quote:The young adventure-touring crowd has their own system for staying connected, which usually consists of pay-as-you-go Internet computers located at backpacker's camps, hostels, bike shops, and outdoor outfitters.
If you're going to Latin America (or any other developing country, I assume), internet shops are everywhere because that's how the locals get online. Subsequently, it's far cheaper than any sort of dialup thing you could arrange. In the bigger towns in Mexico, internet access was usually about 10 pesos ($1) an hour and in smaller towns it was as cheap as 5 pesos an hour.
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Internet cafes are even available in my neighborhood, and we're far out from the major city. Connection costs about $0.60 an hour on high speed connection. In the city, it's about the same, but prices vary wildly. And yes, it's how a lot of the locals connect.
About laptops and such - if you check on the bottom of your laptop, it'll indicate something like 110-220 volts, so a transformer or whatever isn't required, only an adapter. Check each electrical device individually to find out what's needed.
Also, in some countries, you can get power strips/extension cords that take all sorts of different types of plugs. The ones we use can take North American plugs, plus the two local varieties and a few more. The plug-in looks odd, but it works and they're cheap - like, $2 or less. I use my Canadian laptop and CPAP machine here plugging straight into the power bar. No need for adaptors.
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Sleeping in public is not always safe. Try to stay awake, sober, and alert in public when traveling alone.
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Quid, I'd be afraid of the adaptor blowing out something as pricey as a laptop. Maybe electricity in Sri Lanka isn't as potent as whatever Europe's running on, though. After seeing what an adapted outlet in France can do to a hair dryer, there's no way I'd plug my computer into one.
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Sri Lanka is at 210 volts, and my laptop is rated for 110-220 volts, so it's no problem. It's within range. I've been using it for a year and a half this way with no problems.
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I slept at a train station in Florence for a night - of course, those of you who know me or at least have met me will understand why I felt perfectly safe doing so.
Check your ego at the door - if you're a woman and travelling alone, be careful. Assume the worst and anything else is a pleasant surprise.
Guys don't have all the same worries of women, generally speaking, but you are still at risk of being a victim of theft or assault.
Check your bags - if the zippers have places enabling you to padlock the zippers together, invest in some small luggage locks. Just because you might be a light sleeper doesn't mean the thief doesn't have an even lighter touch.
Don't carry your passport in an easily accessible pocket or in an easily detachable bag (like a purse or day bag). I carried mine in an "around the neck" security wallet - and as a note, anything you carry against the body should probably be sealed in a ziploc baggie. You probably will sweat at some point. Women can wear the same wallet slung under one arm or may opt for another type of security wallet for various reasons - make sure you try it out before you actually hit the road.
Flashlights - immensely useful for any number of applications. I carried two AA minimags on my European excursion and they served quite well. These things are cheap enough to lose and durable enough to handle most abuse.
If you're the cautious sort, make a cheat sheet on how to make telephone calls in the country you'll be staying in, as well as the number for the US embassy and/or a friend who is prepared to offer assistance if necessary. A prepaid phone card can be amazingly useful here.
General note - be wary of people being overly friendly. Which is tough because I like being able to offer help to someone in distress, but there are plenty of people willing to target tourists as easy marks - sadly, this is as true of tourists visiting the United States as it is anywhere else.
-The Overly Paranoid One
Edit: train, not bus.
Edit 2: Don't carry your usual wallet or purse with you - a flash wallet with some petty cash is best. Leave the major credit cards, ID and the bulk of any cash you bring with you in a safe place or in a difficult to reach location as to discourage pickpockets.
If they manage to snag your wallet, you will only be out the petty cash - not your driver's license, major credit cards and so on.
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Laptop AC adapters automatically adjust for voltage, in most cases. You just have to get the different cord or a plug adapter. Other items (like hair dryers and shavers) need something that changes the voltage. As was mentioned, just look at the power requirements, usually printed on the AC adapter or near where the power cord comes in for that. Pages like this can help you determine if you need an adapter and what voltage the country uses.
