Travelling Tips

[TheCat]

Hi there

i know quite allot of people had travelled on the board.

so i was wondering if you could talk about any travelling tips you had picked up your self.

examples like carry a dummy wallet.
get a bank account in another country.,

basically am going to travel ASIA for a year, mostly Malaysia, China, Thailand, Korea etc etc
afterwards am heading to work to Australia on a years works permit when i get broke from all ASIA.

everything's paid for, i got my tickets and my work contacts ready.

my question is, what kind of Travel insurance do you recommend?
whats a good way to travel with expenses and credit cards?
also VISAS what a pain.

any personal favourite travelling tips i would be highly grateful for.

 

[Big Flipp]

I have a friend leaving for Malaysia next week. Did you get all your shots?

 

[SiGh]

keep ur wallet and ur cash and credit cards seperate. dont git robbed. ^shotz. yea alwayz make sure u get ur shots.

 

[TheCat]

yeh i got it booked the same day as my WORK xmas party, as its 6 weeks from when i leave ..

so i hope i dont ruin it by getting drunk

 

[Casey]

How did you get a work permit?

 

[SiGh]

traveller's cheques! thats always a must.

 

[TheCat]

How did you get a work permit?

Your from the UK right? well if your a British Passport holder and under 30.. You can easily get a OZ work Permit for a year,. the only downside is your employer cant employ for more then 3 months at a time, what they do is just move you around.

but if your lucky a employer might support you so it makes the transition of working in OZ allot longer.

 

[TheCat]

traveller's cheques! thats always a must.

see i thought about this, but if you got a VISA card or an American Express is that better if your going to be in more then 2 countrys?

 

[Amara]

In Asia I would have thought credit cards would not be the best, coz one thing that struck me in Beijing is how underdeveloped it really is... when you are buying day to day things, it's cheapest in the markets where it's unlikely they will have card facilities. So you'd be better carrying travellers cheques I would think and keeping them on you, under your clothes (not in a wallet or bag).

Oh yeah and the toilets in Asia are "interesting" so it might be wise to keep a roll of toilet paper in your bag, lol. It sounds stupid but several times I was surprised to find that toilet paper is more of a luxury than necessity in public toilets in China.

Oh yeah and you have to haggle - when you are shopping, dont accept the first price, offer a lower one and bargain from there. There are beggars. Dont be afraid to say no, as hard as it is, you cant possibly give money to them all and trying to give it to some encourages it further.

Also, check websites such as this one written by the Australian govt: www.smarttraveller.gov.au (it's written for Australian citizens but the tips can be general) There are certain customs you may need to be aware of and general advisory info governments put out. Be aware of laws - they have a tendency to be harsher.

 

[TheCat]

Oh yeah and you have to haggle - when you are shopping, dont accept the first price, offer a lower one and bargain from there. .

thanks allot for the tips and i got the Website on my favourites just now too, yeah i know allot about the Haggling Biz. i used to Live in Malaysia for allot of years and the beggers there did break your heart cos you saw kids with no limbs and no eyes., it was really a hell of an experience to see as a young kid,. when you see how Life coudl have turned around and made us the unlucky ones.

How long did you travel China for?
i take it wasn't longer then 30 days anyway. I bet you saw the Forbidden City, thats my main passion to go and see when am in Beijing.

 

[Mr Matt]

Don't change money on the streets.

Don't show any wealth.

Lock your luggage when you check it in.

Dont get wasted by yourself.

Don't drink tap water, also be careful of ice in drinks.

Avoid eating meat from those street vendors, most the time you'd be ok, the times youre not you'll be in big trouble!

Don't get in unlicensed taxis. Also make sure you never EVER get in or out of the taxi without your bags, I always wait for the driver to get out before me, then I get out and get my bags.

If you buy anything from a market then haggle down to at least half the price they first say, my best tip for finding the "real" price of something is to talk to the seller, offer them like a quater of what they said they wanted when they refuse slowly walk away and they will drop the price and keep shouting numbers at you, keep looking back and occasionally say its still too much, when they get to the lowest price and get pissed at you go back and buy it for that price. Bargain! I found that works all around Asia!

Don't buy drugs from clubs or locals, if you want any get them through other ex-pats who know the score. Better off staying well away from this really cuz punishments are severe. And don't ever, ever, everevereverever ever, take any drugs to another country, espcecially Malasia or Singapore, they just hanged an Australian guy yesterday for this.

And dude, always, always use a condom!

Not trying to be all doom and gloom, Asia is awesome and I can live my whole life there and die happy, just if you're going by yourself you have to have some smarts about you.

Oh and my top tip is this; dress smart when you fly longhaul, you will be much more likely to be bumped up on oversold flights, see how the other half get treated, it's unbelievable! Even get there early and ask for free upgrade, it's definitely worth being a bit cheeky.

Have fun!

