The main tip is to just do it. I talk to so many people who say, "Oh, if only I could take a long trip around the world like you did..." My response is always, well, just do it! Where there's a will there's a way.
Unless you have just had a baby and bought a house and received a major promotion at your job, you really have no excuse not to go away for a while if that's your desire. Even if you own a house, you can always rent it out while you're gone. Jobs can be quit and new ones found upon your return. Babies do grow up eventually, and can be taken with you on the road when they are older (although, personally, I think it's a bad idea to take small children travelling with you. You expose them to different germs and diseases, you spend a lot of money on them when they won't even remember the trip, and it's your dream they're living, not theirs.....)
-Even if you aren't making a lot of money, you can still spend two years saving up for a trip and then leave. (In Asia, I met a young Czech who had saved for five years to make his trip.)
-Always take a lot more money than you think you'll need. Factor in such items as toothpaste, soap, detergent, the occaisional beer, some entertainment and tours, shoe laces, and even new shoes and clothes. When you wear the same clothes every day for a long period of time, they wear out quickly and you'll need to replace them.
-Have someone at home working as your home base support. Leave a list of your travellers cheque numbers with them, along with a photocopy of your passport. Redirect your mail to them, leave them some signed cheques, and have them pay your bills. This is especially useful with credit card bills. If you run out of money while travelling, you can get a cash advance on your credit card, send some of the money to your support person, and have them pay off the minimum amounts on the credit card until you get back.
-Be prepared for a lot of psychological ups and downs. On lengthy trips you will have incredible highs and incredible lows. As long as you expect to feel depressed once in a while, you won't be surprised. You will feel lonely sometimes, and you will feel homesick. But in general these feelings are rare and go away quickly. Most of the time you'll feel happy and free. If you feel depressed and lonely all the time, you probably should never have left home.
-Carry as little as possible. This is the hardest piece of advice to live by. For my long trip, I found I really didn't need the following items that I had lugged along with me from continent to continent: tent, cooking pots, plastic dishes and cutlery, compass, rainpants, extra jacket, and gloves.
-Keep an open attitude to everything around you. If you expect things to be as efficient and tidy as they are at home, stay home. Every country has its eccentricities, and part of the fun of travelling is to observe these. Stay relaxed and laid back, and watch the way the local people behave in stress situations. If they simply sit down and eat a mango and resign themselves to the fact that they have to sit under a tree for a couple of hours while the bus is repaired, why not follow their example? Jumping around complaining about incompetence and inefficiency gets you nowhere.
-Take clothes for all temperature extremes. Even in tropical countries you sometimes need a sweater at night or at higher altitudes.
-Be prepared to do a lot of handwashing of your clothes. You won't find very many self-serve laundromats, so you'll have to wash everything by hand yourself, if you don't feel like paying someone to do it for you. This is another reason clothes wear out fast on long trips!
-Try to learn a few words of the language of each country you are travelling through. Believe me, it makes a HUGE difference. In some countries, you feel like a freak from another planet, and as soon as you start speaking the language, people switch their attitude and suddenly treat you completely differently, like you are almost one of them, not some bizarre creature from outer space. Also, whenever you think people are talking about you in a foreign language, they are. It's always great fun to turn to them and make a response in their own language. Or, you can just stay quiet and find out what people are saying about you.
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(Copyright L. Shuttleworth)