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General

Ask for a card in the reception with the name, address and phone number of your accommodations. This is useful to show to taxi drivers and people on the street to find your way back.

Try to avoid looking for accommodations after dark and when you are tired and hungry.

If you arrive late in a popular place you will probably find the first alternatives mentioned in the popular guidebooks already full, start with the ones mentioned further down in the text.

Have a look at the room before deciding. Things to check out include:

• The shower – “hot water” is a relative concept

• Does the toilet work (flush)

• Is there a shower curtain

• Noise (traffic/bars around)

• The bed: are the mattress and pillow okey or have they been worn out

• Cleanliness

Before leaving the hotel ask the reception if the accommodations closes at a certain hour and how to get back in after closing time (e.g. you have to ring a bell which is often ingeniously hidden to make it impossible to find in the dark). If you plan to bring company it can be wise to ask beforehand if it is okey.

Turn off the refrigerator if it makes noise at night. If there is ice inside it may melt and start dripping making more noise. In this case put a towel on the bottom of the refrigerator floor.

Use an alarm clock in addition to the hotel wake-up calls (maybe your cell phone has a built in alarm). If there are manual wake up calls they are not always reliable, especially in cheaper places.

Some places (such as love hotels in Japan) may not accept gay couples. In that case one of you has to dress like a woman or you can go with two females, pose as two straight couples and switch rooms afterwards.

Budget accommodation

If you are on a tight budget camping may be an alternative (depending on the country). There are official camp grounds with showers, lockers etc or you can sometimes stay in peoples gardens for a small fee. Some countries have very liberal rules regarding where camping is allowed (e.g. Sweden).

You can stay for free in other travelers’ homes through the Hospitality Club or the Couchsurfing project. You can also sleep in some airports to save an expensive hotel room.

Traveling by night buses or trains saves you a night’s accommodation, but do not leave things lying around while you sleep, lock your backpack to something and use earplugs and eye shades to get some sleep.

Hostelling International is an international chain of budget hostels. You can also book accommodations online which may be convenient if you arrive late at night or travel during high season.

Even if you live in a cheap place it is often possible to use the swimming pool of expensive hotels for a small fee, ask at the reception.

If you stay several nights at the same place you can sometimes get a discount, try asking for it.

Booking on-line can give you really good discounts compared to walking in from the street. Check with your travel agent if there are any package deals which include hotels and airfare.

If you walk into a hotel and manage to negotiate a discount get the price in writing since different people work day and night and by the time you check out there may be another person working in the reception.

Personal Experience

The Havana Hotel Heist

I was in Cuba and walked into a pretty fancy hotel. I thought the price for the room was too high and started walking out. The hotel staff then told them me that I could go to the travel agency in the hotel to book a room at a great discount (which I did).

As a backpacker you can spend quite a bit of time using the Internet to research your destination, make reservations and staying in touch with friends back home. Follow the below tips to avoid common pitfalls and get the most out of the web.

Picking an Internet café

These days you can find Internet cafés almost everywhere. Ask which connection the Internet café has, it is a huge difference between dial-up and 100 megabit broadband so it may be worth going to the more expensive place if their connection is significantly faster.

Usually the customers share the available bandwidth in the Internet café which means the more clients the slower the connection. An empty café may therefore not necessarily be a bad thing. Check the prices and if there is a minimum time consumption before using the computer.

Hotspots which enable wireless access are spreading quite fast these days. You can find them in airports, shopping malls, restaurants, etc. Sometimes they are free for clients so if you bring your mobile device (laptop, cell phone, etc) you can connect without the need to visit an Internet café. There is also a service called FON which is a large wireless connection community where you get free wireless access to the Internet if you share your connection at home.

If you need to connect your digital camera/media player etc bring a USB-cable. If you do not have one check with the café if they have a USB-cable or a card reader so that you can remove the memory card from your device and connect it to the computer.

Surfing the web

More than once we have composed a nice mail, hit the send button only to get an error message in return. Hitting the back button then only returned a blank screen. ¤&#¤/&#/&¤!! The best way to avoid this is to open up a text editor (e.g. notepad or WordPad) and write your message there. When you are finished select the text, copy it, switch to your e-mail and paste the text.

