10 TIPS TO HELP YOU PLAN FOR YOUR SURF TRIP

HOW TO PLAN YOUR FUN AND SAVE SURF TRIP

Its the time of the year to plan your next surf trip, or maybe your first trip. So Exciting! 

Maybe you are also planning to travel alone, with friends or family, in your country or you have decided to take the plane and discover a new place.

We have been surfing and traveling for more than 20 years, done lonely trips, trips with friends and now family trips. We hope you will find these 10 TIPS usefully and you will enjoy your next trip.

So here what we have learned and will recommend to do or not to do :)

1-Choose Your Surf Destination Wisely :

Before making your final decision, make sure the place you pick its not high risk with any politically unstable situation, or its the Hurricane or Typhon season. Getting stuck in an unknown place without an embassy, any water or electricity its actually a stress in your life that you want to avoid,  especially if you are traveling with children. So before making a final choice just check the current situation in the country, see if there is no red alarm and for temperature, check the same time you want to go compare to the previous years.

You made your choice! Cool! Just get familiar with the place before you arrive. Check on google earth to see how far is the airport to the surf break, plan already how you will get there, check how close is the hospital is, and also how close is the grocery store.

If you are traveling backpack and go with the flow..rent a place to stay for at least the first night you arrive. Some countries will not let you in if you don't have any reservations.

Plus, if your flight was a delay, its not quite fun to find a place to stay at 2 am.

2-Take Care of Documents and Paperwork :

Make sure your passport will not expire in more than 6 months. Again, some countries will not let you in if you only have a few months left. Make sure to have a return ticket or a ticket to another destination. Same, some countries dont let you in if you don't have a return ticket back home.

And make sure to check if they require a visa and how long you can stay in the country. In some countries, they change rules really often. Maybe you were there 10 years ago..but if they change the governement they also may change the rules.

3- Take Enough Money :

Make sure you advised your Bank and your CC before living that you will be traveling in that country. So they don't block your cards when you most need them. 

Also, you can bring a little cash on you (USD$) in case of emergency, but not too much in case of a rubberry.

4-Protect Your Surfboard :

If you travel with your board, don't be shy to overwrap it and get one of the BEST surfboards bags for travelers, not the DAY bag. 

Also, make sure the plane you take will accept your bag and at what extra cost!! If you have some transfers and have to take a small charter plane, there is good chance they won't accet your board bag.

If you deceived to live your quiver back home and go for the rental, you can check the area before you living and see where and what model of board you can rent. A lot of the places will accept to reserve you a surfboard. So when you arrive, you know you have a board waiting for you!

5-Take Additional Accessories for Emergencies :

Always bring; Always Vera (sunburn), Sun Cream, Zinc, eyebrow clip (remove urchin pin).

Getting cut with a reef mix with sand and saltwater can cause a really bad infection. And sure.. you dont want to stop surfing. Zinc helps a lot to prevent having flyes and je ne sais quoi trying to get in your cut. But make sure to keep disinfect any cut, daily with alcohol.

6-Enjoy the Company of Surfers at a Camp :

If you are traveling along, probably going in to a surf camp will be a good option. As it will be save and you can meet a lot of people..Read the comments and recommendations.

If you are with your family, the surf camp is cool too, but I will recommend that you will get your own bathroom and cooking area.. so you can have more freedom and family intimacy.

7- Dont brings expensive stuff :

If you have an old cell phone, I will recommend to bring that instead of your brand new flashy phone.

You may fell in water, lost it, get it stolen, and that just a bummer!! Same with jewelry and watch, a lot of the places, unfortunately, peoples are living on stealing and re-selling.

8-Get Insurances :

Don't hesitate to get medical insurance. You never know!! Since we surf and keep in mind some places have a shark, stingray, bad roads, etc.. You dont want to be in the hospital without insurance. BUT make sure the insurance you take covers the place you go to! Some insurance dont cover specific places or activities you will do like scuba diving.

9-Informe someone of your whereabouts :

Keep informe your friends of a family where you are going. Especally if you deceide to do a little day trip to another town in the country you are visiting. Disappearance does happen!!

10-Be cool and understanding of the country and culture :

And the most important, be kind and respect the place, culture, language and peoples you are visiting. Don't ask for french butter in the middle of the Jungle! lol!

useful link: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

Hope you enjoy this article :)

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