 

[TheCat]

Oh and my top tip is this; dress smart when you fly longhaul, you will be much more likely to be bumped up on oversold flights, see how the other half get treated, it's unbelievable! Even get there early and ask for free upgrade, it's definitely worth being a bit cheeky.

man, i would never thought of that at all., I am Going on my own. so i will have to be extra careful and extra street smart.
am deffinetly going to walk around looking like a complete tramp though. am going to get a skin head and grow an ugly bread so i would look a little scary atleast. am going to stay away from buying meat of the street as you mentioned, cant afford to get Sick if am on my own. Do you have any recommendations for TRAVEL INSURANCE?

 

[Mr Matt]

I bet you saw the Forbidden City, thats my main passion to go and see when am in Beijing.

The Forbidden City is open at some strange times, I forget exactly when but it was a pain in the ass when we went there, I think it shuts at 4pm but it takes like over an hour to get to the main gate from Tian'amen square and they stop letting people into the main gate at a certain time. Definitely check that before the day you plan to go there.

 

[Mr Matt]

man, i would never thought of that at all., I am Going on my own. so i will have to be extra careful and extra street smart.
am deffinetly going to walk around looking like a complete tramp though. am going to get a skin head and grow an ugly bread so i would look a little scary atleast. am going to stay away from buying meat of the street as you mentioned, cant afford to get Sick if am on my own. Do you have any recommendations for TRAVEL INSURANCE?

Oh is that sarcasm? How wonderful, in your own thread aswell. Good way to stop any more replies to the questions you asked.

Never bothered with Travel Insurance either, most of the time I was getting paid to travel through my work so they would look after me if I got in any trouble.

 

[Amara]

I bet you saw the Forbidden City, thats my main passion to go and see when am in Beijing.

Yeah and Mr Matt is right, there's a gate and a gate and a gate and gate and eventually you get to the main Emperor's buildings. lol. And the Great Wall is another must see. I also liked Beihai Park, the Hutongs, the Ming Tombs and we stayed just near Wangfujing Shopping Street which to me is like Tokyo-in-the-making at night. Also the other temples are really nice too. One thing I should have done but didnt was wait in line to see Chairman Mao's body in the morsoleum in Tiananmen Square.

 

[TheCat]

Oh is that sarcasm? How wonderful, in your own thread aswell. Good way to stop any more replies to the questions you asked.

Never bothered with Travel Insurance either, most of the time I was getting paid to travel through my work so they would look after me if I got in any trouble.

no it was not sarcasm at all, i seriously never thought about airports giving upgrades if you look smart and ask nicely. seriously all the inputs on this thread has been highly helpful and allot of thanks to all that added.

 

[Mr Matt]

I remembered what happened when we went to the Forbidden City; we pissed around all morning, walked around Tian'amen square, almost went to see Mao's body then changed our minds, by the time we ended up actually trying to get into the Forbidden city it was after 1pm and I think we got to the main gate at nearly two and they wouldnt us in, the irony of not being let into the Forbidden City was lost on me at the time and we had to go back the next day early. So get there as early as poss cuz it's alot of walking around when you finally get into the place.

Another thing I would recommend is to visit the Summer Palace, I was there in winter and it was awesome cuz the lake had fully frozen over and you can just walk across it, a local friend of mine gave us all the history of it as we walked around.

Didn't bother to see the Great Wall, bit of a shame considering I only lived 4 hours South of it for 18 months, but I flew over it enough times and had too many other things to do instead.

For clothes Shopping goto Sil Shui Jia (can't remember how to spell it in Pinyin anymore), it's also known as "silk street" by foreigners, huge market where you can buy really good copies plus factory run-offs for like a twentieth of the real price, don't forget to walk away until they stop yelling prices at you.

Hopefully you're going through Hong Kong, one of my most favourite places in the world, can't wait to go back there for a visit.

 

[Mr Matt]

I remembered what happened when we went to the Forbidden City; we pissed around all morning, walked around Tian'amen square, almost went to see Mao's body then changed our minds, by the time we ended up actually trying to get into the Forbidden city it was after 1pm and I think we got to the main gate at nearly two and they wouldnt us in, the irony of not being let into the Forbidden City was lost on me at the time and we had to go back the next day early. So get there as early as poss cuz it's alot of walking around when you finally get into the place.

Another thing I would recommend is to visit the Summer Palace, I was there in winter and it was awesome cuz the lake had fully frozen over and you can just walk across it, a local friend of mine gave us all the history of it as we walked around.

Didn't bother to see the Great Wall, bit of a shame considering I only lived 4 hours South of it for 18 months, but I flew over it enough times and had too many other things to do instead.

For clothes Shopping goto Sil Shui Jia (can't remember how to spell it in Pinyin anymore), it's also known as "silk street" by foreigners, huge market where you can buy really good copies plus factory run-offs for like a twentieth of the real price, don't forget to walk away until they stop yelling prices at you.

Hopefully you're going through Hong Kong, one of my most favourite places in the world, can't wait to go back there for a visit.

 

[TheCat]

luckily for me i will be able to work in Hong kong for a ew months with accomadation so that will be my pitt stop to go up to china and come back when my visa runs out.

i will have to see this summer palace your talking about it sounds pretty.

 

[TheCat]

luckily for me i will be able to work in Hong kong for a ew months with accomadation so that will be my pitt stop to go up to china and come back when my visa runs out.

i will have to see this summer palace your talking about it sounds pretty.