backpacking – Page 2 – Natalie K. Martin

Do you need backpacker/travel insurance?

November 20, 2014October 17, 2015by NatalieLeave a Comment

Yes, you do.

End post.

Just kidding 😉

In all seriousness though, why wouldn’t you? This week, I’ve been looking into insurance for my upcoming trip and man, it can be a bit of a minefield. And, it can be pricey, but if you’re thinking about shirking, don’t do it! Let’s imagine, you’re in Mexico, or Sydney, or Bali. You’re having a total blast, meeting new people, getting drunk, going around exploring – the usual. You think to yourself, I wanna swim with dolphins. Why not? Everyone knows how human friendly they are and anyway, it’ll look beyond cool for your Facebook photos. You sign up, get in the pool and:

Sound extreme? The fact is, people get hurt on holiday all the time. It has to happen to someone and as much as you won’t want it to, it could happen to you. We’re lucky in the UK, we have the NHS to look after us after a mishap, but Belize? Cape Town? When you travel, you will no doubt hear about people who’ve fallen off their scooter (have witnessed that and it’s nasty), lost their bag thanks to the airline, got caught up in an earthquake, spent 10 days straight on the toilet (why is it that travellers bond over dodgy tums but you wouldn’t dream of having that conversation back home) – shit, sometimes literally, happens.

The day I arrived in Goa, I met one one of the girls who’d travelled from France with my friends. She was a lovely 19 year old German girl, travelling for the first time. She’d been in hospital and was STILL sick with some kind of stomach problem. Think about how much scans cost, consultant fees – it’s insane but it’s better to pay a little upfront instead of blowing your whole budget on medical care.

So. Comparison sites are a good place to start and there are a great many – moneysupermarket.com, comparethemarket.com etc etc etc. Or, you can go via a recommendation from a friend, Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor – my point is, there’s a lot out there. They often come in tiers. Bronze, silver, gold, black etc, and each level will have varying amounts of cover. It definitely isn’t an idea to just go with the cheapest.

You have to consider what you’ll be doing. Will you be going to one country, two, or do you not know yet? Will you be doing ‘activities’ like kayaking, mountaineering or board sports? Will you be taking camera equipment, a laptop, a mobile phone? All of these things could well end up being add ons you need because the maximum cover amount might not stretch to it. Lets say you’re taking a laptop, mobile phone and camera, and lets say they’re top of the range. Your laptop might be a Macbook, that’s around £900. Your smartphone, let’s say £400. Your camera maybe £100. That’s £1,400. Now, they might not be brand new, but is your maximum cover of £500 going to stretch if you get robbed?

What’s that you say? You won’t get robbed? Well no, you hope not but shit happens. You need to weigh up what’s important to you, and how much you’re prepared to shell out just in case. In some cases, an upgrade for valuables might only cost an extra £10-20 but the cover difference is immense.

So, my advice – don’t be cheap. Shop around and READ THE SMALL PRINT. And take care 🙂

Blog, Travel

I can’t travel because … money

November 14, 2014October 17, 2015by Natalie2 Comments

Cash. Dough. Bread. Pounds. Dollars. Euros.

I’ve decided to do a series of posts about common blockers that might stop someone from travelling and the first one is – money. It costs money to travel. Fact. Unless you’re one of those super savvy people who manage to blag things all the time, or find an ingenious way of getting what you want, like that dude who put a paperclip on eBay and then kept trading random things until he eventually got a house. But most people aren’t like that, so you’re going to need some cash.

I remember emailing my friend Caroline (I do have more than one friend, I promise) a couple of years ago. I wanted to travel, and I had my sights set on Brazil, but I had a huge blocker. Money. For some reason I had it in my head that I needed £10,000 to do it. TEN GRAND?!

Ridiculous, isn’t it? I mean, I still over estimate what I need money-wise and it stems from thinking its better to have too much than get stranded – I’ve been there, done that and it ain’t fun – but these days, I’m a lot more realistic. So, how much money do you need to go travelling? It’s a complicated question, based on a lot of things.

