What I thought was going to be one post is actually going to be four, simply because otherwise it was going to be a good 20 minute read apparently and no one wants that.

So the following are a couple of tips in general to cover the whole trip, things that we found quite useful in that its what we did, or we wish we had did. You might not find it helpful, but maybe you will — every little bit helps.

For accommodation, book in advance, and use travel aggregator websites to help find places. Some people like to book when they arrive or just before but I think this only works if you are loose with your dates and not too worried about money — I feel the last thing you want to be doing is getting somewhere and having to find accommodation — we had to do it once because of the screw up in Rome and I wouldn’t want to do it again.

When you have found somewhere, look to see whether you can book it directly with them as that might be cheaper. With hotel chains, that’s probably best to do that. However, if you are doing it with a smaller independent place, booking it AND paying through them is best. I would highly recommend that if you do pay, its to the website, not the hotel to avoid the trouble we had in Rome — avoid at all cost any that require you to pay beforehand unless its a chain.

Also, make sure you check out Airbnb. I won’t make you join using my special referral link, but you should check it out as you can get quite cheap accommodation in great locations, and sometimes get a whole place, kitchen and all which can save you money if you don’t mind cooking for yourself.

Also, for money, get a multi-currency passport and get one that won’t charge ATM fees. We used a Travelex Multi-Currency Passport Mastercard and this was great. There were minimal commission fees, easy and instant loading through a credit card online (some issued through banks require bill payments via internet banking which can take a few days), and as mentioned, free ATM withdrawals which is great when you don’t want to be carrying around too much cash. You also get two cards so if one is lost, you have one straight away to use once the other is cancelled. If you are in NZ, you also have the Loaded for Travel card which we used for Thai Baht but in hindsight, its probably best using the Travelex Passport as you will get charged on both ends at ATM withdrawals — though the rates are slightly better with them.

You also should definitely get travel insurance. For our trip, with three months away, something was bound to go wrong and it was well worth it. We had the screw up with accommodation in Rome and my camera that broke, and 1Cover, who we were insured with reimbursed us for the costs of rebooking and repair respectively. We made that money back and more with these claims and there is something comforting that if something went wrong medically, there were no limits to the payments made.

In terms of travel and flights, if you are traveling to multiple countries requiring flights like us, its a good idea to go talk to a travel agent and impress on them you want the cheapest flights. Of course this does not mean that you will get direct flights but you never know. We were luckily in that we were able to get our major flights on two airlines at a really good price, though that might have involved booking it very early. Make sure that you have organised your trip in a logical way, and try different variations in terms of order of places — we found going somewhere first instead of later changed the cost and made it cheaper. Just something to think about and take advantage of stopovers if you can.

Also, yes consider budget airlines but make sure you look at where they fly too — it may take a long time and more money to get where you want if they fly into smaller airports and it may end up being the same price once you take into account the transport fare to get out there if you fly a more fuller-service airline out and into major airports. For example, it was cheaper to fly SAS out of Heathrow than Norwegian out of Gatwick to Stockholm, so make sure you have a proper look.

Also, consider coach trips for some places. I would for instance highly recommend doing Africa as part of a trip, probably with Intrepid or a private safari. Doing it this way means that you know the places you will be visiting and staying are likely to be of a good standing and you won’t have too many problems. It’s also a good way to be able to see quite a lot without having to worry about how to get there and getting lost on the way.

With Europe, we went on a Topdeck tour which was great in that we got to see a lot of Europe really quickly and it was reasonably priced. However, it did mean that you only do get a brief look at each place so this is good for a first run possibly — see what you like, what you didn’t like. Also, you’ll visit a place or two you probably would have skipped. For instance, we probably wouldn’t have visited the Swiss Alps ourselves if not on our trip and it would have been a shame had we not — it is a stunningly beautiful place!

In terms of packing, make sure you don’t over- or under-pack. You probably don’t need multiple types of pants — one or two pairs of jeans or something is all you need. Tops are probably more crucial to have a variety of. Of course, hope that you are traveling to places with the same type of climate so you don’t need to pack hot and cold, though this can’t be helped if thats what happens. I would also pack a first aid kit, a Swiss-army knife or something like that, and a torch because you will never know if you will need them and better to be safe than sorry (just don’t put the knife in your carry-on!). I also found the bag that I had with a side flap, thus allowing it to open like a suitcase rather that a top opening bag helpful. Edd had the latter and involved large amounts of repacking all the time.

So those are some tips in general. The next three posts are for specific tips in South-East Asia, Africa, and Europe. Fingers crossed that will end it.