Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Take some time to create your own wish list and then get saving to make it happen for you. Don’t forget to save enough for your insurance as well. It would be easy to forgo purchasing cover to save those all-important pennies but this can be a false economy should something go amiss during your trip.

You’ll find that comparison websites such as MoneySupermarket.com can help you to compare deals and make some additional savings that you can put towards your trip of a lifetime, so don’t forget to pay them a visit!

Not sure where to start with your bucket list? Here are some suggestions:

Taj Mahal, India

If you haven’t been to India yet, then there is probably a whole list of places in the country that you would want to see. But definitely one not to miss on any journey is the stunning and iconic Taj Mahal. Built from white marble a long time ago, it is a monument to one of the greatest and most enduring love stories you’ll find and still takes visitors’ breath away to this day (especially during a particularly beautiful sunset when it takes on a pink hew).

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The famous temple in Angkor is a place that most backpackers in Southeast Asia will have on their bucket list. The temple is almost 1000 years old and there’s still a lot of mystery surrounding the people who built it. Angkor Wat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is the national symbol of Cambodia, featuring centrally on the Cambodian flag.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Whether you’re a big fan of Charles Darwin or just a lover of nature, you can’t fail to be drawn to the Galapagos Islands where Mr. Darwin got his first clues about the origins of species. Today it is still a remote and unspoilt habitat, something that you would be hard pushed to find anywhere else on the globe.

Lhasa, Tibet

Once the cultural and spiritual heart of Asia, Tibet is a place where people still have a strong spiritual connection with the earth despite recent troubles. Visit the Potala Palace that sits high on the hill overlooking the city, or visit the Buddhist monks for a bit of spiritual healing yourself.

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

This one has to be on everyone’s top-destinations list. Even if you don’t fancy taking up scuba diving, you can still get a taste of the world’s largest barrier reef and all the life it supports by donning your mask and snorkel for a guided tour of the reef edges.

The Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Looking more like an elaborate theme park or a well-crafted stage set, the Blue Lagoon certainly seems otherworldly, so it’s only appropriate to put it on your list. Everyone should experience the thrill of running barefoot over snow and plunging into the warm waters of the lagoon with snow falling all around them at least once in their lives.

The Great Pyramids, Egypt

It may have become less of an expedition and more of a tourist attraction these days, but the pyramids of Egypt definitely have to be seen to be believed. Escape the crowds and blistering heat by getting an early start and enjoy seeing the sun rise over the Sphinx’s head for a truly magical experience.

Machu Picchu, Peru

Standing at almost 2,500m above sea level, the mountain of Machu Picchu is probably the most well preserved and most breath-taking relic of the Incan Empire. Nestled on the eastern slopes of the Andes and within the Amazon basin, the location has a stunning array of flora and fauna as well as these historical sites.

Visiting Barcelona was a once in a lifetime experience for me. I was very impressed by this city, it is so dynamic and alive. People there seem to make the most out of every second of their lives, and this experience as a backpacker was exactly what I needed.

My main aims for the trip were to enjoy myself in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, to improve my Spanish, take in the culture and admire Gaudi’s masterpieces.

The Official Flag of Barcelona

I’ve been studying Spanish for a while, but I didn’t seem to make much progress as I never had a chance to practice my Spanish in the real world, so I decided that a trip to Barcelona would be perfect for taking my knowledge of the language to the next level.

I started my preparations by choosing a place to stay in the form of a hotel, I didn’t fancy a backpacker hostel since I had a lot of expensive gear with me. To tell the truth it is not an easy task when you are on such a tight budget as I am.

After hours of searching the web I finally decided to book Alba Pension Barcelona, it seemed just perfect and not too expensive. It was only 20 minutes from El Prat International airport and it’s quite close to Liceu Metro Station. The hotel is next to Plaza Cataluna and Museo Picasso. I needed a good location like this, but What tempted me the most was probably the proximity to Sagrada Familia.

Sagrada Familia was the first thing I visited, the Sagrada is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s an extraordinary Gothic architecture designed by Gaudi.

Gaudi spent the last years of his life working on this project but unfortunately when he died only a quarter of the project was completed. Everything in Sagrada Familia is symbolic, the entrances are said to represent the three virtues: Hope, Faith and Love.

The towers at Sagarda Familia display the words “Hosanna”, “Excelsis” and “Sanctus”. These words are written a number of different languages, including Catalan. Tourists may access the Crypt, Nave Museum, Shop, and the Passion and Nativity towers. I got my ticket for this online before I left, but you can buy them at the site too.