Are you doing a ‘big bang’ travel adventure? There’s the whole gap year thing which insinuates that you should get it out of your system in one go. Before or after uni, before you get a ‘real’ job and start making money, having babies etc etc. That’s all nice and dandy if you have that set up behind you where you can afford to go travelling before you’ve really earned a decent wage and saved for it. Maybe you’ve got family who can fund it or credit cards (just no), but either way, travelling for a year, across the world, will not come cheap. Flights alone will dent your pocket in a big way. Personally, as much as I’d love to globe trot for a year solid, I know that’s just not in my remit right now. I’m happy to go somewhere, come back, go somewhere, come back. Like a boomerang. That way, the cost can be spread and you can do things at a more leisurely pace.

Second of all, destinations. Australia, The States, Canada and western Europe will cost bucks. That’s pretty much a given. Africa, South-America (some parts anyway), Eastern Europe, some parts of Asia – they’ll cost less. This is where your personal preferences come into play, as well as what it is you want to get out of travelling. Invariably, the cheaper the place is, the harder the place is. No fluffy pillows to lay your head on, lack of sanitation, etc etc, but hey, you’ll live like a king. And how much do you need to live like a king? Can you stretch £3k to last 4 months? Yes, you can. I did. And I didn’t budget myself at all, really. Honestly, I could easily have taken half of that.

Activities. This is where a HUGE chunk of money will go (apart from booze). If you’re going to want to ride elephants, pet big cats, zipline through the jungle, go on safari, take cooking classes, take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, you better be prepared to pay for it. Personally? I don’t like most of the organised, targetted activities. I was, but then I looked into a lot of them and decided I didn’t like the ethics. So you want to ride an elephant? Good for you. Just be aware that the elephants you pay to ride on may not be treated in a humane way. After all, they weren’t made for you to sit on. Going to a decent sanctuary (and most worth their salt will allow you to get up close and personal, wash them etc without riding them) is just as good. And as for petting big cats? I think the Tinder thing of men posing with them hasn’t helped here. Most of them are heavily sedated in order for you to do so. All I’m saying is, do a little research and if you want to have these experiences, there are plenty of alternatives where you can get the same effect without the nastiness. It’ll still cost, at any rate.

Basically, there’s no easy answer to how much money you’d need, but I’d say whatever figure you’ve got in mind, halve it. Most of the time, we apply western/first world prices to things and that just simply doesn’t work (again, depends where you’re going). Be savvy. Eat local food instead of heading towards a McDonald’s, Starbucks or whatever (depending on where in the world you are). Organise things yourself or with your friends instead of going along with a tour operator (where safe and possible to do so). Learning to budget while you’re travelling, whether it’s in Cambodia or your girls holiday in Ibiza is a good life lesson. We all have to budget, unless you’re a millionaire.

You’re already living on less than you usually would – you’re not planning on carrying every single item you possess in your backpack, are you? So why not apply the same logic to your money?

Travel

Wherever you lay your hat – A guide to room hunting

November 7, 2014November 6, 2014by NatalieLeave a Comment

For the past week or so, I’ve been doing something really, really dumb. Instead of going to sleep at night, I’ve been laying in bed wondering where I’m going to live for this season in Goa. I’ve been mentally going through all the places I looked at last time (and there were a LOT) and putting them into piles of ‘definitely maybe’, ‘maybe’ and ‘heck no’. The reason why it’s pointless? There’s no point in me worrying about it until I get there. Absolutely none. Even if I looked online, the reality probably wouldn’t match up and anyway, room hunting is all part of the fun. So, not that I’m an expert or anything, but here are my tips:

1. Don’t plan ahead
If you’re used to going on a standard holiday and pre-booking your hotel, your instinct will be to try and find somewhere to stay for when you arrive. One of the things my friends and family said when I told them I didn’t have a clue where I’d be staying was ‘OMG, I could never do that’. Everything in you will want to pre-book a room but my advice is: don’t. The reasons are:

– As I mentioned already, things look a lot better on photos. Even with the likes of Trip Advisor, you still just don’t know and how many people end up booking into a place they have to stay in for ages that ends up being crap? I bet it’s more than a few. It’s always better to see the place and its location first.