Those from countries using unusual letters (such as the Swedish letters å, ä, ö) may find it very frustrating trying to find out how to type these letters on foreign keyboards. There are several approaches to solve this:

• Open up Microsoft word. Go to Insert, Symbol, select Normal text, select your characters and press the button Insert.

• Send an e-mail to yourself which contains the special characters while you are at home.

• Learn the ASCII-code (a three digit number) of the character you want to type. You can then type the character by holding down the alt-button and typing the ASCII-code. Do not release the alt-button until you have typed all the numbers. If you want to type the letter Å for example just hold down alt and type 143. For a complete listing check out Wikipedia. Below you find some common examples:

Å 143 é 130 ñ 164

å 134 ê 136 ç 135

Ä 142 è 138 â 131

ä 132 ß 225 ç 135

Ö 153 Ø 157 ¿ 168

ö 148 ø 155 ü 129

ë 137 æ 145 Ü 154

If someone with a different character set than yours has been using your computer you may find all sort of strange things happening when using the keyboard. Maybe someone from Japan just used the computer and switched to Japanese character set. If the computer has another language set (e.g. Japanese) you can change back to English by right clicking the language bar (bottom right corner with two capital letters e.g. EN) and selecting your preferred language.

If you are on a really slow connection and have a lot of e-mails to open it is useful to right click each message and select open in new window or open the messages in a new tab. While you start reading the first mail, the others will be loading in the background. It may take longer for the windows to open but you save time instead of opening one mail, reading it, going back, opening another mail, etc.

If you are on a slow connection you can disable pictures to make downloading go faster. In Internet Explorer go to: Tools/Internet Options/Advanced. Scroll down to Multimedia and uncheck the checkbox Show pictures. This can drastically speed up your surfing.

It is also a good idea to have several windows open if you are visiting different web sites (in the Internet Explorer menu bar select: File/New/Window). Type the URLs in the different windows and read the one which loads first while the others load. Switch between the windows as they finish loading.

Sometimes you get asked if you want the browser or chat program (e.g. MSN Messenger) to remember your password. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT select yes if you are on a shared computer. Choosing yes means that your password is saved and the next person who surfs to the same site can get into it without knowing the password. Also do not forget to log out after you finish, do not just close the window. Many times we have been to Internet cafés where someone left MSN Messenger open while they were logged in. We could easily have opened their mail, sent messages to their contacts, etc. Log out.

If you enjoy playing video games you can often find the same game installed on the Internet cafés. If you want to keep going you can save your save game to the hard drive and e-mail it to yourself. Next time you want to continue playing just download it to the save game directory and you are set to go.

If you connect your camera/media player/memory card to a computer you should take care when disconnecting your device. Before you disconnect your device click on the icon in the lower right corner called Safe removal of hardware (if available). Select your device in the window which pops up and select disconnect. Wait until you get a confirmation message that your hardware can be removed safely before disconnecting your device. This process informs Windows that you intend to remove the device and ensures that you do not run into problems e.g. by removing the device while data is being saved.

A good way to get information you need while on your trip is to post a question in a web community such Virtual Tourist, wait one or two days and then check it again. You can get notifications to your e-mail if someone replies to your post on the discussion forum so you do not have to log in to the community to check if you have received any answers.

Chat programs

Using a chat program such as Windows Live Messenger), Skype or ICQ is a great way to keep in touch with people at home. You can keep conversations going with several people at the same time, send pictures, etc. Many programs also allow you to use a web cam and a microphone which enables you to make simple video calls to people. You can sometimes also make calls to fixed telephones and cell phones at very competitive rates. Check out your preferred service for details.

Personal Experience – The Evil E-mail Esquapade

Once when I was logging in to Hotmail on an remote Internet café the guy before me had forgotten to log off. I could not resist the opportunity and quickly sent a fake love letter to a woman randomly chosen from his contact list. As if this was not enough, I came back a few days later and, can you believe it, the same guy had forgotten to log off again. Evil as I am (sometimes) I read her reply. She said she was a bit unsure of what he meant – for obvious reasons. I replied to her once more telling how much I really loved her. Perhaps they are married now. Sometimes you have to help people getting their feelings kick-started

If you are planning a gap year and want to travel around the world visiting exotic locations and experiencing destinations that are off the beaten track on a backpacking trip, then one of the things that is absolutely essential to get is backpacker travel insurance. These specialist policies are designed to provide you with a comprehensive insurance cover throughout your journey around the world, and ensure that no matter where you go, or what trouble you get into, you will be able to get help and assistance.

