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 TThere are a couple of ways to deal with pre-travel preparations. One is to simply tie up a few loose ends right before you leave, get on the plane without having done any research and with only the barest of essentials, and buy what you need when you need it when you reach your destination. However, if you haven’t done this sort of thing before, you’ll most likely get a very rude awakening upon arrival. The other way is to plan carefully—or, more specifically, carefully enough. You can either try to do it all just days before you leave, which is a near impossibility and will stress you and your friends and loved ones to the point of breakdown, or you can take the appropriate amount of time, say several months, and savor the process.
I have a friend, let’s call him Carlos. He’s been traveling ever since he left high school (during the Nixon administration), coming home only to work long enough to raise the money he needs to go back on the road. One would think that after all his experience, pre-travel preparedness would be no more exciting than having his teeth cleaned. As always, about eight months before his next trip, he begins the process of leaving—starting with a new backpack. Why a new one, every-single-time? Two reasons. One, Carlos picks a smaller size pack after each trip. Although he loves sleeping outdoors with his tent and cooking equipment, he has (slowly) come to the realization that carrying all that extra weight around is an enormous drag. The second reason is that he, just like me and many other travelers, loves the process of preparing for the adventure that lies ahead. Researching places, buying travel gear, this sort of thing gets us travelers psyched-up for the great journey we are about to embark on, and it should be relished. Invariably, my intrepid friend will return gear to the store, knowing that bringing all that new cool travel stuff is a temptation he has to avoid. (And this fellow travels old-style—without a laptop!)
You must now learn to discipline yourself. Buying what you don’t need may be a shopping thrill, but as I already said, you gotta keep it light. As for researching locations, it’s almost impossible to overdo it, but keep in mind that you don’t want to hamstring yourself to a strict itinerary. If you end up liking a place, give yourself the freedom to stay there longer. In fact, if I like a place, I immediately look for a home/apartment to share or rent so I can really connect with the new community (not to mention the money saved and stability that having your own place offers). Collecting visa stamps from twenty-five different countries in just three months may seem impressive, but if you do, it will undoubtedly mean that you didn’t get a real look at the varying cultures. Also, you will have spent roughly half your time in transit.
So here we go with pre-travel preparedness.
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