If learning that it is not a good idea to handle food or shake with your left hand in Asia, or that in Australia the ‘thumbs up’ gesture is considered obscene is a good sign of an interested traveller then it might be interesting to find that in Australia at least you’d be wrong about the thumbs up.

A couple of places that come up as good sources for info on local customs are Wikipedia and eDiplomat but there is misinformation in both of those articles, like…

• The “V” sign (made with index and middle fingers, palm facing inward) is a very vulgar gesture. The “thumbs up” gesture is also considered obscene. - The thumbs up part is wrong, it’s used the same way it is commonly in other western countries, meaning Good or OK.
• Do not say “I’m stuffed” after a meal. This means you are pregnant. - Well I’d take that to mean you are full and I’ve never heard a pregnant person say they are “Stuffed”.
• Do not sniff or blow your nose in public. - Jeez maybe try to be discreet but your not going to get an evil eye for doing it. Why would that be a problem when farting loudly is practically a national pastime.
• Requesting a fanny pack can be considered obscene due to the use of “fanny” as a slang term for female genitalia. “Bumbag” is the acceptable local variation in some areas. - Yep we call it a bum bag but we’ll know what you mean and it’s more likely to get a laugh than offend anyone.

So while these sources also have a lot of good information it’s probably also a good idea to ask a local and stick with the “when in Rome” philosophy.

I have to laugh at some of the tips like…

• The request to “bring a plate” to a gathering means to bring a food item. - The idea of someone turning up with an empty plate is pretty amusing. Although once again if you made that mistake you’d simply be the butt of all the evenings jokes rather than scolded for it.
• This is when an oncoming vehicle flicks its high beam headlights quickly but noticeably, and serves to warn drivers they are approaching - most commonly - a speed camera, a Police vehicle, or a motor vehicle accident. Many drivers acknowledge this with a return wave or a brief reply ‘flash’ of their high beam headlights. - Accurate advice but it leaves out the fact that doing so is illegal.

All in all though I think Australia lives up to it’s reputation of being very laid back, even if you do manage have a cultural faux pas it’s unlikely to get anyones nose out of joint.

Facebook has really taken off, given it’s unique platform and the benefits over other social networking sites like MySpace it’s not really a surprise nor is it that it is quickly becoming a favorite of travelers. Almost everyone wants to keep in touch with the people they meet while traveling and while there are a number of travel specific social networking sites Facebook has a lot to offer.

Although many have complained about it, it is the applications you can add to your Facebook profile that make it so fun and useful beyond just adding your friends.

Facebook is yet another designed to connect friends although unlike the MySpace popularity contest Facebook prefers that you actually know your friends. When you add a friend it will ask you how you know the person, are they related, a schoolmate, co worker, teammate, partner? Or for travelers, did you travel together and if so where to?

And like the others you enter the standard stuff to be shown in your profile like, age, relationship status, religion, favorites, etc.

The Applications browser says there are 61 travel related applications, how many are good is another story.

The most used application is the obligatory map of countries visited imaginatively called “Where I’ve Been“. But it’s not just where you’ve been but also your home country and where you want to go.There are heaps of other apps that do exactly the same thing but this one is the best and the most used and it’s always more fun to use apps that your friends also use.

You can also do pretty much the same thing with a Cities I’ve Visited map of which there are also a number available.

Trips is the next most useful, it allows you to enter your itinerary for an upcoming, a trip you are on or even past trips. You can add any friends who might me going with you and it creates a map of your route in Google Maps for you. While your gone or when you get back you can also upload photos to your trip data.

There are also apps for planning to help you find flights, calculate currency conversions, keep a travel diary, announce your favorite destinations. And lets not forget you can also upload videos of your travels and more.

For up and coming travelers there are countdown tools to tell you exactly how many seconds are left until you embark on your big adventure. With a bit of imagination I’m sure there are many others apps that could be used for travel purposes too.

And for wannabes or veterans alike there is one of my personal favorites, The Traveler IQ Challenge, how well do you really know the world and how do you compare to your fellow friends, travelers and Facebook members?

One things is for sure Facebook definitely has the goods for travelers whether it be for personal use, friends or keeping worried parents in the know.

