. When we get time, we pack our bags and set off on vacation or a trip. Have you ever realized when we return from the trip, why we feel tired? At our workplace, our travel tiredness can be easily noticed by our colleagues. Why our body gets tired of when we return from the trip?
We plan a vacation to enjoy, relax and feel energized but we feel just opposite. To feel this way, your body also requires some groundwork. With a little effort, you can get more out of your planned trip.
Also read – Exercises to prepare for long term travel
7. Your perfect itinerary
Don’t be one of those travelers who underestimate the importance of preparing an itinerary for their traveling requirements. If you are in a long term traveling mood, bring all your traveling details at one place. It will be helpful in not missing traveling dates or any events. Check the validity of your travel documents. Make photocopies of documents you have decided to carry and leave a copy with your friend and a copy at home. It is also advised to store your documents in a digital locker. Update your phonebook with emergency phone numbers. Talk to your cellular service provider. Make sure you have a roaming facility is available on your number.
If you are traveling abroad, do your research on how to stay connected. Sometime in the journey, we feel bored because we miss updating the playlist on our Walkman. Music is entertainment which is above all other forms of entertainment during traveling. Update your playlist. Charge your Walkman and electronic gadgets from your camera extra batteries to your phone. You will be happy that you will not be restlessly searching for a charging point at the airport.
Pack your bag with clothes wisely chosen. Save your back from carrying overweight. It will help you in moving from one place to another without any physical tiredness. Now breathe, your bag is ready for the trip.
8. 5 minutes can save you from a lot of problems during traveling
Like most of our advice, this tip comes from one of our mistakes. When traveling by train from Delhi to Jammu, we board the same train we planned to travel on the wrong date. Everyone knows the last few hours on the day of traveling are very hectic. It’s easy to feel overwhelming that we have mark completed all our tasks in the travel checklist. To save you from stress which can be faced during travel, we ask your five minutes.
Dedicate these five minutes to rechecking and confirming your travel tickets, timings, and availability of cabs, count the number of luggage you are carrying and lock at the door while leaving. Performing a five minutes task may seem like a small step but it can save you from mental stress and financial losses in many ways.
9. Traveling with family: Comfort at Home – Awareness at hotel
We love our family. We plan vacations for them. Going on vacation or plan a trip with the family can be an overwhelming plan. A piece of professional travel advice does not work with kids. They have their unexpected demands. A trip with family means keeping everyone entertained during the trip. The idea of traveling with children seems like a nightmare. We make a lot of excuses to avoid or postpone traveling with kids. But when you know how to manage your kids during travel, you feel confident enough to plan a family trip.
Our tips are to ensure the safety and happiness of your family during the entire journey.
Pick your destination based on thoroughly research and travel budget.
Prefer booking your hotels and tickets in advance.
Travel with flexibility – When you are traveling with parents or kids, maintain flexibility in schedules. Try traveling late in the morning.
Provide proper rest to your body before next adventure. Assure every family gets proper rest during long day travel.
Research before you Travel – knowledge of the do and don’ts of the place adds up in traveling more freely.
Pack the essentials first – Prioritize your travel bag pack on essentials based packing. Such as medicines, toys of your kids, game, music player, etc.
Avoid the risk of cash transaction – Use your credit or debit card when possible. Most shops accept digital payment. We tend to be more focused on family moments. Here, we cannot compromise with family. We are on a trip with family and it deserves your time and attention. In this case, use your card for travel transactions and avoid the risk of cash transactions.
Place contact details and valid ID card in the pocket of each family member. Be it your child or your old parents, place contact details in their pocket. It will save you in mishappening during a trip.
Travel during pregnancy needs special attention
Out of travel anxiety, we Google a lot whether is it safe to travel during pregnancy or not. We have not forgotten the pregnant woman in your family. Being pregnant doesn’t mean you have to be stuck indoor. In a healthy pregnancy, it’s usually safe to travel. It is our suggestion to take advice from your health care provider about planning your trip. Prevention is always a better choice.
Prefer quality of food over taste. Always look for trusted restaurants or food junctions during travel. You never know, your family members may have sensitivity towards certain kind of food.
I hope this article works for you according to your needs. As you will travel, you will find out that the world is much beautiful place. I have made a lot of mistakes over the past few years of traveling. When I look back, the experiences of travel provides me with a lot of happiness.
Travel for fun – Travel to explore – Travel for the family – Travel secured with our ultimate guide.
