Planning a journey: on the road

• In far-away countries there is often a very different strain of bacterium than your body is used to and the cleanliness varies. Your doctor or pharmacist can recommend you a lactic bacteria product that can help your stomach to become adjusted to new conditions is less time.
  
• Take care of your liquid balance and drink lots of bottled water. We always order water with every meal, even if we are also having beer or wine.
  
• Look for clean-looking and popular places to eat in. If the locals favour a restaurant it is almost always a sign of good and reasonable priced food. The food sold from street stalls is often delicious and rock-bottom cheap but you risk throwing away valuable time abroad with stomach disease (or worse).On the menus of the more stylish restaurants even backpackers can usually find something suitable and affordable, mostly local dishes – always a delicious choice.
  
• Carry a small first aid kit with you at all times. Put in it at least diarrhoea medicine and pain killers, disinfectant and self-adhesive bandages. All bites by "something bigger than a mosquito" should be taken care of by a doctor. Rabies is a real danger in many countries!
  
• You must have toilet paper of some kind with you at all times, e.g. a packet of paper hankies. You are going to need it at least once every day.
  
• On day tours bring along a cap, sunglasses and sunscreen, as the sun may be very intense, even if it is raining in the morning. If you get cold easily, bring a long-sleeved shirt to wear in air-conditioned restaurants, department stores and taxis. Also if you travel by train take warm clothes like a warm scarf, long trousers and socks along. Air-conditioned coaches can be meat-locker cold.                                        
  
• Keep your money separate from your credit cards. The small change you need for the day you can slip into your pocket. Use the hotel safe if one is available. Never carry your whole fortune with you!
  
• If you get ill, try to get into an international hospital ask for the address of an English-speaking doctor. At the front desk of expensive hotels you can get advice, even if you are not their guest.
  
• “Hide” copies of your air tickets and  a copy of your passport in your luggage. Scan your important documents and send to your own web mail. Your passport, travel insurance card etc are safe from humidity in a plastic bag
• Save the stubs of your air tickets and the receipts regarding your trip until you get back home. The receipts are often a condition to get the compensation from your travel insurance. Do not throw away any receipts unless you are quite sure you won’t need them.
• If something valuable is stolen, report it to the police. Without the document they give your insurance company probably won’t pay you a single penny!  
• Choose your hotel within the central area. Small family-run hotels are pleasant and the staff helpful and nice. Living in them gives you a feeling of being a traveller rather than a “tourist”. It also benefits the local economy much more than staying in multi-national hotels.
• At local travel agencies you should ask for suggestions for day trips. Often what they have on offer is quite affordable and very interesting. We often prefer to travel from one place to another in a taxi with and English-speaking guide. This way we can visit all the interesting places enroute and it often costs less than flying.
  
• Do not make your time-table too tight. Timetables for public transportation should be taken with a large pinch of salt. The traffic in big cities is often very congested and even a short trip may take a couple of hours.
• Arrive at the airport in good time whether you have an international
  or a domestic flight. Read and understand local instructions and orders before going to the airport. On local flights you are sometimes allowed only 10 kg of luggage.
• Respect local customs and you will also be treated with respect and not considered just an other thick wallet.
  
• Be prepared for all kinds of confusion, things can and will go wrong.
  At the end of the day things will most likely be OK but you have to make an  effort to take care of things yourself to make sure things go as planned. E.g. always make sure that the taxi driver, guide or what have you REALLY understands what you want. A map, pencil, paper and lots of patience are very useful for this.