Planning to travel soon? Emma gets us thoroughly prepared for the world….

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Hey, gang! So next month I am taking one of the biggest leaps of my life and am hopping on a plane to Uganda to go to Entebbe, Kampala and build playgrounds for the children there as well as trek with the silverback gorillas!
Now, like I imagine is the same as many of you, I have never travelled before apart from a day trip to France in like year 6 on the Eurostar! Because of this, I thought it would be good to take a moment to share some top tips with some of you guys who may start your very first travels in the next couple of years or so and don’t know where to start.

Top Tips for First-Time Travel:

1. MONEY – I know this is a given, but honestly, travel costs more than you expect. I am going to be going to Uganda with a company called East African Playgrounds and I had to fundraise my £1,700 to get there which I soon found was near on impossible as people aren’t as giving as you’d expect them to be. However, not only have I not managed to raise that, flights go on top plus clothes, immunisations, sleeping bag, hiking bag, shoes, food and drink… The things you don’t think about cost the most so SAVE YOUR MONEY.

2. Documents – This seems obvious, but print all your travel documents, including your visa and tickets and itinerary, even receipts as if something goes wrong you can prove that you did pay for those things. Never forget to also take these on the plane with you and bring your passport, insurance card and immunisation certificates!3. Research – Make sure that wherever you are going, you do not subject yourself to culture shock! In certain countries, it is offensive to wear certain clothes that in your hometown are a normal occurrence and therefore you must find out what is acceptable and what is not when you go away.

4. Arrangements – Whoever you are going with, make sure you are safe with whoever it is, especially if you are travelling with a group like a charity company. Some of my friends have had bad experiences with this and it is good to make sure you trust who you’re with. If it’s friends, that’s just awesome!

5. Locals – This is in no way a stereotyped statement but just be careful when you are abroad no matter where you are since when you are among local people there are different traditions and different ways of doing things which potentially could leave you in uncomfortable or even dangerous situations.
Aside from this, if you’re travelling for the first time just make sure you’re safe, you do not find yourself in unknown territory and have loads of fun!! Explore and make memories no matter where you go!