– You might miss out on something great. Getting tips from fellow travellers is always a good hit. They’ll tell you where to avoid and where to go.

The only time I’d say this doesn’t apply is if you’re getting into a location in the dead of night.

2. Adjust your expectations
This definitely applied to me. Having only ever stayed in hotel rooms and one empty dorm beforehand, I was a bit miffed at the ‘state’ of the rooms I first looked at in India. But after a while, I just came to realise that I had to change my expectations, and so will you. You’re not staying at the Ritz, you’re backpacking. If you can find a room with your own bathroom, hell if you can find a place with hot water, you’re ahead of the game. As long as it’s clean, has a bed and is secure, then your bases are covered. That being said, it does depend where in the world your going. You might have to make do with a sleeping bag on the floor but, hey, whateves, it’s all part of the experience!

Chok Dee Guesthouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Ave Maria Guesthouse in Arambol, Goa

3. Location, location, location
There’s a reason this phrase is so well known. That’s because it’s true!! Your own personal preferences will come into play here, but for me personally, I can’t do dorms and I don’t like to be right in the middle of things. I like to be close enough to walk into the hustle and bustle but far away enough to be able to chill without constant noise. I moved A LOT in Goa, and I went from being right on the main road and being kept up at night by rumbling motorbikes outside my door to a room in a house backing out onto a field with cows roaming around. I way preferred the latter. On the subject of location, it goes without saying that you want to be safe. Finding somewhere that isn’t isolated and well lit is always a good bet, however hard that may be. This is the house I ended up living in – The Purple House.

It was accessible via an alleyway (for want of a better word). What made this okay was that on the corner of the alleyway was The German Bakery, a place that’s open til all hours and where people usually stop off for a pizza or cake on the way home from a night out. Plus, there were plenty of other houses around and about where the people staying there would hang out on the balconies playing music so I always felt safe on the way home.

4. Take your time
If, like me, you’re going to be staying in one place for a while instead of hopping around, it makes sense to find somewhere you can stay long term. It usually works out cheaper and it’s nice to have somewhere that can feel a bit homely away from home. But that doesn’t mean you should take the first place you see. Shop around and haggle, and take something that feels right. On the flipside, don’t take too long. Finding a great place for a great price is like looking for gold-dust and if you dither too long, someone else will come and take it in your place.

5. Haggle
This is something I still struggle to get to grips with but accommodation can add up quickly. You might not want to barter down the price of a pair of trousers but you absolutely should when it comes to a place to stay. If you’re looking at somewhere to stay upwards of a month then you absolutely need to. Chances are you can negotiate a better rate for staying in longer – owners would rather have you there than have it empty.

6. Basic checks
Of course you’re going to want to check that the room is clean, but it’s a bonus if it’s clean to yours or your mum’s standards. I had to clean a place from top to bottom before I felt comfortable enough to stay in it (and then moved out two days later. Ho hum). So, check under the bed, the bed itself, toilet etc etc but don’t be afraid to put a bit of elbow grease in if needed. The simple fact is, some owners just don’t care about it being five star clean, as long as it will do. Other checks you should do are to look at security. How does the door lock? Is it with a key or do you need a padlock? Are windows lockable? Are there easy entry points for would-be burglars? If you’re sharing a house, how many keys will you get and is there a safe hiding place for the main door key?

7. Make it a home
Okay, so you’re backpacking. You’re away from home and experiencing crazy shit. But chances are you will still get a pang of homesickness at some point. So, do something to make it feel homely. I bought a couple of wall sheets and used them for bedsheets. Not only did it make me feel more comfortable than sleeping on the dubious sheets they’d provided, they brightened the place up. Ditto with some candles and other little nick nacks. They don’t cost much and while you might not want to take them home or would ever buy them usually, they can make you feel better on a down day.

