Offer Your Best Travel Tips in the Comments by 10am Eastern Saturday morning to Win.
Some of y’all will remember that I hosted an online forum about technology and travel that was sponsored by National Car Rental coinciding with the launch of their new mobile app.
I rent regularly from National and had been looking forward to the introduction of a mobile app (finally!) and the folks participating in the chat were friends and travel heroes.
I like the products I like, I share the reasons why here, and I don’t want there to be confusion over my motives — if I benefit personally from a referral link I always say so in the post, I frequently try to arrange to give any miles I may earn from referrals back to you in the form of bigger bonuses (some companies are receptive to this, others are not) and I prefer to do giveaways rather than take freebies myself.
There was modest compensation for participating in the National forum, and I already gave away half the amount here on the blog. I split it up into more than one giveaway largely because I didn’t want to have to do tax reporting!
I want your best travel tips in the comments.
- You may enter as many times as you like, but each entry should be a bona fide travel tip. I will compile the best tips in a subsequent post.
- I will select two winners, largely at random but to be eligible to win the entry must be (in my sole judgment) a genuine tip.
- Two prizes of (2) $100 Visa Gift cards each will be awarded.
You have a great chance of winning because internet traffic drops like a rock on Friday evenings, second slowest only behind Saturday evenings.
So.. what are your best travel tips? They can be anything from ways to improve the odds of getting an airline upgrade, a hotel suite upgrade, clearing airport security quickly, the best place to eat at a given airport, anything at all.
I love to learn from this community of readers, and love to be able to share your knowledge back with everyone else. I look forward to reading your submissions, and of course to selecting two winners!
- You can join the 30,000+ people who see these deals and analysis every day — sign up to receive posts by email (just one e-mail per day) or subscribe to the RSS feed. It’s free. Don’t miss out!
Renting from National – always check their Last Minute Specials To Go before you pick up your car, they often have much better deals
open up the charles schwab no fee atm card. it is perfect for international traveling!
download an app like google hangout, line or whatsapp and you can stay in touch with family members back home in the US if you are traveling abroad. these apps allow you to make phone calls/text using data.
Definitely make sure to have a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees!
Sleep aids are a must when traveling long distances in a plane.
Always check to see if there is a festival or something else going on during your time at your travel destination. If I hadn’t done that, I would have had no idea that the Ommegang Festival was going on in Brussels this year. I was able to adjust my travel dates so that we were able to see the pageantry on it’s last night.
Be sure to take a no foreign transaction fee cc while travelling overseas!
If you’re a UA elite member who’ll travel to South America, try Copa Airlines. All UA Elites (silver, gold, plat, 1k) are eligible for a complimentary upgrade to business class in all multi-cabin Copa flights! 🙂
Use a points from a travel program that reimburses you for previously purchase travel (e.g., Capital One, Barclay Arrival, Bank of America Travel Rewards) to pay for the TAXES on your airline award redemption, then your airline ticket is 100% free inclusive of taxes!
always…always…always ask for an upgrade
Bring 1 or 2 credit cards from DIFFERENT banks (i.e., one chase, one citi, one amex), not all from the same bank. One time all my and my wife’s accounts got closed at Chase on the same day while we were in Hawaii and they would NOT reopen them. Fortunately I had a Citibank credit card with me!
If a plane seat map looks full (and has no good seats left anyway), don’t select a seat or call to de-select one. You’ll end up with a seat request card and get a seat assignment at the gate. More often than not, a bulkhead will open up because they are blocked off for people with disabilities, etc, and aren’t always used.
When traveling abroad, make sure you bring a credit card that has no foreign transaction fees. Those will really put a damper on your travel budget
Buy hotel points to rdeem if necessary, it may end up being cheaper than advertised prices
If you’re travelling abroad, make sure to call your credit card company to let them know you’ll be using the card overseas from this date to that date, or they might think it’s fraud and you’ll be stuck overseas without access to any purchasing power…
Put your toiletry liquids in a clear plastic bag in an easy to grab location in your (hand)baggage. It will speed you through the airport security!
Traveling with a pet? When you get to your destination find the nearest 24 hour emergency vet clinic and add the location to your phone’s contacts. Hopefully, you’ll never need it, but if you do, it’s better to figured it out in advance rather than to wait until the heat of the moment.
Check Kayak for a better rate and submit a best rate guarantee! I just did that for a local best western, and got free breakfast a pool use for my 3 kids!
Often times you can find web sites where you can park your car at hotels near an airport for significantly less than airport parking or even park-n-go type places. The hotels will also bring you to airport and pick you up in their airport shuttle.
Having helpful travel apps like TripIt Pro help make traveling easier because they keep you up to date on flight delays or cancellations. Airlines sometimes do not update you on these very important details!
For choosing your seat via online check-in, be sure to always see a seat map (SeatGuru etc.) to check if you have a good seat or not, because being next to the restrooms can be really enervating.
Contact hotel managers before special vacations and let them know why you are traveling and politely ask if there is anything they can do to help make the trip more memorable. (Room upgrades often happen. Great if you have no status)
Get an under-the shirt pack to keep your credit cards, cash, and passport on you all at times! I got mine at LLBean.
