Exploring unknown parts, whether internationally or domestically, is a pastime that thousands of millions of people embark on every year. For families, travel is more precious as it allows parents to expose their kids to something that could be different from their normal routine. With all the advantages of travel comes some stress that can affect the whole travel experience, but you should not allow those to ruin your trip. Here, we are discussing travel life hacks that can make your vacation productive, comfortable, and above all, fun-filled.
List of Essential Travel Life Hacks
Travel Life Hacks Before You Leave for the Vacation
Instead of a hotel, try to reserve a home, especially if you are traveling with your family, or a single room if you are alone. Many websites offer private rooms as well as homes. These are usually a much better accommodation option compared to hotels.
When packing, roll your clothes. Instead of making a folded pile in your suitcase, rolling lets you fit more things in. Also, you can even roll your socks and underwear inside your clothes for maximum space-saving.
Scan your identification card, passport, and itinerary and email them to your email id. This offers an additional copy of each in case of theft or loss. This way, you can have both an online and offline version of documents.
It is important to contact your debit or credit card company before you leave to ensure that you have your card authorized for your foreign travel purpose. This avoids them from suspecting irregular activity.
Mark your baggage fragile. This is a great way to ensure that your baggage is handled in the right way. Your luggage is kept at the top due to this, which will make it one of the first bags to be freed.
Buy a portable phone charger. Yes, alright, this might be simple, but it is one of the useful life hacks. Essentially, this acts as an external battery that you can charge separately by using a USB connector or also refill with a store-bought battery. It is worth having one of these in reserve in case any emergency arises while your phone runs out of battery.
Make your airplane TV. If your plane is somehow lacking in personal TV, you can create your own yourself using your phone and a clear plastic bag. Just insert your device, position it, and then hook it on the back of the tray table.
Travel Life Hacks for the Departure
Carry your water bottle. This is one of the useful life hacks that you must follow during departure. Based on the airline’s policies regarding drink prices, the amount of times water is offered may not be sufficient for you. Carrying your water bottles makes sure that you have water with you whenever you need it. When they come around, top off your bottle with what they offer you.
Never underrate the value of a fanny pack. Yes, they can be embarrassing and seem to be out of the mid-to-late 1980s, but believe us- every you travel, even domestically, it will ensure that your valuables are safe and it accelerates security check. Indulge in the internet service if your flight is more than six hours. You will thank us when you find that sparking conversation with your seat partner is difficult than pulling teeth. Plus, you can complete work for the final time before you reach your destination.
Make sure that you carry a pen with you before leaving home so that you can fill all the customs forms. Fill in the forms whenever you get them and make sure that your family members have filled theirs too. People may demand your pen; flight attendants often do not have a pen.
Nearly 20 minutes before you land, visit the bathroom. Generally, when the seatbelt lights are on, you still have 15 minutes with you before you have to be seated. Use this chance to relieve yourself to avoid waiting for washrooms once you land.
Travel Life Hacks When You Arrive
Rush directly for claiming your baggage. It is amazing to see how many people seem to loiter after landing. Save that for somewhere else to save your time and to avoid any kind of arguments with other travelers.
Use ATMs to get local money. Using money converters in the airport generally comes with their charges and the exchange rates are too expensive. ATMs always allot local currency, obviously, so use your credit or debit card and get your money.
Buy groceries when you arrive. There is no need to shop for a feast but getting basics like a few snacks and water in local stores instead of at the hotel can save you a lot of money.
When you are in your room, remove the necessities from your luggage. To make yourself comfortable as you are in your home by taking out your comfortable shoes and all your toiletries. It also increases your chance of forgetting something when you are about to go home.
Travel Life Hacks for Coming Back to Home
If you travel frequently, keep your toiletry bag packed. This will let the packing process to be a bit simpler and will avoid you from having to make costly toiletry purchases if you forget something.
Use IFTTT while sharing traveling photos to make it easy and seamless. “Recipes” like sharing automatically to Evernote or Dropbox will let you automatically have a copy of your important photos.
Unpack immediately once you enter. This is one of the significant travel life hacks that will make unpacking quite easy. You may be tired mentally, but you will be glad that you did it in the morning. Also, it avoids the smell of soiled laundry from your luggage.
Explore new location
Use guidebooks carefully. Many apps allow you to find new places off the beaten path. Guidebooks just provide you tourist spots; especially those that market themselves as being off the beaten path.
Try to use the local language as much as possible. It reflects not only on you but also on your national in general. It shows that you are trying, which can help you in certain situations.
Prepare a souvenir list and follow it. This will help you to save money and avoid you from buying something that you do not need.
Try to eat locally. Instead of going to big hotels and restaurants, you must try the local cuisine. This will save you money and will give you a chance to experience new and tasty meals.
When you are in a country, try to do things that the people of that country do. You should not be a stubborn traveler and must come out of your comfort zone. If a country advises you to follow a modest dress code, then follow that throughout your trip. It will even ensure your safety as a foreigner.
The travel life hacks mentioned here have helped many busy travelers and we hope these will be helpful for you too. Let us know which travel hack was your favorite in the comment section. Also, please let us know if there are any travel life hacks, not mentioned here that have proved successful for you.