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Planning for Travel Disasters on a RTW Trip

In a recent post on this blog we talked about the importance of considering travel insurance for a RTW trip, especially travel medical insurance. We talked about a couple of tummy ailments that can end up being serious medical issues if they’re left untreated, and the fact that they’re relatively common when you’re traveling to unfamiliar places makes planning for their eventuality even more important.

But beyond the dreaded “Delhi belly,” there are other common travel disasters that could impact your trip – not to mention the lives of the people in the places you’re visiting – and although it may seem like they’re less likely to happen, it’s never good to be caught without a plan. The news has been full of stories of earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados in recent years, and you just never know when you’ll be in the wrong place at the wrong time – especially when you’re on a long-term round the world trip.

In some cases, there’s very little you can do to avoid a “travel disaster.” Predicting things like tornados isn’t possible more than a few minutes or maybe hours before they hit, so it’s not like you can alter your travel plans to get out of a storm’s way in that amount of time. What you can do, however, when you’re researching (for instance) where to go in June, is look up when tornado season or hurricane season is for the parts of the world where those are regular issues. Yes, it’s likely that you’ll find more cheap tickets available to the Caribbean during hurricane season, but the fact that anyone visiting the Caribbean at that time of year is at risk of getting caught in a hurricane is the reason those tickets are so cheap. It’s a matter of weighing risks like that and, if possible, taking measures to protect yourself from potential problems.

As mentioned before, getting travel medical insurance is a good way to make sure you’ll be able to get the medical help you need if you’re hurt while you’re traveling (either as a result of a natural disaster or some extreme sport you’re trying for the first time), but there are other types of travel insurance that you may want to look into as well. Trip Protection insurance will help you get your money back on non-refundable travel purchases (such as a tour that’s cancelled due to a strike), and there are also insurance policies that will help you get reimbursed if your luggage is lost or stolen.

Planning for the worst isn’t nearly as fun as expecting the best when you’re thinking about a RTW trip, but it’s far better than assuming everything will be fine and then getting caught with your proverbial pants down.

photo by taigasylvan

Tags: travel health, travel insurance
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Travel Insurance: An Important Component of Trip Planning

With almost any task, there are fun parts and tedious parts – and that goes for planning a RTW trip, too. The fun parts include planning a route (it’s easy to see why this is one of the most popular topics on RTW forums) and getting new gear. Perhaps the most un-fun part of trip planning is making contingency plans for all those “what if” scenarios.

Of course, it’s decidedly more un-fun if something bad were to happen and you weren’t prepared.

You may have family members who are terrified at the idea that you might break a leg while scaling a mountain or get mugged at knifepoint by bandits. These things can happen when you get out into the world, but these kinds of things are far less common than the simple illnesses that are bound to come up. Just as you’re unfamiliar with your surroundings, your body is unfamiliar with whatever’s in the local water and food. Ailments are often referred to with names like Delhi or Bali Belly or Montezuma’s Revenge, but they boil down to the same kinds of gastro-intestinal issues – diarrhea, vomiting, etc.

Generally speaking, these are things that qualify as annoyances that will slow you down for a few days but won’t be life-threatening – unless you don’t take care of yourself. It’s very easy to get dehydrated on top of whatever stomach ailment you’re suffering with, and from there it’s easy to end up in a situation where you need to get to a hospital for fluids.

You might be thinking that if the worst you’ll deal with is the potential to spend a few days curled up in bed eating plain rice or pasta and recovering from your tummy troubles then do you really need travel insurance? If you could be guaranteed that Bali Belly was the worst you’d suffer through, then perhaps travel insurance wouldn’t be necessary – but of course there aren’t any guarantees, so getting travel insurance is a very good idea.

There are many types of travel insurance, but the main ones that RTW travelers tend to focus on are travel medical insurance and (depending on the type of activities you’re planning to engage in) things like emergency evacuation or accidental death insurance. The good news is that these types of insurance are far cheaper than you might think, and they offer peace of mind – not to mention critical assistance if something terrible happens. It might be the least glamorous part of trip planning, but don’t put it off – get a travel insurance quote today.

photo by nicocrisafulli

Tags: travel health, travel insurance
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Last Minute Travel Gift Ideas to the Rescue

With only a few days left until Christmas, anyone left with shopping to do is likely looking for easy and quick gift options. If you’ve got a traveler on your list, that’s actually not as hard as you might think – and you don’t even have to buy them cheap airline tickets, either.

