With the next chapter of my RTW trip taking me through so many countries and with so much room for flexibility I’ve got to be prepared with my funds to make the most of my time and stretch my hard earned cash as far as it can take me – after all I dont really want to return to the UK anytime soon!

There’s always a few things you need to adress on a long term trip with multiple destinations that can make the difference between holiday heaven and holiday hell…

Insurance

Insurance is a necessary evil with any kind of travel. The bottom line though is you have to hope its the biggest waste of money from your travel budget – because that means you come home in one piece! But if anything goes wrong you’ll be super glad you sank the cash and got the right cover. And don’t worry, you can shop cheap life insurance to find the right plan for you.

Make a list of activities you’re planning on doing or could possibly end up doing for each destination – and make sure that whatever cover you get means you’re insured as many providers add extra premiums for high risk activities such as skydiving and bungee jumping.

Also check that the countries you’re heading too are covered – many policies have an extra premium for cover in the USA.

Currency

With multiple destinations comes multiple currencies – and this can prove rather tricky if you’re unsure of your plans or you’re bouncing around quite a bit.

It’s also difficult to judge how much cash you’ll need to take on your person for your intial few days. Do you’re research and find out how much basic costs are (ie meals, beer, taxis etc) and take enough to be comfortable with so you don’t have to rush around on landing to find an ATM.

Sorting some travel money – either for your destination or airport layover – before you leave the UK is quickly done, but don’t leave it until the last minute!

If you can prebook a few nights accommodation and have them paid before you leave – that’s always a great way to cut down stress.

My top tip would be to always keep about £25 of american dollar bills tucked into your wallet as they’re accepted worldwide.

Jabs

I’ve already chatted about travel health in the past – but it’s always good to remind you all to make sure you check with your GP what jabs you’ve had, what you may need and any medication you might need to stock up on before you leave!

A Slight Plan

Personally I think it’s stupid to land in a country on a one way ticket without a slight plan!

Even if it goes out the window within minutes of landing having a rough idea of where you want to stay and a list of what you want to do will help you make the most of your time abroad.

By all means leave it ambiguous and dont book too much – but that little tick list could make a massive difference.

I spent a year in Oz and on my return found a list of things I’d researched – I forgot to take the list with me and on reading through it I’d missed out alot of cool stuff I had put on the to do list!

So make a list – chuck it on your email and look at it occasionally – it could help fill a lazy day or help you plan your next move.