Top 10 Summer Travel Tips from “National Geographic” Expert Doug Lansky
June 25, 2010
The dog days of summer are near, which means many students will set off for amazing vacations across the country and around the world. Adventurer and award-winning National Geographic and Huffington Post contributor Doug Lansky knows the tricks for getting the most out of your travels. Having backpacked through more than 100 countries, he offers practical insights and humorous observations on travel. Don’t go anywhere this summer without his Top Ten Tips!
1. Budget. You might be able to save $100-$300 on a flight by staying flexible with your travel dates and checking prices on several sites (here's a great one for European flights: www.skyscanner.net), but the big savings ($500-$3,000) on a longer trip is reducing the day-to-day expenses. Learn to stay for free (www.couchsurfing.org), find cheaper countries to travel in, get discount cards (www.isiccard.com), find free web surfing, eat cheaper, maximize your rail pass, and a couple other tricks to save $10-$40 a day. Multiply that savings by three months and you're looking at serious budget relief.
2. Make a Custom Itinerary. Forget all the "must-sees" and follow your interests. All those Top Ten lists of places you're supposed to go and things you're supposed to see are proven to help sell magazines and get online clicks. To have a unique experience, and one that will make the best trip for you, just look inward. Doing what you like to do in those countries (whether it's bird watching, bowling, or playing ultimate frisbee) will help introduce you to other people with similar interests. Go online and find local clubs and get in touch... ask if you can tag along. Your interests will serve as a skeleton key to help unlock local cultures and make more organic contacts with locals.
3. Balance Spending and Savings. This is one of the toughest parts of travel. On one hand, you've left home with a large wad of cash to spend. On the other, you can't splurge every day or you'll run out. The tendency for many is to become completely Scrooge-y–walk an extra mile for bread that's 10 cents cheaper or argue with a taxi driver over a nickel. Try to keep things in perspective. You'll need some budget discipline, but you don't want that to come at the expense of missing some great opportunities.
4. Stay in One Place for a While. Moving every day (or even every few days) is exhausting. All those new sights, sounds, and smells become sensory overload. Plan to stop for a week or three to recharge your wanderlust. That's a great time to take a cooking course, language course, volunteer, take a local job, or even just read a book on a beach. You'll likely find getting to know one place a little better is the most rewarding part of your trip.
5. Travel Safely. You don't need a week-long survival course, but there are some important things to keep in mind when you're doing some hiking, trekking, sailing, or other mini-adventure: Send your family an email with your plans so they know when to call for search and rescue and where to tell them to look. Bring food and gear for the worst weather at that time of year, even if you're setting off for a day hike in nice weather. And don't depend on your cell phone for support. It can break, the battery can die, and you'll likely be out of range in nature. Pack a little survival guide so you know what to do if things go wrong.
6. Bargain Intelligently and Politely. Learn some good bargaining tricks. (This is a top ten list unto itself).
7. Pick Up Some New Skills. Look into short courses while traveling... cooking, climbing, language, organic farming, kayaking, etc. A new skill set is one of the best souvenirs you can bring home.
8. Pack Light. Anything you can't fit into a 50 liter backpack you don't need. If you're going to be doing some serious hiking for a portion of your trip, ship your hiking boots ahead (or bring them and hike at the beginning of the trip, then send them home). If you're going clubbing for a few nights, pick up some cool, cheap clothes and shoes in a secondhand shop in town and then give them back or send them home when you move on. And you don't need a year's worth of toothpaste and shampoo if you're traveling for a year. You can pick up small tubes as you go.
9. Stay In Touch, Not Hyper-Connected. A growing trend in many hostels around the world is for travelers to sit side by side in the lounges and Skype/Facebook/e-mail/tweet with friends back home instead of meeting the international travelers right beside them. Make sure you don't let social media keep you from having great social travel experiences.
10. Land Home Softly. Returning home is a much overlooked, often difficult part of the trip. It's known as reverse culture shock. Take a few precautions to take to make sure it's not a rough re-entry.
Whatever your travel plans may be–whether this summer, over winter or spring break, or even next year–Doug Lansky can help you maximize your vacation and have an incredible new cultural experience. Contact Keppler Speakers bureau for more information on hosting travel expert and campus speaker Doug Lansky and his funny and insightful “Get Lost” program.
