5 Tips That Make Traveling Easier
I wanted to compile a list of tips that make traveling easier. Many of these are pretty basic things that have saved me time or a huge headache over the years. Please share your tips that make traveling easier and I will add them into the article. Let’s crowd source this thing into a masterpiece! Hopefully even travel vets pick up a thing or two from the list they had not thought of before.
RELATED: Why You Should Always Download The Airline’s App Before Flying
Make Traveling Easier – The List
Here are the 5 tips that make traveling easier for me:
Take A Picture Of Your Boarding Pass
The first one is pretty obvious, take a picture of your boarding pass if you are using your smartphone instead of printing a ticket. The reason for this is two-fold. First phones and technology can be problematic from time to time and sometimes apps won’t load or freeze up on you. In that case you can quickly pull up your screen shot of the ticket and go from there. You can also add them to your mobile wallet but that doesn’t help with the 2nd reason.
The other reason for doing this is if you need to gain entry into an arrival lounge. Once the flight is complete the ticket is removed from the airline’s app. That means you won’t have a boarding pass to scan without that picture.
An international travel tip is to take a picture of your passport and save it on your phone (preferably in a locked phone app). This ensures you have a copy should you lose it. Not a bad idea to have a photo copy of it in your bag too.
TSA Tip – Empty Your Pockets Into Your Bags
This tip is more for guys since women usually have a purse with them. What I do when going through security is put everything from my pockets in my bag. Some of the newer TSA set ups make you do this anyway. The benefits of this are you can grab your bag, shoes if not TSA PreCheck, and go. No need to gather your loose change, money clip, wallet, phone etc. and load up your pockets. You can deposit it them back into your pockets when you get out of the hectic TSA screening area.
Bring An Empty Water Bottle
Flying can dehydrate you. Nothing is worse than having to pay $4 for a bottle of water after security. Sometimes getting water on the plane can take 45 minutes or more so bring an empty water bottle and fill it after getting through security. That way you can stay hydrated while keeping money in your pocket.
Have Doubles of Everything
I call it my “go pack” but if you travel a lot I find it easiest to have doubles of everything important. I have my bag already packed with a toothbrush, hair gel, contact solution, phone and tablet charges etc. This way when it is time to pack everything small that I need is already there. All I need to do is add clothes and go. This has kept me from leaving stuff behind and having to pay a marked up price for it at the airport or hotel. It has saved me a lot of time packing for trips too. I usually am completely packed in 10 minutes or less.
Take A Picture Of Your Parking Spot and Hotel Room
I am getting older and my kids have killed my brain cells, I swear it! Anyway, I am more forgetful than I used to be so I always take a picture of my parking spot and my hotel room number. This way I am never walking around trying to remember where I need to go. The room number picture has saved me a few times on nights when I had a little too much fun :).
Reader Tips
Here are some reader tips:
- Use packing cubes
- Take a picture of checked luggage in case it gets lost
- Take a picture of rental car license plate
- Fully inspect your rental car and take pictures before leaving the location.
Conclusion
These are some simple tips that make traveling easier, for me at least. Do you do any of these things to save you headaches or time? Let me know what other tips you have and I will add them in!
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My tips center around liquids. Many hotels offer soaps but I still prefer my favorites from home. I buy the tiny hand sanitizer bottles, empty, rinse, and use them for shampoo, body wash. They are more durable than buying the empty bottles off the shelf. I use a contact lens case for shaving cream (R) and after shave cream (L). I’ll use one case for each day of trip. All of these items fit nicely into a ziplock baggie for TSA.
Thanks Ken. Some good ideas there.
Take a picture of your rental car especially if there is any damage that you think they may try to charge you for when you return it.
A must! Always make sure to notate any pre-rental damage on the checkout sheet and have them initial it too.
I’d go so far as to say do a video walk round when you pick it up AND when you return it!
Sadly true depending on the company/location.
I take a picture of my rental car license plate!
Not a bad idea at all!
When taking a taxi, I take two pictures with my phone. The first is the taxi number that is generally painted on the outside of the car. It will be invaluable if you left anything behind. Then, I take a picture of the driver’s taxi license generally posted near the bottom of the windshield opposite the driver. When doing so, I notice the trip to my destination is always by way of the shortest route displayed in google maps and the fare is what I expected.
Rick doesn’t mess around!
Mark, It’s an experience of over 50 years of international travel. I’m 72, and perhaps like many here, I had my bad days with taxi drivers, which I rate just below lawyers 🙂
They try to game you often that is for sure. One of the better aspects of Uber (which has many of it’s own issues) is that they have to follow the direct routing of the app.
One additional tip for travelers that need to check a bag is to take a photo of the your checked bag so you can provide it to the airline in case it is lost or delayed.
That is a good tip Rich – thanks
Its not before I started to travel A LOT that I understood how much people actually spend on water bottles on airports. Now, I am mainly traveling between Europe and China, but it seems that the cost of a water bottle is more or less the same everywhere: about 3€/4 USD. There are NO WAY you can buy a cheap water bottle in any of the airports I have been to.
Very very cynical.
Hey Amund,
You’re right. The price of water is outrageous, even outside of airports. For our trip later next year, I’ll be picking up a couple of 18/8 stainless steel water bottles. Really nice ones can be had for $25 and they hold both hot and cold fluids. We’ll be spending the first part of our trip in Rome and can refill at the many public fountains for free. In Greece, we’ll fill up wherever water is cheap or free but not pay $4 until there is no other choice.
Any last minute travel tips for taking a 4 and 6 yr old on a red eye? We won’t be outnumbered and I’m pretty sure I’ve picked up every sleep accessory sold on Amazon. I figure it’s either going to be easy or travel hell. .
Download movies on a tablet and hope they pass out while watching it? I am pretty sure my parents used to give me cold medicine to make me tired before flying when I was small haha. I have never braved a redeye with my kids so I don’t have any personal knowledge help here. Hopefully someone else can weigh in.
I love having completely separate travel items. I’ve even thought many times about going so far as to have travel clothes too. That way my suitcase is completely packed and I just need my phone, wallet, and laptop.
Justin it wouldn’t be that hard to do – to have 3-4 outfits in there at all times. Not a bad idea.
When your favorite airline starts weighing carry-ons, get yourself a quality, 12-16 pocket travel vest. A couple out there actually have an inside pocket large enough to hold a MacBook 12 inch laptop amongst other things. You can probably get another 10 lbs or more of gear in the other pockets if you’re so inclined. This should be good for a couple of years while they consider placing everyone on a scale at check-in and asserting a human overweight fee. Don’t laugh; it’s moving quickly in that direction.
I have to say Rick this is pretty genius 🙂
You may get some weird looks but it is a way to get around things…perfect for Spirit flights etc.
Never thought of taking a picture of my boarding pass. Good idea. After, over 50 years of airlines, getting everything reduced to a carry-on bag is the best. Did it last year and will also do it again this year for a 7-week trip. With a little thought, it can be easily achieved. Didn’t miss anything that a checked would have added to my trip. However, with airlines starting to weigh carry-on baggage this may be more difficult to achieve.
I am in the 100% carry on 100% of the time boat as well :). Half of the stuff in people’s check luggage probably never gets touched.