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Tips You Need if You Want a Travel Lifestyle
Whether you’re venturing close to home or far away, these tips and tricks will help you live life a little bit better when traveling. From finding flights and feeling good to saving money and protecting yourself, these top 12 travel tips are musts!
1. Find Cheaper Flights and Hotels Online with Private Browsing
Going incognito has never felt so good. Airlines, hotels, and travel sites install cookies on your computer when you visit. When you come back, they know exactly what you’ve looked for before.
Since they know what you want, they will make the prices rise just for you the next time you visit. This can trick you into buying more expensive flight tickets, booking earlier than you usually would, or even impulse buying.
Avoid being bamboozled by switching your browser to private.
2. Exchange Currency with an ATM
It used to be easier to go to the currency exchange, but now you can save more time and money by withdrawing local cash from an ATM. The fees are usually flat—and not based on a percentage of how much you take out.
So, it’s easier to just pay for the ATM. Oh, and you’ll save if you wait to do it once you’ve left the airport.
3. Avoid Jet Lag by Running
Jet lag affects some more than others, but if you want to ensure you’re feeling your best for your trip, exercising before you leave can help ward off the negative effects of traveling.
4. Make Friends Through Apps
Sometimes traveling to a new place can feel intimidating. Why not make it more enjoyable by forming lasting friendships?
Going up to a stranger in the airport and finding a new best friend sounds too good to be true—because it probably is. Instead, check out apps like Travel Buddies and Backpackr to meet like-minded travelers.
You can also find locals to hang out with on apps like Super Locals! If you want to avoid the tourist traps and see what your new place really has to offer, this is perfect for you.
5. Stop the Stink from Dirty Clothes
Carrying around dirty clothes isn’t fun for anyone. If you let them breathe (as you should), your whole bag could end up stinking of socks. And if you put them in a plastic bag, you’re making an even bigger problem to deal with when you get home.
The solution? Throw a couple of dryer sheets into your dirty laundry bag. They’ll absorb the odors and give off a fresh scent.
6. Refrigerate Your Rechargeable Batteries
Yes, seriously. Put your batteries in the fridge at your hotel, and you’ll see that they retail 90% of their power.
But be cautious—condensation could damage electronics.
7. Carry a Dummy Wallet
If you’re going to a place that has a high crime rate, carry a dummy wallet on you. High traffic tourist spots are popular places for pickpockets, so keep your real assets close to you and your dummy wallet easily accessible.
8. Sacrifice Your Seat on an Overbooked Flight
Airlines overbook flights all the time. If you give up your seat, they’ll usually hook you up with some serious benefits like free food and hotel stays near the airport (while you wait for another flight). Not to mention, they’ll upgrade your seats on your new flight. Patience pays off.
9. Waterproof Your Belongings with Plastic Bags
When you go to the beach, you might tuck away your valuables in an air tight sandwich bag. The same idea can work for the things in your entire bag.
If it might rain and your bag isn’t waterproof, you can DIY waterproof your bag with a plastic bag. Depending on the size, a reused grocery bag or trash bag should do the trick.
If you want to commit to waterproof protection, you can also rub beeswax on your belongings. Clothes, bags, shoes—you name it—it can be waterproofed.
10. Never Pay for Bottled Water
Water is a resource you need to live. You shouldn’t have to pay for it, and you don’t have to. In the airport, bring an empty bottle through security and refill it once you’re through.
In other places, you can use products like LifeStraw to drink water from anywhere in the world.
11. Plan Ahead and Download Offline Google Maps
If you’re going to visit an area where the signal will be spotty at best, plan ahead. When you’re connected to the internet or have cell signal, you can download Google maps for anywhere in the world. Know where you need to go, whether or not you have signal.
12. Pack like a Travel Professional
Have you been packing the same way for years simply because that’s the way you’ve always done it? Well, there may be a better way.
Organized compartments like cubes for your shoes and accessory bundles help you keep it all together as you travel. Save as much space as possible by storing socks in shoes, rolling fabrics, and stuffing things into corners.
Keep all your essential items on you at all times, like your identification, wallet, and flight information. And if you’re flying, don’t pay for checked luggage if you don’t have to.
Far from Home: Travel Tips You Need to Know
No matter where you’re going, these tips can help you avoid unpleasant situations and make your trip that much more enjoyable. Get away from your daily life, discover something new, and make traveling more comfortable with these tips.
Good luck and happy travels!