Sagrada Familia however is not the only display of Gaudi’s work in this area, other places I wanted to see are Casa Batlló, Casa Milà and Park Güell. Honestly speaking I was more impressed by Sagrada Familia and Park Güell. I spent almost a whole day at Park Güell and it was fantastic.

Gaudi’s main interests were religion, nature and his affection for Catalonian culture, it’s plain to see his passion reflected in his architecture. People from all over the world come here to enjoy this beauty, and I’m glad to say that I was one of them!

Among the most interesting museums I visited in Barcelona were Chocolate museum, Barcelona Rock Museum and Wax and Erotica Museum, I also strolled through Las Ramblas, Passeig del Born, Port Vell, Passeig de Gràcia and went to the bar for a well deserved drink in Carrer Verdi. I think i lost a couple of pounds in weight walking around sightseeing!

During my trip I met a lot of interesting people and we are still keeping in touch on facebook and twitter, it was good to make some Spanish friends too. I did eventually improve my Spanish a bit, but I have a lot of studying still to do to make it better, I’m not quite fluent yet.

I could go on and on writing about how much I enjoyed my stay in Barcelona, because to be absolutely honest I fell in love with this city, and it’s ignited my passion for travel to more Spanish and European cities, there’s so much culture to take in, it could take more than a lifetime.

All these Photos were taken using the basic ‘point and shoot’ cameras that I’ve gone through over the years.

Lipe Beach Resort in Koh Lipe, Thailand

Lipe Beach Resort with Open Top Bathroom

I made a full post about my stay in Lipe Beach Resort, I’ve stayed in beach huts before, and this could have been the most basic one. What struck me about this was the open air bathroom out of the back of the hut, the walls were high enough to be private, but with no roof it made for a good experience to have a shower and go to the toilet in the Thailand sunshine!

Sleeper Buses in Vietnam

Those on the backpacker circuit around Southeast Asia may have encountered these sleeper buses in Vietnam. I went on a few of these going from south to north Vietnam and took on into Laos across the border. The level of comfort is hit-and-miss, some have toilets on-board, some don’t, some are crammed full of people and some you can sprawl out and get comfortable.

Trains in Thailand and Malaysia

On a Sleeper Train in Malaysia

I’ve spent a fair few nights on these sleeper trains in Thailand and Malaysia, and it’s a lot of fun, you tend to get more space than on the sleeper buses and you can get a decent sleep. I once made it a mission to take public transport only from the Cambodia/Thailand border at Poipet all the way down to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, even the small buses to get to the train stations, I succeeded and it was a great experience, check out The Man in Seat Sixty-One for a lot of public transport tips.

In doing that trip from Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur, I also found out the real price of transport, a Tuk Tuk driver from Bangkok train station will try to charge you 100-200 THB for the trip to the Khaosan area, the bus service for the same route cost me 8 THB.

The Deck of a Boat in Flores, Indonesia

During our trip to Komodo Island, we had to spend the night slept out on the deck of a wooden boat, this was a lot of fun, except for a few companions in the form of cockroaches, the experience was just brilliant.

The whole boat trip around Komodo was one of my favourite adventures, the boat even broke in a remote area, with nothing but small desolate islands in view, we had to jump off the boat in our snorkeling gear and help the captain repair the boat underwater. I think sometime in the near future I’ll make a full post about this adventure.

Where I’d Like to Stay

There’s loads of unique accommodation that I’d like to stay in, and a lot of it is in Europe. The ‘Das Park Hotel’ in Austria and Germany is a series of big concrete tubes that have been turned into accommodation, I’d love to stay there.

I’d like to stay in a tree-house hotel somewhere, an ice hotel would be worth checking out too. Scattered all over Europe there’s fun places to stay, there’s classy apartments in Rome, unique backpacker accommodation all over southern Europe, cool flats in Prague, awesome camping experiences and more.

I think it’s fair to say that there’s hundreds of places I want to stay in the world!

What are the Ways to Pay?

Paying Online

Some accommodation websites charge you in advance, some, like LateRooms for example, will take your card details and only charge you after you have checked into your room, this gives you extra peace of mind that you won’t waste money on a dud reservation.

You can often get great deals making reservations online, but it sometimes works both ways and you could get an even better deal walking in and out of accommodation, and asking if they have any cheap rooms available. Taking a look at the room before you agree to spend the night is also a good way to make sure you get a room that you’re happy with, make sure to have your passport or some ID on you when you check into any accommodation anywhere, most places require it.

Paying by Credit Card

When you pay by credit card, in addition to the room cost, often the accommodation will take a refundable deposit from your account and pay it back in after you check out, sometimes this can take a few days.

