7 Packing tips that will make your travel easier

Very few people I know enjoy packing and none of those people have been on an extended holiday where you may be repacking your bags every few days- so here is a list of common packing tips and some that I’ve discovered for myself.

1. Don’t fold your clothes, roll them
I first tried this one a few years ago and was amazed at the results. By rolling your clothes in stead of folding them not only do you save room in your suitcase but it also decreased the chances of everything getting horribly creased and you ending up looking homeless on holiday, hallelujah!

2. Research
Its an annoying feeling when you walk out of the airport in a new country and the  weather is nothing chose to what you expected or packed for. This can end up with you having few options for outfits and no one wants that. What I always do is look up the weather a few days in advance of my holiday and even go to the point of planning my holiday outfits at home. This is also great in that you won’t have those useless, bulky items like coats taking up all the room in your bag!

3. Pack plastic bags
Generally on holiday you will be carrying around some dirty laundry with you. So for those days in between getting the laundry done I like to put the dirty clothes in plastic bags so they don’t stink up the rest of my stuff. Plastic bags are also a good idea for putting your shoes in- this keeps the dirty soles off your stuff.

4. Travel sized shampoo, conditioner etc.
This one may seem a bit obvious but its one of those things that needs to be remembered. If you’re going to be moving around a lot, repacking and carrying your bag yourself, you want it to be as light as possible. Before I travel I always make a trip to the supermarket for some travel essentials including shampoo, conditioner, body wash and anything else I may need that isn’t easily accessible on holiday.

5.Prepare for foreign power outlets
I know from experience how annoying it can be to arrive in a foreign country, get to your hotel and attempt to charge your flat phone only to find that the charger won’t connect to the power outlet. Simple solution to this, before you head off on holiday buy a traveler’s power adaptor for that country that will connect to your devices. Korjo have an amazing universal power adaptor that is worth its weight in gold!

6. Don’t pack expensive jewelry and valuables
All travelers must remember that anything they take overseas could end up staying there due to loss or theft. Therefore, if you are indecisive about bringing a fancy watch with you when you travel, best leave it at home where it is safe. Additionally, depending on where you are travelling to, you may not want to walk around wearing expensive items as you could attract pickpockets and scammers (and are less likely to get a deal when bargaining with the locals if you are wearing a Marc Jacobs watch).

7. Don’t overpack
Finished packing? Great, now take out half. All those things you don’t really need, that you were indecisive about packing in the first place but you packed because you might need it – leave it at home. You want to have some space left over in your suitcase for all the things you’re going to buy when on holiday, glorious souvenirs! Also, who wants to be encumbered with a heavy suitcase they need to lug around trains, staircases and streets – better to pack light and buy anything you desperately need whilst away.

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail!

How does travel inspire you?

I’m one of those people who is constantly planning their next holiday. I see photos of friends on holiday in amazing places and I think to myself “wow I want to go there” so I go look up flights to get there and read traveler’s reviews straight away. So I suppose I have a desire to see every place that I can which has inspired me. I’ve been lucky enough to have visited some beautiful destinations and i find myself quite regularly looking back over my photos from those holidays because I love reliving those experiences I’ve already had. You could say I get inspired by my own travels as much as anyone else’s. When I look back over photos it motivates me in life, to study and work more and put in extra effort so that sometime soon I’ll be in a position to travel again and experience more. Basically, travel inspires me to travel more. 

Jumping! Also, the Taj Mahal

 

My sister and I visited the Taj Mahal in February this year and as you can see we had a great time. It is a beautiful place as anyone who has be there will tell you. One awesome part of the Taj is the symmetry in all the buildings and walkways, if you have a slight case of OCD you will love the order and planning that so evidently went into building the Taj. Unluckily for us, the morning we were there it was quite overcast so we couldn’t get the best photos. It is still spectacular in gloomy weather I am happy to report.

Travelling through India is definitely a challenge, visiting the Taj Mahal is a great reward!

 

 

 

If anyone has been to or planning on going to the Taj Mahal please share your stories and thoughts 🙂

3 essentials for travelling in a third world country

Sometimes travelling isn’t as glamorous as its cracked up to be. Some county’s hygiene standards are way down on what tourists are used to at home. But this doesn’t have to be a problem as long as people are aware and prepared.

