Destinations
2025
- Morocco
- Extremadura
- Crete
- Menorca (April)
- Lesvos
- South of Salamanca
- Picos de Europa
- Algarve & Alentejo
- The Gambia
2026
Travel tips
The holiday is the easy bit – just enjoy! But we all know the business of preparing for holiday, packing and getting to and through airports can be a hassle. We hope these travel tips help.
Health
We recommend that that anyone on medication or with a medical allergy (e.g. antibiotics) takes full details on holiday, written so it can be read by a foreign pharmacist. We would prefer to have any information that will help us to help you on the holiday. To make it easy to record medical information, you can download and complete our medical report form (PDF format). The same form in Word is here: that can be downloaded and it may be easier if you wish to type or cut-and-paste information.
Some top travel tips from the Honeyguide team ...
Travel tips from Honeyguiders
Helen Crowder: always have antibacterial hand wipes or lotion in your rucksack. "Strangely, women usually do and men don't!" says Helen.
Ivan Nethercoat: to prevent overheating on hot days, take a small cloth you can soak in cold water and wrap round your neck.
Chris Gibson: get a tick extractor from a vet's. Simple but highly efficient.
Chris Durdin: book parking long before you travel – it saves money (see below). Have a wash basin plug in your sponge bag - it's amazing how often it comes in handy. And a small bar of soap.
Rob Macklin: if travelling by rail always book well in advance, it’s much cheaper (and greener).
Robin Hamilton: take Chris Gibson’s animals guide (right) – much more compact than heavy field guides to reptiles & amphibians and mammals.
Before you travel
Valuables: travel insurance rarely covers valuables such as telescopes. 'All risks' in a house insurance may only cover items in your custody i.e. not in luggage travelling separately within the aircraft or airport. Given the value of many ‘scopes and binoculars, it would be worth checking your insurance cover and probably carrying optical equipment in hand luggage.
Plastic: in case you lose your wallet, it can reduce hassle if you reduce the number of cards you carry before travelling.
Packing
Have a checklist!
Documents: carry a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or its successor the Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), your insurance policy, a photocopy of your passport and spare copies of your boarding passes. Be aware that the EHIC has an expiry date: renew online here. Beware of unofficial websites, which may charge if you apply through them.
Put one pair of socks and underwear in hand luggage in case your case doesn’t arrive.
Have a distinctive suitcase – so many look the same on the carousel. Or use spray paint. If you have a name-strap, lock it otherwise they can come off in transit.
Volume can be reduced by organising and packing clothes in plastic bags that can be rolled up or which have a valve to remove the air (Lakeland Plastics does them, also Tesco and maybe elsewhere).
For cameras, take a spare battery/batteries, as well as a charger.
Coping with Ryanair’s 15kg checked in luggage allowance used to be a challenge, but they now give an option (for an extra charge, naturally) for 20kg, an option we take unless you request otherwise. Information about dealing with a wrong name on a Ryanair boarding pass here.
Nonetheless, these tips may still be useful:
- Start with the lightest suitcase you can. Sailing bags weigh the least and will fold up somewhere out of the way when empty, though don't have wheels.
- Decant shampoo, conditioner, facewash etc into very small bottles, e.g. recycled from complimentary products from hotels. (Liquids need to go into suitcases under current airport security, of course.)
- Pack heavy items (e.g. telescopes) in hand baggage. It’s quite difficult to make that reach the usual 8KG or 10KG allowance.
- Wear boots
- Put books in coat pockets
- Luggage allowance isn’t transferable but as everyone gets the same allowance, coordinate with fellow travellers.
- Weigh bags in advance
Recommended reading for many holidays are the Crossbill nature guides. More information on these here.
Travelling by rail
Overseas: if you’d rather not fly, try www.seat61.com to help plan your railway journey, or try Rail Europe.
For UK travel, options include via National Rail Enquiries and Trainline.
The airport
Getting to the airport: lists of holiday participants sent before the holiday say where people come from, to help you think about sharing transport.
Airport parking is always cheaper if pre-booked. Of course, shared parking is even cheaper, per person. We recommend Holiday Extras as they give a keen price, good service and a small commission to Honeyguide. Get your quote online from our booking page or phone on 0871 360 2390 and quote HX132 for Honeyguide. This is an introducers' code, and not a discount code: if you have a discount code (e.g. emailed to you as previous booker) try that and it should improve the price. Parking combined with a hotel is usually a good deal too.
Always write down where you are parked!
Honeyguide luggage labels: making these easy to spot helps leaders find you and for Honeyguiders to find each other.
Getting water: although no liquids can be taken through security, you can take an empty water bottle. At Stansted Airport there is a water bottle filling station by the loos in the main departure lounge (near the big Pret a Manger). Failing this, when buying coffee, persuade them to fill up your water bottle. Gatwick North Terminal has water fountains after security in North Terminal and in various less obvious places at South Terminal. Anyone know about other airports? If you have to buy water, prices vary. Free bottled water with a newspaper seems to be over: a 'meal deal' (e.g. in Boots) is an option.
Waiting for luggage: this is the ideal time to go to the loo!
Once on holiday, don’t forget those …
Tips for green travelling for Honeyguiders
For Honeyguide, think ‘SWEET’...
• Shopping: if buying souvenirs, locally made products help the local economy.
• Water & waste: bottled water is heavy on transport costs and waste disposal. In most areas we go to
tap water is fine – take local advice – so you can save a little and be greener by bringing a water bottle
or buying one bottle of water then topping it up from the tap.
• Enjoy: simply choosing Honeyguide Wildlife Holidays makes you greener than most.
• Enthuse: be an ambassador for nature – talk to people about why we are there. Just wearing binoculars carries a message.
• Travelling: please consider travelling to the airport by means other than a car – or at least car sharing where possible.
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"Wear your binoculars with pride!" says Chris Gibson. "Shopping or wandering the streets, it gives a powerful message of the value of wildlife to the local economy. "And you never quite know when that black woodpecker will fly over!" |
Increasingly you'll see the Travel Aware logo - a UK Government campaign - on Honeyguide holiday web pages, with a link to Foreign & Commonwealth Office travel advice for that destination. This doesn't mean a new problem or worry - it applies to all holiday destinations.
There is increased awareness in the travel world of making FCO information readily available, especially since the beach attack in Tunisia in 2015.
As well as safety and security information, the FCO website contains useful information about health, local laws, what help the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) can provide if something goes wrong and much more.
Printing an easyJet boarding pass
.. without the advert. Tutorial on YouTube here.
Holiday information
Tips on this page are general ones. For each Honeyguide wildlife holiday there is 'Holiday information' with a book list and practical advice about what to take.
Currency calculator here or click on XE logo above.
Chris Gibson’s animals guide: compact and authoritative.
Plastic: leave some of these behind, just in case. But do carry your EHIC / GHIC - a 'must have' for all travellers within the EU.
EHIC
GHIC
Leave the big bottles (back) at home, decant into small containers.
The Man in Seat 61 "will tell you how to travel overland comfortably & affordably where you might think that air was now the only option."
Bookings for Honeyguiders who travel without a flight are not presently covered by Honeyguide's ATOL - Air Travel Operator's Licence - as this covers flight-inclusive packages only. Read more here or contact the Honeyguide office for more information.
Luggage label: helps you recognise Honeyguiders at airports.
