Travel Tips to Make Your Holiday Stress Free
There are common sense travel tips, like “Check at least three web sites to get the best deal on plane tickets.” Then there are the tips that are more along the line of “secrets.” These are the little-known tricks learned by experience. Here are some of the best of those.
Cheap Travel Tips
Find out where local visitors from within the country stay. The cheapest “tourist hotel” I could find when in a resort town in Mexico was $135. I asked a local businessman where to find a cheap room, and got one for $10. There wasn’t a swimming pool, but the room was spotless. I was there to travel, not to lounge, so this suited me fine.
Negotiating room charges is common in many countries. In Banos, Ecuador, we negotiated our room rate down from $12 to $6 per night, by paying for several nights in advance. The trick here is to be sure that there are other options, then make your final offer and walk away. Most owners will call you back and lower the price.
Consider hostels, if you don’t mind sharing a room. They’re much more common overseas. This saves you a lot if you are single, because you pay for the bed. I once spent four days in a hostel for $4 per day, breakfast included. I shared a room with several others, and a TV room with travelers from 16 countries.
Hotels in the U.S. are less likely to negotiate, but we have done it. Most small chain motels are not company-owned, but franchises, so it is usually the owner behind the counter. Paying for several nights in advance, or just starting to walk away, has resulted in discounts for us many times.
Travel is often only as cheap as your plane tickets. For international travel, search the fares to several countries that you would like to visit. Go to the cheapest one now – the others will be cheap another time, and a savings of $500 can buy a few extra days, or an extra mini-vacation some other time.
Anywhere you go, there are things you can do to keep it cheaper. Eat where locals eat, for example, instead of at tourist restaurants. See the free and cheap attractions first. You might have so much fun that you’ll never get around to doing the expensive things. Higher prices mean better quality with travel bags, but not necessarily with travel experiences.
Other Travel Tips
E-mail important documents to yourself. These should include a copy of your passport, other IDs, phone numbers of the U.S. Consulate offices where you’ll be, and your itinerary or e-tickets for any flights. In this way, even if you are robbed and lose everything, you’ll have access to all the important documents from any internet cafe in the world.
On a streetcar, I once had a pocket unzipped and the wallet removed without feeling a thing. Many pickpockets are experts. Fortunately, it was a “decoy” wallet, with nothing but a few pieces of paper, and a fake credit card. Other ways to protect money, cards and documents include putting a bill or two under the inner sole of running shoes, safety-pinning a hidden pocket inside your pants, and hiding cash in several different places.
I see young travelers in other countries walking anywhere they feel like it at night, and then being shocked that they are robbed. Aren’t there places in New York or Chicago where you wouldn’t walk at night? Ask the locals where it is safe and where it isn’t, and trust your intuition when it warns you. Leave expensive clothing and jewelry at the hotel when you are just out for a walk. Safety tricks are the most important travel tips.
Travel tips – getting the most out of your limited space
The number-one rule in packing for a trip is to pack lightly because we often forget how frequently we’ll have to lift or carry our luggage during our travels. Consider how, you’ll be dragging your luggage into the trunk of your car and out again, through the airport, off of the luggage carousel, through another airport, back into the trunk of your rental car and out again until finally you get to the hotel where hopefully they’ll have a porter.
On top of having to lug your bags around, your airline will have strict rules on the size, weight and the number of bags you can travel with—for both carry-on and checked baggage. Make sure you check your airline’s website for current information on restrictions and don’t assume that what you took last time will be allowed this time—especially if you are travelling on a different airline. Luggage size and weight restrictions can vary by airline or travel destination.
*MONEY-SAVING TRAVEL TIP*
Packing lightly for your travels can save you money. Many airlines are now charging fees for overweight bags, oversized bags, and for checking more than the allowed number of bags per passenger.
Other great reasons for packing lightly: shorter waits around the luggage carousel, less need for porters (and tips!) and easier Customs inspections (after all, if you had to force your bags closed, imagine how happy the Customs agents will be!)
Travel tips for packing your carry-on
Your carry-on should contain all your most valuable items and must-have documentation like:
• Your wallet
• Your passport
• Your tickets
• Your traveller’s cheques
• Your emergency medical travel insurance
• Your medications (be sure to keep them in their original bottles)
• Phone numbers and addresses of where you’ll be staying
• A small amount of local currency for immediate use when you arrive
• The maps you’ll need to get where you are staying once you’ve arrived
• If you must bring valuables like jewellery with you, your carry-on is your safest bet – but leave them at home if you can.