[tags]Facebook, MySpace, Social, Networking, Travel, Fun, Friends[/tags]

This is a bit of a Community Service Announcement, there have been a few reports in the news lately about the misuse of EPIRBs in Tasmania. Two notable occasions were a Swiss couple who activated their EPIRB after getting their 4WD bogged just 7Km’s from a main road and a group of South Australian’s walking the South Coast Track who became too tired to complete the rest of the walk, obviously the Rescue team was not impressed as they only lifter one person out so that he could arrange a private charter helicoptor to retrive the others, and fair enough. As I started writing this last night there was a short on TV that there would be a story in todays newspaper, so here is a link to the story on The Mercury website, SOS call for sanity. A couple of days earlier was this article, Wrong EPIRB use set to cost. Charging for misuse seeming to be getting a lot of public backing and it will probably go ahead, considering the Search and Rescue helicopter responds to most activations plus the usual services you can imagine it is quite costly, $1000’s for each call.

What is an EPIRB?

Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons. When activated, the beacons send out a distress signal that allows it to be located by the satellite system and search and rescue aircraft to locate the people, boat or aircraft needing rescue. They may also be known as Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs) and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs).

When to use an EPIRB 

And by use I mean activate. Simply you should only use an EPIRB when your life is in danger, obviously a bogged car or tired legs don’t count as a life threatening situation. There are a few less dire situations where an EPIRB may be activated but I won’t list them simply because I want to avoid having to write a disclaimer, etc. I’m sure you can imagine for yourselves what they might be.

How to avoid having to use an EPIRB

As they say ”prevention is better than cure” and this applies to EPIRBs. On extended trips you should always carry enough food and water for at least an extra two days, that way if you get stuck somewhere because of weather or your just not making good time you have two days to play with.

Know your limits don’t set out on a week long walk if all you’ve done before is overnight trips.

Don’t panic, think with a clear head about what you can do to help yourself and what others might be able to do for you. Exhaust all other means of escaping the situation and most of all use common sense.

[tags]EPIRB, Emergency, Hiking, Tasmania, Safety[/tags]

Vagabonding isn’t your regular travel book it’s not a guidebook, it’s not a travelogue and it’s not a ‘how to’ in the traditional sense. The overwhelming message Potts gives us is simply ‘don’t force it’, You see Vagabonding is a very philosophical book and the philosophy is how to travel well without preconceived ideas of what ‘well’ is it’s about travelling with a mindset that allows this to happen. But that’s not all there is to it, Potts also provides some useful practical information about things like working on the road and volunteering, however it’s not the usual advice you get from more specific guide books this book is tailored to everyone. Potts discusses topics in such a way that it can apply to almost everyone so that you can take from it what is best for you, it does not recommend how, where’s or when’s but guides you on how to decide for yourself and makes you feel much more at ease in doing so yourself and taking on things as they come.

Vagabonding does have a few annoying traits, at times when making a point Potts rambles quite a bit, you may also like I get tired of the use of the word “vagabonding”, I’ve read some other reviews that didn’t like the number of quotes throughout the book but I personally enjoyed them. The great thing about Vagabonding is its open minded approach, it’s not at all pretentious about the style of travel, it actually advocates making travel personal and reflecting on certain truths that in other travel cultures can be negatives depending on how you look at it. I found that the philosophy Potts describes is parallel at times with Buddhist philosophies like ‘the middle way’ and others.

I have to say that Vagabonding is essential reading for all, I think that anyone can take something away from it traveller or not. The internet resources alone would be justification enough for some to buy this book but even that valuable part is just a shadow of what this book has to offer, this is one I’ll be re-reading later.

[tags]Review, Book, Travel, Vagabonding[/tags]

Most of us will wonder what to do about shaving in far of lands. Electric or Blade? Should we even bother?

If you do shave leave the cream at home and use oil instead, a small tube of oil will last even longer, be lighter and take up less space in your pack plus most people find they actually prefer it anyway.

