Top 10 Tips
Don’t Leave Home Without Reading These Valuable Tips Collected Over The Years.

1. When delayed at airports or enduring never-ending flights, trains, bus, or car rides – one gets hungry and very often there is nowhere to buy something to eat, or if there is, it’s something your stomach will not tolerate. I always travel with small packets of nuts and dried fruit, crackers, and protein bars. If we are taking a long  trip – especially to remote places – I line the bottom of my suitcase with these snacks and transfer them to my daypack as needed.
2. If you are a reader, make sure you pack reading material or better still carry an electronic device with books that you have downloaded. This saves weight, space and most important – running out of good reading material.
3. Read up on the customs of the countries you plan to visit. Avoid inadvertently insulting the local people and know what to expect from them and how they expect you to behave.
4. Get into the routine of keeping your stuff in the same place when you travel. It saves so much time and aggravation if you know where to find things. Your glasses, i-phone, camera, the key to your room, your passport, wallet. I try to always pack items in the same part of my suitcase, so that they are easy to find. Example: socks – I pack in the corner of my suitcase. Hat – on the inside flap of my suitcase. Shoes – around the edges of my suitcase. Toothbrush and toothpaste – against the front frame of my carry-on bag, etc.
5. 1. Pack a doorstop for those times when you feel that your room could do with some extra security.
   2. A loud whistle in your backpack/purse/or pocket.
6. Get into the habit of checking your space EVERY time you leave a spot: a coffee shop, a seat in the waiting area of an airport, a hotel room or tour bus. Do a quick scan of your space and the floor and chairs around it, to make sure that you leave nothing behind. It’s well worth the few seconds that it takes.
7. Be careful of hanging things on the inside doors and shelves of toilet stalls that you use. Check your space before leaving, also make sure that no one can reach under or over the door of the stall and steal items.
8. Keep your backpack safe while sitting in a restaurant, airport, etc. Hook your foot into the straps. Never hang it off the back of your chair unless the chair is up against a wall.
9. Need a good guide or driver? Most of our finest guides and drivers came from asking the hotel staff to find us the right person. In India, Cambodia, Peru, Vietnam, Thailand, Bali, Ecuador, Morocco, just to name a few. We also land up seeing places and meeting people whom we would never have had the pleasure of otherwise meeting.
10. 1. I always email a few days ahead to confirm time, date, and place where a driver or tour guide will be meeting us. I recommend doing this no matter which guide or tour company you use.
    2. Check the DETAILS of your itinerary carefully. Examples: Cities have several airports that are often miles and hours apart. Check what is included and excluded on tours you plan to take. Check what kind of bag you should bring along when doing hiking trips, small boat trips, etc. We had the experience in Ecuador where the tour company that had arranged our Galapagos trip flew us into the wrong airport, on the wrong island. What followed was an unforgettable adventure that was quite hair raising at times.