Travel tips for packing your checked luggage
The following tips should help you keep your luggage light and leave enough room so you can pack souvenirs when you return:
• Find out if where you are staying offers laundry services or has facilities you can use. This is one of the major secrets of packing lightly.
• Coordinate your outfits around a central color so you’ll be able to mix and match.
• Plan your outfits so you can layer instead of bringing lots of coats.
• Take a solid color sweater that will match any outfit to use to keep you warm
• Why pack the rain gear if rain is nowhere in the forecast? Check the weather online, so you can pack weather-appropriate clothing without wasting space on things you won’t need.
• Rolling clothes rather than folding them will help prevent wrinkles and optimize your limited space.
• Take small sample sizes of toiletries that will last just long enough instead of huge bottles.
• Don’t waste an inch of your luggage space, pack underwear and socks inside your shoes. This will also help your shoes keep their shape. Pack your belts around the edge of the luggage.
A final travel tip
Although already mentioned as one of the items you should keep in your carry-on so it doesn’t get lost, emergency medical travel insurance is a must-have for all Canadians. Even Canada’s Consular Affairs don’t mince words when they say on their website “DO NOT leave Canada without supplementary medical insurance.”
Even for the smallest of accidents, or the most common illnesses, emergency medical travel insurance offers you protection by ensuring you get the attention you need, when you need it while not having to worry about how your emergency treatment will get paid.
Before you leave, get emergency medical travel insurance quotes from competing insurers online and get the coverage you need. And don’t forget to pack it with your other must-have documentation!
Travel Tips Before you Travel To a Foreign Country
There are many things that you can do to pre-prepare yourself and your family for travel. By being as prepared as you can be, you are setting yourself up for a great getaway that will minimize any unpleasant circumstances that sometimes arise with travel.
In order to have the best vacation possible, I’m going to share with you the must know tricks and travel tips before you travel.
The very first thing you must do is RESEARCH. You want to learn as much as you possibly can about your destination prior to arrival. Yes, this is going to require some time and effort on your part but it is going to be more than worth it. This is the only way to truly understand what it is you want from your vacation and what you want to do on your vacation.
Here are some things that you should always know about your destination.
Weather – You need to know what you should be packing and planning for.
Paperwork and Documentation – Know what is needed to travel to your particular destination.
Know if there are any diseases common to the area you will be traveling to – this way you are able to take preventative measures.
Costs of local items – You want to be able to properly plan your budget; remember to include taxes and tipping.
Holidays and festivals – check to see when these occur for your destination as you may find limited services on those days.
The best holidays are the ones we are most prepared for. Do yourself a favour; make it a habit to always know as much as you can about your destination before you travel. It’ll make all the difference in the world!
What are some other things that you can do to prepare yourself? Use these travel tips before you travel.
1. Make 2 photocopies of your passport. Take one and put it in a safe place or leave it with a friend. Take the other one with you and keep it in a separate place from your passport, this way should your passport become lost or stolen, you can use the copy to exit the country and it will also facilitate the replacement process.
2. Email yourself important information such as: airline numbers and flight information, credit card numbers, passport and driver’s licence numbers and anything else that may be of importance to you. This way if anything is lost or stolen, you are just and internet connection away.
3. Know your banking information. For your credit card, make sure that the valid dates will remain valid while you’re traveling, know your available spending amount and don’t forget to leave some room on it for emergencies. Check your ATM and debit cards’ daily and total limits.
4. Learn some local phrases. If you are traveling to a country with a foreign language, it’s always nice to know some of the local phrases. Knowing the “polite words” and just a few local phrases will be a huge help. You will find that natives really appreciate this and will tend to be more receptive to your questions. Maybe you’ll even make a new friend while you’re at it!
5. Be aware of the voltage that’s used for the country you’re traveling to. If you are taking anything that requires an outlet; cell phone, computer, video camera, etc. make sure to purchase plug adapters. For things such as hairdryers, curling irons, electric razors, etc to purchase an actual voltage converter unless your appliance has multiple voltage currencies.
When traveling to a foreign country it’s always best to be as prepared as you can be. Do as much research as you possibly can, remember these travel tips before you travel and your trip abroad is sure to be a success.
Here’s your final checklist: Passport, tickets, car rental and hotel reservation receipts/agreements, credit cards, medications or prescriptions, if required, addresses, password and any other important information that you may need. Don’t forget the most important thing: your adventurous travel mind, see and learn as much as you can and have the time of your life!