>> Did you see our article about gifts for RTW travelers already?

These last minute gift ideas for travelers are both good ideas in and of themselves and also good jumping-off points for other potentially great travel gift ideas. For instance, perhaps it’s not a magazine subscription the traveler you know wants, but maybe there’s a travel e-book out there that would be the perfect gift. You’re one click away from getting a great gift, and you don’t even have to wrap it. The same goes for things like new books or music if the traveler on your list already has an iPod or a Kindle. All it takes is a gift card to iTunes or Amazon for your traveler to stock up on exactly what they want, without you worrying about whether you got the right CD.

New gear is always appreciated, especially when it’s a gift, but gear can be a very personal decision. If you know the traveler on your gift list well, then you might be able to pick out the right bag or piece of equipment – but keep the receipts just in case. There are great gifts for the techie traveler, gift ideas for the backpacker,

Although most frequent travelers are always learning more about how to travel lightly, only the most die-hard (or crazy) souls travel with no luggage – so here are some ideas for the best carry-on bags out there that don’t cost a fortune.

What are your favorite gift ideas for travelers? As a traveler, what’s your favorite gift to receive?

photo by Karen Apricot New Orleans

Tags: travel gifts
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Fitness & Health on a RTW Trip

For many people, going on vacation is an excuse to indulge more than they do at home – and this is especially true in the categories of eating too much and not exercising. Dieting and working out, after all, are things that all but the die-hards think shouldn’t follow you on a break from your normal routine, right?

Well, if you’re traveling long-term, you can’t exactly abandon the idea of watching what you eat or working out entirely, or pretty soon you won’t fit into the clothes you’ve brought with you. Sure, you’re likely to be more active on a long trip than you would be if you were at home sitting in a cubicle all day, but it’s still a good idea to keep your health in mind when you’re making travel plans so you can make sure you’re spending most of your travel time traveling and not recovering from the latest sickness.

There are many schools of thought when it comes to how to stay fit on the road, and one of the biggest dilemmas to start out with is finding a way to work out and eat right that suits you. At first blush, you’d think that keeping up a jogging regimen would be the easiest way to get exercise, considering you can run anywhere and you don’t need special weights or equipment. But running while traveling isn’t as easy as you’d think, because not everyone totes proper running shoes with them on long trips. It’s important to consider whether you can maintain a running program while you’re traveling before you assume that will be the best option.

Whatever you decide upon for your exercise plan, the other component of staying healthy is watching what you eat. To a certain extent, people who work out regularly do so in order to eat what they like without repercussions – but if you’re more concerned about your diet then you won’t be content to just eat what the locals are eating without asking questions. If this describes you, then coming up with a traveling fitness and meal plan before you leave home (and then sticking to it) will be important parts of your trip planning process.

What are your best tips for staying fit and healthy while traveling long-term?

photo by AlphaTangoBravo/Adam Baker

Tags: diet, exercise
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Gift-Giving for RTW Travelers Made Easy

As we’re going into Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, we’re also going into the time when most people start thinking about doing their holiday shopping. Of course, many stores have been trying to get us to part with money for a few weeks, but in the U.S. anyway they’ll be starting their full-court press as of Black Friday.

Holiday shopping can be challenging enough, but if you’ve got a RTW traveler on your gift list it can be even more difficult. Most people planning a round-the-world trip are actively trying to get rid of “stuff,” so the last thing they want is yet another item gift-wrapped under the tree with their name on it. But every long-term traveler has things they could likely use for their upcoming trip.

Whether you’re the traveler who’s trying to keep from accumulating more “stuff” while still getting much-needed items for your trip, or you’re the gift-giver struggling to find the perfect present for a traveler without contributing to their pre-trip woes, we have some ideas for you.

