Who is MickTravels, anyway?
I grew up in Des Plaines, IL. My family always took a summer vacation across the country every year. We saw most of the states. When I graduated from the University of Illinois I moved to California to work at a silicon valley company. There I met a guy, Tom, who had been to over 50 countries and around the world twice. He would work to earn enough money to take his next trip, then quit.
Later, after I moved to Arizona, he invited me to go to Africa with him. Until then my international experience was constrained to Canada and Mexico.I was just getting into photography at the time, and I brought my Nikon 6006 and 4 rolls of film. 4 rolls?!?! It was a huge leap into the wonderful world of exotic travel, and I have never looked back.
Since then my shutterbug and travelbug have ballooned. Tom and I went to Antarctica a few years after Africa. People asked me so many questions about that trip, before and after, that I decided to build this website to share my experience.
My experiences haven't stopped, my photography madness just gets worse. This website grew accordingly.
I am now married to a woman who also loves to travel, and our daughter can't wait to get on those airplanes! Travel Philosophy Traveling is the ultimate freedom. Think about it -- you don't have to worry about anything except catching your next flight. You have the entire day/week/trip to do whatever you want whenever you want. Irrepeatable adventures and experiences await after every meal. You can make your days as exciting and relaxing as you want.
Travel builds character in several ways:
You get to experience life in a different way for a while. Depending on where you go, it can be vastly different. Travel expands your point of view by placing you directly at a new vantage point.
Things go wrong when you travel. Sometimes terribly wrong. You will learn to handle yourself in new situations that will build your problem-solving repetoire. When you come out alive, it's an extra boost of self confidence that will never go away.
At the very least, you will have a lot more interesting stories to tell at your next party! You will never be dull when you talk about your latest adventure. The majority of people don't leave their home countries, or even their home state. If they have, then it's to the same places that everyone else has been. College grads go to Europe, everyone with kids goes to Disneyland.
Travel builds important memories. Think about it. What are your fondest, most vivid memories? Where do your best stories come from? Besides the birth of your first child, your wedding, and certain romantic encounters, it's your vacations! It doesn't matter how far you go. You are doing and seeing things completely out of the ordinary that you may never do/see again. Those new experiences get written indelibly into your brain. Forever! Finding More Time
Most people get 2 or 3 weeks of vacation, and many of them really don't take full advantage of it. You can stretch your vacations with these simple guidelines:
Use holidays to your advantage. For example, Labor Day falls on a Monday. You can leave Friday evening before and return the Sunday after and get 8 full days of vacation while only taking off 4. You can see a lot in 8 days.
If your job sends you places, take an extra day or two to see the sights. If you have control over when you go on your business trip, take it near a weekend. The company pays for the airfare, you stay and pay for the extra weekend. You might even consider flying your family up after your business is through. You'd be amazed at how many people don't do this.
Guidebooks
I prefer the Lonely Planet series of guidebooks. They have a guide on everything, they are fairly comprehensive, and they are entertaining to read. Their recommendations, warnings, and observations have been right on the money. There are definitely lots of other guidebooks out there; select the one that suits your tastes.
One problem I've noticed with them, though: if you get a book that covers more than one country (The Mediteranean, for example), it will have seemingly random information missing as compared to the full set of complete guidebooks (Greece, Italy...). They can also become outdated. Ignore any pricing information that they include, it is almost certainly out of date.
Getting Tickets
Start early. Way early. Months before you're gonna leave. The earlier you start, the cheaper and more available your choices in airfare will be.
I use Travelocity to find my own tickets (try out link to the right). It's a great tool to check what's available and order all of your own tickets. It covers airlines all over the world. Be flexible in your departure dates and times -- you could save hundreds of dollars.
After you find the right flights there, check other websites (including the airline's!) to see if there's a better deal.
The airfare is usually the most expensive part of the trip. If you have a huge airfare you can bring the average cost per day of your trip down by spending more time at your destination. In other words, the more expensive it is to fly there, the "cheaper" your trip will be if you stay there longer.
If it's one thing I've learned, it's to always plan on staying in the town 24 hours before your flight leaves. Never be halfway across the country in the morning when you've got to make an afternoon or evening flight because something will go wrong. Murphy's Law will do whatever it can to prevent you from making your flight.
Finding a place to stay
I never really care too much where I stay. The room I rent for a day or two serves only one purpose: to allow me a place to sleep at night. I spend almost no time in the room beyond that.
I don't care if I have to share the room with others, if the bathroom is down the hall, if there is no light in the room.
I do care how much the room costs, how close it is to the attraction or mode of transportation I must catch the next day, and how safe/clean it is. These are the types of things I'll pay extra for, but other than that I go el cheapo. Hostels are not hard to find and, depending on the country, can be as little as $10/day. I'd rather spend my money seeing or doing something exciting than spend it on a hotel room.
Before arriving at a destination I try to have a couple of places selected from the guidebook. Fellow travelers are always good for recommendations.
Usually I book a place way in advance for my first evening's stay on a trip. It takes away a lot of stress to know that you have a place to stay when you first set foot in a foreign country. Subsequent reservations are almost always made on the fly as you get used to the area. Eating out
I know I'm somewhat of an anomoly here, but I rarely pay attention to where I eat. Eating for me is an inconvenience. On long trips I typically lose weight because I am too preoccupied with the sights. Food can be expensive and forgettable, so I end up skipping the odd meal here and there. Again, I'd rather spend my money seeing or doing something exciting.
