Survival tips

THIS is Duncan Goose’s essential advice for travellers:

Travel light, travel light and travel light.

Give a trusted friend power of attorney over your bank account, so they can send you your own money. Get travel and medical insurance, but forget about meaningless bike insurance outside the west.

Get anyone planning to visit you to bring tyres with them – big bike rubber is hard to come by in Guatemala, for instance.

Don’t listen to other people’s horror stories. Your experience will be different.

Australia and Iran are the only places you need to pre-book a visa for. Entry to most of the other countries you need can be negotiated at the border.

Relax and smile at border crossings. Checkpoints can take anything from three hours to half-a day. Expect to pay up to $10 U.S. or give away cigarettes for ” assistance ” .

Stay in local guest houses to get a true flavour of places.

Stay in one luxury hotel per country to get a shower.

When lost, always ask either a cop or a taxi driver for directions. They usually take you there themselves, or sometimes you get a police escort.

Travel alone if you want to meet people. And if you don’t want to meet people – don’t go.

Just go. There’s never a right or wrong time to travel the world. One day you’ll just feel like taking a long trip. If you feel the same way for a week – do it.