- Get a haircut and facial before you go out of the country.
- Ensure that eyeglasses and sunglasses are correctly aligned.
- Forgot: perfume, razor, buddy scrubber.
- Buy water in bulk and just refill your water container, it's cheaper.
- Figure out which places to eat and to shop in are more expensive than others. Street stalls are almost always as cheap as Philippine wares.
- Have a list of items on what to bring in a day pack--umbrella, buff, cap, shades, water, waterproofing.
- When going to a country with decent Internet, get a SIM card with mobile Internet almost immediately. You need it primarily for Uber, research, walking, Skype calling.
- Prepare to go to countries with not that much English proficiency.
- Try hostels in addition to AirBnb--
hostelworld.com. - Please try to sleep early, museums and most other attractions close at 4-5pm.
- When haggling, always halve the price as an initial offer. The seller will not sell unless they make a profit so feel free to get the best price possible. They will attempt to be nice to you, especially speak in Filipino to get you to buy their stuff.
- Prepare for insane heat basically anywhere in SE Asia.
- If possible--bring a bike or something with wheels for transportation, it's hard and inefficient time-wise to walk too much.
- Possibly get a generic sling bag over your neck to get passport/phone/wallet easily.
- Always expect a bribe every time you do a border crossing.
- Bring a pen.
- Memorize your passport number it makes things easier.
- Maintain balances in both Visa and Mastercard, some banks don't accept MC when withdrawing via ATM.
- Check prices on the Internet for all basic goods and services before buying things, we sort of got ripped off by the Tuktuk.
- Very important, check proximity of accommodations to the tourist spots, host's spot was good but so far from everything that we take a long train everyday.
- Set the pace for co-travellers to make things move fast.
- You still hate clubbing/night life.
- If backpacking again, make Bangkok an entry or exit, the airport is awesome.
- Get Google Translate (has offline capability) and LiveTrekker (to check where you went).
- Need a better rain jacket/shell, almost always this will be needed.
- Instead of just one pair, bring two pairs of pants, mountain hiking pants would probably be awesome.
- Running shoes instead of sneakers, expect long walks so you might as well make it fun for yourself.
- Bring a padlock just in case you need to put your stuff in a locker.