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Travel Smart Tips For Your Local Getaway 

Dec 21, 2023 | Car, Tips & Tools

From the simplest of getaways to the ultimate adventure, South Africa has a lot to offer when it comes to local holiday destinations. In fact, we’re pretty much spoilt for choice. That said, the difference between your precious time off being everything you needed it to be or a nightmare experience is… planning.  

Whether it’s booking accommodation, making your travel arrangements, or simply packing accordingly, pre-travel planning is essential to ensuring that you enjoy a stress-free and relaxing holiday.  

With that in mind, here is a checklist for efficient packing to ensure that nothing important gets left behind, coupled with our top list of safety precautions for travel within South Africa. 

Smart Packing Checklist 

It doesn’t matter if this is your first trip or you’re a seasoned explorer of all the nooks and crannies that our beautiful country boasts. A checklist that helps you run through the travel essentials you need not only makes your trip go more smoothly, but it also prevents you from wasting money on buying stuff on the road that you already have at home.  

Here’s our ultimate packing checklist.  

Travel Bags 

Choose versatile, lightweight travel bags that can fit all your stuff and are easy to carry. This includes toiletry bags, which we suggest should be transparent so that you can easily see which bag you need at a glance. 

Packing Organisers 

Keep your stuff organised with packing organisers that will keep your clothing, shoes, toiletries, and other essentials compressed and easily found. You might prefer packing cubes, which come in all shapes and sizes, and are more capable of reducing the volume of your clothes, but don’t ignore folders. These can also be a useful solution to maintain order within your bags. 

Basic Clothing List  

This is where most people overpack… but if you pack smart, you’ll have more options and less volume.  

  • Lightweight clothing that can be layered. 
  • Neutral tones that go with everything.  
  • Colourful accessories to add the fun. 
  • Sleepwear, underwear, and swimwear. 
  • Sun protection, such as hats, sunglasses, and SPF. 
  • Rain gear, like your umbrella and rain jacket. 
  • Something warm that goes with most outfits. 
  • Comfortable walking shoes. 
  • Electronics (chargers, earphones, tablets, adaptors, etc.). 
  • Toiletries, including hair care, dental hygiene, skincare, personal hygiene items, prescription medication, make-up, eye care, etc. 

Technology  

While you can just pop a few things into your suitcase, a checklist will help you keep track of what you’ve brought with so that you don’t leave anything behind along the way. Whatever you pop into your electronics organiser, make a list of these items and put this into the organiser for you to refer back to. 

Life-Saving Safety Precautions 

The fact is that crime exists everywhere, and accidents happen. You can’t prevent everything from going wrong, but there are precautions that you can take so that you’re not more likely to be at risk of an unfortunate incident.  

  1. Pre-trip car maintenance: Get your fluids, tyres, brakes, lights, and battery checked to avoid a dangerous (and costly) incident ruining your holiday. 
  2. Don’t flaunt it: Don’t show off expensive jewellery and leave your bags lying around as this could put you at risk of being a target of crime. 
  3. Nighttime jaunts: Don’t wander around at night by yourself and avoid isolated places, like dead-end streets, alleyways, and other spots that could put you at risk. 
  4. Take what you need: Only carry the amount of money you need when you’re out and about, because a major mistake is taking all your belongings (including money) with you when you’re exploring.  
  5. Alternative money stash: Consider getting a leg wallet or money belt if you’re going to out and about a lot and need to take your valuables with you. 
  6. First aid: Make sure you have a fully stocked first aid kit with you, in your car, or in your luggage. 
  7. Ask the locals: Before you explore, ask the locals about places to avoid and where you’ll have the best, safe experiences. 

Feel informed?  

It doesn’t really matter where you’re planning to go in South Africa, the chances are that you’re going to be in a car at some point. Whether it’s a rental or you’ve decided to embark on a road trip, we recommend that you put our Fuel Consumption Calculator and Trip Fuel Cost Calculator to the test.  

With our Trip Fuel Cost Calculator, you can tell how much it’ll cost you over a set distance, while our Fuel Consumption Calculator will help make it easier for you to estimate how much fuel your car will use at difference distances in kilometers. This way, you’ll know how much your fuel costs should come to. 

Enjoy your trip, and safe travels! 

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