It’s time for another Al’s List.

Top Ten Tricks To Backpacking 

10. Always Always Always, know the Laws of the country your are traveling in. Some countries don’t allow you to turn right (or left depending on) on a red. Some countries will fine you for spitting on the sidewalk. Some countries REALLY frown upon marijuana,. You’re not in Canada anymore so pay attention.

9. Don’t have a plan. - Plans never work out the way they are intended to and that goes    triple for backpacking. The experience is something you can never imagine or predict, so making plans around something your are completely ignorant about is just foolish. 

8. Never fuck around with airport security, or customs officials. They are miserable pricks, and they have the guns. They would love nothing more than to add some excitement the there otherwise miserable existence by strip searching you in the back room in hopes they find contraband, or a granola bar lodge somewhere in one of your orifices. (It might sound like a joke about the granola bar, but it’s not. That set of a rather long change of events. Apparently you can plant a granola tree.) Your best bet is to just be as mundane and passive as possible. Make them do all the work. It’s they’re job, they chose it and are getting paid for it. 

7. Always carry your passport on your person. Shit gets stolen all the time, and the last thing you want to be is stuck somewhere with no funds, no embassy, and no passport. 

6. “YES” is the only word you need in your vocabulary. There is no room for No. No doesn’t get you anywhere. Yes gets you everywhere.

5. Always travel with a wool blanket, a rain jacket, and a lighter. The blanket incase you find yourself stuck at a bus stop or train station at 2 in the morning, the jacket incase it rains (obviously) and a lighter to pick up chics. It’s the easiest and best way. Conversely, if you’re a smoker, never carry a lighter. 

4. Don’t travel with friends. It’s okay to start off together, but you didn’t travel half way around the world to hang out with the same people you have been since childhood. Fists will be throw. I have the scares to prove it. 

3. Bring next to nothing. 2 pairs of socks and underwear, one pair of pants, shorts and a hoody.  Two  t-shits and one decent shirt. You will accumulate a lot of crap. Also, don’t bring anything that you cherish because it’s not surviving the trip.

2. Working in hostels as you go is a great way to save money. If possible get early morning kitchen duties. Hostel kitchens are cleaned top to bottom every week, and if names and dates are not on food, then it gets “thrown out”. By thrown out of course, I mean it becomes yours. That includes beer.  If you can afford a car, then do so. You can sell it at the end and you can sleep in it. Paying for gas is a lot cheaper than paying for a bed every night. 

          2B- get a portable spice rack. 12 months of noodles gets really bland if you can't jazz it up a little

1. Have fun, and don’t worry about home. You’ll be astonded when you come back how little everything has changed. What may seem like your most trying and horrible experiences will be become your best memories. Everything always works out. It’s really weird and this is what your friends and family will want to hear about when you get back home.