Travel kit essentials

Last year, whilst working as the travel editor of my student magazine, I decided to do a travel-health special, including a list of travel-health essentials that you should always take on the road. A group of my writers teamed up to make their suggestions, and the results were quite funny. As it's nearly summer, and a lot of people are probably planning their next trip, I thought I'd share my writer's tips with you. So here is a list of travel-health essentials that you should never be without:

(Compiled by Eliott Fellinger, Anthony Lock, Sam Langan and Venetia Stefanou)

Condoms – Because STDs don’t take holidays (unless they’re intermittent).


Sunscreen – This will stop you getting skin cancer whilst making you look all shiny and sexy, everyone’s a winner (except cancer).


Malaria tablets/injections - Because death by mosquito bite sucks.


Honey - Apparently it can help heal small wounds and burns whilst doubling up as a tasty lip balm. On the other hand you might get mauled by bears.

Antibacterial wipes - Because the best places in the world don’t have washbasins or showers. They are perfect substitutes whether you’re in Glastonbury or Guyana. Contains alcohol too!

Alka Seltzer – This is the simplest way to cure hangovers and headaches and you don’t even need to use frying pans or squeeze grapes!

Tiger Balm - A Chinese health medicine that breathes new life back into muscles and aches and is also great for soothing insect bites. No Tiger included in the ingredients.

Clothing - Long sleeved and long legged clothing is appropriate in any weather condition, attractive I know, but you’ll be laughing when some fool in your tour group is in sunburn hell because they didn’t cover up.

Mosquito Clicker - Or “the Zapper,” or the Frank Zapper if your feeling funky. This little baby gives you a small electric shock to rid you of that annoying itch given off when a Mosquito decides to feast on you. Available on Amazon.

Lemons – Apparently spiders hate them so get your juicers at the ready if you’re off to the jungle!

Tampons – Obviously a necessity for girls. Trying to get hold of these where you don’t speak the language can turn into a horribly detailed game of charades in front of a foreign chemist. Guys – I hear they are also good for nosebleeds...

Energy snacks – Keeping your energy levels up is always a good idea whether you are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro or going on a wet walk through Wales so don’t forget to prepare with a packed lunch!

Magicool –Spray it in the car on a hot day, in your pokey little hostel room with no air-con or even on yourself. It instantly cools you down, which is a Godsend in really hot countries.

Sense of humour - Essential for getting on with locals when traveling, because you can get (nearly) everything else on the road!

Tres Bon Ceylon

(apologies in advance for the poor photo quality in this post - I didn't own a digital camera when I went to Sri Lanka, just a disposable one, so these photos are all scanned in.)

The WTI competition has gotten my friend's tongues wagging recently, and travel seems to be first thing that comes up in all my conversations since I entered the competition. One of the main things people seem to ask me is "what is your favourite country?" My answer is, and probably always will be the same: Sri Lanka.

So why Sri Lanka? Well, firstly I'd say that the people in Sri Lanka are probably the nicest people I've ever met. I spent just over two months working in Sri Lanka, first as a school teacher, and on an elephant conservation project, and I received nothing but kindness from the people I met there. On a crowded bus ride from Bentota to Colombo, a friend of mine said to me "Sri Lanka is just the most peaceful country I've ever been to...apart from the war of course." This made us both laugh, because the war seemed so detached from our lives out there.  It wasn't something that the average Sri Lankan seemed to concern themselves with, they just took it as a given and got on with their lives. There has been a lot of controversy in this country over the incidents that lead to the war finishing, and I've heard people say that they wouldn't like to visit Sri Lanka after what has happened, but it is very difficult to judge a country from the outside, and Sri Lankan people are not to blame for the governments mistakes. Sri Lanka is an amazing country, with lots to offer, and now that the war is over, there has never been a better time to visit.

So what else makes Sri Lanka special?

The history: Sri Lanka has an amazing history, and some beautiful historical sites. If you visit, you absolutely must visit the cultural triangle - an area which includes a world heritage site and ancient cities more than 2,500 years old! I visited three of the places in the cultural triangle: Dambulla, Sigiriya, and Anuradhapura.

Dambulla has a golden temple and caves covered in religious paintings and statues of buddha.

