Paolo Cravero
Travel Tips
Here's a collection of some travel tips I discovered on my own while
travelling. Once you read them, you realise that they're mainly for those
travellers with a limited budget, not for those credit-card addicted
people that don't care spending thousand of dollars daily...
One more thing: NO camping tips here.
So, students, youngsters and globe-trotters,
here we go !
- Packing tips
- Let's say you'll travel by plane. The
most unreliable aspect of travelling by plane is that your baggage is
subject to easy mis-routing. In other words, while you know where you're
going to land, you don't know if your baggage is "following" you.
- If you plan to bring two pieces of baggage,
you should consider splitting your stuff equally into the two bags. So,
in case that one of them is lost (even temporarily), you still have half of
your clothings at your disposal.
I also suggest you to balance the weight between the two bags, so you
won't look like a walking "Pisa tower"...
- If your journey is short and you need a single
baggage, don't forget you have a hand-luggage you can carry
onboard. It's dimensions depend on the plane and company, but generally
it can store up to 5 litres. So you have plenty of room to put in your
hand-luggage pants, socks, vests and, why not, a pair of trousers.
- Besides what is above, I suggest you to pack in your hand-luggage:
razor/shaver, perfum and deodorant, bottles (if any),
papers and important documents, some food, paper handkerchieves, toilet paper.
Why? Because the people that handles your baggage usually is not as
gentle as you are with it, so it's better you take care of your "fragiles".
- If you're moving by train/bus, I think that
a big rucksack is the most comfortable way to carry your stuff. I own
one of 60 litres, plus the sleeping bag cylinder. You can store as many
things as you need for two weeks, without the need to wash them.
Anyway BE AWARE of its weight ! Don't forget to bring a smaller backpack for daily use.
- Humid environment
- There are two kind: humid rooms and torrential rain.
- Humid rooms. You cannot do anything
against them: you got it and you must stay there. What you've to do now is to
prevent your stuff from becoming as wet as the room's environment.
First thing: if the weather is not very cold and rainy, open the windows.
It will help to keep low the humidity level inside the room.
Second thing: keep your bags CLOSED. Usually bags are water-proof and
some of them even watertight. So open them only to pick what you need
and close them back suddenly after.
If you're going to stay in the same wet room for several days, every
morning pack everything in your bags (I mean sleeping bag, pyjama,...)
so that nothing stays in contact
with the wet environment for the whole day: wet clothes are cold and
stinking. I ensure you it's worth the effort !!
- Torrential rain. Unless your destination
are the Tropics during the rain season, you usually hope the weather
will be warm and sunny. But luck is blind (direct translation from
Italian, hope you understand!), so you should be ready to face some
rain. I'm talking about that heavy rain, so heavy that roads turn into
rivers and the umbrella is enough to protect your head only.
A good remedy for wet shoes is: when
you get back home, fill them with tight balls of newspaper paper and
possibly put them close to a warm heater. The paper soaks up the
water from the shoes.
You've to go out again and your shoes are still wet. You don't feel
like 'washing' your second pair, so here's a possible solution:
wear a dry pair of socks, wear a plastic bag on them, wear the wet
socks (if the shoes don't dry, socks don't either !) you used before.
This way you'll prevent dry socks from getting in contact with the
wet shoes. Your feet will move slightly into the shoes because of the
plastic bags, but you get used to it !!
- Taking pictures
- This is a very personal chapter, so what you'll find here are
my personal opinions about photography.
- Unless you have an extremely good photographic memory, take pictures!
OK, don't be as "maniac" as a Japanese traveller, but I bet you will not
regret having taken a picture more than one less.
Comments, suggestions and additions are welcome by email
This page was created by Paolo Cravero - Dec.96