Hello itinerants all over the world and steemit community! I am still currently at Siargao, Philippines travelling with a purpose! With a mission to bring you the best travel experiences to places that you've never been to. It's our fifth day now and I atleast already have experienced some of the bests in Siargao. But there's no such thing as a perfectly smooth backpacking trip. There are also times that you just don't feel like going anywhere just instead enjoy having enough sleep, unproductive times at a cafe, encounter people that you dislike, bad experiences in a hostel, having a hard time looking for new places to stay and bad weather conditions. But in the end everything just pays off. I can truly say that everything happens for a reason.

We already moved to our third hostel. And I can honestly say that among the places we had, it's truly the best. Before arriving in Siargao, we already booked a room to stay. Firstly, we stayed at Moonlight Homestay. We booked a dormitory room type which accommodates up to 10 people. If you really are traveling in a frugal way and happens to stay long in a place, hostels are best recommended. We just stayed for only two nights at Moonlight because it just so happened we had inconsiderate room mate making so much disturbance in one of the nights and we did get piss off for we were not able to sleep due to his inappropriate actions. Then we moved somewhere near that hostel and gladly we got a private room good for three people. Everything was almost perfect when after three nights of stay we didn't notice we haven't informed the owner that we're gonna extend for more days. We just knew it was too late since the room was already booked by others for the succeeding days. So, we needed to look for another place to stay. Just few meters away, we found this place. It's a two-stories bungalow type of accommodation. Everything is made of wood except the roof. It is surrounded by tall coconut trees and a 10-15 minutes drive to General Luna. It is a family-owned business. The people are so hospitable. The room rate is actually good for three, we just decided to spill the price which makes 350.00 pesos (7.00 US Dollar ) per head with breakfast.

What I like about the place is its simplicity. It's actually more spacious compare to the other rooms we stayed in. As for me, it's actually better when you travel to places like Siargao on a budget it's better to try simple but comfortable type of accommodations with a reasonable price cause you are actually out most of the time. Perhaps, you are most often to places like beaches or coffee shops. As long as the place is safe and the people are hospitable, it's already more than enough.

Look at this perfect view every time I wake up in the morning. Breathing fresh air, enjoying the color of nature, listening to the sweetest chirps of the birds and the serenity of place gives you a peace of mind. It's truly an escape in the hustle and bustle in the city.

But every travel has so many stories! Sometimes most of them are the ones that we never expect. We set out our trails and it's unavoidable to experience common travelling mistakes! Specially for those who are not used to backpacking and just seasonal adventurers, we tend to become skeptic on what are DOs and DONTs when traveling and some travel hacks that we don't know existed.

COMMON MISTAKES THAT EVERY BEGINNER BACKPACKERS MUST BE AWARE OF!

1.) SUNSCREEN!

Whether you are trekking or beach bumming, it's really important to always be mindful of bringing a sunscreen! Not applying a sunscreen will make your skin sore and peel that will only leave you nothing but pain. It will make you less productive and efficient.

2.) MEDICATIONS / FIRST AID

It's better to have at least any amount of medications than nothing. May it for blisters that we might be getting along the hike or medicines for a simple cough, cold,fever and fatigue. It's always best to at least have it specially if you are travelling to an isolated place or way too far from the city. In order for us to avoid such things to happen just always be safe and take good care of our health. After all, Prevention is always better than cure.

3.) Overpacking or Underpacking.

Before travelling, you really have to know the type of weather condition the place has in order for you to only bring the necessary things that you always need. It's very important to estimate the number of days that you are going to stay in a place so that you will be aware of how many pairs of something are needed.

4.) CHOOSING THE WRONG BACKPACK

It's also important to at least have a comfortable backpack which can carry most of your things but doesn't cause so much hassle and pain. If you are backpacking for a long time, you may wanna buy a backpacker's bag which comes with a waterproof cover and if you are bringing gadgets be sure to have it secured inside the bag. In my case, I am currently using a Jansport backpacking bag which can already carry enough of my things including my gadgets. If you are really into travelling, I best recommended to buy branded bags may it from malls or UKAY UKAY. Always make sure that the quality of your travel stuffs are good enough to last long. Anyways, these are your investments.

5.) NOT CHECKING THE WEATHER!

You may wanna check the weather forecasts first before going to places. It would really consume most of our time if the weather wouldn't cooperate during our travel. For us to do the activities that we planned and to at least have a smooth itinerary, the weather should at least cooperate.

6.) NOT DOING YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

It's one most common travel mistakes that each and everyone is experiencing. Most people tend to be more depended on the locals and the internet while travelling. It's always better to prepare ahead of time before flying because it consumes our freaking time a lot if you don't know which way to go and transportation to take and alikes.

7.) NOT DRINKING ENOUGH FOOD AND WATER!

I hope everyone would fathom no matter how frugal traveler we are, we shouldn't deprive ourselves by eating and drinking right! It's always important to have lots of energy on your trip so that you can do so much activities and you can think well. Health is everything when backpacking. No ones gonna take good care of you but yourself.

Actually everything happens for a reason. They might teach us to become better or they make our trips more enjoyable. You just have to remember that you are travelling because you want to learn so many things. Committing mistakes doesn't make us a less of a traveler, it only makes us wiser and unlock world and self discovery and skills.

That's basically it, I really do hope that you find this informative and helpful. If it happens that you have visited the place already, please care to share your experiences in the comment section below. Everyone's glad to hear the stories of yours! Just always remember that learning is a lifetime process. You can learn from your experiences, trips and from other people. The world is so vast. Explore and Learn! Traveling isn't is as expensive as you think! There's a so called travelling on a frugal way with a purpose! DEUCES!

CONNECT WITH ME

Instagram: @jee_diez
Facebook: https://facebook.com/itinerantphblog/
Email: [email protected]

Regards,
@itinerantph