For many travellers, one of their main concerns is their possessions. If you are travelling around the world in the 21st century, the chances are that you will be taking plenty of technological items to document your trip. Digital camera, lap top computer, and MP3 players are all popular gadgets, and many people travel with these in their pack. Thieves will often target young travellers, knowing that they have got this kind of expensive equipment with them, and will try and steal it. With a back packer travel insurance policy, you will be covered for replacement goods, and the insurance company will be able to handle your claim no matter where you are in the world.

Visiting countries that are off the beaten track will often mean coming into contact with cultures that are different to that which you have experienced before, and this will often entail trying dishes and food that you will not have tried before. In addition to this, in some countries, you will also find that you are exposed to drinking water that is not properly treated.

This can lead to various types of sickness that are unpleasant and inconvenient, not to mention expensive when it comes to getting local medical treatment . Medical centres in some countries are lacking in facilities and yet still charge tourists a considerable amount for relatively basic treatments. You will need travel insurance, make sure that it includes medical cover; that it is valid for the whole duration of your trip; and most importantly, that it provides cover in all of the countries where you may need it. While insurance comparison websites such as Qotr do offer the ability to compare a huge number of travel insurance policies to find the best deal, it is important to contact your provider to add on any activities that you are planning to try such as diving in order to be confident that you are covered.

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Escape to the Blue Mountains famous for its scenery and bushwalking. Explore this World Heritage area, packed with adventure activities. Try abseiling, canyoning, mountain biking, Jenolan Caves tour or just enjoy the local pubs and cafes. Winner of Best Backpacker Accommodation at the 2005 Australian Tourism Awards, this historic art deco building is a cosy, friendly YHA hostel, complete with log fire, warm rooms (many ensuite), great kitchen and more.

Sydney’s most laid back hostel, Railway Square YHA adjoins Central Station, in the heart of Sydney’s backpacker district. Stay in one of the funky railway carriages on the former Platform Zero or one of the comfy rooms in the historic 1904 main building, now converted into contemporary accommodation. Hostel features a spa pool, Internet cafe, 24-hour access, tour desk, indoor and outdoor communal areas, self-catering kitchen. Walking distance to the best pubs in Sydney, Chinatown and Darling Harbour.

Mid way between Sydney and Brisbane, Coffs Harbour YHA makes a great stopover for backpackers travelling the east coast. The purpose-built YHA hostel is located close to the jetty and beach. Choice of multi-share backpacker rooms and ensuite twin/double room accommodation. Spacious dining and common rooms, TV, internet, BBQ, pool area. Hostel surfboards, body boards and bikes available. YHA member discounts for local tours and backpacker activities at hostel tour desk.

Canberra City YHA is right in the heart of the nation’s capital, 5 mins from the interstate bus terminal. Hostel facilities include cafe, indoor pool/spa/sauna, internet, fully-equipped kitchen, rooftop BBQ area, TV/games area, and underground bar. Hostel hosts weekly activities and BBQs in summer.

Bellingen YHA is one of Australia’s most laidback backpacker hostels. It’s a beautiful, personal and homely YHA set amongst beautiful country! Relax on the hostel balcony overlooking the river and rainforest gardens. Take a tour to Dorrigo National Park, canoe on the river or explore Bellingen village with its great cafes, shops and monthly markets. Hostel accommodation is in twin/double and multi-share rooms.

Sydney Central YHA is a short walk to Darling Harbour, Chinatown, Sydney Casino, Fish Markets, Sydney Entertainment Centre, shops, backpacker pubs, cafes, clubs and cinemas. The hostel is close to all the major attractions like the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Rocks Area and Centrepoint Tower. You can catch the light rail (tram) to Sydney Casino, Darling Harbour and Fish Markets from opposite the hostel.