Almost all reputable establishments will use a trusted company that set up high quality merchant services for hotels, so you won’t need to worry too much about mis-charges or card fraud. If you traveling abroad, always make sure to tell your bank that you’re going, or else they might block it because of suspect activity.

Working for a Room

A lot of backpacker hostels employ backpackers to work for a couple of hours a day and get a bed for free. This is a great way to save money on accommodation, especially if you’re traveling on a tight budget.

If you’re interested in doing this, just ask at the reception desk, if you’re in an area with a lot of hostels, you can walk in and out asking if there’s work available.

Paying by Cash

Sometimes, especially in third-world or developing countries, cash is your only option of paying for your room. If you’re travelling around Indonesia for example, you should always keep some cash on you.

In the western world in countries such as the United States for example, there’s a lot of companies providing easy credit card processing for motels and other accommodation types, but in some parts of the world these companies don’t exist and it can be very expensive for a basic guesthouse to set up a card processing system.

I had planned to spend around four months in Southeast Asia and India, but after spending a few weeks in Indonesia with a Canadian backpacker who’d just come back from a year in Australia, I found myself on an unplanned trip to Australia with a year-long working holiday visa in my hand. I arranged it all from an internet cafe in Bali. I also had infected sores on my leg which just were not healing in the heat and humidity in Bali, so going to Melbourne was a good idea.

My aim was to get to Melbourne since I has family there. Thinking I was all savvy and clever about booking flights, I got a flight to Perth with Jetstar, and on to Melbourne with Tiger Airways, which worked out around half the price of a direct flight.

Landing in Perth, I had a four hour window to catch the flight to Melbourne, but the way things turned out, the flight to Melbourne was delayed, delayed, and delayed some more, making it a wait of over 12 hours.

I’m not sure how long I was awake for, I’d gone down to Kuta Beach in Bali with my Canadian backpacker friend in the morning, waited at Bali airport, took the flight, landed in Perth, waited over 12 hours in Perth and took the flight to Melbourne.

It was dark when I eventually got my bags back, early morning, so I waited and caught the airport bus to Melbourne City, then I had to wait some more in the city until the first trains to Werribee started to run. Werribee is a suburb of Melbourne where my uncle and cousins lived at the time.

So I eventually arrived in Werribee, and started heading on foot to where my Uncles house was, I went there in 2003, so I knew I’d find the place no problem.

The trouble started when I had an epiphany that I never actually remembered how to get there, and how far it was from the main street in Werribee, I never had his address or remembered the name of the street, I couldn’t exactly ask for directions to ‘my uncles house’. The only street I remembered the name of from 2003 was called ‘Gayness’, which was only one street away from my uncles house, but there was no way I was going around asking for Gayness. My phone was also out of batteries and I never had any of my cousins or uncles phone numbers in it anyway, or a sim card that worked over there.

Looking back I think I could have handled this situation a lot better, but in my current state of extreme tiredness and infection, I was just hell-bent on finding my uncles house. I wandered around the main street for a while going in and out of shops looking like a vagabond, complete with a backpack. I even found myself a job doing this, I wandered into the local boxing gym, started chatting to the guy there about boxing, he offered me a job on the docks and gave me a number to call.

Then I went into a supermarket, I needed a drink, something cool, refreshing and full of energy, instead of getting a Red Bull, Gatorade or Lucozade, I bought 1.5 litres of tomato juice.

So, tomato juice in hand, I headed out for another attempt to find my uncles place, after about an hour I realised that if I could find Werribee Racecourse (for horse racing) I was on the right track. I went into Hungry Jacks (Burger King everywhere else), got a whopper and asked where the racecourse was.

It turns out they sent me to a pub called ‘The Racecourse’, so I went into ‘The Racecourse’ and asked where I could find the racecourse. It turned out that you can almost see the racecourse from ‘The Racecource’, this was the only road I hadn’t tried to go down, and you can’t miss it, the racecourse is massive. I must have looked like a right divvy, even without clutching a massive bottle of tomato juice with half of it encrusted around my mouth and down my front.

From there I knew I could find it, and I did, relief! Well I was relieved until nobody was in, I wasn’t my usual quick-thinking self, so I just stood around for ages hoping he’d show up. After a couple of hours, my uncles senile and deaf neighbour showed up, we had a conversation that went something like this;

Hobo Backpacker, Sans the Tomato Juice

“Yes, I’m his nephew from England, near Manchester”

“Where have you come from?”

“England – near Manchester”

“Did you come on the train?”