For convenience I’d advise you to memorise your passport number and frequent flyer number, instead of taking both documents out each time you book a flight.
If your plane is delayed or cancelled, instead of waiting in line at the airport to talk to someone, simply call the airline and they will help you a lot faster.
Politely/jokingly ask for things. Example that got me an international upgrade to business class was after i got talking to the flight attendent I mentioned how it would be a waste to have that empty seat in business class go to waste… he gladly let me move.
Always expect the unexpected when traveling. If you are checking a bag, make sure you pack extra clothes and other neccesary items into a carry-on in case/when things dont go as planned.
Be sure to bring enough power converters with you when you travel oversea. Also, bring empty water bottles and refill water in hotels when you are in Europe.
When traveling abroad, take a photo of your passport information page and of any pertinent visas for your travel — just in case.
Have a wallet that you use only for your passport and travel documents, and keep all your travel documents in the order that you’ll need them. It makes things to much easier to not have to dig through your bag. Also, keep a pen in there!
Before travelling to a certain place or city, be sure to check out on the App Store (iPhone or Android etc.) if the city has an app with offline mapping, since it could be a great help to you in a city you are unfamiliar with.
Having a no international withdrawal fee debit/ATM card can be huge, particularly in countries where you can’t easily pay by credit card. While others exist, I found, oddly enough, that the easiest one to get is the State Farm bank account and debit card. Eight withdrawals a month are free. If you have a regular direct deposit, you have unlimited international withdrawals without a fee.
Traveling to places during off peak times greatly increases the chance of getting an upgraded room and also usually allows the hotels to offer better service.
Before booking hotel rooms, look for publicly available discount rates. Hiltons MVP codes, Hyatt”s recent DISC15 are perfect examples. While you are at it, always make sure you are registered for any current hotel promotions to earn extra points. Free points are free points
Before booking hotel rooms, look for publicly available discount rates. Hiltons MVP codes, Hyatt”s recent DISC15 are perfect examples. While you are at it, always make sure you are registered for any current hotel promotions to earn extra points. Free points are free points
When traveling to a new destinations, it pays to read travel blogs or ask advice on twitter. Very helpful resources and tips!
It helps to have an unlocked phone so you can buy sim cards for internet access at foreign locations. Getting a outlet converter before traveling also helps. A dead phone is very frustrating.
TD tank debit has no ATM fee, and theybreturn the fee if you withdraw money from other banks.
Read and understand the routing rules for international airfares, which allows one to exploit stopovers or favorable routings.
When looking for Business Class awards don’t be afraid to continue to look while on vacation as I’ve had luck finding seats 2 days before our vacation was to end and switching from our economy seats to Biz class (for a 10 hour flight). To top it off in my most recent experience w/ this they only charged me a small change fee and no extra points (even though I told them I had expected to pay more points), but if I hadn’t continued to look each night, would have never happened.
When booking flights, I have found that roundtrip tickets aren’t always the cheapest. I have had good luck booking one-way fares on separate airlines and making my trips much more affordable that way.
One good way to get an upgrade (if you are traveling with a spouse or partner) is to tell the hotel agent that you are on your honeymoon. My husband booked a reward stay at a hotel in Sydney once, and when we arrived, we told them we were on our honeymoon (a lie). The hotel agent gave us an upgrade to the penthouse suite for no additional charge.
Hertz has promo for gold member in Oct, 550 bonus point for one rental before 31, Oct, 2013. That’s good for one weekend day rental. I found $23 (incl tax) in Atlanta per day. Good value if you can redeem a car cost more than 23 in the future.
If you are traveling in the US, you can use Feecation.com to get reimbursed for many fees such as wifi, same day change fee, airport or hotel parking fee, resort fees, etc. Ironically there is a monthly fee but the refund could really add up if you are traveling significantly in a short time frame.
At least attempt to say a few words in the country’s native language before you launch into speaking English. Also, saying things like “please,” and “thank you,” will make you a great ambassador for your home country.
When renting a car overseas make sure you are billed in in the foreign currency quote vice U.S. dollars as you get the market exchange rate for that day vice the rental car rate which includes a worse exchange rate for billing you in US dollars quote. Double check this at the time of rental pickup.
When making flight/hotel purchases from a foreign country’s website, always use their native website (like .in, .rus, .sg, etc. instead of the .com version) along with Google Translate to get the local prices. Using browser in incognito mode also helps in avoiding the ‘tourist’ prices.
before you fly, always check on Facebook if any of your mutual friends live in the city you are travelling too- they are a great resource for “local” tips!
Combining two tips into one: “If you don’t ask, the answer’s no” and “It’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar” Don’t be afraid to ask for upgrades, better rooms, etc. but doing so in a genuinely nice way can increase the odds.
Whenever I’m going on a special trip and want to ensure an upgrade I email the hotel manager. Beyond upgrades we have received chocolate covered strawberries and other snacks for our special occasion.