Backpacker's Guide to the Galaxy

Q: Please give advice for international traveling as a single woman in her 30s. (Mendacious)

A: Whee! I can wax on this topic for quite some time, so I hope you aren't sorry you asked. Please email me if any of you have any specific questions I can help out with (any of you, not just Mendacious. Mendacious - Pen has my email if you need it.). As always, tips from the readers are much appreciated!

1. DO NOT BE AFRAID. Just do it. For the most part, traveling alone as a young woman is pretty straightforward. It's a little scarier than being with a group - not only because there is safety in numbers but because often it's a little easier to sort of get out there and try things when there's someone to do it with. Alone, it sometimes takes a little more guts to just get out there and figure out the damn bus schedule, how to order, or where to rent a bike. Once you've done it, though, you've done it, and you will feel so empowered, so awesome that the next time it will be just that much easier. And so what if you make an ass of yourself? I've done it a number of times, but I eventually got where I needed to go or did what I needed to do. (Plus, great story later0. Also in the vein of do not be afraid - do things you wouldn't normally do - getting outside your comfort zone can have huge rewards.


2. DO NOT BE STUPID. Be careful. Use common sense - don't go out alone at night, don't wear flashy jewelry, do not advertise yourself as tourist as best as you can (i.e. looking at maps on the street corner, wearing a fanny pack, wearing a giant American flag). Before you leave your room or restaurant or current location, figure out where you need to go next and how to get there. Walk confidently. If you lose your bearings, be as secretive as possible about looking at a map - duck into a store or cafe if you can. Going out at night always sucks the most if you travel alone, but I've found that staying in hostels is a great way to meet others in a similar circumstance who can help you form a group for the evening. Common sense and gut feeling are my go-tos for safety, though. Don't be afraid of adventure, but be smart about it.


3. OPEN UP. This is part of #1 Do not be afraid. Talk to people, who cares if they think you're stupid? You'll probably not see them again like, ever. If they are alone, more than likely they are dying for a conversation, too. Sometimes I have problems with this one because I can shut myself off pretty easily if I want to, but 9 times out of 10, if I try to be outgoing and meet new people it turns into a great decision and leads to better experiences!


3. LEAVE ROOM FOR WANDERING. Don't plan it all out in advance. Sure, a general itinerary and idea of where/what you're doing is good. But sometimes you'll meet someone or hear about this awesome other thing to do and you'll want to leave yourself room to be impulsive or to check out this thing you've never heard of. Whenever I've just sort of followed the adventure is when I've had the most fun of all. Let yourself veer from the path if a good opportunity presents itself.


4. LONELY PLANET/RESEARCH. I'm a huge fan of the Lonely Planet guidebook series; In Australia I referred to it as "The Bible." Yeah, I don't want to do every single thing it's laid out for me, but it's extremely helpful in informing you of the "not to miss" stuff and also pretty good for accommodations as well. Sometimes I feel more comfortable if I book a room or bed ahead of time, so this is also good for checking out hostels and hotels before you get to a train station and need a place to park your shit before you go exploring. Maybe Lonely Planet isn't your cup of tea - you can try Let's Go, Frommer's, Rick Stevens, Fodor's, Roughguide. . .the list is endless. There is probably a guidebook out there to match everyone's personality; you've just got to find yours.


5. PACK LIGHTLY! You don't need a hairdryer. No really. LISTEN. TO. ME. Except for my last trip to SF when the hotel hairdryer didn't work and I was eternally grateful that Ash had brought one along, your hotel will probably have a hairdryer. If you're in a hostel, you're with the grungy kids anyway and are doing some hardcore exploring, so once again, even wet hair can be dealt with. Plus, if it's international, you've got to deal with the outlet thing...and just trust me, probably better off without a hairdryer. Ditto for the 8 pairs of shoes and 9 pairs of pants. The less you have to cart around on an extended trip the better. Of course, if you're doing it up VIP style and have events to go to, etc, well ok, but for your average travel expedition, the less the better. Besides, you want to leave room for all the cool stuff you're going to bring home.


6. TAKE DRUGS. This isn't so important if you're going to be in the US, but anytime I've been abroad, someone has gotten a cold or a headache or some minor malady which is easily dealt with at home. In a foreign country, especially where you don't speak the language, it's an ordeal, an ordeal you don't want to handle because you're sick and you didn't come here to traipse through pharmacies. Take some ibuprofen and standard cold remedies - you'll be glad you did. Oh, and band-aids. Band-aids are never a bad idea and neither is diarrhea medicine.


7. DRINK WATER. Know your water situation - is it potable or not? Most industrial nations, tap water shouldn't be a problem, but elsewhere you should look into that. Water drinking will help keep you healthy, so start on the plane!


8. WRITE A JOURNAL. This one was hard for me because it would sometimes take sooo llooonng to write out everything that had happened. Then I switched to bullet points and key words. What a difference that made! Even if I was writing about feelings, sometimes just phrases and half-sentences was so much faster than really pouring it all out. But, sometimes that's part of the fun - like if you're at a coffee shop and just want to sip and chill.


9. DON'T TAKE TOO MANY PICTURES. This may seem counter-intuitive, but unless photography is your thing and the act of taking the pictures is part of the fun, take a few shots and then put the camera down. Experience the moment. Live it. Don't view it through your lens. What if your camera is stolen - how will you remember what that waterfall looked like or how the mountains could take your breath away? You need take that moment into your being. Also, take interesting pictures. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I would come back with a bunch of crappy pictures of statues and buildings I had no idea what the hell they were. For me photos were about documentation, not about photography - which is fine, but snooze city to look at. Then I started including something interesting - even if it was a funny face or my stuffed kiwi or a man in a strange hat - and it made a huge difference. Since I'm not a photog, this also made the picture-taking itself more fun.


10. PLASTIC BAGS. Wrap all your liquid products in plastic bags. Then wrap those plastic bags in plastic bags. DO. IT. I don't care if the product is encased in steel with reinforced caps. Wrap that shit. In Brazil after a long day of flying and traveling, I found out that my shampoo, conditioner, and lotion all exploded inside my backpack. Yeah. Learned this lesson the hard way. Luckily, they did have one layer of plastic bags, so the damage was minimal, but still could've been avoided. Take some extra plastic bags, too. Dirty underwear needs a place to live. Normally I hate on plastic, but with traveling, I stockpile.


11. HAVE FUN! Seriously. Don't get too caught up in the aspects of traveling that can become frustrating - transportation, hotels, lost baggage. Take it all with a grain of salt. You're there to enjoy yourself, so even if you're in a shitty situation, try to laugh at it. Imagine what an awesome cocktail party story you're going to have when you make it through alive. Make the best of a situation. Once someone stole my camera on the way to a deserted island (sort of deserted - no ATMs or paved roads) and when we arrived there was a storm and blackout. We read stories and drank wine to pass the time and it is one of my most favorite memories ever.


12. LIBRARIES = FREE INTERNET. It's a fact of life these days. When you travel, you sometimes need to connect to the web. For simple communication with home, for travel research, or simply to soothe the soul every once in awhile. Most libraries have free internet, so skip the internet cafe and save some change at the library.


13. ROLL 'EM UP. More clothes fit into your bag if you roll them into taquitos rather than folding them. Some people say this prevents wrinkling. I call those people morons. It totally wrinkles the clothes, but who cares?