Here below are some of the best travel & packing tips to save you some stress on your next holiday!
Are you kidding this place looks amazing!! For $40/night? Sign me up! Wait.... this is the SHARED living space??! No one mentioned that..."
...You did it. You found the perfect AirBnb to spend the next four weeks. The place looks spotless, modern, and it's even got free high speed wifi! Hold up two seconds before you commit to 7+ days though.
What you don't know is that the neighboring property is a farm, roosters don't wait until morning to crow, and there is a pig pen built right up next to the wall of your bungalow.
Somehow all the reviews seemed to miss these details. That's why, unless you’re dealing with peak season or an exceptional value on a spot, you might be better served by only booking a couple days.
Booking two days gives you two specific advantages:
- A great “homebase” to start with that you can count on sleeping at while you see if there is better accommodation or locations nearby.
- A cheap start. Book somewhere SUPER cheap for the first 2 nights. It's only 2 nights. Then you can see where you want to be, and you might even stay!
If you do like the place you've booked, AirBnb owners and most small hotel owners are only too happy to deal in cash and cut out the middle man booking site. You can save quite a bit going this route.
Know ahead of time that you won’t always get the very best deal on everything and that you should be completely okay with that.
You should be less focused on the dollar price of something and more focused on the value.
It doesn’t make sense to book a $12 bed/person at a hostel in Europe if you’re traveling with a companion and can get an entire Airbnb for $30. For a few more dollars more, you have an entire apartment with an area to cook, guaranteed good night's sleep, and a secure location for your belongings.
Almost without fail, when we find ourselves in a crowded attraction area, we hoof it two blocks away from the masses.
Prices on food drop drastically and you will still find locals who speak some English. An additional bonus is that food tends to be better the further you are from main tourist attractions.
Restaurants, street carts and cafes can’t get by alone on tourist traffic so they have to serve up a product of decent quality. Always looks for the restaurant that locals are eating at!
Most tour companies are COMPLETELY full of shit since they are working with people that they are never going to see again.
The nicer someone selling tours is, the fuller of shit they probably are. To avoid disappointment, you need to know procurement when booking a tour.
What is procurement? It’s a fancy word for how businesses buy from other businesses.
When you leave your home turf, rules governing how to interact with strangers, personal space, and even how to form a line change drastically.
Somewhere along the line you are going to deal with a rude person or two. Breathe deep, show some patience, and most importantly, don’t let one or two people affect your perspective of those people or that place.
The world over, at least 98% of people are awesome (see above). Regardless of country, this leaves 2% of people as a vocal minority of raging douche bags.
Eat where the locals are eating and you'll be finding some of the best food on the planet.
As a general rule of thumb, the $5 bowl of Pho Bo you’re buying in a sit down restaurant that caters to foreigners is going to be exactly the same as the $.75 cent bowl you would get from a street vendor (or worse because it sat in the kitchen overnight).
Sir, our specials tonight are guaranteed to make you curse the day you were born while you lay in a fetal position on cold bathroom tile."
Just simply make peace with the fact, that somewhere in your extended travel, you will spend 48 hours of your life in which you cannot be further than 10 ft from a potty.
You will eat/drink the wrong thing at some point and the gods will demand penance. Know you will owe these 48 hours as tribute to the Travel Gods and for the sake of your soul, don't try to man up and go out.
Disaster will strike when you are furthest from a safe place. Get to that novel you've been wanting to read. Binge watch some Netflix.
You may have heard this tip before: avoid culture shock by starting with "easy" countries first.
Before you grab your pitchfork and scream "Lies!", let me tell you all the reasoning behind it:
A.) Things get more interesting the further East you travel.
B.) Things also get cheaper the further East you travel (for the most part). If you don't do expensive Nordic/EU countries early on you may find your funds are a bit on the short toward the end of your trip.
C.) You're going to get travel fatigue on a long trip.
Half the fun is the shopping experience abroad anyways... even if you don't like shopping! Believe it or not, outside of your home country there are literally billions of people who carry out their daily lives!
When you plan long term or RTW travel, everything you pack into that backpack is not coming home with you. Every shirt or pair of pants you bring with you doesn't need to be super-fast dry, tactical, nano particle, 150 degrees- 40 rated apocalypse proof garment. You should have a moderate balance of travel mainstays, but otherwise, lighten up.
Nothing screams "rob me" like two westerners taking pictures of fruit in a busy market. Buy travel insurance.
Don't make yourself an easy target to pickpockets. Keep tabs on your bags. Don't smash 8 shots of Jaeger in a row trying to impress that Aussie chick, then stumble home through a dark alley so that you can get mugged while drunk.
If you’re going to have something stolen, most likely, it's going to be a result of a pickpocket. Since this is the most likely scenario, why don’t we plan on it?
Easy ways to thwart a pickpocket:
- Keep your wallet in a front pocket.
- Buy travel pants/shorts that have zippered pocket. (They should not have zipper off legs because you shouldn't be a complete slob).
