I’ve always been an adventurer at heart, although I can’t say I’ve ventured down the path of traveling with my 18 month old yet {round of applause to the brave souls who have conquered that quest}. But I’ve had the opportunity to travel more frequently over recent years, and I’ve been able to pick up a few traveling hacks that are ride-or-die for me.
Since I just went out of the country for the second time in the last three years, I’ve realized how fortunate I am to have picked up some of these tools, and figured out some of these tips along the way. Given, this time it was just a trip to Canada, but my first trip overseas was to Ireland with my husband for our honeymoon in 2016. That was the first time I had ever planned a trip – let alone been out of the country before – and I learned A LOT of things that would have saved me time if I knew about them right up front.
Evaluate Your Time and Money
If you have more money than time on your hands, hire a travel agent. If you have more time on your hands than you have money, you can save a lot and create a customized trip by planning it yourself. My original plan was to go through a travel agency, but they couldn’t give me everything I wanted and I was paying more for it, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. I’m really glad I did!
Use a Third Party Booking Site
I stumbled across Booking.com when I was trying to book hotels in Ireland. We were traveling all around the country so we were staying at a new hotel every couple nights or so. I was super nervous to go through a third party after hearing some of the horror stories, but I could not have been more pleased with my experiences. I’ve been using it for every trip since Ireland. The site allows you to see and compare all of your housing options in that area: hostels, apartments, hotels, etc. You can view the ratings, the price, and the amenities at a quick glance. Not only does going through a third party site give you really good discounts, but you can see easily see which ones include free continental breakfast and allow you to cancel up to a few days prior with no charge and all your money back. When you reserve your accommodations, you have to add your credit card, but you don’t have to pay until you are at the hotel unless you are going after a deal that requires you to. Having only ever used Booking.com, I can’t say I recommend using other sites since I don’t have experience with them.
Go Incognito
Go incognito while you’re searching for flights. Your browser tracks your searches. If you’ve been hunting for the best deal on flights for a while, the browser will send notifications back to the airlines to let them know how many people are searching for a particular flight, which in turn leads to them bumping up prices due to the demand. Better for you, better for all.
Plan an Itinerary
I realize that being a C personality, I am extremely detailed. Not everyone is like that, but if you like a thorough plan for your trip then you are going to be so grateful for TripHobo. It allows you to log day by day, hour by hour your plans. It’s integrated with the most popular third party booking sites, including Booking.com, so you can add your accommodations directly to your plan, including the cost so you can track your budget. It logs the distance you are traveling from destination to destination and calculates gas cost based on mileage. It has a list of all the most popular attractions in the area that you can drag and drop into your plan. The attractions give a blurb about them, their hours, and cost to help you plan and budget in this one application. You can change your view from planner to map and see where all of the attractions, restaurants, etc are located on the map to rearrange them based on how close they are to one another. It’s such an integrated tool that is a must for the well-planned adventurer.
Pack An Empty Water Bottle
My first time flying was when I was five years old. That was the last time flying until I was twenty one. I was flying with a friend and we totally missed the baggage check and went straight through security with our luggage. I was very confused as to why they were searching my luggage and removing all my bottles of water I had stored for the trip. I read online I could pack them in my luggage – just not my carry-on. Eventually we all came to the realization that this was not my carry on luggage, and I was advised to head to baggage check. I have to blame it on inexperience and ignorance and don’t have the fortune of blaming it on mommy brain this time around. This experience got me brainstorming and I realized, I could bring an empty, plastic water bottle on the flight with me in my carry on so I could avoid spending big pennies beyond the gate. This also meant I didn’t have to go around buying bottled water as frequently on the trip because I could just fill my water bottle. Overall, it’s a good idea to stick to bottles of water when you’re in a foreign country with different water than what you are used to drinking.
What are some of your traveling tips and hacks you’ve discovered along the way? I’m especially curious about handy ideas for traveling with the kiddos because I know that day will inevitably come.
Until next time, happy adventuring!
