Dan's Adventure

I’m not really one for big goodbyes, they always seem so final. I much prefer “see you later” or an Arnie style “I’ll be back”.
The first “see you later” was with my parents yesterday. They came and saw me off at Glasgow airport where I was catching a flight down to London. They have been fantastically supportive of my around the world trip and have some how managed to put up with me living at home for the last 4 months after being away for close to 9 years! Thanks …

Travel guides are often a point of contention; should you or shouldn’t you take one? I personally choose to use them, Lonely Planet’s in particular, but only as a point of reference. When arriving in a new destination, the maps and recommended accommodation lists can prove to be very useful, especially when you don’t arrive until late in the day. Although often out of date, the general information on sights and local attractions can also be handy.
Apart from a few weeks travelling through Italy, France and Spain several years ago, …

My West Highland Way experience was a good test run as it made me realise that I was planning to take too much with me. I’ve probably still got more than I need, but it means I don’t need to do washing every day and I’ve still managed to get my rucksack packed with room to spare.
The most difficult decisions were the ones concerning footwear. I originally considered taking just a pair of sandals and a pair of trekking trainers, but that would lead to the sandals getting a bit …

Following my time in Africa, I will be heading to Asia, with India being the first stop. As I explained in a previous post, travelling by train in India is extremely popular and is in fact the easiest way to travel the vast distances between cities. I considered for some time whether to book tickets in advance, there by tying myself to a schedule, or whether to wing it and hope that I could get tickets as I go. In the end I made the decision to book the tickets …

I’ve survived almost four months of living at home, and have gone from counting down weeks to counting down days. It is now only ten days until my adventure begins!
I still have a few small things to do before I go, but everything major was done months ago. My pre-trip todo list currently looks like this:

Copy music onto netbook and import to itunes.
Format external hard disks.
Scan travel documents and store copies on netbook, external hard disks, usb stick and webmail.
Print copies of travel documents for parents.
Book trains for India
Scan the …

When I made the decision to go travelling, I knew that I had to cut out my highest expenses and find alternatives to save money. I thought it would useful to others to share the top five ways that I have increased my travel fund over the last few months.

Find cheaper accommodation – If you are renting, chances are the rent is your largest expense each month so it makes sense to try and reduce it. Until March I had decided to rent property in London and was paying a …

Whether you are going away for a week or a year, it pays to know how to get more foreign currency for your money. It makes sense to get the best deal on foreign currency before you leave and to have a cost effective means of managing your travel money whilst abroad.
Before departing, shopping around for the best exchange rate can save you a considerable amount of money, especially if you are exchanging larger amounts. In general, banks do not offer the most competitive exchange rates. Travel Money Max can …

When travelling, passport photos are an essential item. For every country you enter and require a visa for you will typically need one or two passport photos for the visa application. There are plenty of places that will be happy to take a photo of you and give you passport sized prints for a few pounds, but this is a bit of a rip off. My last set cost me £4.50 for only 4 prints. A far cheaper and easier way to get passport photos is to make your own. …