10 Travel Tips from my recent trip : What worked and what was a major pain in the butt.

Some stuff that may be of relevance.

  1. Make sure that you have a PIN for your credit card. I was a “Signature guy” and that was a major problem in Europe. Several places just had no idea how to process signature only and I had to go and get cash which was very inconvenient.
  2. Keep your cash in your savings account. I usually keep my cash in my cheque account but in some countries the default is savings and you have no option to choose cheque.
  3. Travel hand lugagge only. Enabled me to move quickly and easily. I avoided long check-in queues several times (even when I wasn’t supposed to get that advantage) and I was able to move through custome very rapidly. I would have missed a connecting flight in KL if I had checked luggage. Not to mention the very real chance of luggage going astray (which would have been a real risk given the way that I travelled). See my earlier post Never check a bag again.
  4. Consider other forms of travel than air. I like rail – for the ultimate online guide to rail visit The man in seat 61.
  5. Consider London to Amsterdam on the Dutch Flyer “Night Boat” the train/ferry/train from London to Amsterdam. Brand new ferry, great fun and very well priced.
  6. Consider Lonely Planet Encounter Guide Books. Pocket sized for one city at a time. Found them to be excellent. USD $11.99 or GBP 6.99. Includes a fold out map.
  7. Look for free wi-fi in your hotel. Most had it.
  8. In Bangkok don’t bother with fast train to/from the airport. The local train is 20% of the price, ony takes about 10 minutes longer and takes you straight to Phaya Thai Station where you can link with the sky train.
  9. Take a second phone and get a local pre-paid SIM card for local calls. This can be linked with Skype to give you international linkage. Watch usage and internet browsing e.g. Google Maps on your Australian phone.
  10. Consider “Premium” or ‘Business Class” on a low cost airline. I flew Business Class on Berlin to Bangkok with AirBerlin for about $1,000 which was pretty good value.
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