When traveling alone, you gotta watch out for number one. That’s you. Here’s some commonsense things I recommend:
- Carry lots of small change in local currency. If you’re starting your trip from the U.S., you could withdraw dollars in cash from your bank to exchange along the way, or use credit cards and debit cards that don’t have foreign-exchange transaction fees. Either way, once you have the local currency, try to keep smaller bills around for street food, souvenirs, taxis, etc.
- Don’t let anyone see your cash. Try to reduce the number of times that you take out your whole wallet when paying for things. I stuffed a few small bills somewhere I could easily reach and hid the rest.
- Don’t rely on ATM machines, especially in remote areas. They can be scammy. Or they just don’t work at all. I saw lots of people on Gili Air futilely trying to withdraw cash from a few broken ATM machines.
- If I had to use them, I only used ATM machines at major banks and airports.
- Carry a universal travel adapter that can plug into all outlets.
- Carry a portable battery charger. It will save you when your phone dies. Because it will.
- Carry small locks to tie up zippers on your backpack, camera bag and suitcase so they’re really hard to open if someone tries to tamper with them.
- Stay connected. I used one roaming SIM card for most countries and then another for all of Europe. You could also switch out SIM cards each time at the airport, or use a mobile Wi-Fi device.
- Drink bottled water. I didn’t get sick once on my five months of travel, and I attribute that to the fact that I drank clean water (and got all my vaccines and shots updated).
- Stay hydrated. I got dehydrated easily from walking everywhere and sweating in hot and humid countries.
- Take all the doctor-recommended shots and vaccines if you’re going to mosquito-infested areas. All the heps, yellow fever, tetanus booster, malaria pills.
- Make sure a few people (family, friends) know all your flights, numbers to reach you at and contact information for all your accommodations, in case of emergency.
- Buy travel insurance. It will help you if something happens, because sometimes it does. I got reimbursed for an emergency extraction because a tooth suddenly got infected.
- Wear comfortable sneakers and hiking-type sandals that are really sturdy. Wear shoes that you can run in.
- Keep an eye and/or a hand on your stuff at all times. Don’t let random men come up offering to take your stuff to your room or to the boat or wherever. Unless you’re okay with them harassing you for tips.
- Ignore people yelling “taxi, taxi” at you. Just go straight to an Uber, to the official taxi line, or if you want to be 100% safe, the driver you’ve pre-arranged with the hotel. Ask the driver if he knows your full name; that’s how you know if he’s for real. If you must use a taxi, ask the official taxi stand for the standard rate. You could also find online the names of reputable taxi companies and use rome2rio.com to estimate roughly how much it’ll cost to get to your destination.
