Publicado: 20 de enero de 2025.
I love to travel independently. I’ve ridden the waves on the Aleutian Islands state ferry and watched the sunrise from a sleeper train in Rajasthan. I’ve had a few bad experiences too—sharing a horse a drunken shepherd in Georgia was terrifying. But I’ve come through wiser, and I’ve also received travel training through my charity fieldwork—and I would like to share what I’ve learned.
These tips will be useful for those who enjoy independent, low-budget travel. If you like outdoors activities remote areas—the sort of places with no phone signal, and only one weekly minibus passing through—then you will find this helpful. The advice is for travelling, not living overseas.
In most countries I use a Wise card. This allows a relatively small amount of cash to be withdrawn per month (you can check in the app; for me it is around 250 USD in two withdrawals), after which higher fees apply. To make the cash last longer, I try to pay by card wherever possible. Another option is to use additional free travel cards, such as Revolut, although I do not find their service reliable.
In places where cash is used, it can often be difficult to pay with large-denomination bank notes. When you withdraw cash, if possible, choose an awkward amount to withdraw, for example 80 USD, so you will automatically get some smaller bills. Then break the large bills when you get a good opportunity, for example at the supermarket. If I have a wad of cash, I like to hide the larger bills in the middle, to avoid appearing rich.
If you are planning to rent a car, you might need a credit card (not debit card or travel card). Taxis (especially airport taxis) are a very common place to get scammed; ride-hailing apps can be better as they often show the price in advance, so you should check which apps are used in your destination.
I like to keep a small emergency reserve of cash and a spare bank card separate from my wallet, so if I lose my wallet, I might have a backup.
I have this Wilderness Medicine book on the Kindle App on my phone. I have a small first-aid kit and I check relevant vaccinations (the rabies vaccine is particularly important for hiking in developing countries).
Try to get a sense of the cost of hospitalisation and the quality of the healthcare. If the cost is high, or the healthcare is poor (increasing the chances of repatriation), it’s important to get health insurance because the bill can be life-changing, and it may be hard to get treatment without it. Some destinations require it. Be careful of altitude restrictions in policies if you are planning to go trekking. I have used SafetyWing and can recommend them. For serious mountaineering trips, I recommend insurance from the British Mountaineering Council.
In my experience, other forms of insurance (covering possessions or trip cancellation) are probably not worth it. Statistically, you should save money by not getting them.
Try not to appear wealthy. Hopefully this shouldn’t be too difficult if you’re wearing beaten-up hiking gear, but keep valuables out of sight. Have a small bag for your most valuable items and always keep them on your person. Try not to appear lost, don’t travel at night time in risky areas, and listen to local advice.
Getting a local SIM card will save money. It’s quite easy nowadays with eSIMs. If your phone is older and doesn’t support eSIMs, I’ve found the eSIM.me SIM card works well. I use a key tag to safely store my home SIM card when I am not using it, with the SIM card poker on the keyring.
Data-only plans might not support SMS messages, which can occasionally be a nuisance. Some apps such as Skype may allow you to send and receive calls and SMS messages via a data connection.
Be aware that some countries restrict satellite devices or even GPS devices (despite the fact that modern cell phones may be both).
Carry paper and digital copies of your passport. Think about how you would access your important accounts (such as Google email) if you lost your phone. Tell somebody about your planned route and itinerary in case you need to be rescued.
Download offline maps for the areas you are going to. I use Google Maps (good for businesses and road directions) and OSMAnd (good for hiking and offline maps). (By default, OSMAnd has labels in the local language; if this is not helpful for you, you can try Settings > Select profile > Configure map > Map language.)
Before you travel, you can download Google Translate for the language or languages you will need. (Note that some features such as voice to text won’t work in offline mode.) If there is a strong language barrier, it can often be easier to communicate via written messages in Google Translate.
I think that travel is a lot more enjoyable if you know even a little of the local language. In remote areas, it’s unlikely that people will speak an international language. I recommend starting with some basic phrases; Wikivoyage has phrasebooks such as this one for Arabic. Learning the script can help with reading signs and maps, and will speed up your learning overall.
A really useful tool is Anki, which uses spaced repetition of flashcards to make learning more efficient. It’s free on all platforms except iPhone, and can sync between accounts. You can usually find flashcard decks online that cover your learning goals.
For more serious language learning, it’s best to have real conversations, ideally with a teacher. If you can’t move to a country or take an intensive course, I recommend signing up for online lessons. Preply is a good platform for finding teachers. Even one lesson per week will boost your learning, and motivate you to practise more. I used it to become fluent in Spanish and to develop basic Russian.
It can also be helpful to learn how to type in a foreign language. It will make you quicker at texting. I used Ratatype to learn how to touch-type in Cyrillic, and they support lots of other languages.
It is a privilege to travel, especially internationally. Many people will never own a passport, and many who do will still find it hard to gain permission to enter other countries. You should deserve this privilege by travelling responsibly: think about the impact of your actions.
Try to set a good example, for example by picking up litter. Be kind, polite, and respectful. Try to reduce your consumption of resources, as all resources come at a cost to the environment, in terms of land use, mineral extraction, or emissions. Travelling over land, if you have time, can be much more interesting and tends to use fewer resources. ‘Luxury’ is often particularly wasteful, and usually inauthentic. Avoid paying bribes if possible.
The first place I check when planning a trip is always Wikivoyage (don’t use the for-profit alternative, Wikitravel). It’s also prudent to check government advisories, such as the UK’s FCO (example for Colombia, which may also be specific to the risk profile of your nationality. For more specific advice, look for recent posts on Reddit and forums such as Caravanistan.