• These gift ideas for RTW travelers include several things that long-term travelers may need for their trip, in several price ranges. The traveler on your list may not need everything on this list, and you may want to ask them before you buy anything, but this is a good place to start (and may give you some ideas for other gifts not on this list, too).
• Looking for something small? There are lots of options for travel gear stocking stuffers that travelers love and that won’t take up much room in a backpack (or remove much money from your bank account).
• And if the traveler on your list has everything they need for their trip, there’s still something you can gift-wrap (sort of) – travelers with iPhones or iPod Touches will certainly love an iTunes gift card so they can easily get a few iPhone apps for travelers or load up their playlists with some new songs before their trip.

photo by Mobile Edge Laptop Cases

Tags: travel gifts
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Investing in the Right Tech RTW Gear

We talked recently about when it’s important to buy high quality RTW gear for your trip instead of solely hunting for whatever’s on sale, and this time we’re going to talk about another gear-related topic that might involve forking over more cash than you would otherwise like. But even if you’re not what others might call a “flashpacker,” you might still want to bring along a little tech gadget or two – and those don’t typically come cheap.

Bringing an iPod on a trip has been de rigeur for years now (although some of us are old enough to remember toting a Walkman overseas many moons ago), but these days more RTW travelers are utilizing the multi-tool aspect of the iPhone on their trips, turning it into a phone that also navigates, translates, organizes, blogs, and – who knows – maybe by the time you read this it makes coffee and packs your bags for you, too. There are more travel iPhone apps than it’s possible to keep track of, and as the iPhone continues to evolve into a more and more useful travel tool it won’t be surprising to see it on every must-have RTW gear list.

If your RTW plans involve lots of blogging or at least computer work that you’d prefer not to do on a little touchscreen, then you essentially have three alternatives. Either you plan to bring an iPad, you plan to bring a netbook, or you plan to spend a lot of time in internet cafes. Assuming you’re not in the latter category (because that’s not really gear-related, after all), then the main decision will be whether to go iPad or netbook.

With the iPad, you have one decision to make, so if that’s your choice then get thee to an Apple store and hope they’re in stock. With netbooks, there’s so much variety nowadays that you’ll need to do a bit more research on the best netbooks for traveling before you make a purchase. There are different factors to take into consideration, so read about the benefits and drawbacks of the various models to see which one suits your needs best.

And after you’re done with that research, go on to some other aspect of trip planning that’s a little more fun for a break. Look up the best beaches in Spain, figure out when it’s shoulder season around the world, hunt for flights to Nepal, plan road trips through France, learn where to surf in Bali, or what those Italian gelato flavors mean.

Just remember that if you’re properly equipped with tech gadgetry when you leave home, you can look up all that stuff while you’re on the road, too.

photo by scriptingnews

Tags: technology, travel gear
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Investing in High Quality RTW Trip Gear

After questions about what RTW itinerary is best, the next most frequently-asked questions on most message boards about long-term travel have to do with gear. If you’re on a round-the-world trip, chances are good that you’re trying to travel as minimally as possible, so bringing lots of cool gadgets isn’t practical. As great as they might be, they’ll just add to the amount of stuff you’re carrying. It makes sense, then, to be concerned about whether you’ve got the right round the world trip gear.

Perhaps the most important gear decision you can make – whether you’re on a RTW trip or any length of backpacking adventure – involves the pack you get. It’s not uncommon to feel a little bit of sticker shock when you start looking at the best travel packs out there – they’re definitely an investment. You know that saying about how you get what you pay for? In some cases it’s not true, and a bargain find can be an excellent option. But when it comes to what you’re going to carry all your belongings around in for a long period of time, the investment is worth it. Absolutely hunt down deals on the best packs if you can find a sale or have an REI dividend burning a hole in your pocket, but don’t skimp on a lesser-quality pack.

Even if you don’t consider yourself a “flashpacker” or plan on bringing lots of tech gadgets with you, you’re probably going to bring along a camera of some kind to record your trip, right? Camera gear isn’t completely at the opposite end of the spectrum from backpacks, in that you do still need to invest a little bit of money to get something that’s good quality, but you don’t have to buy huge professional-grade DSLRs to take amazing travel photos. So many of the compact point-and-shoot digital cameras are of high enough quality that they’ll take exceptional shots – so long as the photographer has a good eye!