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Trevor reminds me that I travel with a flashlight too. Use it when checking under the rental car's seats before you return it to the lot. Use it when you get up in the middle of the night for a drinky in the hotel room without waking your partner. Use it when the hotel power goes out.
My neighbor built my travel flashlight for me. It's got two super bright red LEDs and two white LEDs. The red doesn't affect your night vision and is good for reading maps in the car at night. It's powered by a 9-volt battery and has a nightlight mode that gives off a soft glow for over 2 months without changing the battery. Nightlight mode helps you find your flashlight when the power goes out.
If I didn't have my neighbor-made LED light I'd get one of those LED credit card flashlights.
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There are at least two camps, in my family at least, when it comes to finding your way:
-"Getting lost is part of the adventure; asking for directions is a chance to interact with the locals; we found some of the neatest attractions when we were lost."
and:
-"Know ahead of time how to get to every attraction on your itinerary; plot and trace your route on a moving GPS map; always know your compass heading; never get lost."
Hopefully you can find yourself somewhere between those two extremes.
My wife and I just spent a few days exploring the Portland, Oregon area. Usually I'm "in-charge" of getting around, and it sometimes becomes stressful always having to figure out the route. This trip, when I started to get stressed, I told my wife that tomorrow was her day; she would pick the attractions, and she would figure out how to get there. It worked reasonably well.
One thing became apparent: my wife thinks of a route as a series of left and right turns, whereas I think in terms of compass direction. As she was driving, I asked her what direction we were heading. She said we were going west when we were really going south. We got to her chosen attraction okay, but after three consecutive days of overcast weather, and without having the roads layed out in the familiar Utah grid, she had lost her sense of direction.
Have you ever noticed how turned around you get when someone else is in-charge of the trip?
Here's some ideas:
Learn how to read a map and how to find your position on it.
Get a map of your destination and plot your course before you go.
Don't forget to take the map with you on your trip.
Allow everyone in your party access to the map.
Allow other members of your party to have "in-charge" days.
Know how to find directions using a compass.
Take a compass with you when traveling to new destinations.
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Personally, I'm in the camp of the driver NOT being the one to navigate. That falls on whoever is in the front passenger seat. That's always been the rule in my family, and it works out great. Unless you have twits who can't read a map. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Sleeping in public is not always safe. Try to stay awake, sober, and alert in public when traveling alone.
Skillery -- I've never had any problem with sleeping on Greyhound. (When there's up to 50 other people on the bus with you, it's hard for a malefactor to do bad deeds.) Have you had any bad experiences?
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I like to get a map of the town (I did this in France a lot) and then go out walking to orient myself and remember where the streets were. Physically walking through everything helps me get a solid idea of the layout, far more than driving/being driven through it.
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I taught my kids very early on how to read maps and measure distances and navigate. I knew how extremely important this was (at least to me). So we took lots of family road trips where whichever kid was in the front seat had the map on lap, and directed, and answered my questions (how much further? what's the name of the highway I will need to turn on? Is the ramp to my right or left? etc.)
I think it is one skill they will really thank me for, for years to come.
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Having the front seat passenger be the navigator works great.
I think a harder skill to teach is how to NOT be a backseat driver. My dad was a lousy backseat driver; from his bad example I learned how to not be one myself...
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Greyhound has been having money problems recently -- they've eliminated a bunch of routes in Missouri and Arkansas, and buses aren't running as frequently as they used to. So the buses are more crowded, and you may not be able to get on the one you want.
If enough people can't get on a bus, then they'll (usually) get a 2nd bus to (eventually) pick up the leftover passengers. But if it's only a few people, they may say, sorry, that's not enough people to make it worthwhile to bring out a 2nd bus, catch the next bus on the schedule... and even if you DO get on a 2nd bus, if you have a tight connection, you may miss your connection and get stranded in some dismal bus station for hours and hours.
What I think happened to me with my recent Greyhound disaster in Springfield was that they KNEW that they just couldn't get a 2nd bus in that afternoon... so early on they told people that they were overbooked and to go away and come back for the later bus. If I hadn't believed them and if I'd stayed at the station, I probably would've been able to get on the bus, since I was an hour early and could've been first in line and they probably would have had at least a few seats available... but since I was trusting and believed in authority, I went away.
