Project Runaway

Our dear friends and fellow travelers, one-giant-step.com, tagged us in a blog challenge to reveal our Three Travel Secrets. After 7 months and 2 weeks these are the tips that I would like to share.

Rent Serviced apartments when staying for longer periods in a location. This is the one tip that I can’t stress enough. Traveling is hard work and there are times when sleeping in one more dorm or mediocre guesthouse may cause you to attempt to chew your arm off.There is something comforting and grounding about having an apartment in a strange city. You get to know the neighbourhood and markets. Eating at restaurants and hawker stalls can get old so to be able to cook a home cooked meal with fabulous local ingredients is like chicken soup to the soul. We rented apartments in Italy, Turkey, and Spain. All were stylish and comfortable and fully stocked. They all had a washing machine (Hallelujah!!) and *gasp* one even had a dryer! And the best part, if you take for a week or more you can negotiate for a price and we have had some amazing deals.

These are some sites we used to find apartments:

http://www.homeaway.com/

http://www.homelidays.com/

Don’t be afraid to rent a car even if it is in Italy. The process is easy and believe it or not most countries are better drivers than North Americans. Yes, they do drive fast but as it was pointed out to me drivers in many countries drive cooperatively where in North America it appears to be competitively. Often the usual train, taxi, bus, mini-bus, or tuk tuk is just not an option for some areas you may want to explore. We have driven in Italy and Asia, and what I learned was to keep a steady pace and not to panic. Italy has many roundabouts which I am comfortable with and I had no problems driving from Lucca to the beach one day and another day up into the mountains.

Often the cost is much cheaper than public transportation. For example, for 4 us to take the train from Lucca to Rome, then from Rome–>Naples–>Sorrento, then Sorrento–>Naples–>Bari worked out to over $900 cdn. The car rental, with one way drop off and unlimited mileage was under $600 cdn. It was a no-brainer.

Here is the company I used exclusively in Europe:

http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com/

The Boy Scout motto is Be Prepared. For the Scouts this means in body and in mind. In body means to make yourself strong and active and for traveling, healthy.  In mind means having thought out potential situations and and being prepared for it. When you are traveling for a great length of time you are bound to get sick or hurt, the law of averages is just there. As there are 4 of us and we tend to like adventure and adventurous food. This is the contents of our emergency supply kit:

• Charcoal tablets – charcoal tablets can relieve flatulence, gassy bloating, heartburn and upset stomachs
• Buscopan – relaxes the cramped muscles of the digestive tract, and therefore relieves the spasms that cause abdominal pain.
• Dramamine- used to prevent nausea and motion sickness
• Claritin – allergies
• Electrolyte  drink powder
• Penicillin
• Throat Lozenges
• Ibuprofen
• Baby Wipes – bathrooms in Asia can be shocking always handy to have
• Toilet Paper – see above!
• Hand Sanitizer – also part of above!
• Most importantly – a bottle of spirits ‘XXX’, research shows that it helps fight food poisoning and boredom