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For our honeymoon, Shleah and I chose to do a road trip in Florida, starting in Miami, driving down to the Key West, then driving to Sarasota and Naples before returning to Miami. I took it upon myself to ensure that I had booked everything so we wouldn’t have to figure things out when we got there. 

After arriving at Miami International Airport, we had to get a bus to the car hire centre. On this bus I looked at my car booking and realised that the car had been booked for the month I had booked it in rather than the current month we were travelling, My voucher was two months out of date. Thinking back I remembered that the booking website had timed out when I had originally tried to make the booking leading to the date resetting. 

If you are limited for time, it can often be tempting to try and visit one location, check into one hotel at the beginning of the hotel and then return home. Personally I have quite a short attention span so I tend to limit stays in a particular hotel to 4-5 days or less. This means on a two week holiday we are often in 4 or 5 hotels and have taken multiple flights. We once took 12 flights over the course of a three week holiday to Singapore, Bali, Kuala Lumpur and central Vietnam. On that same trip we also took two boats, three trains and numerous taxis to get between our bases. Moving around tends to be all about maximising your time and prioritising what you want to do in a specific location.

One of the most complicated things about going on a trip to somewhere that uses a different currency to you is how to pay for things when you get there. Over the years there have been many many different solutions such as buying cash, travellers cheques, prepaid debit cards, debit cards and credit cards. In 2012 I applied for a fee free travel credit card and since then it has become the only way that I either get foreign currency or pay for items when travelling. I always pay off the balance in full via direct debit and further will make a faster payment on the card after a withdrawal since it accrues interest on cash withdrawals. 

Most people’s least favourite part of getting ready to go on holiday is packing. Figuring out what to bring and vice versa can be quite intimidating, especially if you are visiting somewhere which is very different to where you have been before. We have a few useful tips when it comes to packing that have helped us to manage some very complicated holidays.

Over the course of our travels we have always found that one of the best ways to get to know a particular location is to shop with the locals. This can vary between going to a big supermarket, visiting a convenience store, or buying something from a non-tourist market.