Backpacking advice

[larkstar]

If you've done any backpacking in the last few years do you have any advice on how to stay safe, how to avoid having your belongings pinched, scams to be aware of at places where tourists arrive in numbers and stick out like a sore thumb like train stations, airports, waiting for taxis, arriving at hotels etc. My DD and her bf are both quitting jobs in the NHS (partly due to post COVID stress and disillusionment and also having money saved to buy property - then deciding not to as the housing market was so crazy).

They have flights booked for 2 of their 3 planned trips abroad - but still no insurance in spite of my mentioning it several times. First is to Vietnam, Thailand, Nepal and India, (4 months) second is to New Zealand, Australia and maybe some other places on that region (another 4 months) - the third trip to South America hasn't been nailed down yet but my DD did some climbing (at altitude) in a remote part of Peru - she is naturally quite daring but I think she lacks a bit of life experience - she's had things pinched from hostels in Peru. Her bf has travelled to India 5-6 years ago. They are on top of their vaccinations. I just wondered if anyone had any recent first hand experience worth sharing.

TIA

Is BF boyfriend or best friend? Because the advice for women travelling is different to a couple.

Meant to say, insurance, I like World Nomads. You can include such activities as camel riding but not BASE jumping! It's made for adventurous travelling and not wildly expense. Repatriation, which I think is a must.

Airports and train stations, with a rucksack you will stand out. Definitely. My tip for day pack is to get little bells (I bought them somewhere wildly exotic) and clip them from the zips. Anyone tries to open the zip, you will hear it.

I don't bother with rucksack security devices. But I do take a really grubby old pack. It's a good one but ever since it got covered in paint crossing the Mekong in a boat, it's been a lot less attractive to tea leafs. It makes you look travel hardened. Same as having a tan. Shiny new packs, which cost the average annual per capital income of the countries you're in are always going to be attractive.

Take as little as possible. Don't take jeans, far top hot in humid SE Asia.
Don't take valuables. The fewer you carry tge less vigilant u need to be!
Crime is more common in S America than SE Asia (this is from my own and friends' experiences). Anyone can be unlucky anywhere. SE Asia is great starting place.
Buy clothes when they get there from the markets, this makes them look like they've been there a while.
They do need insurance tho!
Hope they have a brilliant time!

Money belt for valuables worn under clothes is a good idea, scan all documents and store both in the cloud and leave hard copies with you. Adequate insurance including any risky activities (that's on your radar already) and the hardest advice is not to drink too much because most the horror stories we read about involve drunk young people. One thing we do when travelling is to have the instructions we need printed out (old school I know) but means you aren't standing there with an £800 smart phone in your hand trying to find the document. You get the next set of instructions ready before getting off your transport, transport hubs are the riskiest places. I've also taken advantage of walk google street view in advance so I don't feel overwhelmed on arrival.

I traveled a fair amount including poorer places and never had issues. Just booked another backpacking type trip (only 3 weeks due to work unfortunately) but i will be dragging my bag these days, I travel light but wheely case!

They need insurance that covers them for extended trips - most annual policies have 31 - 45 day limits so won’t be any use. If they are planning to do anything classified as dangerous sports then they will need a specialist policy covering these.

YY to using phones - if you need to use it don’t stand on the edge of the street where passing motorcyclists could grab it, Probably best to take an older phone that it wouldn’t be a disaster to lose. And back up your photos so that when you do have your phone nicked you don’t lose everything (looking at you DS ).

Lots of very useful info here.
@MrsTerryPratchett BF is boyfriend (of nearly 5 years). They're 27 & 28.

Zipper bells - ingenious!

@gogomoto DD is a party animal and drinks harder than I would like - this is part of the reason I worry about her but her boyfriend is a calming level headed influence - more cautious generally. She has a very high stress job - I don't blame her for needing to de-stress - I do worry though but what can you do!? She's always lived life in the fast lane.

I’ve never had anything nicked while travelling. She needs to make sure she’s using the hostel lockers and bringing a padlock in case they don’t have them included. That and making sure she doesn’t get blind drunk will go most of the way to protecting things. I’ve got a bag that goes over my rucksack so that the straps don’t get caught on flight carousels etc but it’s also useful for anti-theft on transport as it means the pockets aren’t easily accessible. If possible she should keep her bag close on the bus etc rather than out of sight at the back/on top/underneath - it’s best to take as small a bag as possible to facilitate this.

I second World Nomads for insurance although I’ve never needed to claim.

I think it's a good idea to read the Foreign Office travel advice for the countries they are visiting. If there are any pitfalls that are affecting a particularly high number of British tourists, the Foreign Office may well warn about them.

I had my entire rucksack stolen from the luggage rack at the front of the local bus on the very last leg of my journey home in rural Africa when I had let my guard down. It was a nightmare at the time but I look back now and think some very poor villager had an excellent haul of new undies from m and s, a years worth of toiletries and a silk dressing gown. Anyway I would second the don't be separated from you bag even if that means having it on your lap. Trains a few minutes from leaving can be vulnerable as you sit down take your bag off and relax/ my friend had her bag snatched by someone running through the train and he jumped off with it and she had to stay on the train.
At the end of the day the only belongings that really REALLY matter are passport and money and a money belt on you should sort that. I also carried some spare cash in a random place like in my sock or tucked in my bra. Probably less relevant now everyone has cards- the revolut card is great for local currency. Also look out for people hiding things in your rucksack pockets particularly at border crossings- the rucksack cover mentioned would help there, and be very wary of accepting any food or drink on journeys. Try not to turn up at new places at night, and read up before you get somewhere for the common scams.

