Travel Tips Archives - The Middle Age Wanderer

How to Tell if an Animal Encounter is Ethical?

Posted In: Travel Tips

Ethical animal tourism is top of mind for many of us when we travel. So how do we tell if an animal encounter is ethical? I wanted to start by explaining why I believe I am in a position to talk about ethical animal encounters. For almost ten years I sat on the board of one of the largest animal welfare organisations in the Southern Hemisphere. The organisation provides assistance to over 50,000 animals (of which half are wildlife) every year, operates 10 shelters and a large wildlife hospital. What[...]

The Unexpected Happens When Travelling

Posted In: Travel Tips

No matter how well you plan your trip, no matter how many scenarios you plan for, things happen that are outside of your control. In some cases you may be prepared but in others you may need to change plans or rearrange plans. Let me give you some of the examples we have come across in our travels. Cancelled Flights We had been in the UK for a family wedding and had headed to Ireland after the wedding. It just happened to be in 2010 and while in Ireland, the Iceland volcano eruption played havoc with flight[...]

5 Items I Always Have in my First Aid Kit

Posted In: Travel Tips

A first aid kit is a must for any traveller and there are plenty of “off the shelf” type kits that are great for most needs. But there are specific items that may not be in your standard first aid kit that I always make sure are included in my kit. Item 1 – Blister Pads You never know when you will get a blister, even if you have worn your shoes a lot before travelling. Even when visiting cities we walk a lot and it is not uncommon for us to walk over 20km each day. I wear my favourite and most comfortable[...]

Start a Travel Tradition

Posted In: Travel Tips

One of the fun things we love to do when we travel is follow a travel tradition – something that we do everywhere we visit, well in a lot of the places we visit. The tradition doesn’t have to be big. It can be something small. My small tradition is to buy a key ring from every city / country we visit. It’s just a small trinket to remind me of where we have been. Our Tradition We love food and wine. For us, experiencing great restaurants around the world is something we love to do. So our tradi[...]

5 Tips to Get Though Airport Security Faster

5 Tips to Get Through Airport Security Faster

Posted In: Travel Tips

How many times have you got to airport security to be fumbling to find items that need to be scanned separately. Or worse, have someone in front of you that doesn’t realise that they have to have their laptop and liquids scanned separately and once they find those items, they buzz the security screening because they haven’t taken items out of their pockets!The following 5 tips have come from my experience while travelling and the mistakes I’ve made and seen other people make while going through airport security.Tip 1[...]

Be Respectful in Places of Worship

Posted In: Travel Tips

It should go without saying that you would be respectful in places of worship. Well you would think so. Unfortunately that isn’t always the case. Let me give you an example. We visited the Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo. As is usual in Cairo, it was hot when we were there. But I knew we would be visiting this and other mosques on the day. We both dressed in long pants, my shirt had 3/4 length sleeves and my husband wore a short sleeve button up shirt. I also took a scarf with me bu[...]