Oh yeah: it doesn't matter if you buy your ticket in advance -- that gets you a discount, but not a reserved seat -- it's still "first come, first served" as far as Greyhound is concerned -- whoever's in line first, gets on the bus first. So getting in line at least half an hour before the bus leaves is a good idea, and if you REALLY want to make sure you'll get a seat, getting in line an hour early is even better.
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posted
Hmm, I just did a minor edit on the post above, and it didn't automatically note that I'd performed the edit. Is this a flaw in the updated system?
[Tries an edit on this one to see.]
[Nope, the system didn't note that I'd made the edit.]
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posted
Bump. My wife and I just spent two weeks in the UK, where we encountered unfamiliar bedding.
As Americans we are accustomed to sleeping between two bed sheets, but in the UK our hotel bed had only a single sheet, topped by a fluffy comforter or quilt. We debated long and hard about whether to sleep on top of or under the sheet. I reasoned that surely they wouldn't wash the quilt between guests, even if the previous guest had a cold and had sneezed bogies all over the quilt. With that vision in our minds we decided to sleep under the sheet and directly on the rubbery mattress pad.
After a week of this squicky sleeping arrangement, I finally mustered the courage to ask the lady at the front desk. She called it "Continental" bedding, and said that we are supposed to sleep on top of the sheet. She said that they do wash the quilt between guests but that most Americans still can't bring themselves to sleep directly under the quilt. She offered us a second sheet, but we decided to give the Continental a try.
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Was it a duvet with a removable cover? That's what the dorm bedding was when I was studying in London. After the initial getting used to it moment, I actually preferred it for a while before I readjusted to American-style bedding when I came home.
How was your trip? And where in the UK were you? (I'm a travel addict living vicariously at the moment. )
----
I disagree with the suggestion that Americans should claim to be another nationality. I'm not especially patriotic, but I do acknowledge that when I travel abroad, I'm automatically representing my country on some level - if people have misconceptions of what Americans are like, negative or otherwise, then actually meeting Americans is a way for them to get a more realistic impression of our diversity of cultures, opinions, etc.
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The quilt didn't have a removeable cover, but I can visualize what you are talking about. Japanese futons have a similar removeable cover.
We're LDS; so we visited both LDS temples in the UK. We stayed in Chorley, Lancashire when visiting the Preston Temple, and we stayed in East Grinstead when visiting the London Temple.
East Grinstead was a good base for our daily excursions into London. We bought all-day train/bus/tube passes for $23 apiece and rode the train into London.
The London Science Museum was awesome, especially the floor devoted to naval science and the history of navigation. They've got cool rocketry stuff, including the insides of a German V-2 rocket and an Apollo space capsule. Cool aviation stuff too.
One day we bought tickets to the hop-on/hop-off double-decker buses. There were several bus companies, but "The Original Tour" seemed to be the best. The buses are a good way to get an overview of the city.
We stopped at Harrod's and had a look around. Nothing very exciting there. We did find a cool set of proof coins commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar though.
The street performers at Covent Garden were wierd.
Big Ben and Westminster Abbey were okay.
My favorite part of the trip was Warwick Castle. Watch out. They've got real people mixed in with the wax figures. It really gives you a start when they move or start talking.
We also stayed at a fun B&B in a little town called Aymestrey. Croft Castle and Berrington Hall were nearby.
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I don't know why, but none of the hotels or B&Bs in Ireland or the U.K. provided washcloths. How do Europeans scrub their faces?
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Washcloths are similarly not available at hotels in Sri Lanka, where most tourists are European. If you're planning on staying at a B&B or lodging other than nice, expensive hotel, bring your own mosquito net, sheets, and towels as well.
When travelling to a destination where haggling is common, get familiar with the markup and/or cost of items before you start to haggle. In Sri Lanka, vendors will give an inflated price - anywhere from 3x to 10x what an item is worth - to the pasty faced foreigners. Understand that there is a white tax on everything and you will end up paying more than the locals and there's nothing you can do about it, but by all means, haggle to bring the inflated price down as much as possible.
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