This post gives general information for traveling and explains how to use MasterYourTrip plans.

1. How to get around 

Our plans are based on a very flexible mode of transportation and accommodation style. Meaning you cannot really book accommodation in advance as you don’t know where exactly you’re gonna end up. We usually travel like this. If we book a hotel in advance then just for the first night if we arrive late, otherwise we look for accommodation on the go. This gives you unlimited flexibility while traveling which in turn gives you more freedom to explore everything at your own pace. For really small islands it can make sense to book something in advance for the entire stay if it’s not too far to return home each day. For all other road trips it doesn’t make any sense to book way in advance.

Accommodation 

We always use booking.com, Airbnb.com, Couchsurfing.com or similar sites to find accommodation. Filtering by “lowest price first” will get you pretty good conditions on Booking.com.

If you don’t find something in your budget just increase the search radius so that also rooms close to the place where you actually wanted to go are shown. Booking does that job already parallel to your search and shows the opportunities somewhere on its page, either on the very bottom or on the left side like this:

So if you stayed in the only 12.2km distant city Sandvika instead of in the center of Oslo you could save up to 29%. If Booking.com has nothing appealing to offer, try Airbnb.com instead. On Airbnb.com you can get an entire flat with several sleeping rooms, kitchen, bathroom, washroom and all that stuff, for just a few hundred bucks per week. The price you would pay for some 1-2 days in a hotel. If cheap is not good enough and you want to sleep for free, then you gotta go with Couchsurfing.com. Here you won’t flip a coin at all as all offered accommodations are free of charge. Just sign in, text the host you want sleep at and you’re good to go.

If that’s still not the right accommodation you want, there is the so called “everyman’s right” established in several countries. It basically allows you to pitch your tent wherever you want, which is the absolute flexibility you could possibly get. Check out this article to see which countries support the everyman’s right.

Transportation 

We always rent a car with Rentalcars (check out this affiliate link to get there and support this site). Without a car your flexibility drops by at least 90% or so. Without a car you’re dependent on public transportation, its schedules and connections. The long waiting times and fix stops won’t barely get you to the absolute best spots on earth. If you rent a car, compare different rental companies as the prices can vary quite a bit sometimes.

For long road trips we convert the car into a rolling kitchen where we can prepare some food for the hikes or just have a bite from time to time. If you go with a scooter or by bike you won’t have these luxuries. Furthermore, we like to unpack all our stuff in the car so everything’s easily accessible. If you go by foot, having everything in the backpack, well then have fun rummaging around.

We think spending money for a rental car is the best invested capital on a trip as it gives you the possibilities other transportation can’t offer. We always use Rentalcars to find the absolute cheapest cars. The site compares all major car rental companies and ranks them according your budget & filter criteria.

---

2. Navigation 

We always use Google Maps for navigation. If you don’t have a local flat rate on your cell phone you won’t have internet access while driving and therefore no access to google maps online services. You can solve this issue by downloading the offline maps of the area you’re gonna explore. This independent and cheaper approach works like follows.

How to get offline maps from Google Maps

1. Download Google Maps on your phone
2. Go to Menu –> Offline maps –> SELECT YOUR OWN MAP –> DOWNLOAD

You can zoom in and choose the exact area you want. Google shows you how much data it requires and also provides frequent updates for the maps. If you use the trip plan from MasterYourTrip you still need the map so Google can get its job done offline.

How to use the trip plans from MasterYourTrip

You get the directions from our plans like follows.

1. Open the trip plan by clicking on the upper left corner
2. Expand the routes if necessary and click on the spot you want to go
3. Click on the direction button and you get directly forwarded to Google Maps
4. Start the navigation

---

3. Internet connectivity 

There are basically 3 options to get internet access.

1. Local WLAN
2. Buy a local SIM card
3. Use the roaming service

We usually go with the local WLAN as it’s available nearly everywhere and accessible within some minutes. You can download the websites you want to read offline while en route.

Buying a local SIM card makes sense if you stay in a country long enough or if you need internet access all the time. The costs for a local SIM card including some data package is often reasonable.

Last option is to use the roaming service of you home provider but this will definitely break your bank as you may have already experienced in the past.

---

4. Take photos 

Photos cost almost nothing and survive ages. All the dust catchers in the souvenir shops just empty your pocket and somewhen end up as trash. You never know if you’re gonna return to that place somewhen again or never ever again. Therefore take good pictures from the places you go. Sharing pictures doesn’t cost anything and you have something for everyone to bring back home. To invest some time to boost your photography skills therefore absolutely makes sense. Check out our photography courses:

• Basics
• Like a pro

---

5. Food 

Do your culinary duty and always try new local food.

---

Click here and sign up to get our new eBook for free.

---

We hope this post is helpful and inspiring.

Please let us know if anything is missing or misleading.