My Top Ten Travel Tips

1. Keep an open mind. Culture shock is real but the last thing you want is to look down on other people's way of doing things. To them it may mean something more than what you see at face value.

2. Get out of your comfort zone. To travel and truly experience the thrill of it requires you to forget about what's familiar to you.

3. As far as your safety goes, you can never be too careful. Sure, crime stats are different from city to city and indeed, country to country, but just as you would in your home country, trust your gut. If something feels/looks dodgy, it probably is.

4. Be sensible with your finances. Not everyone has a bottomless account and (particularly
for those who don't, plan ahead) there's nothing worse than coming back home from an amazing holiday only to beat yourself up about your reckless spending.

5. Traveling is a fun way to learn new things. Stay curious. Explore.

6. The best way to discover the 'non touristy' experiences is to have a local on your side. Find out if your family, friends or colleagues know anyone in the area/country/city you're visiting and ask them to connect you with that person. Some of my best experiences overseas have been with friends who were living in that part of the world.

7. Reset your body clock. If you're travelling to a far-away place, chances are that you'll find yourself in a different time-zone to that at home. Do your best to adjust your activities to align with the new time-zone.

8. Pack in advance. Interestingly, the experience of packing for a trip is different for all of us. For some (like me), packing is part of the exciting bit of the journey. For others, it's a dreaded chore. Whatever your experience, the earlier you can start packing, the better. Very few things are worse than arriving at your holiday destination only to find that you forgot a whole lot of things, which may then mean spending money you didn't plan to spend.

9. Be in the moment. Be fully engaged in all the experiences you encounter but remember to capture those moments when you can. Do that, not just for your social media content but to have a decent 'bank' of memories to reflect on because it's true what they say: Pictures allow us a chance to relive a moment that has otherwise come and gone.

10. Post holiday blues can be a bummer but I've always been a firm believer that planning another holiday is the best way to beat the blues. Even if you're not committing to or paying for anything (yet). Browsing...dreaming...anticipating your next getaway is a sure cure