Good luck (for me too!).

Blog, Music, Travel

Meeting fellow travellers #4: Kelly

October 24, 2014October 17, 2015by NatalieLeave a Comment

So this edition (edition? Feels weird to call it that. Anywho) is a little bit different. I didn’t meet Kelly on my travels. We’ve known each other since we were teenagers, up in the land of Sheffield. Her house was directly behind mine and as I was mates with her sister, our paths crossed a lot. It just so happens that she’s got major wanderlust, so much so that she’s off to travel the world next year.

Say hello to Kelly….

Who is Kelly?
I’m an accountant from Sheffield who loves to escape the place but always comes home to my family. I love travelling, trying new things, being wonderstruck by people and places all over the Earth and currently, trapeze. I get passionate about things for a while then when I’ve got so far I need something else to captivate me.

What was your ‘aha’ moment? (i.e. the moment you decided you wanted to hit the road)
I was 25 and I’d just bought a house with my long-term boyfriend. It was stunning, 4 beds, 4 loos, all the trimmings. I spent the first 4 months putting my stamp on it before I decided it wasn’t what I wanted. This probably harps back to my staying power with hobbies.

Heartbreakingly I left my seemingly “perfect” life and moved back home with my parents. Back in my box room I felt more free than I had in a long time. It was then I decided I wanted to feel even more freedom. So I booked a flight to Thailand, alone. My first solo trip ever.

Where’ve you been so far?
I started off in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. I enjoy going to places that will challenge and develop me both in terms of language barriers and cultural differences. I’ve since done Northern Italy (Milan, Verona, Lake Garda, Venice), Holland, Moscow and road-tripped across America (San Francisco to Miami via the Deep South).

What’s the single best thing about travelling?
Not having anywhere to be, just taking life as it comes.

And what’s the single worst thing about travelling?
Jet lag and general tiredness when you try to fit too much in to a small amount of time. It can make you grumpy and irrational and ruin the experience of being somewhere if you’re not careful.

Where are you planning to go next?
September 2015 I’m starting a 2 year around the world trip but still trying to decide where to start. At the minute I’m thinking St Petersburg, Russia, then take the Tran Siberian train across the country, stopping in Vladivostok then crossing over in to China.

What are your top 3 tips/advice for anyone considering backpacking?

Enjoy every minute. Try to remain positive even when you lose your passport, miss your bus, get caught in a 1am thunderstorm with your backpack on and have to walk 3 miles to your hostel. It’s all part of the adventure and beats whatever monotonous activities your mates are getting up to back home HANDS DOWN.
Talk to people. A lot of the time people are in the same boat, wanting meet new people too but are afraid to strike up conversation first. Just take a deep breath and go straight in there. If they’re cool, great, you’ve got a new friend to try out new places with. If they’re not, quite simply try another.
Keep a diary – on paper, on a blog, a video diary, by whichever means. I started doing it because I have a terrible memory. But the more you see and do the more easy it is to forget the small things that were pretty mesmerizing at the time. It’s heartening to read through and remember how certain sights, smells and people made you feel. I also love my personal videos, they really capture the exhilaration I felt at the time.

Aw. Big thanks to Kelly. And I am not at all jealous about her world trip.

Not at all.

(Lies)

Blog, Travel

Pack like a pro!

October 17, 2014October 17, 2015by Natalie2 Comments

Most people who know me will probably fall about laughing that I’m about to give advice on packing. I am a typical girl – I always take way, way more than I need. Always. And with Goa coming up in less than 7 weeks time (yay) my thoughts are turning to the things I need to buy beforehand. When I went to France last year, I took a suitcase. A humungous one. Never again. It was an absolute nightmare lugging it around and I used about a quarter of what I took. When it came to India, I took half of what I took to France and it was STILL too much. This time, I will do much better!