Having said all of that their trip sounds amazing and most people are lovely, and I hope they have a great time.

the revolut card is great for local currency

OK explain this please!

I keep hearing it. I'm going very far off the beaten track soon and the ForEx in my city won't source the local currency. I'm left with US dollars and/or relying on cash points. Someone suggested Revolut and I'm intrigued.

I'm the traveller's cheque era so I feel very old.

It’s a card you put money onto from your UK account and then you can take out money in the local currency at ATMs and/ or pay for things locallly without fees. If you know anyone with one already I think it is worth them doing a referral for you to get one as there is cash back ( or there was when DD set one up recently).

DH uses his all the time for work but he is always in cities so I don’t know how it works if you are in the back of beyond who only do cash- you would need somewhere to take money out or people who accept cards?

Daughter currently solo backpacking in Thailand : Laos : Vietnam and Cambodia before heading to uni In Malaysia in September for a year

We’ve life 360 so she can checkin regularly - her suggestion. she also has her grab (taxi app) set to send us a link when ever in a taxi.

money she’s using Chase card and has a back up of Halifax Clarity.

phone most counties you can get e-sims locally and are cheap in Laos you need a physical sim so important your phone is unlocked and you put your original sim somewhere safe.

travel light she’s got a 50 litre back pack, a 25 litre day sack and a bum bag. There’s plenty of cheap laundries and as she’s backpacking she’s take clothes she’ll basically chuck once in Malaysia and she’s coming home at Christmas so will return with proper case etc then

insurance proper insurance is important can’t remember who she’s with.

Cambodia she’s been told not particularly safe for female travelling alone so she’s booked an organised tour when she lands there.

international driving licences needed for moped hire etc.

Personally just get a chase card the problem with revolut etc is it’s effectively a prepaid card so your rates are locked in and it’s a pain to change unused currency

chase / starling / monzo all fee free and no charges also get the inter bank rate which is the best rate each day

One other thought worth taking the following cards. We found in Ghana that not everywhere Mastercard was taken so I now travel with

chase - fee free and 1% cash back - Mastercard debit card

Halifax clarity - Mastercard credit card and fee free.

Barclaycard - fee free and visa back credit card.

you can take cash out free on Chase and Barclaycard though in SE Asia most cash points charge but if you go into the bank you can take out cash for no fees.

World nomads for travel insurance. Used it for years of backpacking and the two claims I made got granted with no issues. You can add longer, extra destinations, extra activities etc easily. Customer service were brilliant. Can start and end your trip from anywhere unlike the majority that need to start and finish in the uk.

Take a good padlock for lockers that don’t have them. Have a small backpack for valuables that you always keep on you (on transport etc), so not everything is in the main backpack.No bum bags! They scream tourist with valuables in. But there are clothing you can get with hidden pockets, these are much better and more discreet.

Take as little valuables as possible. And pack as little as possible. Just re-wear, hand wash, use laundry services when needed.

and just use lots of common sense really. Of course you can do everything right and just be really unlucky or you can be really lax and be lucky not to have anything stolen/be scammed etc. But generally using common sense, using reputable companies, talking to other backpackers along the way etc will help avoid issues.
I luckily had no issues backpacking (sometimes sole female, sometimes with another female friend) for three years in mostly third world countries.

lastly, I advise not to plan out the trip too much. Just go to a spot, stay longer if you like it, move on if not. Talk to others and see what the recommend. I visited so many of my favourite places I’d never heard of through word of mouth along the way. And some spots I thought I’d love I didn’t, and some places I wanted to stay forever!

I went backpacking many years ago.

The only issue was when getting an overnight coach in Thailand.

Travellers were dropped off at one point for a break where the coach was out of sight.

Overnight the lights were dimmed.

Found out they had gone through rucksacks whilst out of sight and a woman had a purse stolen whilst in the foot well.

So just got unlucky with a dodgy coach firm.

The other thing I did was give my flight details to my primary bank account which was recommended then.

They will have a brilliant time!

Also Kiwi Experience were really good fun in New Zealand especially if you want a break from having to organise everything yourself

Money belt - worn under clothes, never take it off, keep passport, a card and some cash in it. Anything else is easily replaced (even this is replaceable in an emergency, just a lot more hassle).

Make sure they get travel insurance, that covers an extended trip. Do whatever you have to to get through to them. Simple things like a fall and broken leg can lead to parents having to sell their house to get their adult child back to the UK.

Mostly I think they just need to keep a bit of sense about them. Know that they’ll always stand out, at a glance it’ll be obvious that they will probably have some valuables on them. So take the precautions you would on a night out - don’t leave things unattended, don’t get blind drunk, don’t accept lifts from randoms.

Travel light
If you need more clothes, buy them abroad
Have access to emergency money

TRAVEL INSURANCE !

Except bras and shoes. If you are smaller in the UK, you might be OK. My double Ds and size 39 feet were laughed out of many shops in SE Asia.

Thanks for the card advice. I did more digging on the weekend and it seems outside the capital it's all 'take dollars and use the slightly grey market to change into local'.