Independent travel saves money and opens the country in a new way. But they can also create inconvenience.
Here we will talk about how to organize independent travel, the basics of hitchhiking, couchsurfing and other things that will help you plan your trip, find cheap or free accommodation and transport, find a common language with foreigners, find a job or interesting leisure in a foreign country.
Although it will take a little more time and effort to organize an independent trip than ordering a tourist package, it has undeniable advantages.
Firstly, such a trip can be quite budgetary, which is very important these days. However, using hitchhiking, couchsurfing, hospitality local residents, with their knowledge, bringing to life bold ideas, they spent an unforgettable time.
Secondly, traveling on your own, you see much more than running with a guide and a crowd of tourists from the bus to the cathedral, from the cathedral to the museum... In this way, you can see the country or city from the inside, feel the atmosphere, understand the inhabitants.
In a word, you will see the real situation, and not a sleek picture, sometimes scarier than in tourist guides and sometimes much more interesting and even attractive. And if you stop in another place that you especially liked, at least for a few days, explore all its corners, streets and bazaars, theaters and cafes...
Then the impression will be unsurpassed, and the memories will be much longer and more voluminous! After all, you will bring home not only photographs and souvenirs, but also vivid memories. About how bridges were opened in St. Petersburg at night, and you wandered until the morning, because you could not get to the other side.
About how in the Indian town of Varkala you saw off the sun, it set into the ocean. About the classic Georgian feast with toasts and kebabs in the town of Akhaltsikhe, when the people you met a few hours ago became so close... About that... I can continue this list for a very long time, and for this I do not need to view photos . One has only to remember some kind of trip, and the memories rush by themselves.
Thirdly, in free wanderings, you yourself choose where and for how long to go, you can change something in the process, “hang” in another place for a long time, bypass some travel point planned in advance, or get into a new one that you don’t know anything about knew, but learned from the locals.
Traveling by yourself is very flexible, and I have taken advantage of this many times.
Of course, along with the advantages of independent travel, there are also disadvantages..
Firstly, for their preparation and in the process itself, more effort and time will be required from you. You need to find out about the visa features of a particular country, “scroll” the Internet in search of cheap air tickets, etc. That is, you need to do all the work that a travel company usually does.
But then you will get at least two bonuses: save money and become an experienced travel organizer, and it will get easier each time.
Among my friends there are those who have turned a hobby into a job. Now they take groups of tourists to the Carpathians or the Caucasus, organize trips to festivals and places of interest.
Among them: travel is stressful, in a foreign country you can get lost or become a victim of scammers, get poisoned by local food or water, and the like.
And most importantly, you may never return home. And not because you will be kidnapped or killed (this can happen at home, like most unpleasant moments - theft or illness), but because travel can be so pleasant that it becomes a way of life.
Often independent travel, when you do not plan to lie on the beach all day (although this option is possible!) Is more work than leisure. But the work is fascinating and inspired!
Have you always thought of travel as a kind of lazy getaway after months of hard work? But it's much more than that. Traveling is a lifestyle and it comes with many benefits that are hard to deny. If you want to know why people travel and why you should travel too, read this article on 10 Benefits of Traveling the World!
Travel Benefits
I have long wanted to write this article. Traveling provides various benefits and benefits you in various ways. I asked several experienced travel bloggers who have traveled to several dozen countries and continue to discover new ones to talk about the benefits of travel.
Know Yourself
Travel to get to know yourself better. The more you travel, the more opportunities you have for introspection and hindsight. Travel is a really great teacher that not only teaches you about the world, it also teaches you about yourself and your place in the world.
To change yourself
Travel to change. The more you travel and come face to face with new experiences, there is a slow change in yourself and in your views.
Becoming More Tolerant and Understanding
Traveling makes you more tolerant, sensitive and understanding. The more you travel and encounter new cultures, you start to accept more and more. You understand that yours is not the only way to live. There are many other cultures that you can learn from and bring to your own. Thus, in essence, travel expands your horizons and gives you a 360-degree view of the world.
The last 3 benefits of travel - fromimvoyager.com
Appreciate Your Home and Country More
This may seem strange. It seems that when you travel, you discover new Beautiful places and countries, and you never want to go home. But visiting is good, home is better, and you realize this even more when you travel.
