If you’ve been over to our About Us page you’ll know that one of the reasons we started this blog was because we found other travel blogs so useful when planning our trip, and we wanted to contribute something ourselves. With that in mind, I’ve recently been in touch with a few of our favourite travel writers and asked them to share their top tip or piece of advice for other travellers. We’ve had some great responses and we even bumped into Will Hatton of The Broke Backpacker whilst in Colombia, who also offered us his favourite tip! Check them out, if you would like your tip included comment below or drop us a message!

The Travel Hack (Monica Stott)

“My favourite travel hack is a simple one – Pack as light as you possibly can. Packing light saves you money on checking-in luggage but it also makes traveling easier and more enjoyable. You don’t have the stress of being separated from your luggage during any journey, you can arrive at airports later, it’s much easier to get around and you’re less likely to lose anything. Admittedly, it took me years to learn the art of packing light and I thought it was impossible to look stylish with minimal baggage. The trick is to only pack one pair of shoes, one pair of trousers/pants and just a couple of tops and you’re good to go.”

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Relokate (Kate Jordan)

Don’t follow the obvious route! Before booking flights for your trip, you should research train, bus, ferry and car options beforehand. Sure you’ll probably have to travel for longer, but the route will most likely be cheaper and a lot more scenic, which ultimately will make it more enjoyable for you. It’s also worth checking online (Couchsurfing, Lonely Planet, etc.) for other people who may be travelling to the same place as you and seeing if you can organise a group ticket or car share. Save your pennies for more important things, like enjoying your destination!

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Our Big Fat Travel Adventure (Amy and Andrew)

Try not to get too stressed out when planning a big trip, don’t get bogged down in the details, focus on the key aspects such as deciding which countries you want to visit and finding out what the visa restrictions for those countries are. To get the cheapest prices we book flights as far ahead as we can but we also try to have some flexibility in our schedule as there have been plenty of times when we’ve left a place early or ended up visiting somewhere we had never originally considered going. It’s really important to make sure you have back-up cards for your bank accounts and make sure you know all your internet banking passwords before you leave home; we have an emergency credit card too which has helped on the very rare occasions when we haven’t been allowed to pay by debit card.

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The Broke Backpacker (Will Hatton)

No matter where you go, always take a headtorch! Whether you end up in a flooded cave, hitching in the dark or searching for vodka in your tent… A headtorch is always worth having!! Other than a headtorch, a multi-tool is super useful, especially if your cooking a lot or camping. If you wanna travel on the cheap, it is totally possible to spend almost nothing – the magic combination is hitchhiking, Couchsurfing and dumpster diving – just be aware that although fun, the stuff that legends are made of and just a little bit mental this combination can take its toll – you will be tired and hungry at times. Try and save enough money to treat yourself every now and again, it’s definitely worth making the effort.

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Mapping Megan (Megan and Mike Jerrard)

Our top travel tip is to leave your itinerary with someone you trust, and this is a tip which should apply to everyone and every trip. No matter what your age, never underestimate the importance of letting someone at home know where you will be. It doesn’t make you any less independent, or any less “cool” – in the event that things go wrong, and things do go wrong sometimes when you’re traveling – you’ll have someone who can immediately act to air and assist, or even attempt to locate you. Read Megan’s post on this topic HERE.

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The Wondernuts (Frank and Nicole)

If you’re up for it, walking is a really great way to see a city. By walking, we can experience a city on a personal level. There is no greater feeling than the interaction with our surrounding using all five senses (six if you can see dead people). We average about ten miles (16km) a day on our travels.

In Paris one day, we decided to take a walk back to our hotel that was about 3.5 miles away. Somehow, we wandered into a marionette shop in the corner of we-don’t-know-where that happened to be there for a few generations. Granted, we couldn’t really afford a thing in the shop, but we had a really fun conversation with the shop owner and a hands on tutorial on how to use the puppets. It was one of the most accidental memorable moments of our trips. If you’re capable, walking distances of about three miles between places can really open your eyes to the heart of the city, and it burns calories!

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As you may know, Sarah and I are a couple and traveling as a couple is notoriously difficult. Confined spaces, spending a lot of time together and the stress of physically traveling can take its toll on a relationship, so when we got in touch with Mike and Luci of The Fighting Couple, they gave us some great tips on staying sane when traveling as a duo (I also think this is completely applicable for friends, too!).

The Fighting Couple (Mike and Luci)

One of the key travel hacks for traveling couples is to go solo! This doesn’t mean what you might think it means…set some time as you travel together to spend time apart. We like to travel together for the first few days, then, candidly we need a little break. We typically add in a day on our own midtrip. Individually we go see some sights or do some activities that the other person is not all that into. This approach accomplishes two things, one it allows us more time to see the things we would like to see together. It also helps the relationship mojo. It is a win/win for couples! Fight on!

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So there you have it, some great tips from travel writers around the World. Dont forget, if you would like yours included comment below or drop us a Tweet! If you liked this post, you might also like our list of Essential Travel Items.