What I would do differently next time

What I would do differently next time

1) Buy my electronics in New Zealand. This is because brand name electronics are the same price or cheaper in New Zealand, Electronics purchased in New Zealand are guarunteed to have warranties that are servicable in New Zealand and buying electronics in foreign countries in languages other than English is hard work and time consuming.

2) Bring a netbook This is because free wifi hotspots are ubiquitous. Internet cafes are not and finding them eats up a lot of time, especially in countries where there is very little English spoken. Also, at times Internet cafe's can be very pricy (i.e. $10NZ for 20 minutes at Beijing Airport).

3) Always check out the local scams before arriving somewhere (aka read lonely planet - online travel forums etc). On several occasions the lonely planet had details of scams and how to avoid them, but I fell into them because I had not read the perfectly good information I had armed myself with. At other times, I had read the information which saved me from some potentially expensive encounters.

4) Always know how much I am spending before agreeing to services and get it in writing. This sounds extreme, but using a paper and pen as a communication tool to negotiate price is good because it keeps a record of what was agreed and keeps the seller honest. If a price is only agreed verbally, sellers (often street vendors and taxi drivers) will hike the price once goods are received. Paper and pen is good because it keeps a record, so no vendor can inflate the price post sale.

5) Use a GPS from the start, and buy the appropriate local maps before leaving New Zealand or whatever country (where possible). The GPS has been amazing. I never get lost, always know where I'm going, I can meander anywhere with confidence because I'll always be able to get back. The GPS (with appropriate maps) also points out local tourist attractions for me so I don't end up walking past stuff, and it provides an odometer on taxi rides that has allowed me to calculate the rate exactly owed to taxi drivers (and not a cent more) since I bought it. On more than a few occasions since I got the GPS, taxi drivers have attempted to charge me inflated prices, but in every instance they have had to accept my odometer reading and take what I gave them (as I am not flexible when it comes to taxi drivers). One taxi driver in Mongolia got stroppy and one grabbed my shirt to stop me getting out of his cab without paying the $5 US per kilometer he wanted, but fortunately he let go, I leapt out, and threw his opportioned money on the ground (about $2 NZ) so he had to scramble for it if he wanted it and by that time I was gone. I no longer have any patience for fraudsters.

6) Always check out the local public transport options before booking a tour or at least understand there is always a local cheap option. On more than a couple of occasions I'd pay something like $30 USD for a tour somewhere to find that entrace was free and somebody else was smarter and had bought a local bus ticket for fifty cents. Once in Cambodia I paid for a  'tour', and they put me on the local bus everyone else was paying fifty cents for anyway. (they didn't provide any other services).