- Be extra aware in crowds, markets, and tourist locations.
- Minimize the damage-Know numbers to cancel your cards, keep a minimum of cash
Often, our instincts are to choose carry on luggage based on the length of the trip. While it’s a definite factor, what matters more is the kind of trip.
A compact or medium-sized suitcase is ideal for a city break or beach holiday because you can easily pack a lot of light garments, which you'll need for daily outfit changes when the weather is hot, and you've been walking all day.
On the contrary, an outdoor adventure trip would require a larger suitcase for all your hiking gear, like thick clothes and bulky footwear. Top choices in the category include In my experience, a business trip usually means packing light, although this can vary depending on the duration of the trip. No matter the size.
You (or your back) don't need to bear the burden.
If you’re flying to your destination, spinners are a must-have travel packing. It’s not just about the luggage itself – it also serves as a way for your carry-on tote to slip over the handle.
The weight of the bag is carried by the spinner, not your shoulders, making travelling through long airport terminals a breeze.
Though many totes can slip right over the handles of carry-on luggage or a checked bag.
As with many essential life tasks, writing out what you need is never a bad idea.
Create a packing list that includes all of your essentials, and then separate ones that are customised to your relevant needs. One of the biggest mistakes people make is just throwing things in a suitcase without a system in mind.
A list can help you take note of if you’re over- or under-packing, Beldie says, adding that, “Proper packing requires time.”
“I recommend adding items to your suitcase about a week in advance – not earlier than that, as it’s important to check weather conditions at the destination, which will be more accurate closer to the trip,” she says.
If a handwritten list isn’t your speed, let your items be your visual list. Lay everything out and start editing.
Hang outfits together so you don’t forget anything. Start two weeks before and try everything on. Part of the stress of packing is deciding what to take and what fits.
Recommended packing ratio – three to one, with three tops for every bottom.
Most trips work with nine tops and three bottoms, especially in basic colours that mix and match. Also dont exceed three pairs of shoes running or exercise shoes, nice but casual comfy shoes and a pair of sandals or flip-flops.
On the other hand, for each day of the trip, think of two tops, two shorts, two T-shirts, two pairs of trousers, and two undergarments.
For a business trip, packing two shirts per day is a good idea – one for meetings during the day, the other for dinner and night events.
Select the most packable clothing, so you’re not constantly thinking about ironing.
Most flight attendants travel with clothes made from wrinkle-free fabrics such as synthetics, wool, denim, and knit – we don’t pack linen because it wrinkles so easily. Hues can also make a big difference.
The colours we pack are important. The darker the colour, the fewer visible wrinkles.focus on a wide range of choices, too.
Avoid packing too many of the same thing why take up space with six tees when you can bring a variety of tops – variety is the spice of packing!
People tend to, quite literally, weigh themselves down when travelling.
Remind yourself that travelling is temporary and should be about the actual trip itself rather than extensive wardrobe selections.
Packing just a few outfits that you absolutely love will make getting ready each day a breeze.
Select comfortable clothes that do not wrinkle easily and make you feel good about yourself.
Not all items will apply to all people, and not all items will apply to all trips,
So if you absolutely, without a doubt, cannot live without an item, then, by all means, bring it!
Remember You get the item or the space, but you don't get both.
Though some packers prefer laying clothes flat, the experts agree that rolling is critical to saving space.
Clothes should be folded into their smallest possible size.
Thin fabrics are best to roll to prevent wrinkles.
Another neat trick is to tuck your folded underwear into bra cups within your suitcase – it keeps the undergarment category together and saves space!
Think of your suitcase as a table of contents – you want to take one look and know everything inside.
The key here is to pack your items vertically so you can see them all at one glance.
That way, you don’t have to take out everything to find the one item you are looking for.
Take that idea one step further with packing cubes.
They will help use vertical space and adhere to a tidy routine while on the road set of four that makes categorising easy on the go.
Use smallest one for underwear, the largest for bulky items like outerwear and towels, one of the middle ones for clean clothes, and the other for dirty ones.
What’s great about the packing cubes is that you can place your vertically folded clothes into the cube from your drawer at home, then transfer them straight into the drawers at the hotel, so it’s easy to unpack at the destination.
Though we’ve heard those infamous stories of people layering on clothes to save on baggage fees, there is a time and place for wearing some of your essential needs on your back.
If you are going to a cold weather location I suggest wearing your bulkier items like a coat and boots, and always carry your water bottle but make sure it's empty. If you need to put them in your suitcase.
Bulky items should always go at the bottom of your suitcase, and it’s best to layer them flat—never fold or roll them.
We always say, if you stay ready, you won't have to get ready.
Especially for frequent travellers, keep the items you always take with you packed instead of constantly packing and unpacking.
It helps to organise your travel toiletries and accessories ahead of time, so your packing routine is essentially grab-and-go.Make sure you know the rules of customs ahead of time and what you can and can't into that country will help you before you get there.
The advantage is that you can shave tremendous time on packing for your next trip.
