My travel evolution

Like most things in life, travel is about trial and error. What you think will work, a totally seamless plan, often turns out to be a major mistake, but hey, we learn from it and we change our approach for next time.

This is something I’m very well qualified to talk about because, believe me, if anyone has made any huge blunders, it’s me.

From missing flights because of time delays, to forgetting to get on my transfer, I’ve done it all.

Like I mentioned, I’ve learnt from my mistakes and I now adapt my travel planning to take into account the things that didn’t work for me before. At some point during any day, something doesn’t work out for me, this is just the law of being me, however we live and we learn.

1) Don’t try to pack too much in

This is the first mistake I used to make, and I ended up running around like a headless chicken because of it, not really enjoying my time or getting the most out of it. Nowadays, I plan and take longer doing it. For instance, if I’m going away for a four days’ long city break and there are say eight places I want to go, I don’t try and cram five into the first day, instead I go for two a day, and enjoy the rest of the time doing something else, or simply walking around.

2) Make time for relaxation

Moving on from running around like a headless chicken, I have also learnt that I am not superwoman, and I do need to factor time in for relaxation and chilling out. Walking around isn’t a waste of your time, which is something I used to think, and it’s often walking around aimlessly where you find things of interest that you would never have known about otherwise.

3) Be wise with currency

I used to change all my cash into the currency of the place I was visiting before I left the country, but I always used to lose out on the exchange rate. Nowadays, I change enough to get me by for a few days and I take the rest to change over once I’m there. The exchange rate is almost always better in resort, and that way I get more cash for my savings, and more to spend on my travels.

4) Shop around for bargains

Whilst it’s tempting to just book and get it all over and done with, I have found that shopping around on price comparison sites is the way forward. Again it’s about saving money, and anything you can keep in your pocket before you leave will benefit you more on the road.

5) Watch flights for a while

As with booking hotels etc, I tend to now find my flight and watch the price for a few days before booking it. Yes, it’s a risk, because the price might go up, but equally the price might go down. I search Skyscanner, find a few that suit, and I check back a few times and watch the fluctuations. It’s not wise to constantly check the price because the traffic on the site will push the price up, but a few times over the space of two or three days should do it.

I guess cramming too much into too short a time span has been the biggest learning curve for me, and this is probably what most beginners do, however learning from your mistakes will truly show you your own personal travel evolution.