What do you think is the most important piece of RTW travel gear you can invest in before a trip?

photo by obscure allusion

Tags: travel gear
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Best iPhone Apps for RTW Travel

Once upon a time, long-term travelers were the people who abandoned the trappings of everyday life to see the world. These days, you’ll just as often find round-the-world travelers who prefer to bring some conveniences of everyday life with them on the road. They’re not opposed to letting technology assist them in their travels, which is why the iPhone has become so popular with travelers.

All of the “there’s an app for that” commercials might drive you bonkers, but the premise of those ads is kind of true – and getting more true every day. There are apps for just about every purpose you could imagine (along with thousands you couldn’t and wouldn’t want to), including plenty that are really handy for travelers. Some of them are location-dependent, but there are also loads of great iPhone apps for round-the-world travel – apps that are flexible enough to grow with your itinerary.

This list of iPhone apps for RTW travel isn’t exhaustive, so if your favorite travel app that’s ideal for long-term travelers isn’t listed please let me know in the comments!

Best iPhone Apps for RTW Travel

Frommers Travel Tools
FREE
One app to rule them all… Okay, not quite, but it does combine several different handy travel apps into one, which saves memory space on your iPhone and helps keep your screen uncluttered. You’ll get a currency/measurement/distance/etc. converter, time translator, tip calculator, customizable packing list, fun travel trivia, links to Frommer’s city guide apps you can buy, and even a flashlight – all in one app.

TripDoc
on sale for $4.99
With this app you aren’t stuck sifting through a long list of recommendations for places to eat, places to see, etc. – you put in only the places you know you want to check out or remember, and that’s all that shows up on the list and map. It’s deceptively clever, and especially handy for RTW travelers because you can add locations to as many cities as you want. When you’re hooked up to WiFi, add restaurants, museums, and where you’re staying. Then you can access the information with the iPhone or iPod Touch completely offline, without using data or internet.

Trip Journal
on sale for $0.99 (normally $2.99)
This app includes all kinds of tools to easily record and share elements of your trip with whoever you like – geo-tagging photos, video, and trip notes and then allowing you to share things via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and more. Plus, the app looks all old-school journal-y, too.

City Maps 2 Go
$1.99
There are a zillion map apps (say that without thinking “grape ape” and you’re a stronger – or younger – person than I am), but rather than downloading a new one every time you move on to a different city, this app lets you constantly download new cities within one app – and the additional map downloads are free. Plus, while you can the GPS capability of the iPhone for these maps, you’re not incurring roaming charges because the maps are downloaded onto your phone.

Babelingo
$1.99
Translation apps are great, but if you’re going to lots of different countries it might be better to get one app that has a few common phrases in lots of languages instead of downloading an app for every single language you’ll encounter. Babelingo has 11 languages with 300 words and phrases. If you’ll be immersed in one language for awhile, then you can augment your app library with a translator or dictionary for that language specifically.

ICOON Global Picture Dictionary
$0.99
Is the language you need not included in Babelingo? Maybe the words you’re looking for aren’t common enough phrases? Then be sure you’ve got this picture dictionary on hand as well. There are several categories covered in this app, and the most useful ones might be “health,” “hygiene,” and “authorities.” You don’t want to count on your command of the local language in an emergency.

World Customs & Cultures
FREE
Don’t get caught nodding for yes when nodding actually means no. Don’t reach out to shake someone’s hand when touching is considered rude. This app covers all kinds of cultural tips and social norms for 165 countries around the world. It’s a must-have app for anyone who wants to leave a good impression in their wake (which is a good plan).

The World Factbook
$0.99
This app includes some basic information about 250+ countries, including major industries, type of government, geography, religion, languages, etc. The database is updated regularly for free, so you’ll always have the most recent information at your fingertips.

HearPlanet: Audio Guide to the World
$4.99
This does require a cell data or network connection to work, but if you’re in a place where you’re connected then it’s handy. Using the phone’s GPS locator, this app knows what attractions you’re close to and pulls up the Wikipedia entry for that place. Even better? It then reads the entry to you.