You begin to understand that your home is special in its own way, in your country there is something that is not in others. It was through travel and contrast that I realized how beautiful Belarus really is and created a site for travelers to help them discover and plan their trip to Belarus. So travel the world to appreciate your home more!
The advantage of traveling
Openness and Less Prejudice
The reason you should travel is because they open you up and allow you to have less prejudice. I used to be afraid to travel because I had all these preconceived notions that people from certain countries were bad people. But, as soon as I started traveling the world, I realized that this is not true, and that all over the world people are almost the same. I would appreciate that 97% of people are good, but 3% of bad people get all the media attention.
The advantage of travelingJohnnyJet.com
Explore New Cultures
I love to travel because I like to study. It's hard to travel, really interact with other cultures without learning something new.. It could be the German student movement while traveling in Germany, or how matchmaking works in Berber culture in Morocco. I love the days when I travel and I just say yes. "Yes, I didn't know that or yes, I never thought about it."
Traveling for a few days is a puzzle to be solved like when you're standing in front of a ticket machine on the Prague subway and you don't know a single word of Czech.
The advantage of travelingamateurtraveler.com
Expanding Horizons
The most important benefit of traveling is the understanding that the world is bigger than our small part of it.. When we travel, we can see how other people live. By seeing other cultures, we can adopt the good new habits we learn and appreciate our culture more that we previously did not consider special and unique. I hope this will increase our tolerance in dealing with people, even in our own circle.
Knowledge of the Beauty of the Earth
You must travel to see all incredible beauty on this earth with which we are gifted. There are so many different forms of beauty in deserts, mountains, oceans and fjords. Seeing all these ecosystems can give us a more concrete understanding of what we can lose if we do not take care of nature.
2 latest benefits of traveling fromthedailyadventuresofme.com
Understanding other people better
There are many reasons why people travel. Many people travel to get away from their lives or their problems. Others - to learn new cultures. Others travel because it's cool... I love traveling because it helps me be kinder and more understanding with other people.
People who never travel are bombarded with a certain amount of propaganda designed to create division and make us believe that our neighbors are terrorists. The more you travel, the more you will learn that we are all the same and they all have the same feelings and emotions. Traveling doesn't necessarily make you a better person, but it can definitely help you.
The advantage of travelingfabionodariphoto.com
This was a list of 10 benefits of traveling the world. I hope this has helped you understand why you should travel and why so many other people are already doing it. If you don't have much money to travel, check out these 15 seasoned travel bloggers, or read about some of the places you could go to: , or . Travel more!
If not everyone, then almost everyone loves to travel, and the limited budget has never been a hindrance here. In the age of the Internet, when you can buy and book absolutely everything from socks to space, planning a vacation with any budget can be easy and fast. Those wishing to go on a trip have a choice: either contact a travel agency and buy a tour without any hassle, or organize their trip on their own.
But, as with any phenomenon in our life, self rest there are both advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages
1. Save money
When planning a vacation budget, you do not have to take into account payment tourist service, services of a guide, translator, various additional excursions. No need to choose between strictly defined tours at a fixed price. By choosing a hotel, apartment or place in a hostel according to your taste and budget, and not the one with which the tour operator has an agreement, you can save a lot of money.
Another point of savings is self-booking air tickets. No wonder the airport in Vilnius is jokingly called "Minsk-3". It is from there that low-cost flights, which are so popular with many tourists, fly. The cost of a flight is always one of the main places in the list of vacation expenses, so saving on this expense item will not be superfluous.
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2. Freedom to choose the route, travel time, mode of transportation, hotel, excursions
The most significant advantage. Complete freedom of choice. You can ride anything, even hitchhiking, and whenever you want. Yes, in order to buy cheap flights, you often have to book them six months or a couple of months in advance, but in many cases, airlines or hotels arrange sales, and you can buy tickets or book a hotel room for a very ridiculous amount. Thanks to complete freedom of action, and not an imposed list of attractions and limited free time from the tour program, it is possible to independently, slowly, and most importantly, feel and really feel the atmosphere of the place / city.
You can take your time and plan your day on your own, stay in the museum / castle / gallery for as long as you like, and not as much as the program allots. There is no need to visit advertised establishments full of tourists or "on the recommendation" of the group leader.
The most striking impression will certainly not be a visit to the Colosseum or eiffel tower(with all due respect to them), but unhurried, without crowds and tourists photographing everything in a row, walks through the beautiful streets of the city and coffee in a cozy and quiet cafe.