“No”

After a totally incomprehensible conversation with him, another neighbour showed up with a drink for me and asked me if I wanted to come inside for some food, this pretty much confirmed that I looked like a hobo at that point. I politely said no and explained that I’d earlier had a whopper.

Then another neighbour showed up and explained to me that my uncle spends days at a time over at his girlfriends house “somewhere”, this was the end-game for me and I had to switch to plan B, which I didn’t have. So I left my big backpack covered with the rain cover in the corner of my uncles driveway and headed back out to the main street with my valuables in my daypack to figure out what to do.

I eventually figured if I could get some charge in my phone I could get some numbers and use a payphone to call my family at home, who could give me my uncles mobile number. Now I was thinking! So I looked in and out of restaurants looking for ones that had open power sockets so I could charge my phone, I found some in Pizza Hut, so Pizza it was!

And I made progress, I charged my phone, ate some Pizza, got my uncle Dave’s number and called him from the payphone, he answered and gave me my uncles mobile number, score! So I called my uncle, the phone rang so the number was right, but he didn’t pick up. It was dark by now and I knew I was going to spend the night not-at-my-uncles-house, so I went back to get my big backpack and got the train back to the city.

I wanted to contact my Australian cousins on Facebook, so you would have thought once I was in the city I’d just go to a backpacker hostel, use their internet and get some sleep. But I didn’t, in my stupor of not thinking straight I went back to the airport because I knew they had internet terminals, I did contact my cousins though.

I checked into an airport hotel and my card didn’t go through, they let me call my bank and it turns out that someone was still taking money out of my account in Indonesia whilst I was in Australia, so they blocked it. I can’t really remember much at this point, but the bank told the hotel what they wanted to hear so I stayed. Then in the morning I checked my Facebook across the way at the airport and my cousin had responded with more contact numbers.

So my uncle picked up this time and I said “Hi John, I’m in Melbourne” and I spent a year over there, it’s probably the best year I’ve had so far. Looking back at this situation, it shows how fatigue can affect your mind. Tomato juice was a terrible choice and I could have avoided this whole situation by going to a hostel straight away and sorting things out. I wouldn’t have got that job though, or had a worthwhile story to tell.

I’ve been to Australia, Southeast Asia and a few places in Europe, but I have never been to Africa, the USA or South America. There’s plenty of places in these regions that I’d like to see, but still a lot in Europe and countries I’ve been to.

Italy: I've been but want to go back for more!

Take Italy for example, I’ve already been around parts of the country and loved it, but would still like to visit more places like Sicily and take in more of the coastal areas. Below you can check out some more of the places I want to visit at some point.

Tromsø, Norway

I’ve already been to Norway, mainly around the Oslo area, but the town of Tromsø is high on my list. Guaranteed northern lights going hand in hand with an amazing looking city is right up my alley! I know this won’t be the cheapest trip in the world, but I really think it would be worth it.

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

I’d love to go camping in the Kelowna area of British Columbia in summer, the scenery looks amazing, around Osoyoos Lake might be the spot I’d choose to pitch my tent. With the hiking, watersports and wineries around, I’d put money on the fact that I’d enjoy this place.

This area of BC is very popular with local residents from Canada and across the border in the United States, and with a simple read of an online or offline travel guide you can see why, there’s so much to do here.

Park City, Utah, United States

Park City in Utah is at the foot of the Rocky Mountain Range, looks like the perfect place to learn to Ski and Snowboard, the area has been the venue of the Winter Olympic Games. I’ve always wanted to visit somewhere like this.

I think I’d work this within a trip around the state of Utah, the whole state looks like it’s worth visiting, I’d go and see the famous Salt Lake too. A perfect trip around Utah followed by a stay in some of the great-looking lodging in Park City by the Rocky Mountains sounds like a great idea for a trip.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The Galapagos are self-explanatory, it’s a place that not many people would pass up on the chance to visit. It’s not only the amazing wildlife I’d like to see, because I’ve been having a look at some photos and the beaches on some of the islands look simply magnificent.

Rome made me want to go back to Paris!

Since I can say I’ve been ‘in to travel’ I’ve been to some big European cities in Germany, Italy and Norway, all these trips were great, but made me more unsatisfied with my two trips to France and increased my eagerness to visit Paris once again.

When looking at the city in online and offline travel guides, there’s so much to do, a simple look at some of the Paris attractions tickets on offer can give you an idea of the fun, culture and sightseeing that’s on offer in the city. Paris isn’t a city that’s famous for being cheap, but if you’re smart you can book accommodation at reasonable rates and invest in things like the ‘Paris Pass’, you can enjoy the city without spending a lot.

