Five travel tips from the top of my head

• 1. Keep your handbag close and stay alert in crowded areas. This worked for me and I never had even thing nicked. Bring a couple of good padlocks. One to lock your suitcase to your bed and one to lock up your suit case zips for when you are away from your hostel room.
• 2. There’s an eatery, if you can call it that, popular with drunks and stoners. It’s called Febo. There’s at least one in Amsterdam. Probably some in Germany too. Avoid it. It’s place where you can get hot food out of vending machines. I never tried it. The idea just was not appealing to me. Go figure.
• 3. Book accommodation online and read accommodation reviews. The reviews will give you an idea of what to expect. You may not be able to afford anything luxurious but at least the review will tell you about what to expect. You have an idea of what facilities there are. Try to book places with guest kitchens and laundries. It’s much cheaper to make your own meals and wash your clothing in hostels than to go to laundries (laundries cost up to $20 NZ per load) and eat out. If you’re going somewhere hot, look for places with air conditioning units. It saved my partner and I when went to Hong Kong, Tokyo and Rome during summer. We were melting.
• 4. Try the local cuisine. You’re travelling. Try something new. Try something that you can’t get back at home. When in Italia try the red wine. You can get very good wine for very little money, as low as $6 NZ a bottle. Try Italian cheese, French breads and pastries, Swiss chocolate, sauerkraut with polenta cakes in Czech Republic, and giant pretzels in Germany.
• 5. Watch out for scammers especially in crowded, touristy spots like Rome and Paris. The scammers may come up to you and ask you if you would like to sign a petition to save starving children or to stop drug use or something. Don’t do it, they’ll ask you for money ($40 NZ ish) and it is hard to get out of it because you have signed a petition. Or they may try to tie a “friendship” bracelet around your wrist and demand 20 euros (about $40 NZ) from you. Watch out, they’re aggressive. It is best to just ignore them if they approach you.