There are plenty of people who will willingly give you advice regarding travel.  The magazines and newspaper supplements are full of tips and ideas.  These few tips of mine are based on years of experience in travelling.  Some will be familiar, others you may disagree with and there are of course lots more tips worth sharing with fellow travellers. A good tip, for example is not to leave your passport at home, and to make sure it is up to date.  I must say I have never done that but plenty of people have.

One of the things I learned early on is the importance of swapping information with other travellers. You give advice; you receive advice, sometimes casually in conversation.  For example, I was talking to a fellow traveller in the shower block of a campsite in Madrid when he suggested a day trip to Toledo. I acted on that advice and we had a wonderful day, visiting the great cathedral on the hill.  On another occasion, also early in our travels we had planned to head from Rome to Florence and have a quick lunch there before heading further north. After advice, we ended up staying three nights in Florence, and could easily have had more. What a wonderful city!  At a hotel in Rome we asked for a recommendation for a good restaurant. The meal we had there was fantastic.

So the first travel rule I have established is to always seek advice from others, no matter how small that advice may at first seem.

Another important travel rule is to always secure your onward journey.  I was once almost stuck in a town in Mexico assuming that there would be a daily bus out to the next town, but almost missed it due to changing bus schedules.

My wife’s favourite travel rule is ‘a bird in the hand’. This came about when she saw an item she wanted to buy but decided to wait and see if it would be cheaper somewhere else. It wasn’t and decided that in future if you see something you want, you buy it.  Perhaps sometimes you may be sorry.  I have been known to buy some silly little gadget only to find it in a market for one tenth of the price I paid. So be it.