Its important when travelling not to just rely on flights to get around, don't let your trip be restricted to where the major airports are - get away from the major cities, travel between them using overland transport. Use trains, buses, boats, whatever you can to get between places - you will see more of the country and get away from the tourist trail to see the real country. It also helps stretch out your air ticket stopovers, see the flights sections for more details on this.

Make It Work With Your Air Ticket

The two major methods to travel overland independently are by train and bus/coach. When planning your trip, it might be wise to investigate the overland options available along the route you wish to take and try to work out how to get the sectors to fit in with your airline ticket. You will want to find out how easy it is to travel overland between points, especially if you are flying into one city and out of another further down the route after time spent travelling overland. Its a lot easier to look into this now online so you have a good idea when you turn up.

Overnight Travel and Discounts

A good tip (if its safe to do so) is to travel on an overnight train or bus, ok it might be a little uncomfortable but it saves accommodation costs. Discount cards can be useful when buying train/bus tickets - some companies offer backpacker/student discounts. Over the next weeks and months transport reviews will be added to help you when choosing which companies to use, so remember to keep checking. Check out our next section on overland tours for further overland options.

Features on classic overland routes are coming soon to independentjourney.com

Independent Journey Recommends.....Websites

Seat 61 - http://www.seat61.com/
"Excellent site giving information on train travel across the globe."