Top Travel Resources

To complement our popular series of 'Top Travel Tips' here are a number of 'Top Travel Resources' - online sites with helpful information to better prepare and plan your fieldwork, placements or travel.

**Foreign and Commonwealth Office Country Advice (FCO)**

The FCO website provide detailed advice about every country, including details of the security situation, relevant natural hazards, local customs and laws (including issues such as alcohol, behaviour with the opposite/same sex), crime precautions and much more. It is also highly recommended that you register with their LOCATE service, ensuring that the local embassy know you are in the country and have your contact details in the event of an emergency evacuation being required. The FCO also have advice relating to various health issues.

**Health - Travel Advice**

Vaccination and malaria advice for each country, provided by the NHS Scotland. Advice on disease prevention and staying healthy whilst overseas.

**Natural Disasters - What To Do?**

FEMA (a US Govt Agency) have advice for what to do before, during and after a number of natural disasters. Often when travelling you will be exposed to hazards that you are not normally exposed to in your home country, and it's helpful to have an idea of what to do should these hazards materialise. Although these are designed for life in the USA, there are still helpful and relevant tips.

**TravLang - Foreign Language Basics**

A lot of irritating pop-ups, but it gives simple phrases in a wide variety of languages! Once you know the local language, you can probably find a more specific and detailed site.

Top Travel Tips (5) - Katy Hebditch

Katy Hebditch travelled to Liberia on a short contract job, carrying out socio-economic baseline surveys for a large mining project last September:

Travelling to a new country is exciting, and nerve-wracking, especially when you don't know what to expect. Here's my few top tips/things to think about...

1) Attire - Rainy season in the tropics = serious rain + hot + humid. Sometimes an umbrella is more useful than a hot sweaty jacket! Decent, comfy, waterproof walking boots and waterproof liners for bags were incredibly useful. 

2) Don't get lost - GPS & maps (& Google Earth) are VERY useful. Plan where you're going - I got quite lost in the jungle several times, and mobile phones don't have reception when it rains. Being able to map is also very useful, not originally in my job description, I ended up mapping all of our surveys and where people visited!

3) Do your research - It's good to have an idea about the history of the country you're visiting - recent wars, troubles, politics, customs etc, and this will help you to be sensitive and avoid offending people. Know someone who's been there? Get in touch with them for advice!

4) Be sensible - Look after your valuables - don't flash the cash etc. Avoid corruption & bribery. standard stuff. 

5) Medical stuff - It goes without saying, get the right vaccinations, take malaria prophylaxis, and take medicines you may need, ideally your own first aid kit for the field. You'll be surprised what things you may react to - missionary ants can cause severe allergic reactions, adjusting to a new diet and being exposed to different bugs can cause havoc. If you get the chance to do any first aid training, take it. My university funded me doing an intensive expedition first aid course - great peace of mind.  

Most of all, relax, have fun and enjoy experiencing the new culture!!

Top Travel Tips (4) - Joel Gill

Joel Gill is GfGD's Founder/Director, and today shares his 'Top Travel Tips' based on his experience of  fieldwork in Chile and Tanzania, as well as travelling in Uganda and Rwanda:

1) Sleep is very important - Go prepared with the things you may need to get a good night sleep, including ear-plugs and an eye-mask. I never wear ear-plugs at home, but when you're staying in a noisy hotel, with very thin walls and televisions being played loudly throughout the night they soon became essential.

2) Crisis Management - I always prepare at least three copies of a 'crisis management' pack, a small A5 wallet containing passport-size photographs, photocopies of my passport, visas, immunisation certificates, travel schedules, emergency contacts, medical details (UK doctor's phone number, allergies), numbers in case I lose my bank card, emergency first aid details. I carry one of these with me at all times, leave one hidden in the house/hotel I'm staying at, and leave one in the UK with family. It is MUCH easier to get a new passport if you lose one if you have a photocopy and passport photographs.

3) Language - Make the effort to learn a few words of the local language before you travel, including a formal greeting, an informal greeting, and words such as please and thank you. These can be very helpful for demonstrating to people that you recognise you are in their country.

4) Flexibility - When you travel, be prepared to change your methodology, your plans and your schedules at fairly short notice. Opportunities, challenges or problems may arise that mean things can not proceed as planned. Being willing to adapt can be very helpful.

5) First Aid - Go well prepared in terms of first-aid. When travelling to both Chile and East Africa I took packaged, sterile needles - to reduce the chance of infection should I need them. Paracetamol, itch and sting cream, imodium and rehydrating sachets are all essentials. Also plasters, bandages and safety pins. Scotch Tape is very useful, (for many things as well as first aid!). Get good professional advice before you go about what vaccinations you need, and appropriate anti-malarials.