I never check guidebooks or ask fellow travelers for recommendations on restaurants. Unless the occasional unsolicited review is exceptionally enthusiastic, I'll just stop in wherever is convenient, clean, and cheap. Or I'll take the recommendation of a fellow traveller. Languages
I know a lot of high school Spanish. When I went to France I bought French for Dummies and a compact phrasebook and studied for a month before the trip. I think trying to speak the language, trying to be understood, reading the signs, and trying to understand the locals talk is one of the major highlights of a trip. I was fairly successful in the countries whose languages I prepared for in advance.
But it takes time and energy to try to crash-learn a language. If you are up for the challenge, here are some tips:
learn the numbers, days of the week, please, thank you, excuse me, yes, no, hello, good morning, good afternoon, good night, help, sorry
learn all the question words
learn how to say I want, I need, we want, we need, can I?, can we? Conjugation is difficult in some languages, but you can limit it with just these 6.
learn ticket, car, flight, street, road, block, left, right
learn some foods, ice, glass, fork, knife, spoon, water. Learn how to vocally distinguish between tap water (free but tainted in many countries) and bottled water (expensive but safe).
learn the verbs to go, buy, see, be, cost, eat, drink, help, speak
learn how to ask where the bathroom is and if the person you're talking to speaks English.
when you try to speak, try to put on a phony accent. Exaggerate it. Most Americans I've noticed are afraid of or oblivious to foreign accents. When they try, it sounds half-assed. By exaggerating it you can sound more like them than you think, and having an accent goes an unbelievably long way in getting yourself understood. In fact, some langauges like Chinese require certain inflections to be understood - whether you end a word from low to high pitch means something totally different from high to low.
When speaking to someone who does not know a lot of English:
Never speak louder if someone doesn't understand you. Speak slower instead. Enunciate clearly. One word at a time if you have to, watching the expression on their face as feedback that they comprehend.
Don't bother being grammatically correct, just get the main words across. They're not going to know the difference anyway.
Don't stop speaking their language if you discover they speak English. Keep trying to speak their language. Ask for help or grammar clarification, you will always get it. The natives will love you and admire you for it. You will be amazed at the praise you get if you keep trying.
Packing
I cram everything I need into one medium-sized backpack and one medium size roller suitcase. Except for my camera equipment, money, tickets, and passport I don't care if it all gets stolen. In fact I go out of my way to pack clothes that I don't want anymore: I can easily trade or pitch an old t-shirt to make room for a new souveneir [t-shirt]. I take only 4-5 changes of clothes and wash them along the way. No matter how warm I think it will be I carry a heavy sweatshirt or medium jacket. No matter how cold I think it will be I bring a swimsuit.
Medium Backpack
This holds all the important stuff: my camera equipment, travel documents, at least one complete set of clothes, sweatshirt or jacket, hat, guidebook, sunglasses, toiletries. Toiletries include the essentials -- toothpaste, toothbrush, pain reliever, Immodium, decongestant, comb, shampoo, soap, suntan lotion. The shampoo can double for hand-laundry soap. Recently I've added a laptop and charger to this list and this backpack became a lot heavier. Still, it's definitely luggable across town. In Peru I covered my backpack with a cable netting to dissuade slasher thieves. Some backpacks now come with rollers.
Medium Roller Suitcase
Everything else goes in here, anything that I wouldn't mind too much if it got lost or stolen. I don't carry a sleeping bag. It would occupy otherwise necessary space. Besides, there is always a cheap place to stay or someone ready to rent you a sleeping bag if you need it. Money
I carry American cash, a credit card, and a debit card. I try to use the VISA whenever possible. Most countries have ATMs everywhere. You don't need travelers checks anymore
Know a handy formula to convert from their currency to yours. Make the formula simple: multiplying by 2 and dividing by 10 is easier than trying to divide by 5. Having a simple formula lets you instantly know the relative cost of what you're paying for.
It is always surprising to me how many countries accept American money. Tanzania, Africa wouldn't accept anything else when I bought an airline ticket there. Argentina's peso was linked to the dollar (1 dollar always equals 1 peso) and anyone there still happily accepts either currency. Don't rely on this for the country you are visiting -- do your homework. Camera Equipment
During the Alaska, Antarctica, Israel, and Greece trips I had a Nikon 8008 and a pair of sigma lenses -- a 28-85mm and a 75-300mm. Then I went to Costa Rica and got some of it stolen. Not surprisingly, I didn't get very many good pictures on that trip so it is not displayed on this site.
However, the insurance company gave me enough money such that I could upgrade all my stuff. So for Australia, Peru, and the Galapagos I used a Canon Elan7E with 28-135mm IS and 100-400mm IS lenses.
In late 2003 I went all digital. All my pictures are now taken with a Canon 10D using the same lenses. A single 1GB flash card lets me take 450 photos in high-resolution jpg mode.
I have a 1.4x teleconverter for longer distances and a 12mm extension tube for extreme close-ups. Sometimes I bring a monopod. I don't have a decent tripod yet. They are expensive and bulky and therefore low on my priority list of future purchases.