3. Mobility
With your own hand organized trip you do not have to be afraid that you will miss the bus or you will not have enough time for shopping in the hypermarket. Complete mobility. I do not want to go to another city today, you can not go. There was a need to urgently return to a hotel in another city where you were 2 days ago or even home, no problem. Financial losses are minimal.
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4. Reliability
The tour operator's program may not meet your expectations, the hotel may not meet your needs. Having paid a tidy sum for the tour, you want to relax, and not to calculate the possible nuances.
Flaws
1. Travel planning, visa processing
If the matter does not concern the all-Russian health resorts, such as Turkey, Egypt, the Crimea or Sochi, then you will have to tinker with the documents. Applying for a visa in many cases is a painstaking process, and sometimes it ends with a refusal.
2. Language barrier
Any domestic tourist knows that in order for these negligent locals to understand you, you just need to speak very loudly and in syllables. In Russian, of course.
But seriously, English, in its absence, will be a serious barrier even at the stage of planning a trip.
Of course, everywhere there are kind people who are able to explain at least somehow, but in which case, not all policemen, rescuers or doctors know how to express themselves with gestures or signs.
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3. Safety of life and health, responsibility
On vacation, you want to think about the rest, so I would definitely like to shift security issues to specially trained people. Groups of tourists are much less likely to become victims of serious crime (pickpocketing does not count) than tourists walking alone along the green streets in a foreign country. For health-related issues, there is medical insurance, but even if it is available and an insured event occurs, it is better if there is an experienced person who is connected with you with a contract for the provision of tourist services, who will help you sort out the situation.
Whatever type of vacation you choose for yourself, you need to approach the matter wisely, think over it if possible and be prepared for any nuances. Even if there was a "small technical problem" in the form of, for example, a broken bus, lost luggage or stealing a wallet, the main thing is not to get hysterical and try to solve the problem with a cool head.
The key to a successful trip is a good mood that no one and nothing should spoil.
Increasingly, vacationers prefer independent travel to tourist packages. What do you need to know when going to such a place, and what difficulties can you meet along the way? Let's consider in more detail.
Advantages
Main advantage independent travel- absolute freedom. You choose the route yourself, visit only those places that you have chosen. Your time is also not limited: you can rest until lunch, not go somewhere, because you don’t feel well. But excursion tours impose their own schedule entertainment program, which you will have to comply with regardless of the circumstances (laziness, desire to sleep, headache, etc.).
Other benefits of solo travel include:
- The best service. Independent search hotels, flights and more allows you to choose the best based on reviews, photos and offers.
- A wide choice of housing. Trailers, hostels, apartments, tents and more are available at your choice.
- Adventure element. The absence of strict limits and security guarantees adds a special spice to the trip.
- Opportunity to get to know the place better. Excursions from travel agencies usually cover major attractions. However, the city really opens up far from the "tourist reservations".
- Minimal presence of tourists nearby. This is especially critical for Russian-speaking vacationers, who often complain about unpleasant company and uncultured neighbors.
- New experience. Opportunity to learn a new language and meet the indigenous people.
Doubtful advantage - economy. In some cases, it can reach up to 50%. To understand how it works, you need to figure out what the price of an agency service package is formed from. Initially, this very “package”, which may include tickets, excursions, a hotel, etc., is formed by the tour operator. After formation, he winds up a percentage of the resulting value and sells this package to a travel agency. The agency also winds up interest for itself, after which it sells services to the consumer.
If you do not know how to search for information and select services with the best price-quality ratio, then the cost of a vacation can be even higher than that of a travel agency.
Flaws
The disadvantages of independent travel include:
- Waste of time and effort. It takes much more time to prepare an independent trip, because you have to book tickets, a hotel room, study maps and routes, and collect information bit by bit.
- Lack of monetary stability. Using the services of a travel agency, you can be sure that you will not stay on the street in an unfamiliar city and without money. When traveling alone, you have to take care of it personally.
- Orientation difficulties. Those who travel for the first time have to spend more time finding their way than those who are taken from the airport to the hotel by the tour operator's bus.
Temporary shortcomings include the language barrier. Today there are electronic translators and dictionaries that allow you to communicate with the indigenous population, however, it is difficult to call such communication comfortable.
