30 Travel Tips I Learned From Backpacking Around the World

A list of things you can’t learn from reading lists.

Never trust anyone who says their trip was perfect. Perfection is boring. World travel is a collection of horrible mistakes. It’s a miracle you didn’t die on several occasions. You spend half the time convincing yourself everything will be fine. And the other half thinking that being fine was vastly overrated anyway.

When anyone asks me for advice on traveling, I say the same thing:

Research, research, research.

Being prepared before you leave is a great way to maximize the potential of your trip. Some things you can only learn from people who have been around the world a few times.

Learn from my mistakes so you can go and make your own. Traveling is a workshop, and you’re the project.

Here are a few tools to get you started.

1. The first step to being good at traveling is being bad at traveling. Make mistakes. Learn from them.

2. When you see something new and you immediately think, no, tell yourself to shut up.

3. You have a lot of free time, use it. Buy a camera, start a Youtube channel, write a journal, whatever. Now is the time to stop making excuses.

4. You packed too much. Throw it out, you don’t need it. If you need something, you can buy it.

5. Buy high quality gear. Quick-dry, breathable, antibacterial. You won’t look sexy, but it won’t disintegrate after a month.

6. Leave your backpack at the hotel. Get a day pack. Only pack essentials, it will be a long day. Not that, put that back.

7. Your backpack is your home, keep it organized. Use packing cubes. Stack them by importance.

8. Don’t buy clever things to wash your clothes. If you think the people where you’re going don’t do their laundry, you’re a poor misguided fool.

9. Bring a travel pillow. Bring. A. Travel. Pillow.

10. Get a large, shock-resistant hard drive. A year of pictures and videos will easily max out 2TB.

11. Bring a laptop. You don’t realize how limiting your phone is until it’s all you’ve got.

12. Phone cameras are getting better, but nothing beats a quality camera with an f/1.8 lens and a CMOS sensor.

13. Unless you can fly, you’re missing out on 90% of the landscape. Bring a drone. I used a cheap DJI Spark.

14. Learn how to use your technology. If there are mysterious dials on your camera you dare not touch, you’re doing it wrong.

15. Spend more time in fewer places. Traveling is about quality, not quantity. The longer you stay, the more you become apart of the community.

16. Don’t plan too much. Book a flight, and the first hotel. Then just go. Your plans will change once you arrive.

17. Guides are useless, they’re the taxi drivers of travel. The person who will teach you the most about a place is yourself.

18. Research, research, research.

19. Tourist areas are amusement parks for adults. Prices are 30% cheaper, and locals are more genuine, the farther you get away from them.

20. Don’t be afraid to negotiate. If you don’t like getting scammed at home, why would you let it happen there?

21. Set a budget for each place, then go broke. You’re there to live, not save for retirement.

22. Stop making excuses and just go. I traveled the world for 12 months on less than $10,000. It’s doable.

23. Speak English. The tourist industry is designed around a common tongue. Learning the local language is appreciated, but not necessary.

24. Talk to locals. I know it’s scary, but it’s time to grow up.

25. Seek out festivals. This is where all the culture is. This is where you will see stuff you never have before.

26. Ride local transportation. You haven’t lived until you’re sharing a kebab with someone on their daily commute.

27. Eat everything. Even street food. On that note, just eat everything in sight.

28. You are a lot more ignorant about the world than you think. It’s okay though, traveling is the first step to evolving.

29. Remind yourself that these are the best moments of your life. They won’t be wasted if you sit back and appreciate them.

30. If you’re reading lists like this instead of traveling, get off your ass and make it happen.

Research and preparation can help your world travel go as smoothly as possible. Just don’t forget to fall down face first once in a while.

Everything on this list began with a mistake and ended with a story. The biggest mistakes lead to your greatest improvements. Perfection is boring.

If you made it this far and don’t hate my guts yet:

And follow my travels on Youtube: Farewell Alarms