Travel Advice
Some old favourites plus a few of the essential things that we’ve learned from our own travel overseas.
A Backpacking Gear Checklist
Our useful Backpacking Gear Checklist so you can see what we take with us on the road – including our travel packs, clothing & assorted electronics that make backpacking around the world that little bit easier.
Travel Insurance
Why you need it. The best places for backpackers to buy Travel Insurance & how far in advance you should organise it plus other general insurance advice you should be aware of. Click Here
We Recommend World Nomads Travel Insurance
Need to see proof that travel insurance is really necessary?
Read Some Personal Travel Insurance Stories Here
Airlines
Depending on where your flying there are a few budget airlines that can really help to stretch your travel dollars that little bit further.
Air Asia is a favourite of ours – as they offer budget flights and sales that are sometimes borderline rediculous.
Skyscanner is a great resource for comparing a wide range of airlines from one convenient website.
You plug in the departure location & your travel destination, then the site works away in the background & presents you with a range of flights from different airlines… so you can select the airline & flights that fit within your budget & are most suitable for you.
Budget Accommodation
We use 3 or 4 of the main online hostel booking sites to make bookings where we think we might need to organise accommodation in advance. When were travelling & arriving somewhere at night for example and need a room late at night or in the wee hours of the morning.
Trip Advisor We use trip advisor mostly for the user reviews.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello!
I’m backpacking Europe with my best friend this April and May and I was hoping you could help me out with a few questions! We’re flying into Spain and our plan right now is to try to see a city and country side in each of the following; Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, Germany and we’re spending a couple weeks in Italy. If we still have some money left we may try to fit in some more. We plan to couch surf and stay in hostels as much as possible. And we’re going to be as thrifty with our money as we can.
1. Unlimited eurail pass for two months or fly cheap air?
2. If we have money left for more; should we go to the UK or fly to a surrounding country? Any recommendations?
3. Any must see towns or cities?
4. We hope to have $6000 each Canadian… is this enough?
Love the site btw!
Wow Vanessa, Massive questions!
You’re going to be really busy getting to all the place you’ve listed above, but in saying that – our first trip to Europe was for 10 weeks, and we pretty much visited all the places you’ve listed plus a few more!
Couchsurfing is a great way to go, we had some of the most amazing experiences while staying with locals we contacted through couchsurfing.
1. We’ve never used a Eurail pass, in our first shotgun trip to Europe, we got around with Busabout might be another option for your guys to consider? Flights can be cheap, just be wary of all the extra charges the low-cost carriers pile on towards the end of the booking!
2. Having done both the ‘shotgun trip’ and the best part of 2012 travelling – My mantra now is to ‘see less and experience more’ so I would suggest sticking to the places you’ve mentioned, and spending a few more days in the places you really love (you’ll appreciate the downtime) rather than trying to add extra destinations into the mix. If you can’t resist the temptation, Scotland is Beautiful.
3. Paris, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Seville, Berlin, Porto, Sail Croatia (the islands) & Plitvice lakes, I tell everyone going to Paris to visit Chateau De Versailles too 🙂
4. The Canadian dollar is slightly weaker than the Australian dollar, and our daily spend in Europe averaged out to around $100 – $150 AUD per day (for 2 people). We had the luxury of time on our side, which helps with costs a lot. People travel on tighter budgets than us, so it’s def possible to do it for less. Your biggest cost will be accommodation, so organise as many couches as you can reasonably plan for before you go. If you can get couches in the more costly places like Paris, and Italy – it will help a lot.
Hope this helps Vanessa, have an awesome trip – let us know how you’re getting on 🙂
Thanks for getting back to me Marc! I know you’re currently on the road so I really appreciate it, as this is our first kick at backpacking and every little bit of advice helps!
Scotland was actually our top pick I beleive for if we had time and money! It’s just hard not to continue on in the UK once we’re there lol But I could appreciate being able to fully enjoy Scotland vs. trying to pack more in.
Thank you for all the advice through your reply and site! It’s helped a lot 🙂