set up a portal before you leave home and the second you land set up the other portal, can save a lot of hell.
There's not just one swamp there's many, sail around for a bit, slap that portal down, go home, slip back through n travel on
Now you knows the plains are a killer :D first time i went there my ass got handed to me by a mosquito.. just portal up
Pretty sure i had swamp gear on too.