Getting your hands on replacement blades for you razor might not be as hard as you think but it still may be more of a hassle than you really want to bother with, if your touring Europe, the US\Canada, Australia then you may as well continue with your usual stuff. In places like the Japan, Hong Kong and similar areas in Asia and the Middle East you could do the same or buying what you need there may even be cheaper than at home.

The other alternative is of course electric, if you buy smartly it really shouldn’t need to be much bulkier than a blade, only charging it might be a problem. Of course the shave is never as good as a blade but it will get you by and really when travelling all you really need to do is get by.

If your off to some far flung place where an electric won’t last you only realy have two options, a blade with as many spares as you might need or nothing. Best thing to do no matter where you go is ask yourself or a local “what do the locals do?”. Unless you’re obsessive about not having a beard just follow their lead, you’ll fit in more and it might even make you more comfortable too.

Barbers can be an excellent option and an experience if you’ve never had a shave by one, what could be better than leaving it all up to someone else?

And last of all I have not forgotten the mighty straight razor, the do it all of shaving. Just don’t think about picking one up the day before you leave or soon after arriving if you’ve never used one before, there is a good reason they are also known as a cutthroat.

Most of us who are serious about travelling know that it isn’t nearly as expensive as most people think or at least it doesn’t have to be, but thats not to say that it’s cheap, compared to your daily life at home it may be even cheaper but unless your going to [tag]work[/tag] while you travel then you need to have money sorted before you go.

The very first think you need to do is clear any [tag]debt[/tag] you have, I currently have over $4000 personally, thats a return ticket to South East Asia and easily two months there. About $1000 of that is insignificant because I am not and will not pay [tag]interest[/tag] on it and it is for something I would prefer not to travel without… my camera. The rest though I’m paying interest on and at the minimum monthly paments it will take me over a year to pay it off and probably a couple of extra hundred in interest. There is only one solution to this increase your payments. Since the start of this loan a good 3 years ago I have been paying more than the minimum monthly required by about $50 now I’m paying it off about $200 a month faster and it should be gone in about 6 months rather than 1+ year.

Once you have cleared that debt your in a good position, you already know you can live without the money you had been paying your debt off with so it should be no chore to continue with those payments equal or greater an put it into a [tag]savings[/tag] [tag]account[/tag] instead, you could have started paying into a savings account earlier but it is best to avoid the interest. This means that you maximise the money and time you have in savings earning interest instead of having a little money earning and your debt costing interest at most likely a much greater rate.

Other [tag]income[/tag] you may recieve like a [tag]tax[/tag] refund should go directly towards your debt or your savings, you don’t need it just yet, you’ve lived all year without that [tag]money[/tag] and you still can so eigther use it to stop the interest bleed or to earn it.

You need to [tag]budget[/tag] and you should calculate it based on how often you are payed, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Include everything and for bills that don’t fall into the same timeframe you are paid calculate how much you will need to pay on your budget’s timeframe and use internet [tag]banking[/tag] and such so that all your bills are payed in full or in installments each budget cycle. This gives you a better idea of how much disposable income you actually have and how much you can afford to save. For a more accurate idea write down for a week or two everything you buy that isn’t an essential like electricity, I’m talking about lunches and fast food and non essential purchases. Can you cut back or find a cheaper alternative?

This is the most basic start you can make and as you can see really it’s just commonsense.

[tags]tax refund[/tags]

There a couple of Travel Expos on this weekend, I’ll be off to the Flight Centre Travel Expo at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart on Sunday 25th Feb 10-4. More Info and other locations here… Flight Centre Travel Expo

My GF will be in Melbourne so I will try to convince her to go the the Adventure Travel and Backpackers Expo at the Royal Exhibition Building on the 23rd - 25th Feb 10-4. More info for Melbourne and Sydney here… Backpackers Expo

Both are free entry, well at least the Backpackers one is free if you print out this page… FREE ENTRY Otherwise it costs $5 so if you didn’t know and I’ve saved you 5 Bucks you can thanks me by reading some of my other posts and leaving a comment or by clicking on some unkown object on this site that might make me some miniscule amount of money so that I can try save you some dollars again in the future.

[tags]Travel, Expo, Travel Expo, Flight Centre, Backpackers[/tags]