Difficulties
What difficulties you may encounter depends entirely on the country you choose. There are several common dangers awaiting tourists:
- Acclimatization. Applies to hot countries. Climate change is especially hard on young children. You can’t avoid it, but you can make it easier if you stock up on medicines in advance and take out insurance in case of complications.
- Violation of prohibitions. This applies to both laws and unspoken rules. Before sending, be sure to read about the current laws of the country and the rules of conduct among the indigenous population.
- Funding limit. It is advisable to take a little more money with you than planned. Anything can happen on a trip, from health issues to police incidents. It is better to take a certain amount with you for such cases.
- Lack of tickets. If travel voucher guarantees you a safe return home on the agreed day, then when traveling independently, it is better to take care of this in advance. For example, by booking a ticket.
How to organize?
Proper organization of travel is the first step to good rest. Organizational activities include:
- Making a suitable bank card for easy payment.
- Registration of an insurance policy and a passport.
- Visa processing and international law per car (if necessary).
- Comparison and selection of flight and hotel options.
- Determining the date and buying a ticket.
- Preparation of travel itinerary, sightseeing and entertainment programs.
Top 6 Ideal First Travel Destinations
The first solo trip is the most exciting. To make it comfortable, it is better to plan it in a country with good conditions, for example, in:
- Thailand. The most hospitable country for tourists, but with a very humid climate.
- Spain. Here you can find entire Russian-speaking settlements, many beautiful architecture, comfortable climate, but few inexpensive housing.
- Czech. Lots of old and beautiful sights, quality beer, English-speaking population.
- China namely in Hong Kong. Low prices, stunning architecture with skyscrapers.
- India namely Goa. clean beaches, delicious food, average prices. But, in some areas, theft from tourists is common.
Reader!
Tell me garlic! What do you think: why do people travel on their own?
I get asked this in every interview. Tomorrow they invite me to shoot a program where I will be an independent tourism expert, and my opponent will be the owner travel company. And I am more than sure that the questions from the series will be on the air again:
- And let's calculate how much you will spend by going to Turkey as a savage and how much money you will pay if you just buy a tour to Turkey?
….
Get off me with this mercantile, money issue!
The reasons why I travel on my own, I travel without help are different. But more on that later...
For now, let's listen to what ordinary people who write on the (forum independent travelers):
(pulled out of the Italy section. We are talking about how to go to Italy: buy a tour from an agency or go on your own)
Travel on your own! and you shouldn’t even choose and be tempted by the price of 300-400 euros per person.
Now I am organizing a trip for June, I calculated the alignment for three adults, we are going for 6 days. The cost of the tour with this period in the 2nd half of June with us is from 22t.r. person, i.e. for three - this is 66t.r., I calculated my costs for flights and accommodation - a flight of 20700r for three (from my city, Lufthansa, at a very convenient time), and accommodation - 21600r for three, I booked an apartment. I planned excursions - in the end, it’s something like that, only with the condition that the departure and arrival are not early in the morning and not late at night, I live in an apartment in the center of Rome overlooking the Colosseum and in a three-room apartment, Florence and a couple are planned cities nearby. So the financial benefit may not be great, but there is more pleasure and comfort than in a package tour
I read the forum, apparently. avid travelers write, I also really want to go to Italy on my own, but ignorance stops in English How to independently move around the stations of a foreign country? Then, most importantly, museums. Tourists go in groups without a queue, they are given headphones or they have a Russian-speaking guide, but how will you move around the museum yourself, not knowing anything more than that. that you once read .. and I think that you will have to stand in long queues for the cherished ticket, therefore. probably buy tours
The problem of queues in museums is solved by pre-booking, if you want to listen to the tour, you can always take the “phone” - an audio guide. Every museum has a map, and most European museums are not that big. Transport is also not complicated, you book tickets on the website, print them out, come to the train on time, sit on the booked one and go. The controller will come - silently show him the reservation.
The benefits of independent travel are obvious. Firstly, the route is developed only taking into account your wishes, and secondly, often a tour of a particular city with a travel agency is simply formal, they throw you in a crowd on the barricades - they drop you off for 2 hours at best and you rush through the marathon, photographing the backs of your groupmates. There is little pleasure. In addition, you are taken to paid souvenir shops and restaurants that are not distinguished by either quality or good prices.
