Travel Tip Tuesday!

We’re back! After a brief hiatus to handle a family emergency, we’re back in Florida.

This week’s Travel Tip Tuesday is all about how to save money WHILE TRAVELING. So you’ve already hit the road, you’re on an adventure and you want to be sure you stay within your budget. The tips below will help effectively budget your money and not go broke while traveling.

How to save money while traveling:

Forego fancy restaurants – Utilize the local markets and vendors to make your own food or eat the street food (which is MUCH cheaper than restaurants, usually). That being said, you’ll want to navigate street foods carefully and have anti-diarrhea pills handy.

Save the souvenirs – My first trip to China, I bought 3 tea sets (I’m an impulse buyer) without factoring in that China was only the first stop on my itinerary. The lesson: Buy souvenirs and ship them home or stick to smaller items that you can easily put it your pack and carry with you (jewelry, magnets, etc.)

Tipping – An easy way to save money while you’re traveling is researching local customs to see if tipping is necessary. In the U.S., we tip for everything but in some cities in China, it’s rude to tip. Do the research and you may be able to save a chunk of change.

Taxi Troubles – If you can get around without using a taxi, do it. If you can’t, try to negotiate the fare before getting in. (If you’re a woman, fight hard. There are many countries that will try to take advantage of you if you’re a foreign woman).

Exchanging Money – Exchange money for the currency you want BEFORE you get to that country. Don’t exchange at the airport and if you use a kiosk, don’t forget there are fees. I like to use ATM’s… but watch out… there are international and bank fees that apply to ATM’s, too.

Tours and Tickets – This is my weakness. It’s so tempting to book every boat charter, snorkeling trip, zip line and caving tour out there but these activities will drain your bank. Set a budget and stick to it. Or investigate what the tours do (where they go, how they get there, what’s included) and do some of the same activities on your own.

For more tips and tricks to saving money while overseas, check out AirTreks Travel Blog.

No one knows you

Plug this into your GPS…

Biking from Bangkok to Singapore

Nathaniel James Moody is an adventurous British expat who biked over 1,500 miles (about 2,500 km) from Bangkok, Thailand to Singapore. After Moody, a teacher stationed in Bangkok, bought a mountain bike from his friend, he was inspired to put it to good use as part of his healthy living lifestyle changes. From pedaling around the city to short day trips, Moody could not get enough of his bike. He then set out to plan a trip from Bangkok to Koh Lanta (over 500 miles) but when the Thai schools were shut down for an extended period of time due to the massive flooding, Moody re-routed his plans for an adventurous trip from Bangkok to Singapore via Malaysia.

Why do this? It’s all for the charity, “Life for Thailand” – a children’s home for disabled Thai children.

Moody’s trip took him 30 days total – 17 solid days of hardcore cycling through country sides, busy cities and villages averaging 90 miles (145 km) each day! Moody says that he’s not “that fit” and has never been a cyclist, he just enjoyed riding bikes as a kid. But he shows awesome motivation, perseverance and dedication to a good cause to ride across 3 countries! Read more about how he prepared for his trip and some of the challenges he faced along the way here. And be sure to check out his website!

Below are all pictures taken directly from CNN Go’s article on Moody. Click the pictures to be taken to the site.

Photo from CNN Go

Photo from CNN Go

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More New Paracord Bracelets!

We’ve been busy experimenting with new designs, new knots and new color combos. Below are a couple more new bracelets we’ve just debuted at our online store. All of them can be custom sized with your choice of color(s)! And don’t forget to ‘Like’ Top Knotch Gear on Facebook!

The Czech - Paracord Survival Bracelet

The Hammock - Paracord Survival Bracelet

New Bracelet!

Here is one of our new paracord bracelets! It’s tied with a square knot (similar to our good luck knot) and isn’t as thick as a standard survival bracelet… making it ideal for smaller wrists and ladies – although, we can made dude-ish ones, too! We have a couple more knots we’ll debut over the course of the week, so stay tuned!

Want to see what other cool stuff we make? Visit our online store!

One CRAZY Ice Festival…

I’m from Michigan and September’s from Pittsburgh – we know snow and we know ice… or so we thought…

Below are pictures from the Harbin Ice Festival in Harbin, China. For those of you who aren’t up to speed on your geography, Harbin’s roughly 800 miles (1,242 km) northeast of Beijing. The summers are mild – roughly 70 degrees F – and the winters are COLD – in the negatives – so it makes the perfect place to have an elaborate ice-carving festival. Until now, we admit, we had never even heard of Harbin, China. But CNN Travel (an addiction of mine) did a great slideshow on the ice festival and it’s now on our travel bucket list! Check it out – it’ll blow you away! Tunnels, castles and buildings were carved from whole pieces of ice – it’s amazing! If anyone has ever experienced this festival, we’d love to hear from you about your experiences!