Traveling can be a special and fulfilling experience for you if you take advantage of it. Learning how to plan trips is not that hard, but it does require some research so that you don’t end up getting lost or losing money on something you don’t need. This list of tips should help you become a smarter traveler.
If you’re staying in a hotel and you like coffee, don’t use the tap water to make it. Instead, get some ice from the ice machine and put it in the coffee maker the night before to melt. The ice machines use filtered water so you’ll get better tasting coffee!
Pack dryer sheets into your luggage. If you have ever flown before, you might have noticed that sometimes your luggage can come back smelling just a little odd. To eliminate this problem and keep your clothes and possessions smelling fresh, use dryer sheets. Pack them in between layers of clothing.
During your trip if you’re staying at many different hotels, you can rest assured there is an easy and cost effective gift you can give your friends as a souvenir. Collect all of the little samples such as shampoos, body washes, body lotions and coffee packets that hotels give out, put them in a basket and give them away as gifts to your friends. It makes a nice gift because it gives a taste of culture from different hotels and is cost effective to you for making a friendly gesture.
Use noise-cancelling headphones. Because of all the engine and background noise on an airplane, you have to crank the volume on your headphones up dangerously high just to hear the music. Invest in a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, which cancel out the background noise and let you clearly hear your music at a reasonable volume. Even if you don’t listen to music, they are great for just reducing the noise.
Any time you are in a foreign country, drink bottled water. Countries around the world treat their water differently than others. While the water may very well be safe to drink, it may also have additives that your body is not used to, which could cause painful issues down the road. Play it safe.
If you’re going on a road trip, make sure you print a copy of the directions. GPSs and cell phones are great help for navigating, but they can break easily. And you don’t want to be stuck in the middle of no where without any directions! It’s better to print the directions and not use them than to be lost.
Children under the age of 18 who are traveling with friends families or grandparents, may need written permission from you for local authorities or border patrol agents if they will be leaving the country. To protect children from being abducted, many of these agencies now require proof that they have been authorized by the parents to take the children with them.
Bring postcards from home to show off or trade. Striking up a conversation is much easier if you can whip out a postcard and tell someone this is where you are from. You can also trade these with street vendors for local postcards or other merchandise, especially if you are from a well-known or beautiful city.
When you are getting ready to go away from home and travel the world, do not forget to notify your financial institutions. To avoid future hassle with your cash-flow in a foreign land you should notify any bank or credit card company you do business with. Nothing is worse than having no money in the middle of nowhere.
A beautiful place that you should add to your trip to France is the Mont St. Michel. It is a very beautiful site, a “must-see” in France. Try to see if you can get an overnight stay to truly experience it’s beauty during the evening hours.
When traveling with young children, pack a portable DVD player and a few movies. This can be a great way to provide hours of entertainment during the trip. It can also come in handy if there is a rainy day, or you just need some down time, while you’re on vacation.
Make sure that you take enough prescription medication to last for the entire trip anytime you travel. You should always take some extra meds with you, just in case you are delayed or get stranded somewhere, for a long period of time. Bring your medication information along with you, as well, in case you need to get more from a pharmacy.
As you can see, there is a lot more to traveling than most people think. It requires a lot of research and planning, but it will be worth it in the end to have a great trip. By following the above tips, you are well on your way to becoming a smarter traveler.
