Travel Resources

Travel resources for your next trip. From travel packing lists and how much to budget for your travels to being aware of your surroundings and keeping healthy while you’re away. Forward planning isn’t always easy, so we’re here to help.

7 Simple Tips To Be a More Responsible Traveller

Responsible travel means making environmentally, socio-culturally and economically aware travel choices. Knowing how to plan a responsible travel trip can seem like an absolute mission though, especially if there’s not a lot of time to read and research or you’re not sure where to start.

If you bring up the topic of responsible travel, more often than not people wrinkle their nose or shrug it off. Over time I’ve learned that this isn’t because they don’t care about the environment, wildlife and local people, it’s because it’s hard to know what choices are best.

6 mins read

How to Keep Fit and Stay Healthy While Travelling

Between the odd long haul flight, seemingly endless bus journeys and train rides across countries, and small towns where you end up just snacking on white buns and pre-packaged foods when passing through, travelling can sometimes leave you feeling unfit and unhealthy.

If you don’t take good care of your body while travelling, you can wind up feeling exhausted. It’s natural for travellers to want to make the most of their time in a new place and pack in as much sightseeing as possible. Too often though, that’s at the expense of their health and fitness and eventually leads to a complete travel burnout.

7 mins read

Female Travellers – You Need a Good Bra for Travelling

This is is going to sound like madness.

When I hiked up Volcan Concepcion on Ometepe Island under the hot Nicaraguan sun, not only had I just got food poisoning from eating some bad black beans but I also wasn’t wearing a proper bra. I wasn’t even wearing a real bra at all. Instead I’d cut an old, bedraggled vest top in half with straps that were wearing thin and was wearing that under my t-shirt. Let me tell you, that is not a good idea.

3 mins read

Feeling Lost at Home and at Home on the Road

It’s a strange thing to admit to yourself: that you can feel at home on the road and just kind of lost in the familiar place that you know as home.

It’s a feeling that I’ve only just come to realise since travelling home to the UK from Nicaragua a couple of weeks ago. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like being at home because I do really miss my family when I’m away and I do appreciate the comfortable feeling that comes with being home. It’s just that I never made my home here.

I never got that job commuting into London, I never moved into that first time flat, and I never decided that it was time to settle. When I graduated from university, I moved abroad with Luke almost right away. We spent a year teaching in Taiwan, and sure we worked full-time and lived in an apartment like most people do, but we also travelled a lot.

3 mins read

The Cult Behind Hospedaje Central on Ometepe Island

“We originally came to Ometepe to work at the Hospedaje Central,” said the homeowner, “that was before we heard the rumours of the violent cult going on behind it.”

When we arrived back on Ometepe Island, we were tired, thirsty and ready to put our feet up. We dumped our bags and headed right over to Hospedaje Central (also known as El Indio Viejo) for some passionfruit juice and cheap Tonas. The hostel is one of the bigger and more lively joints in town, attracting a lot of young, free-spirited backpackers. Rainbow coloured ribbons hang from wide basket lamp shades, the walls are shabby and the ceiling is exposed bare barn house timbers. Everything is painted in bright colours, from the bar stools to the murals on the walls.

3 mins read

How We Went from Rookies to Long-Term Travellers

When we set off on our indefinite travel adventure to Costa Rica, we didn’t know what to expect. Eight months later and we’re long-term travellers. So how did it happen?

When we left the UK in May last year, we didn’t have all that much. We had a little money saved from our year teaching in Taiwan, a one-way plane ticket and our first ever house sit lined up. We knew that, at worst, we had enough money to last us for two months of travel. If we had to come home and rethink our plans after that, then well, we would’ve had a great holiday. Any amount of time we were able to stay travelling after that was a bonus. Right now, we’re into 6 bonus months and still going strong. Here’s how it happened.

6 mins read

Will an English Degree Help Me to Become a Writer?

Reader Question: I noticed you went to school for English. I was wondering if you think your degree helped you to become a writer?

I always knew that I wanted to study English at university. I chose it because it’s actually the only subject I ever excelled at in school. Looking back at my tuition debt of £17,000 now and the 6 hours of contact time I had each week, I still struggle to decide whether that was a good enough reason for deciding to study English.

7 mins read

I Want To Travel, But What If I Run Out of Money?

Reader Question: I’ve decided that I want to travel. I have zero attachment to material things, I’m a really simple person, calm, easy going and minimalist. The only thing that stops me from starting my trip is knowing that I won’t have any income and the only thing I fear is to put myself in a really bad situation, I want to prevent that.I’m thinking of what could happen if a run out of the money that I have managed to save (which isn’t much). The only thing that has occurred to me is to use Couchsurfing to find a place to stay and try to find a temporary job wherever I go. I also thought of doing WOOFing.My journey starts in January. I have a flight to France and that’s the place to start for me. I’m planning to travel around Europe. For now I can speak English, Spanish, a bit of Italian and I’m learning French!What would you suggest to me?

7 mins read

The Generosity of Strangers Has Made Our Travels Possible

Our travels have been made possible thanks to the incredible generosity of strangers from all over the world. To all of you, we want to say thank you.

When I say that our travels are only possible thanks to the generosity of some incredible people that we’ve met during our journey, I mean it. I have never in my life felt some overwhelmed than when I think of all the people who have opened their homes and their hearts to me and Luke on the road. From families in Poland to eco-lodgers in Costa Rica, we’ve been welcomed and supported by strangers from all over the world. It is thanks to you that we have been able to keep travelling.

5 mins read

How Much Does It Cost to Travel Bocas del Toro, Panama on a Budget? [Infographic]

The Panamanian island of Bocas del Toro isn’t the friendliest of places for a budget traveller, but keeping travel costs down is still do-able.

When we were travelling in Puerto Viejo we decided to hop across to Bocas del Toro for a week. As expected our travels in Bocas del Toro stretched our budget way more than Nicaragua and a little more than Costa Rica. These expenses are just for Bocas del Toro, not for Panama as a whole. We’re travelling in mainland Panama for a month over Christmas and New Year, so it will be interesting to see how the two compare.

3 mins read

Do I Need a TEFL to Teach English in Taiwan?

Plenty of companies out there are trying to sell people qualifications for teaching English abroad. But are the courses worth the asking price?

No, is the short answer. You don’t need any teaching qualifications whatsoever to teach English in Taiwan. With teaching gigs offering full time employment in an interesting profession and excellent pay compared to the price of living, it’s little wonder many English speakers are considering leaving their home country.

6 mins read

How to Travel: Good, Cheap and Fast

If there’s one lesson I’ve learned from the road, it’s that when you travel you can have two of the above, but not all three…

Anyone here familiar with the ‘iron triangle?’ Originally a management term, it’s also a useful way to plan your travels, wherever you are going and whatever you plan to do. It suggests that when we undertake a travel project, whether that’s volunteering in Poland or backpacking through Vietnam, we can have whichever two sides of the triangle we want, but not all three.

In other words: if you want to travel in a way that is good and fast, then it won’t be cheap. If you want it cheap and fast, then it won’t be good. Or you can have it good and cheap, but you sacrifice speed.

5 mins read