So here is my classy 3 item list of essentials to carry with you through third world countries-

1. Hand sanitiser. Carry this in your purse or backpack because you’ll need to use it often. Before and after eating, when you touch things in stores, use it as often as possible. It is a good idea to sanitise your hands after touching foreign money. From my experience in Asia, sometimes the money feels so dirty that you will want to clean your hands often. There are germs everywhere that tourists aren’t used to. It is best to be on the safe side and avoid getting sick and ruining your holiday. Also, some bathrooms won’t have running water meaning you can’t wash your hands. You’ll definitely be happy to have your hand sanitiser in a situation like that, I sure was.
2. Toilet paper. A lot of public toilets in not as well off countries don’t provide toilet paper so carry a small roll with you. Don’t worry about it seeming weird – all the tourists are doing the same thing!
3. Diarrhoea pills. Yes, do not forget your diarrhoea pills. Going to a third world country your chances of getting sick are high and you do not want to be caught off guard. Before going to India and Nepal I  went and visited a travel doctor (which is recommended) and he gave me all the necessary injections such as polio, typhoid and the necessary hepatitis to keep me safe overseas. Visiting a travel doctor was also very good because I was able to purchase a medicine kit with most things I could need overseas. For me this included those diarrhoea pills and other useful sickness tablets including some medicine to help dehydrate your body and altitude sickness tablets as I was going to high altitude levels in Nepal. Important to remember is to pack your medicine in the bag you will have on you at all time and not in your suitcase. You don’t want to have left your tablets in your suitcase, headed to the airport, checked your bags in and then begin to feel sick with no medication and facing a 7 hour flight home. That is not a fun situation.

Don’t delay, pack them today!

Before going overseas I would recommend having a read through your country’s travel advice for your holiday destination. For Australians that can be found via the following link –

http://smartraveller.gov.au/tips/health.html

You may not need these things when overseas but definitely better to be safe than sorry! I hope you’ve found this helpful and remember to be prepared!

Nepal, Himalayas and cheeky children

Trekking through the Himalayas has undoubtedly been a highlight of my life. The mountains and scenery are picturesque and the culture still relatively untouched by the western world. It is the type of holiday that afterwards when you come home, you have a sense of achievement for what you have accomplished. It isn’t just sightseeing and posing for photos; trekking is tough.

But one of my favourite parts of trekking through the Himalayas is that it allowed me to interact with the local Sherpa people and gave me an insight into their daily lives. The people are hospitable and when you pass them on the road they give you the common greeting “Namaste”. For me, the adorable Nepalese children were a highlight. The children seem to like trekkers a lot as most children my group saw waved and said hello as we passed through their villages.

Some Nepalese children approaching our group

One charming moment I experienced was on the second day of my trek when my group stopped for a break in a village. These two little kids from the village came running up to our group and started chatting away in Nepalese to us. We had no idea what they were saying so my group tried to say hello to the little kids in both Nepalese and English but we received no response or reaction  from that. I was sitting on a rock and the kids came up to me and started hitting my backpack softly with some leaves they were carrying. None of my group knew what the kids were up to, we all just thought the little kids were cute.  I should mention at this point that along the trek most trekkers buy chocolate bars as snacks to eat during the day. So anyway, One of the kids was looking at me, talking away and then in the middle of a sentence of Nepalese I hear the kid say ‘chocolate’. My whole group started laughing, the kids didn’t know how to say hello but chocolate they had down packed. I had one Twix bar left in my bag so I pulled that out and broke it in half for the two kids to share. Didn’t need to offer the chocolate to the kids, they snatched the chocolate out of my hand the second I had split it and ran back to their house yelling out something in Nepalese. So I found out that cheeky kids are everywhere, even in extremely remote areas such as the Himalayas!

We spent a while laughing about the kids cheekiness after they ran off, they must try to get chocolate off every tourist that comes through their town. I’m sure the kids are successful more times than not, I instantly caved to their cuteness!

Please post your own stories below, I would love to read them! Particularly the stories that made you smile.

The cheeky chocolate kids

Kuala Lumpur; the new weekend getaway?

Many Australian travelers never leave the airport when they visit Kuala Lumpur, for them it is just a stop on their way to another destination. But with low cost international Airlines now flying to Kuala Lumpur for cheap prices should we consider Kuala Lumpur for the next holiday destination? I’m from Adelaide and it’s common here for people to head over to Melbourne for a few days for a short trip. However, with the cheap airlines such as Air Asia X flying direct to KL you can get there for approximately $400 return. Accommodation is KL is also relatively cheap compared to Australian prices, I stayed at the Parkroyal for $130 for two nights and it was in a fantastic location, rated by Expedia as 4.5 stars. Once in KL, food, shopping and transport are all cheaper. What I’m saying is people should ditch the interstate trip and go to Malaysia instead. Prices work out  to be similar and if you go to Kuala Lumpur you get to visit a different country and experience a different culture, which to me is far more exciting.   Kuala Lumpur shopping

