Travel is an amazing, life changing experience but it never hurts to be prepared for those unpredictable and unexpected things that could set you just a little off track.

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign." Robert Louis Stevenson

This quote is worth remembering because there will be times during your trip (if it's a good one) when you'll come face to face with people, beliefs, customs and attitudes that seem very strange to you. This is what makes travel exciting but it's also what makes it a little daunting. From remembering to eat with your right hand in Arab countries to bowing in Japan, even the acts of eating and greeting remind you that you are a long way from home. Remember though, the unfamiliar is what makes travel worthwhile and without it we'd all just stay at home and buy a sun bed!

The more open you are to new experiences the more likely you are to experience things you'll never forget. For example in many African countries it's a custom (rewarded with a big jump up the reincarnation ladder) to welcome the lonely traveller into not just their towns but their homes too. Fear of the unknown may stop you accepting great opportunities like this. We're going to give you a few tips which should help you cope with all the new things you'll see while you're away so that you're in a position to really enjoy them.

Prepare yourself
Now if you don't know what it is you're preparing for it stands to reason that the only thing you can really prepare is yourself. That way you're in the right frame of mind to deal with anything you experience. The first thing to remember is not to expect too much from yourself; you're bound to feel a little odd when you first arrive so there's no need to panic.

After the excitement of landing, people often become overwhelmed with the differences they see. Appreciating that this may happen and developing coping strategies will help you adjust. Given a little time, your enthusiasm will pour back. Take a look at the 'Overcoming culture shock' article for good advice.

Hit the books
Not only does a great book provide a welcome retreat during bouts of culture shock, but reading up on your destination before you go will help make you less shockable! Lonely planet guides are still the bench mark but there are plenty of other books out there that offer more in-depth studies. Knowing the background of a place makes travelling there even more enjoyable, especially if you're planning on teaching English abroad.

Teach yourself a little about the religious beliefs and cultural practices of a country and you'll see that far from being strange they normally make perfect sense. Visitors to the West probably think it strange to see us putting a tree in our front rooms and covering it with tinsel, but to us it's one of the most comforting memories we have. Check out our 'Cultural considerations' articles for examples of the specific differences you might encounter.

Go with an open mind
It's difficult not to spend time daydreaming about a trip because we normally book it months in advance and get more and more excited as it gets closer! The trouble is that if you haven't been somewhere before you can find yourself creating a fantasy in your head of what you expect to find. A combination of travel guides, photos and other people's stories tend to paint an idealised picture of a place.

While the real thing will be exciting and wonderful, you'll start to see things that glossy photos don't show. They don't show the moments just after you've missed your bus, the parts of the city that aren't so pretty or the seedy parts of town it's best to avoid. None of these are reasons not to travel, but it's worth remembering that you're not travelling to a fantasy. Realise that and you'll love it.

Travel Insurance
Then of course, there's the other sort of 'unexpected'; the bad sort! The sort of 'unexpected' that puts your luggage on a flight to Ghana when you're going to Brazil, or rips a whole in your pocket just big enough for your passport to fit through! For all of these and more there's insurance. Good travel insurance is well worth the investment even if you don't need to use it, because you get great peace of mind from the moment you set off. Money supermarket offers a good comparison site for those searching for a good deal.