I have a list of travel tips on my website. Here are some new things I came up with during our trip.
Bathrooms are always a necessary thing to find when you are traveling. In Turkey they were marked as WC. This comes from the British water closet. Many of the mosques had public toilets. Many of the toilets had a small fee. They are all nicely maintained.
Don't know why I hadn't thought of this. Bring your back packing water filter to filter the water in countries where you can't drink the water.
Lots of hotels do not give you wash cloths. Bring your own if you like to use one.
For some reason cereal and yogurt was served with large spoons. Bigger than a soup spoon, more like a serving spoon. Bring a small one if you don't like eating with a big spoon.
Speed limits are slower. It takes longer to get places. It seems like most people obey the speed limit.
Bring post it notes or stickers to put in your guide book.
Get business cards printed with your name and email address. Hand them out to your fellow travelers. Write the date and place you are at so they remember when they go through their stuff.
Bring a small string backpack to take a few items to the beach. They are small so can be packed in your bag.
There isn't much space in the overhead storage on the tour bus. You might need a smaller bag (like the string bag I just mentioned).
If you don't want to hand cash to your driver and guide for tips, bring a few empty envelopes.
At most of the hotels the wifi was free, but the PC in the lobby cost money. I think they do that to make sure people don't sit at the PCs all day.
The inter-city buses leave on the time posted. You need to be on the bus 5 or 10 minutes before it is scheduled to leave.
Bring a pedometer to see how far you walk each day. I know we walked a lot and we were tired by the end of the day. A GPS would do the same thing.
Keep a running list of items you buy so you can report them for customs when you return home.
Bring a few rubber bands.
When going on a bus tour ask how large the group will be. 24 was a nice size for us. The more on the bus the longer it takes to eat, get in and out.
Ask if there will be stops at stores with sales pitches. The guide does this to help out the business. If you don't want to see leather coats, carpets, ceramics, or gemstones find out if this will happen.
See if every day is full. It is nice to have some afternoons open so you can relax and do things on your own.
Remember to walk when you are at the rest breaks.
