Do's and Don'ts of travelling alone?

irlirishkev

Hey,

I'll be heading off for to the States for 3 weeks next month. It's the first time I'll be travelling any real distance for longer than a few days on my own. I'm looking for tips on making the most of it.. I have guide books etc., and a basic itinerary made out to avoid time wastage and boredom, but I'm sure there are some experienced solo travellers on Boards, so if anyone has any advice, I'd love to hear it! I'll be staying in a combination of Hotels and Hostels..

Cheers,

Kev.

Ruu_Old

i guess alot of it is common sense, keep your stuff close to you. how are you bringing cash? much luggage with you?

irlirishkev

Cashwise, I was just going to use my ATM or Visa when I get there. I don't like carrying too much cash around.
As far as luggage is concerned, I'm just using a rucksack. Basic clothes and essentials, nothing major.

idontknowmyname

Visa's a good thing, make sure you've some cash on you for things like street food stalls, transport in the cities................where abouts are you going?

Make sure you have all the emergency numbers if say your visa is stolen, if you have to unexpectedly come home earlier.

As said before.....its common sense

K!LL!@N

Scan your passport and send a copy of it to yourself, a gmail account or hotmail or any other email account that's easily accessable.
Include any other important details in this mail.
Then if you lose anything you'll have all the details you need.

Get the numbers for the nearest Irish embassy/consulate, include these in the mail as well.

There's no shortage of internet cafe's and even if you had your money stolen i'm sure someone take pity on you and let you use a computer for 5 minutes.

Killian

irlirishkev

idontknowmyname wrote:

where abouts are you going?

I'm going to Memphis/New Orleans/New York. I'm getting the Amtrak to New Orleans from Memphis, and then flying to New York.

Good ideas about emailing myself my passport details. I'll make sure I do that..

K.

Ruu_Old

the amtrak is great, its cheap and very roomy and you can even get a sleeper (like a bedroom) if your really exhausted. Best of luck with your travelling and be safe

smileygal

make sure you get travel insurance - U.S. medical system is notoriously expensive.

International adapter is always handy

I always lock my luggage

I store the lost/stolen VISA in my phone, so no need to look for scrap of paper.


Nifty travel stuff on this www, from the sublime to the ridiculous!:

www.magellans.com

irlirishkev

Hey,

Travel insurance is sorted, I got it at the same time as the tickets, and I also have VHI too, so I'm fairly well covered in that respect.

ruu wrote:

the amtrak is great

- I've heard mixed reports about the Amtrak, but most of it is good. I reckon it's a good way to see the countryside..

K.

therecklessone

K!LL!@N wrote:

There's no shortage of internet cafe's and even if you had your money stolen i'm sure someone take pity on you and let you use a computer for 5 minutes.

Killian

Different story on the west coast. Impossible to find a net cafe in California, plenty of free wi-fi connections though.

For the benefit of Kev:

Get yourself a good book. There'll be times when you're too tired/broke to be galavanting 'round town on the p*ss, so a book is a good way of passing time. If you're staying in hostels there's usually a book swap if you manage to finish it.

Make the most of the opportunities yoy get to talk to people, especially if you're gonna hostel your way around. You'll meet a fantastic mix, and getting advice from fellow travellers can't be a bad thing, right?

Don't stick rigidly to your itinerary. By all means try to do waht you've planned, but allow some leeway for spontaneity, particularly to check out some unknown stuff you may find out about over there.

Always have a wad of $1 bills, makes tipping a whole lot easier.

The advice above about a travel adapter is very good. Do it before you leave (I had an awful time trying to get one in the California recently).

Above all, enjoy!

Bah

therecklessone wrote:

The advice above about a travel adapter is very good. Do it before you leave (I had an awful time trying to get one in the California recently).

Any advice on where to find an adaptor (with a built in transformer)? I'm looking for one for my mobile charger, I can find a stand-alone adaptor for the pins, but nothing to change the voltage. Any ideas where I could pick one up beforehand?

therecklessone

Bah wrote:

Any advice on where to find an adaptor (with a built in transformer)? I'm looking for one for my mobile charger, I can find a stand-alone adaptor for the pins, but nothing to change the voltage. Any ideas where I could pick one up beforehand?

No idea I'm afraid.

Usual places for travel accessories are in the airport, maybe try a call to Dublin airport for contact numbers?

Bah

therecklessone wrote:

Usual places for travel accessories are in the airport, maybe try a call to Dublin airport for contact numbers?

Or, a little more accurately: "the usual place for overpriced travel accessories are in the airport".

It's usually a lot cheaper to buy things like that in other places, usually Atlantic Homecare stock those kind of things, not anymore though.

therecklessone

Bah wrote:

Or, a little more accurately: "the usual place for overpriced travel accessories are in the airport".

It's usually a lot cheaper to buy things like that in other places, usually Atlantic Homecare stock those kind of things, not anymore though.

Yeah, see your point.

Just thought it more likely you would find what you were looking for at the airport, seeing as they deal with travelling punters every day. Less likely they'll be out of stock or some other such problem.

Best of luck anyway.

As an aside, I ended up buying a phone charger when I was over there after I gave up on the adapter search. $27 for a Sony Eriksson charger that worked for me without any voltage problems. Might be a cheaper option?

Bah

therecklessone wrote:

As an aside, I ended up buying a phone charger when I was over there after I gave up on the adapter search. $27 for a Sony Eriksson charger that worked for me without any voltage problems. Might be a cheaper option?

Yeah, the only problem is that my phone's a sharp - one of the rebranded vodafone ones, so it's doubtful they'll have a charger for it over there, since I dont think you can buy them in the US?