And now I will write about myself. About why I don’t understand how you can go on vacation abroad by buying a tour (group, individual, VIP)
How I started traveling on my own
- Group tours
Do you think that I immediately began to travel on my own? no matter how:
The first trips abroad on business trips in the period from 89 to 91: I went to the eateries of Guangzhou, tasted snails from the stall, learned to eat with chopsticks in folk restaurants outside the hotel ...
Then he shuttled to the UAE: having spent a minimum of time buying an audio video, he rented a car and rode around the outskirts of Sharjah and Dubai. As a result, he drowned the jeep in the sea. And in the mid-90s there were also the first trips just on vacation on a tour to Egypt and Turkey, and in 1997 I went on a tour to Thailand for the first time ... But on all these trips I was a black sheep: having arrived at the place, I did not go with everyone on excursions or shopping, and having exchanged a voucher for a hotel room, he kept a bag with things there.
I was not interested in group scuba diving - I found and became friends with an individual diving instructor.
I was not interested in group bus tours at shows with tigers or snakes: I saw all this on the second day of my stay in Thailand by taking a tuk-tuk and driving to these shows on my own
I was not interested in a group walk along Walking Street, since already on the first evening I knew where the bar girls were sitting, and in which bars the lady boys had spread their nets. And I will say more - then the male half of my tour group turned to me as a guide ...
The key phrase (if you noticed) is here: I'm not interested in being in a group and following a program not invented by me.
Conclusion: group tour the package is missing for me. If you feel that everything is good! - tired of walking in formation ... - then go to part two
- Individual tours
- But there is individual tours!, - professionals of the tourist business will say.
But here, 15 years ago, the following happened: the Internet appeared in my life. A window appeared, I would even say a WINDOW into the world of information.
Answer me:
- How can a stranger understand what I want from the planned trip, if I myself do not always know it?
- How to explain what I want to Lena or Sasha, who receive an average salary and beyond free promotional tour, organized by a travel agency from Bali, have you seen in Bali?
Tell me, why do I need an intermediary between me and a tool that I myself use well? In addition, I will also have to pay for the services of an assistant in the person of Lena or Sasha ... not to mention the fact that communication with people who are not aware of their limited horizons is torture for me.
- What tools appeared with the advent of the Internet? Not a lot, but it was: expedition (air tickets), English-language travel forums (question and answer), booking.com (hotels)
Naturally, using these tools over the past 13 years, I chose the most convenient and reliable for myself. Now this toolkit is available to all visitors of my forum independent tourists: ||| Hotel booking, villas and apartments around the world without prepayment ||| |||
Worried about a visa issue? I have written articles to help those who will receive visas on their own. It is called so Here and about how to get a US or Schengen visa, as well as how to check whether a visa is needed for the country where you are going.
I do not know the language. I feel uncomfortable in an unfamiliar country without the support of a guide or a responsible travel agency
- There are guides in Russian
- Good: the tools are there. But what about there, in an unfamiliar country? Who will meet, who will lay the straw? Many are afraid of the language barrier.
There is no language, no understanding and you feel like a child lost in a supermarket. I confess - I still do not know English well, and from other languages I know a couple of phrases. And nothing - alive. In addition, now there is a cheat sheet in Russian - these are Lonely Planet guides in Russian. I recommend these guides, as they are well structured, they good cards, examples of routes and information on transport. They will help you a lot in preparing for an independent trip.
- There is Vinsky Forum - the largest community of independent travelers
- To help you - the largest forum for independent travelers in the world. Just do not rush to immediately ask questions there. Take your time - read the section on the country you are interested in - it is structured into Questions, Discussing routes, Visa issues, Transport, Reviews about the country, Additional Information(restaurants, shopping, security). Use the search and when your questions are formed to specific ones, ask them by creating your own topic with a clear title.
Why solo travel is great
Preparing for solo travel is essentially the beginning of your adventure. You get acquainted with the country virtually, but soon the acquaintance will take place with your own eyes. At the Vinsky Forum, you will learn about such subtleties that neither Lena nor Sasha from the travel agency will tell you about. You will save yourself from unnecessary expenses and losses. You will meet interesting people, and finally - possible fellow travelers on your first independent trip.
***** And finally the main thing:
Having traveled on your own, you will feel such FREEDOM from which you can never refuse.
I guarantee it to you...)))