Impressive entrance to Pavilion Mall

For me one of the best parts of Kuala Lumpur is the shopping. There are numerous large malls which boast all the big brand stores and fashion labels us Aussies usually miss out on. All the malls have excellent air-conditioning which is a big bonus for people like me (I can’t handle the heat).  There were 3 major shopping malls within a 5 minute walk from my hotel, it was amazing. The bank account took a bit of a battering as I purchased a lot of clothes over there. Its a great feeling buying clothes overseas that aren’t sold in Australia then getting to wear them back home. Quite often I have friends compliment me on things I’ve bought overseas, when they ask where I got it I get to answer with the name of a country instead of a store, takes me back to my holiday and makes me feel special! One of the best shopping malls I went to was Pavilion. There is another large mall which is actually underneath the Petronas Towers called Suria KLCC. You can find out more at http://www.pavilion-kl.com/content/ http://www.suriaklcc.com.my/shopping/

one section of a shopping mall, as you can see they mean business

The Petronas TowersThe Petronas Towers are quite good looking from a distance as they dominate the skyline. At night when they are lit up the towers make quite a pretty site. Up close I found the Petronas Towers a bit underwhelming. On a previous holiday I had visited Dubai and seen the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building . Compared to that the Petronas Towers aren’t as good, however they are closer to home and therefore easier and cheaper to get to. The towers are worth seeing, I made a mistake when I went to KL, I didn’t book tickets ahead of time to go up into the towers. If you go to KL, definitely look into this.  Also, there is a fabulous shopping mall at the bottom of the towers as mentioned above.

The Petronas Towers by day

The Batu Caves I only ventured out of the city centre of Kuala Lumpur to see the Batu Caves. I didn’t have high hopes for this attraction as a lot of the trip advisor reviews were negative. Unfortunately I visited the caves on a hot and humid day which made it difficult to enjoy. There are 272 stairs to climb at the Batu caves which may not seem like a big deal but when it’s ridiculously humid it is a challenge and I reached the top out of breath.

Batu Caves are an impressive site from the entrance

For the caves them self – I could see why there were a few bad TripAdvisor reviews, the caves smell bad and aren’t very clean. Also, not so much “caves” as it is “cave”. There are monkeys at the caves and whilst the little ones are cute, I saw one try to take a bottle from another tourist which wasn’t too good. But, you can get some good photos at the caves and the giant gold statue is particularly impressive. If you decide to visit the Batu caves try to do it on a coolish day. As someone who has been to the caves I would recommend them to people visiting Kuala Lumpur. Getting a cab once you are at the caves can be difficult, I ended up taking an average quailty taxi with no air conditioning because I got sick of looking for a decent one. The drive from KL city centre to the Batu Caves is around 30 minutes in length.

The interior of the Batu Caves as seen from the top of the stair case

Looking up from inside one part of the Batu Caves

In summary, Kuala Lumpur has excellent shopping opportunities and offers tourists a different culture. For not a lot of money Australians can go to Kuala Lumpur and in my opinion have a great holiday. For people who want to go overseas but have a limited budget Malaysia is a great choice. Important to keep in mind is that it takes almost 7 hours to fly to Kuala Lumpur, so it would be best to make your stay a few days long to make the travel time worth it. I have only been to Kuala Lumpur and seen built up areas, there is still the rest of Malaysia to explore which I have heard is beautiful. Thanks for reading and if you go to Kuala Lumpur at some point in the future I hope you have a great time!

Nepal; A place like no other

Elephant bath in Chitwan National Park – a must do if you visit Nepal.

I had the good luck to make it to Chitwan National Park when visiting Nepal. This photo here is myself enjoying an elephant bath, something that I never anticipated to do in my life or even knew such an experience existed.

An amzing part of the elephant bath for me was that the day before was the first time I saw an elephant in real life. I was driving up to my hotel and they happened to have an elephant standing out the front. Just seeing the elephant by my hotel was awesome, I still can’t believe I went from one day having never seen an elphant, to seeing one and then the very next day having a bath with one, something very few people on this planet have had the chance to do.

This photo was taken back in February 2012 and is still the most extraordinary thing I’ve done in my life. Nepal is truly unique and a magical place to travel through.

My heart was made to travel

Anyone else feel this way about themself?

Bit of Easter / Game of Thrones humour