Sigiriya has the remains of a 5th century palace, cut out of a huge rock. The climb to the top takes a few hours, but it is worth it for the stunning views of Sri Lanka. This was my favourite of the places in the cultutral triangle as I loved these lions feet cut into the rock half-way up:

Anuradhapura is an ancient city that spans a huge area of land and is a UNESCO world heritage sight.

The food: As an island, Sri Lanka has a lot to offer in terms of seafood. I ate spicy prawns almost every day that I was there. The food seemed like a blend of Chinese and Indian cuisine. One particular Sri Lankan specialty that everyone should try is roti. Roti is a kind of coconut pancake often eaten for breakfast. My Sri Lankan friends ate theirs with an extremely spicy lime-pickle sauce, but I preferred mine with apricot jam.

The breathtaking sights: In my two months in Sri Lanka I tried to see as much as I could, but I could literally spend a year travelling around Sri Lanka. It's beautiful dense rainforests, picturesque beaches, and tea fields in the mountains were a real treat on the eyes.

I took this photo on a lagoon trip, just outside Sri Lanka's commercial capital Colombo.

This is a statue of Buddha on the top of a hill in Kandy, which can be seen from miles away.

This is one of the beaches on the West of Sri Lanka. The beaches in the North are supposed to be more beautiful, but I visited in 2006, when the war was still in full swing.

This photo was taken from the top of a mountain called Adam's Peak, the highest mountain in Sri Lanka, and also a pilgrimage site. It's hard to tell in this photo, but the views are stunning. It took us almost 6 hours to climb to the top, but we got there just in time for sunrise, which was amazing to watch from the top of a mountain!

The beach parties: There aint no party like a Sri Lankan beach party! I've done a fair bit of travelling around Asia, and one of the most disappointing things I find is that every party I ever go to on the beach is just full of tourists. This was something I didn't find in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan people seem to know how to party, and the beach parties often included barbeques, bongo drum playing, dancing, playing carrom (a Sri Lankan board game, sort of like a small version of billiards) and drinking a lot of Arak (coconut rum).

The amazing wildlife: Sri Lanka really has it all in terms of wildlife - stunningly beautiful birds and butterflies, leopards, elephants, wild monkeys, crocodiles etc. I saw a lot of amazing animals on my visit. Sri Lanka has some great spots to see all the different wildlife. On my visit, I went to a safari park, and did a trek through the rainforrest where I saw wild monkeys and some weird snakes and insects. I  worked in an elephant sanctuary, and even saw a crocodile reclining on a rock on a lagoon trip, at which point my tour guide said "shall I poke it with stick?"

 This was one of the baby elephants at the elephant orphanage I worked at (pinnewala)

And here is a monkey I befriended on the beach.

This was a surprisingly heavy tortoise I met in a turtle sanctuary. The day I went there it was turtle hatching season, and the man running the place had thousands of tiny newborn turtles that he had taken from the beach and hatched in the sanctuary so they would not get taken by poachers. That night we went with him and released them all into the sea. It was an amazing experience.

And here is a snake charmer!

Back to the old school, back to my roots

Well, I've reached the final round of the World Traveller Intern competition, and just uploaded my final application video, which is on my lovely hometown Nottingham:



The whole competition has rushed by so quickly I haven't really had much time to reflect on it. It is still very hard to believe that I have made the top ten, especially considering I only heard about the competition two days before its deadline, and had to be persuaded by a friend to even put my first video up.

This last part of the competition has left me feeling very strange. Every time I watch one of the other videos, I get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. The reason I suppose that is, is that at this point of the competition, everyone is so talented, it's very hard to imagine who might win. All my friends keep telling me that this is the perfect job for me, and I know they are right, but then all the other applicants get the same comments and I just think: what makes me special? We all have different sets of skills, so what are STA looking for in their interns?

I want to win this more than anything, mainly because its the opportunity I've always been looking for and now its so close to my grasp it will be very difficult to let it go if I don't win. I think I could make a good job of it, after all my career plans revolve around travel journalism, and it's something I'm going to be doing regardless of whether I win or not, but to win the competition...well I suppose that would really help me get my foot in the door of a notoriously difficult career.