So, here are my tips on packing. Tips I shall refer to myself in a few weeks:

Get a decent bag
If you’re travelling, a backpack has to be the way to go. It’s so much easier having to move around with one than a suitcase. So, get a decent one. It will be your world for the duration of your travelling life. I was a bit unprepared for the cost – a decent one will set you back at least £100. I got mine over the Christmas break in the sales and it was £99. Do some research online and set aside a good amount of time to go around and try some on. Don’t just borrow one from someone else (without trying it at least). You want something that’ll fit your body correctly. I got an Osprey Talon 44L. Looks tiny but holds a lot. Excuse the dodgy pic.

Size matters
The natural inclination will be to get a big one. It makes sense, right? You’re going to be travelling for months, maybe country hopping, who knows what climate you might be in? Or what you’ll be doing? You need to be PREPARED.

Wait a second.

That was me telling you to have a massive word with yourself. Unless you’re going to be going from tropical to subzero in the same trip, you can assume you won’t need clothes for all seasons. We all see people travelling around with a bag the size of a house on their backs, but you don’t need to be one of them. You WILL be encouraged to buy a big bag when you’re shopping – they cost more. The guy who served me tried to get me to get a 65L bag. No way, Jose. You’re the one who’ll have to carry it, and believe me, having a big bag just means you’ll have a tendency to fill it. Do yourself a favour and get a smaller one. Your body will thank you for it.

Rock and roll
Roll your clothes. Rolling vs folding is not even an argument. Rolling saves space and reduces creasing. Plus, you can squidge stuff down into the sides. Unbuckle all the straps on your backpack, pull all the strings, get as much space as you can. And then, when it’s packed, pull them all back in.

Separate
Separate your stuff. I did this on the way out. Trousers in one plastic bag, tops in another, undies in a third (by the way, having plastic bags come in very handy. Just don’t go overboard and kill the planet). The advantage to this was, it was easy to find things. The disadvantage was it took up more space and started to get annoying. It depends on your preference.

On separation, it’s a good idea to take some bare minimum stuff in your hand luggage. Bags get lost, even though we don’t want them to. This happened to me on the return from Kuala Lumpur. Have your charger, toothbrush, a spare top and maybe some undies, just in case.

Pack light
Try to take enough clothes to last you a week. Sounds unlikely I know, but you’ll end up wearing the same things anyway and you will want to buy things to bring back. One of the things I didn’t factor in was that I wanted to blend in with everyone else. The clothes I’d bought were perfectly travel suited, but I felt like a unicorn most of the time. Get to a market stall and buy a few things when you get there. Oh, and don’t pack anything you care about. Your favourite top/trousers? Don’t bother. It’ll more than likely get ruined/stained/faded/lost. On the subject of clothes, here’s a few tips:

Leggings. Absolute godsends. They double up as skinny jeans (kinda) if you want to dress up, as PJ’s, or just for lounging around in.
Shoes. Leave your heels at home. Get a pair of flip flops and a pair of shoes/boots you can travel around in. For me, this is Converse or Vans, something inexpensive that I don’t mind getting ruined. Think about the long walks, journeys on dirty trains etc. That said, I have just bought a beautiful pair of entirely practical desert boots that I’m taking with me this time round.

It’s far better to layer up than take a massive coat (depends on your destination of course). I got a decent North Face waterproof but I never wore it. This time, I’ll take a little denim jacket and a couple of cardigans. Not only can they layer me up, but they can change an outfit individually. Ace.
Scarves. Cannot praise these enough. They can be used to mark your bag at the airport, cover your hair/shoulders if you need to, wear as a sarong, over your leggings if you’re like me and you don’t like to have your bum out, or as a beach towel. They’re pretty inexpensive abroad too.

