As travel is one of our favorite things, and these tips still serve us well, today I am reposting our Travel Guide. Enjoy!
For the born traveller, travelling is a besetting vice. Like other vices, it is imperious, demanding its victim’s time, money, energy and the sacrifice of comfort.
—Aldous Huxley
For those of us who love to travel, Huxley’s words seem both dramatic, and somewhat true. Leaving one’s home to explore the world, can take our time, money, energy, and even, our comfort. But, if you’ve been bitten by the wanderlust bug, like we have—for the most part, you’re ok with it. Good, even. Because what little we’ve seen of our big world, has left us wanting more.
Only, Huxley does point out one problem: we don’t always have the resources or time to travel the way we’d like to. If you’ve ever caught yourself dreaming about winning the lottery and taking at least a year to travel the world, you know what I am talking about. The good news though, is that we live in a time where, with a little creativity and technology, we can make at least some of our dream trips happen—within budget.
Over the years, Tony and I have had the opportunity to travel to India, Italy, Ireland, England, Chile, China, and some cool places in the States. Some of these trips were with our jobs, others were mission trips with church, and our most recent trips have been together for vacation. Through all of these experiences, we’ve picked up a few important tips to travel well on our adventures. Ones that have saved time, money, energy, and haven’t sacrificed as much comfort as Huxley would think.
As it is June, and many of us will be going on vacation soon, today I thought it would be fun to share some of Our Favorite Tips for Travel. If your dream vacation involves traveling to new places and seeing all you can, this post is especially for you:
Pack light.
When possible, pack light. Choose a few clothing items that can form multiple outfits, wash and dry quickly, and don’t take up too much space. Also, pack a small travel container with laundry detergent so in a pinch, you can wash something in the sink. This will make going through security, and switching from planes to trains to cars that much more smooth. And, it will leave some room for a great souvenir or two.
Pack a re-usable water bottle.
This tip is good almost wherever you travel. Not only are you saving the planet by going green, you’re also saving money. Filling up your bottle after you get through security at the airport, will save you at least $3 (which I’d much rather spend on a latte). And will ensure you stay hydrated throughout your trip. Check out these collapsable bottles that Tony and I use for easy packing.
Find a home away from home.
Though at first, the idea of staying in someone else’s apartment or home, seemed strange to me, we’ve fallen in love with AirBnB.* In so many of the cities we’ve wanted to visit—both here and abroad—we’ve found more affordable places to stay through AirBnB than hotels. AND, many times our accommodations were better than the hotel closest to our budget. Not only that, but often, there has been a kitchen and a washer and dryer, which means we can make our own food and wash our clothes. Saving us money, and suitcase space.
Eat out one meal a day (when possible).
Eating out all of our meals on vacation, puts a dent in our wallet and adds to our waistline. Not only that, but we’ve found we eat more at a restaurant than we normally would, and often end up feeling bloated and sickly after eating out for a few days. So, when possible we make our own breakfasts and lunches, and then go out for a nice dinner. Renting out a place with a kitchen helps with this; we’re still able to make good, simple meals that we enjoy without spending or eating too much. Then, we splurge on dinner.
Find your best mode of transportation.
When we’ve gone to Ireland, we’ve found the best transportation for us is renting a car (don’t be scared of driving on the other side of the road. It’s fun!). Yet when we went to Italy, we found we needed a car for Tuscany, but could take Italy’s train system between the major cities. In Venice and Florence, we walked. In Rome, we walked and took the subway. Research the places you want to go, and find out what transportation options are available. Then, based on what you want to see and do, pick the best one for you.
What are you’re favorite travel tips?
And if you could go anywhere this summer on vacation, where would it be?
*This is not a sponsored advertisement for AirBnB. We’ve simply had really good experiences with it.
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