IAmHere
$0.99
For anyone who set up a round the world blog for the sole purpose of letting your mother know where you are and that you got there safely, there’s IAmHere. Push one button and it’ll send an email to someone with your exact location (accurate to within 150 meters) on a Google map.

Super Twiddler
$4.99
Spin the wheels on this app to tell it much time you have to spend and what mood you’re in, and it’ll come up with activities near you that fit your parameters. Unfortunately it’s only available for 27 US cities, although they’re apparently working on more.

Whizzer
$0.99
Restroom locator with almost a million restrooms around the world in its database; it includes information on bathroom amenities, too, like whether they’re free to the public, open 24 hours, have baby changing stations, or have a place to buy feminine products.

Traverter
$2.99
Traveling shoppers may want to download this app in addition to the Frommer’s app, even though the latter has a good all-purpose converter in it. What Frommer’s doesn’t have is a clothing size converter – but Traverter does (along with a few other conversions). This app also includes a directory of international area codes.

Skype
FREE
Skype is the international traveler’s best friend, and you can take it with you on your iPhone. Call anyone on Skype via a WiFi connection on your phone without incurring huge roaming fees. You can also call non-Skype numbers (land lines and cell phones) for pennies per minute if you’ve got money in your Skype account.

Kayak
FREE
It’s everything you love about Kayak’s site – in an iPhone app. Search for airfare, hotels, and other travel necessities right from your iPhone. There’s a paid version ($1.99) that includes First Class & Business Class fares in its searches (the free app doesn’t).

TripIt
FREE
Forward all your trip emails to TripIt, and it tracks everything – flights, hotels, car rentals, everything. It’s one way to keep from going insane when your travel plans alone start to take on novel-length proportions.

Weather Channel
FREE
If you’re on a long trip and you only brought what you can carry, you might not care as much what the weather will be like where you’re headed – you packed what you packed, and your clothing has to suffice in whatever weather you encounter. But having this app will at least let you know how many layers you’ll need to pull out of your pack that day, or whether you might be springing for an umbrella in your next destination.

And since the iPhone’s camera isn’t exactly the best in the world, this list of great iPhone apps for travel photography on World Hum is worth perusing before you set off.

photos, top to bottom: CarbonNYC, cloneofsnake

Tags: iphone, technology, travel gear
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Cheap Multi-Stop Flights

Planning an [almost] around the world trip?  Sometimes when you’re not going all the way around the world a multi-city flight (often called a multi-stop or open jaw if you’re traveling overland too) can be a cheaper option. For example, if you’re flying from Los Angeles to Hawaii to Australia and back to Los Angeles, a multi-stop flight could be your best bet.

How to find the cheapest multi-stop flights:

1. Plan your RTW itinerary to get a baseline price quote. Check out the latest round the world travel deals for sample itineraries and prices.
2. Know your regions – a multi-stop flight from LA to a few major cities in South America could be comparable to an RTW ticket.
3. Limit your flights – most multi-stop flight searches only give you 5-6 stops on one booking.
4. Fly through major transportation hubs: LAX, NYC, LON, LIM etc
5. Plan everything out. The great thing about RTW tickets is that you usually have a fair amount of flexibility to make date and itinerary changes. Don’t expect to be allowed any changes to a standard multi-stop flight.
6. Plan a shorter trip. Another reason RTW tickets are so popular is that you can travel for up to one year (the best choice for round the world travelers who don’t know exactly where they’ll be in six months). So if you book a multi-stop flight, try to keep it under 3 months.
7. Don’t forget to compare one-way flights on low-cost carriers like Jet Blue and AirTran.

Build your own multi-stop flight:

Expedia multi-stop flights (5 stops maximum)
Kayak multi-city search (6 stops maximum)
britishairways.com (6 stops maximum)

Bottomline:

Multi-city flights can be a deal for shorter, across (instead of around) the world trips with only one to two extra stops added in. Warning: the multi-city flight search can get very time-intensive with so many options available.

(photo: melloveschallah)

Tags: deals, flights, rtw, rtw tickets
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