Essentials
Last year (or, technically, this year since it was January), I took everything I could ever possibly need when it came to essentials. Shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, tampons, etc etc etc. Here’s some advice. Unless you’re going somewhere completely inhabitable, you’ll be able to buy stuff there, and it’ll probably be cheaper too. It might not be the exact brand you use at home, but you’ll find something. Of course, if you have some kind of skin condition or something that requires you to use special soaps etc that’s different, but most of us can get by with anything. So, I’d say:

Use soap instead of shower gels. They’re cheaper, last longer, take less space and can also be used to wash clothes if needed
If you’re going to need sanitary products, take enough to last you for a few months. This depends on what you use, but finding tampons was an absolute nightmare for me. I was lucky my friend came to visit with a care package. Alternatively, try a mooncup. The concept might make you feel a bit icky but it’s tiny and you’ll never need to buy a sanitary product ever again. The downside is it can be tricky if you’re somewhere that doesn’t have clean water
Most of us (me excluded) use body cream, face cream, hand cream, night cream – blah blah blah. This advice depends on where you’re going, but I found that buying a litre of coconut oil was the way forward. It’s completely natural, ridiculously cheap and lasted forever. And, it smelled beaut too.
I wouldn’t skip on them if I were you. Buy a multipack before you leave and enjoy yourself to your hearts content.
Malaria pills, check. Probiotics, check. Vitamins, check. Paracetomol, check. Antihistamines, check. You don’t need a whole medicine cabinet, but some of this stuff will be hard to find, or the average dosage might not agree with you, so take a small amount with you.
Make up. If you’re going somewhere hot, I wouldn’t bother, especially when it comes to foundation etc. Try going au naturel, or, if you really, really can’t, limit it to lip gloss, mascara and eyeliner. The sun will do your skin wonders anyway, trust me, you won’t need a face full of slap.
Hairdryer/Straighteners. Again, I’d say au naturel is the way forward. That said, not everyone has manageable hair. If it’s a necessity then take them. If it’s just something that you’ve got used to doing out of habit, leave them behind. They’ll take up valuable room in your backpack. See my advice about skincare for hair care if you have afro hair. Natural oil will work way better than a heap of product.

Common sense/practical stuff

Locks. I took about five. Wholly unnecessary. Most backpacks can’t be padlocked and even if they could, they could be slashed open. If you really feel you need to lock it up, try using cable ties. They’re super secure, barely noticeable and cheap. That said, do get a good, heavy duty padlock for your room door, and if you can, get a chain too. Comes in handy for long journeys etc.
You will want to freshen up on/after the plane, or on long journeys, or if the water supply cuts out and you can’t have a shower. So, get a pack of wet-wipes. By the hundred, if you can. It will take a bit of space but man alive, they are life-savers. You can use them to clean yourself in lieu of a shower, disinfect surfaces/items and they’re much better than antibacterial hand gel.
Gaffer tape. This is probably the single-most best thing I took. A tiny roll has lasted to this day and I used it a lot – taping the rip at the top of my backpack (thanks Mumbai airport), taping holes in the mosquito net, using it to attach the strings of my net to the wall when there was no way else to erect it. Brilliant stuff.
Water filter bottle. It does cost a bit, but mine came in really handy for long journeys. Water is so cheap over there but it’s nice to have a bottle you can fill from a tap and drink, knowing it’ll be safe. It also keeps the water cool.
Washing line/sink blocker. I took these with me, but I don’t know if I will again. The washing line is handy, but I was lucky I lived in a house that had some strung up already. I also used it to string my mozzie net up. As for the sink blocker, I found that using a bucket was much better for washing clothes in, and it served as an alternative way to wash when I really had to.
Money belt. I didn’t take one of these. Personally, I think they draw more attention to yourself, but it depends on your temperament. Spread your money out if you have to travel with a bulk of it, or, do what I did and get yourself a currency card. That way, you only ever need to take out the money you need and if you lose it or it’s stolen, you haven’t lost all your money in one go.

Think that’s it. Have I missed anything? Sharing is caring!