Travel Guide

Aside from backpacks, one thing that travelers all seem to have are travel books. One of the most well-known travel guides is The Lonely Planet. Although these books provide some useful tips and advice, they cost about $10 per book.  

Tip #2

DO NOT BUY A TRAVEL GUIDE

MAKE YOUR OWN GUIDE

Instead of spending money on pre-made travel guides, I decided to make one myself. To do so I used one of my old weekly planners. If you do not have an old one to use, you can buy one for about $10-$15. I chose the 3 x 6 inch planner so it would be easier to carry.

In the planner, I designated a few pages to each country I was going to.

Lonelyplanet.com offers free tips and destination information for almost every country in the world. Instead of buying the books, all you have to do is visit the website, pick out the information you'd like, and then cut and paste it into your planner.

This way, you're not only saving money, but you're also only gathering the information you'll need. Once you start carrying 50 pounds on your back you will be desperate to throw away anything that is not absolutely necessary; especially the weight of travel guides.

I set up my planner so that it was in the order I was traveling in. I would include flight information, hostel information, embassy locations, key phrases in the native language, sites  I wanted to visit, a map of the metro, and the whatever information from Lonely Planet  I thought would be useful.

While I was traveling I referred to the planner I had made as my "Bible". Being able to have all the information I needed in one place made traveling a lot easier. Although it did take a lot of work to prepare my planner, it was completely worth it. 

I loved my planner so much that I actually still have it! Here are some pictures:

The picture is blurry but these pages of my planner were dedicated to France. On the left side, I printed out all of my hostel information.

On the right side, I included my hostel reservation info, French laws on service charges, where I can find an ATM/what it's called, and the US Embassy address and phone number. 

This part of the planner was for my trip to Hungary. The left side of the page includes key Hungarian phrases. 

The right side of the page has some of the sights that I wanted to go to.

These pages were also for my trip to Hungary. Both pages include information I got for FREE from lonelyplanet.com such as tram information, tipping  customs, and unsafe areas. 

On this page I also included my hostel information and the US Embassy information.

You can see some of my budgeting on the right side!