Haggling Abroad

“Why can they not just put a price tag on the sodding thing? They tell us how much it is, and we pay it. What could be easier than that?”

We’ve all said it and, if we haven’t said it, we’ve all thought it at some point during the convoluted dance that is buying goods abroad. Yet, whilst we travel we must all, from time to time, have to take part in this most ancient of traditions. Love it or hate it, it’s an undeniable necessity for those wishing to avoid ‘getting their head shaved’ upon foreign soil. Read more

How to Avoid Getting Overcharged Abroad – Part 1

 

It’s a fact of life that in some countries overcharging visitors is commonplace. Dual pricing is sometimes the norm though, and is just something we have to take on the chin – but let’s face it, it’s normally such a small difference that it’s hardly worth worrying about anyway. If we make it an issue then the chances are it’ll only detract from our own experience – so why get het up about it? Read more

How to Avoid Getting Overcharged Abroad – Part 2

The previous post in this series dealt with outward appearance and how it can influence a sale price, and also touched upon the other ways in which it can affect us whilst backpacking such as by drawing unwanted attention from touts and hustlers.

This next post gets down to the nitty-gritty and focuses on tips that may help when it comes to actually making a purchase. I feel they’re worthy of a separate post as they can clearly influence the initial stated price of something and consequently affect our remaining road fund. Read more

How to Avoid Getting Overcharged Abroad – Part 3

In the first post in the series we talked about how outward appearance can affect someone’s perception of a backpacker (and consequently how much they think they can get away with charging them) and in the second post about, how when buying things, a traveler’s actions have the potential to change the outcome of any given transaction.

This next post is more of a general one dealing with other things we can do to lessen the chance of paying over the top for stuff. Read more

How to Hide Money on your Person

 

Although effective when used prudently, money belts aren’t the only way of hiding valuables on your person whilst backpacking. There are a number of other ways you can do so should you either chose not to use a money belt or simply don’t want to fork out for one.

Here are a few suggestions and pointers on where to start:- Read more