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!
Make a copy of everything in your wallet and a copy of your ID. Leave the copy at home or with a trusted friend. In case of theft, credit cards can be easily cancelled.
Never wear a belt–gets you through security faster.
Cash management accounts from Schwab and Fidelity offer bank cards which can be used around the world to withdraw funds with no ATM fees.
Buy a Rick Steves book if you’re going to Europe
For those traveling by car, download “Gas Buddy” app. Gives the prices of gas at stations near you or in a specific zip code or city.
Plan award travel ahead, but think about contingencies if things don’t work out (i.e. weather, travel insurance). If you are looking for award space monitoring, invest in getting a service like Expertflyer. ( It really helped me out once I’m on my trip and I got an alert that an inventory in a certain class I was hoping for opened).
Always get each type of card(MC, visa, amex) and get one with no-foreign transaction fee.
When traveling with small kids, ask if there’s a family line to go through security at the airport.
Headed to NOLA? Eat at Mulate’s for good food and fun Zydeco music. The atmosphere is great and the people – those who work there and the other patrons – are friendly!
Get to know the locals. Have an open heart and sense of adventure. Trust your gut, but dig in! You’ll be lead into experiences far richer than the imagination could muster.
Organize family packing by using packing cubes. Easier to pack/unpack when you get to your hotel, too!
Take along a collapsible hamper to keep the hotel room from looking like a laundromat explosion when on family travel.
Don’t pack clothes that require ironing.
Dryer sheets remove static from your hair and clothing and make your suitcase smell awesome while taking up virtually no room.
For an international trip with kids I always keep these three things with me at all times: portable wet ones, a deck of cards and a tiny roll up travel potty.
Before you start your trip, take a photo of your luggage. Put yourself into the pic, standing next to the bag.When your bag goes missing, hand over the copy to the baggage folks at the airport. This can really help with finding your luggage.
Ensure that you take bottled water with you when travelling to remote rural areas and the bush.
Store your credit card numbers in an encrypted Evernote note, assuming you trust Evernote and its encryption. This can come in very handy.
Buy a Visa gift card with $100-200 on it and keep in a similar safe, hidden location. This is only to be used for emergencies. Losing your wallet and having no ID nor money while traveling abroad can be a nightmare.
Purchase some anti-bacterial, moisture-wicking undergarments and take them on any trips that may involve high temps, a lot of walking, excessive physical activity, or prolonged wear/re-use of said undergarments.
Put all your stuff from your pockets into a accessible pocket in your carry on bag before security check. That way you have less chance of things going missing when everything goes through the scanner.
Check your points and miles balances when you get home! Several times lately I’ve had to call or email to get the points or miles credited to my account that I earned while on travel.
Check for hotel promotions before heading out the door! Make sure you’ve signed up for any quarterly bonuses or other promotions to earn additional points for your stay.
Use British Airways miles to fly on US domestic routes. ORD to IAD -> 4,500 miles e/w
If you have a chip card, make sure you call your issuer to learn your PIN so you can use it at train ticket and metro machines.
When flying in economy on a plane with 3-3-3 seating, get an isle seat in the middle section to minimize “climb over” traffic.
Always let the restaurant or hotel know when you are celebrating a special occasion on a vacation. Often times you will score a free desert or upgraded room.
Let the concierge help you secure tickets to major attractions or purchase them before you leave home. This saved us a good deal of time at Sagrada Familia since the ticket lines were long!
Check out British Airways Avios for domestic award flights.
Use a local sim card when traveling abroad. They have prepaid plans that are much cheaper than roaming charges. Make sure you have an unlocked GSM phone.
Let the UrbanSpoon app help you choose where to eat on your next vacation.
Be sure to check a booked itinerary for schedule changes. You may be able to change to more convienient flights at no charge.
Always check seat guru, not good when you spend the extra miles on business class and end up with those slantedseats instead of lay flat seats
Follow a few local travel/tourism sites on twitter in the weeks leading up to your vacation to find out about local events, fairs, and festivals that will be in town.
Download one of the apps on your smartphone that could translate English to the language of an country you are travelling. The app would actually not only convert English into the local language but also speak out the words. Makes traveling more fun and easier. I felt like a local in China (almost)
Use GardenGrocer to have groceries and supplies delivered to your hotel room when visiting Walt Disney World. Much cheaper than buying on-site!
Earn, burn, Churn and Learn Baby!!!
One of my travel rules is “always go into town the first night.” If you’ve been traveling all day, it is very tempting to just hang out at the hotel and go to bed early, but I made that rule after I found out the next morning that I had missed the annual summer fest at a little town on the coast of France. I have scored standing room at La Scala, the Munich Opera (Aida!)and a box seat at the Folk Opera in Madrid, by pushing on and checking out what was going on in town that first night.
When traveling in pickpocket/tourist crime prone areas – I carry an extra wallet in my purse with some expired credit cards and cash equivalent to $20. Handing this one over can save one a lot of trouble instead of the wallet with real cash, drivers license etc.
Never, ever, ever fly coach. Figure out a way to get ff miles. Credit card sign up bonus, buy them when they are on sale.
If you’re traveling with kids to Disney World, go to a place like Michaels and get packets of glow sticks. When you’re in the parks at night you’ll save yourself a lot of money not having to buy toys from vendors.
Scan your passport and email it to yourself before leaving for a foreign country so that if it gets lost, you can access the data from any computer.
When booking hotels, always check different sites for BRG.. and booking through a shopping portal is a must!
I always travel with a scarf or two- they pack super small, add variety to outfits and really add to my comfort.
Going overseas? Get Google Translate for your smartphone!
When flying with kids, I can’t always get them juice to sip at takeoff and landing (to alleviate inner ear discomfort) so I keep a stash of candy that I only distribute at those key moments. They still swallow, which is the point 🙂
At Boston Logan terminal E, stop by the “Burrito Elito” and get a turkey chilli. You’ll mileage run to BOS for another before you know it!
roll your pants so that you can fit more clothes in your carry on.
try to downsize just to a carryon, so you don’t lose your luggage and don’t pay for luggage fees.
i had my luggage lost and it was NOT FUN. it was such a hassle.
Plus I hate paying unnecessary baggage fees.
If you are traveling international first or business class and have extra bag allowances, take one medium size bag and use it for packing, then put that suitcase (or duffel) inside a regular large suitcase. That makes it easy to take an extra suitcase to bring back purchases and souvenirs. It also means that on the way out, you don’t have to carry the extra suitcase. My wife and I both have medium size four-wheel rollers that fit perfectly into our large four wheel rollers. On long international first class trips (three weeks to a month), we each pack one large rolling suitcase, then we share the medium roller that packed inside the other suitcase, then on the way back we bring back our purchases in the extra suitcase. Not only that, but with the four-wheel rollers I can carry all the suitcases by myself.