The ‘Paris Pass’ is something that backpackers will be interested in, and something that I will consider buying when I’m heading to the city again. The Pass gives you a Paris Metro Card, which has the potential to save you a lot of money on transport and getting around, also included is admission to some of the top attractions in the area, such as the famous Musée du Louvre.

Even though I’ve already been, I think a fun idea would be to visit Disneyland Paris again, it’s not just for kids, adults can enjoy it just as much. There’s a Universal Studio’s within the park and I remember the Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster was a brilliant ride!

I think Paris is a city where there’s something for everybody, you can enjoy a night out, eat some great food, take in some of the sightseeing culture, or get some Moulin Rouge tickets and enjoy the local shows. It’s worth taking a look at the calendar of attractions and shows on before you visit, so you’re aware of what’s on and at what time so you don’t miss anything.

Overall I’d say revisiting Paris is pretty high on my travel ‘to-do list’, and I’d consider working it within a trip around France to visit some of the other cities in this fascinating country. A north-to-south loop followed ending with a relaxing on the beach in the city of Nice in the south sounds good to me! I’d maybe even visit Monte Carlo whilst I’m there.

Late deals exist simply because the hotels, airlines and travel companies have empty seats on flights and empty hotel rooms that they want to fill up. As the date of these empty slots draw near, they often launch heavily cut prices in order to secure bookings and gain customers.

Southern Europe is where a lot of bargains can become available, usually when the high season starts to wind down a lot of late travel deals become available. Even though most rock-bottom rates for travel are in the low season, you can still find some great late holiday deals during peak season (generally the summer holidays).

Destinations

Most people are looking for some sun in southern Europe, to take in the culture, dance the night away or simply relax. There’s countless places to visit in Europe where all this is on offer, but here’s a couple of highlights you might want to consider checking out.

Croatia

Croatia has a lot to offer tourists, and over the past few years as the public has become more familiar with it, has lead it to quickly become one of Europe’s leading tourist destinations. Croatia can be cheap or expensive, it’s really up to you how much you’d like to spend, there’s plenty of backpacker hostels and luxury hotels to choose from.

Aside from the rich culture and amazing city life, Croatia has an outstanding stretch of coastline that is geographically opposite the east coast of Italy. Along this coast there’s a lot of beaches and islands that can make for an exciting adventure or a relaxing beach holiday.

The Canary Islands

The Canaries are a beautiful and exotic set of Spanish islands, that lie off the west cost of the African continent. You can often find late deals to grab yourself a bargain holiday in the Canary Islands if you keep on the lookout for cheap rates.

The islands are popular with all kinds of travelers, from regular holidaymakers to sightseers and backpackers. You won’t be sort of something to do here, and most importantly, it’s sunny most of the year so you can escape a dreary winter and experience some Spanish culture throughout the calendar.

Edinburgh

Sightseeing

There’s a hell of a lot of sightseeing to be had in Edinburgh, and make sure you bring plenty of extra memory cards for your camera too. If you’re going to see all the main sights and get around the city a lot, it’s worthwhile looking into buying an Edinburgh Pass.

The Edinburgh Pass is popular with backpackers and other budget travellers and can save you a lot of money on transport as well as sites and museums. You also get the Guidebook included which has useful tips on what to see and do around the city, and discounts on some bars, restaurants, and shops. The Pass costs 29 GBP for one day, and discounts are given if you buy more days, it’s worthwhile, as you could save somewhere between 100 and 200 Pounds if you make the most of it.

Some of the main sites in Edinburgh worth seeing include Edinburgh Castle, St Giles’s Cathedral, Gladstone’s land, The Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh zoo, and the Rosslyn Chapel which featured in the famous ‘Da Vinci Code’ book and movie of the same name.

Accommodation

What also attracts a lot of visitors to the area is the fact that there is a great selection of hotels in Edinburgh to choose from, the the George hotel Edinburgh is a good choice, and there’s a few decent backpacker hostels in the area to choose from as well. The accommodation isn’t as cheap as a lot of places in the rest of the UK, but it’s worth paying a little extra to see such an interesting and historic city.

Staying in the New or old Town districts, you will be in the heart of the action, but it’s worth checking out some of the accommodation in the Stockbridge Karen Mills district for some classic boutique options.

Shopping

The main shopping area in Edinburgh is the new term district, which dates back to Georgian times. Newtown is that commercial centre of Edinburgh, and is where most of the high street shops located.

The Stockbridge Karen Mills district has some interesting boutique stores, where you can pick up some delightful, unique, and exclusive items that you won’t find anywhere else. The perfect place to pick up a souvenir for your stay.