I feel like I've really stretched myself during the competition, and that is definitely a good thing. I've learned how to make movies, improved my blog, and found out a lot about social media that I never knew before. These are all such great skills, and I'm so thankful that STA gave me the push that I needed to learn them.

My plan for if I don't win is to get a job teaching in Sri Lanka and save up money until I have enough to travel around for a year. Then I'm going to attempt to make some socio-political documentaries in Asia. If that sounds interesting to anyone reading this, please get in touch as I would love to build up a crew - I still have a lot to learn and I think I could learn a lot from the other WTI applicants, as well as other travellers.

If you liked my video, feel free to vote for me here, it would really help my cause!

The finals!

Well, I actually made it through to the final round! I've beaten hundreds of other applicants to make it through to the top 10, and now have to make one final video to try and secure myself a winning place. My video is going to be on Nottingham, a vibrant and unique city that often gets overlooked. To find out why I made it this far, visit: The STA World Traveller Intern homepage and check out my application video.

I should have my Nottingham video up soon, so keep checking back for updates. I also need all the votes I can get, so if you like my video, click the VOTE NOW button on my STA homepage.

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Ok, so this isn't exactly a person, but I had to get this photo in somewhere. I found this monkey in a temple in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia. About two minutes before this photo was taken it was snacking on an enormous piece of chocolate that it stole from a tourist, and has clearly been well over-fed!

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Today's photo was taken in Suzhou, (pronounced Soo Jo) a sleepy suburb of Shanghai. This Chinese man slowly makes his way down a canal that backed on to people's houses:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

I spotted this man selling fruit on a East Coast beach in Thailand. I liked his snazzy outfit so took a picture of him:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

This Chinese girl teaches her dog how to surfboard in Hainan:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Having just read Paddy's newest blog post, I've been inspired to start a daily series of photos of the interesting people I have met along my travels. I'm kicking it off with this photo of a Cambodian mother and her daughter selling fried spiders on the side of the road at a bus stop just outside Phnom Penh:

Five tips for solo travellers

I came across this article on the Lonely Planet website about ways to combat loneliness when traveling abroad. Whilst some of the tips were handy, they were a bit geared towards older travelers, so I thought I'd add a few more student-relevent ones of my own:

1: Stay in hostels: hostel bookers is a really useful website for finding a good hostel. It lists user ratings, so you can see which hostels are most popular. Not only does this mean you can pick the nicest hostel, but it means that you will stay at a busy hostel, thus ensuring there are plenty of people to make friends with.

2: Network: Talk to everyone when you travel, locals, tourists, backpackers, whatever. Don't ever be afraid to start up a conversation with people. I often find people are very enthusiastic to talk to you when they learn you are travelling by yourself. Find out from other travellers where the best places to stay are, and ask locals what they recommend you see whilst you are in their country. They are sure to be able to give you some historical information and tips that you wouldn't have had otherwise, don't just follow your guidebook, it can't tell you everything.

3: Use an alternative to your normal cashcard: If you are travelling by yourself, one of the main concerns is getting robbed. If you have all your money taken off you and you are completely by yourself, it really puts you in an awkward situation. STA travel have come up with a great solution to this problem, with their travel cashcard which allows you to top it up with credit, and then use it just like your normal cashcard at any ATMs which accept mastercards. It's not linked to your bank, so if its stolen, you will only loose the money that is on it, and you can block it instantly should you need to. Just make sure you carry your actual cashcard in a different place to the STA card. Money belts are useful for storing things that you need to keep secure.

4: Organise group trips/tours: Sandeman's New Europe tours offer free walking tours throughout most of the capital cities in Europe. They are very popular, and give a great introduction to the city, as well as being a good way to meet people.

5:Arrange to meet people along the way: Ask everyone you meet where they are going next, and if they are moving on to any of the same places as you, get their email and arrange to meet them. Also TravBuddy is a social networking site for people looking for people to travel with. You can create a profile and search for people who are travelling to the same places at the same time as you. Be warned that there are a few weirdos on the site though, and if you do arrange to meet anyone, make sure you meet in a safe, and crowded place in case anything should go wrong.