About to take your very first backpacking trip? Doing one of the European circuits that every college graduate seems to take as a right of passage into the working world? Proper packing technique can save you quite a lot of pain and suffering on your trip, believe me. The first thing you should be considering is your pack, and the fit of it.

Brand is not as important as comfort. Your pack should be comfortable on your back, and you should make sure the store allows you to place some items in the pack to simulate what walking with a full one will be like. This process is essential, because you will be kicking yourself come travel time if your pack proves to rub your shoulders raw and hold weight unevenly.

When it comes to the actual packing, lay out all the things you think you will need, then take away half. Of the things that are left, you can probably take away another half. The key here is to pack basics and layers that go together easily and can be combined for multiple outfits and functions. Simple clothing is much better than fancy shoes or slacks that might see use 1 night out of 90.

Packing recently for my return to South America (trip time of 4 months) I packed my backpack with: 6 t-shirts, 4 long-sleeves, 1 fleece, 1 rain jacket, 4 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of shorts, 6 pairs of underwear, 6 pairs of socks, tennis shoes, sandals, and hiking boots, and my toiletries kit. I have all my bases covered clothing-wise, and still had space to spare for extras like my camera equipment and various camping supplies. Always bring less than you think you will need, because chances are you can find a really unique item while traveling anyways!

New Travelers make many mistakes. I wish I could go back to my young self to avoid so many mistakes. There are many tips for new travelers that they should know. Here are some tips all first time travelers should know:

Don’t over plan. One of the mistakes a lot of travelers make is that they plan, plan, and plan some more. They plan every day. But then they go and they go on the road and their whole plan goes awry and they don’t stick to it. Don’t worry about scheduling. You’ll find that plans change quickly when you are on the road.

Go with the flow. Lots of things can happen on the road and if you don’t have patience to deal with these things you will never be able to deal with life on the road. When you are traveling, just go with the flow of things and you will enjoy it much better.

Pack Light. Pack half as much stuff as you think you will need. When you start traveling, you’ll realize that you aren’t going to use half as much stuff as you thought you would. It will just sit in your bag or you will end up just throwing it away on the road. Pack light to save yourself the troubles.

Keep a budget. Most travelers end up on the road and just spend and spend. They know they have a finite budget but they just spend without keeping track or they do so without much detail. They have a rough estimate of how much they spend. This is how people run out of money soon. Make sure you keep a detailed budget so you always have money.

These are the mistakes most travelers make. If you follow my tips and advice, you can avoid these mistakes and have an even better time than everyone else.

One of the best tips I get before I go away is always about budgeting. Budgeting your money is really important. It’s easy to spend and spend and spend but when you are traveling you don’t have a lot of money to spend. You have a finite set of funds. If you keep over spending, you’ll run out of money before you finish your trip and will have to go home early. No one wants that to happen.

One of the reasons that people tend to avoid long term travel is because they think it is expensive and feel they will never save enough for a trip. That is not true. One of the greatest myths of travel is that it is expensive. People assume that to travel you need to be rich because all people see are advertisements for expensive vacations and assume all travel is like that. But it isn’t. In fact, travel can be quit cheap. You can travel around the world for under $15,000 dollars for one year of travel. If you only visit cheap countries, you can do it for even less.

You can save that amount of money before you go abroad but how do you keep that money while you are overseas? The trick to vacation planning is budgeting and budgeting in what you will spend money on.

Be realistic about your spending expectations. If you are going to be drinking and partying a lot then make sure that you add a lot of money into that part of your budget.

Moreover, keep track of your expenses. Write down what you are spending money on so you know what you are spending your money. This way you can make sure you are not going over budget. Most travelers don’t keep track of their expenses and so rarely know if they are over or under spending money. The single best thing you can do while you travel is keep a journal.

Plane tickets are expensive. They might not be as expensive as they used to be thanks in part to the poor economy. Now there are too many seats and not enough passengers. Most tickets are 30% cheaper than they were last year. Airlines are closing down routes. They are offering great deals. Now is a good time to fly. To find those great deals, here are some tips that I have found to be useful in search out bargains.

My first advice is to book your flight around 8 weeks before you travel as the airlines know you still have chooses to pick from. As an early bird you can get cheap airfare on your ticket. If you book to soon, airlines know they can charge you a lot because if you need it. If you book really fare in advance, companies might raise or lower fares and they keep fares high in case operating costs go up. So this is one of the best times too book. Use sites like farecast to see if ticket prices are going to go up or down.

Fly round trip. Round trips are always cheaper if you book round trip. The airline gives a “discount” on these tickets because they know it ensures that tickets are sold and seats are filled. Often times the price difference is not a lot but it is enough to make buying this ticket reasonable. You might even get lucky and find one of these tickets a lot cheaper than a one way ticket. In that case, book the round trip but only use one way portion you need.

If you can you should avoid traveling on the weekends. Most travelers think it is more convenient to travel on weekends so more flying happens on the weekends and airlines increase their prices to reflect the demand. Therefore, the middle of the week is the best time to fly.

Shop Around. Not all websites are created equal and you can find a lot of variety online for the same flight. Make sure you look at all the travel websites, including the airlines, before you make a purchase. Don’t just go with your favorite. If you want to get a cheap flight, you have to visit the various websites.