Top Travel Tips (3) - Rosalie Tostevin

Rosalie on the edge
of the Namib Desert

Rosalie has spent several months doing fieldwork out in ‘the bush’ – the dry semi-desert that covers southern Africa. Her PhD field area is in Southern Namibia, and she did her undergraduate mapping project in the Karoo, South Africa. Here she shares her top travel tips for travelling in southern Africa:

1) Time of year: Visit in their winter (June-Sept). It will be warm and dry during the day, cool enough to sleep at night, and the insects and snakes will mostly be in hibernation.

2) Clothing: If you wear shorts, your legs will be covered in cuts from the spiny plants and you may develop a rash as some of the spines deliver poison. There are also ticks and biting spiders to worry about. It’s not worth it, even for tanned legs!

3) Money: The exchange rate between the rand (legal tender in both South Africa and Namibia) and the pound varies between 11 and 15. If you need to make a big payment, i.e. for accommodation, ask if you can pay your bill on a day when the rate is favourable. You could save a lot of money.

Leopard snake basking in
the sun on a path in Namibia

4) Snakes: Tap your hammer on the rocks every few minutes to scare the snakes away. Watch out for puff adders, as they like to bask in the sun in open spaces, otherwise known as paths!

Flat tyres are common when
driving on gravel roads

5) Driving: Distances are long and the roads are poor. Make sure you would feel confident changing a tyre, because flat tyres are common on gravel roads and there may be no phone signal and no passing cars. The leading cause of road-deaths in Namibia is a collision with a large animal such as kudu, normally whilst driving at night. Be prepared to sleep in the car if you break down or get caught out after sunset.

Top Travel Tips (2) - Alex Stubbings

Alex Stubbings recently held an internship in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for three months, in the field of climate change adaptation and sustainable development. Here are some of life’s lessons he’ll never forget:

1) When in Rome do as the Romans – This one I always practice! When you’re in a culture that is diametrically the opposite to yours I find it worthwhile behaving exactly like the locals: Even if you stand out because of skin pixilation! Of course, remember to be yourself which is really important.

2) Don’t change your pounds in the UK; do it when you’re there (if outside the EU) –When I left Manchester I changed all my Sterling into Dollars, this was a big mistake. I ended up losing out on two exchange rates, as Sterling in Bangladesh gets you a lot more bang for your buck than Dollars: So always change your currency when in country. [Editors Note: It's worth checking with the specific country that your going to that they will exchange Sterling, as some of the more remote towns in Tanzania that I've traveled to would only exchange US dollars].

3) Always count your money – This ties into the last comment. Always count the money that you're handing over and that you’re given. In some countries, like Bangladesh, this is normal behaviour and well worth getting into the habit of doing.

4) Do you have an umbrella? – When I went into the deep south of Bangladesh I was asked if I had an umbrella, I replied no: I’ve got waterproofs! Actually the umbrella was to block out the sun, which was the only day of my life which I actually craved to be inside!

5) Always carry more water than what you think you need – I did my BSc mapping project in the Spanish Pyrenees, in an area called Lumbier. Contrary to popular belief, this part of Spain gets up to 40 degrees Celsius relatively frequently. Obviously coming from a cold country like the UK, to one bathing in glorious sun, we don’t think too much about water consumption. Take as much as you can carry, and prioritise over food if on a budget as that’s what I did. Also, don’t be fooled by the widely perpetuated myth that water quality outside of the UK in Europe is bad: It isn’t. It is in Bangladesh. Here boil your tap water if in Dhaka and remember, if you buy bottled water from a street vender make sure the seal isn’t broken and that it’s reputable!

6) Always carry a photocopy of your passport/ID – this is very true in Spain and Bangladesh. In both countries you’ll need to be able to prove who you are, and believe me when I got stopped for photographing the US Embassy in Dhaka, and couldn’t prove who I was: I starting panicking big time!

Top Travel Tips (1) - Introduction

Over the summer, many of our readers will be travelling to far-flung places to carry out fieldwork, volunteer or carry out placements. Working, living and travelling in a different country and culture can be hugely exciting, but can also bring many challenges. Over the next couple of months the GfGD blog is going to publish some 'Top Travel Tips' from students, recent graduates and experienced professionals who have all worked overseas. They will be giving you insights into things you may wish to take that you wouldn't necessarily think of, things they wish somebody had told them, things to do beforehand to prepare well, and things that will help you get the most out of your trip.

If you're going to do your mapping project in far-flung places, or undertaking a placement overseas and want to write a blog about your work - of if you've worked overseas and have tips to share then why not get in touch and help others.

Look out each Tuesday, starting tomorrow, for your regular dose of our Top Travel Tips!