14 LIfe Changing Travel Tips: Simple But Superbly Useful Tips for Your Trips
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Travel entails a good amount of preparation to surviving challenges and unexpected situations along the way. Don’t just pack things. Also, bring with you these useful travel tips that are guaranteed to help you ease the burdens of travel.
1. Repack before you pack.
To save space on your bags, you can repack some items such as your lotions and sunblocks. Did you know that you can save a lot of space if you transfer your lotions to a long tubular container? Can’t find long tubular containers? You can use straws—yes, drinking straws. To seal them, just fold the straws and fasten them with an adhesive tape.
2. Use a mobile phone that charges via USB.
One of the major problems encountered with mobile phones is the forgotten, misplaced, or lost charger. If you use a mobile phone that charges via USB, you can easily connect to standard USB ports on TVs in hotels or on computers in Internet shops. You just have to have the cable.
3. Hide your valuables inside empty lipstick or chapstick tubes.
It could be some small jewelry or a few paper bills set aside as emergency money. Chapstick or lipstick tubes hardly look suspicious so they can serve as secure containers for your valuables.
4. Keep your boarding pass.
Avoid instinctively throwing your boarding pass away as soon as you disembark. That piece of document can be used as proof of travel you can use to claim credit for frequent flier miles, in case your airline company incorrectly logs in the credits you should be getting.
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5. Mark your bags with something you can easily recognize but without making them too conspicuous.
If you have the weakness of forgetting your things all of the time, you have to make sure that there will be some way to identify your belongings. Marking your bags also makes it easy to distinguish your things especially on the airport’s inspection carousel.
6. Make it a habit to carry a whistle with you.
You’ll never know when you’ll be stuck in an emergency situation and you need to call for help. Whistles are almost like a universal sound for calling attention or help. You can even buy one that looks fashionable and you can wear as a pendant or something you can attach as an accessory to your mobile phone.
7. No towel? The “sarong” is your savior!
If you really need to travel light, you can ditch the towel for a sarong. Sarongs are a very flexible piece of clothing. You can wear it for protection. You can use it as a makeshift bed cover. You can use it in lieu of a towel. The great thing about it is that it quickly dries so you can just wash it clean as needed.
8. Have photocopies of your travel documents and keep them in different compartments or pockets of your bag.
You can also have these documents scanned at home and email them to yourself or upload them to your preferred cloud storage service. This will somehow guarantee that you will not be detained or deported for traveling illegally.
9. Be sure to have enough sleep or take naps when you need them.
Avoid traveling while you are sleepy. Aside from missing the chance to enjoy the sights and sounds of your trips, you will also expose yourself to thieves as you fall asleep while riding on public transport.
10. Wear travel-friendly clothing.
The ideal clothes for your travel should not only be comfortable. They should make it easy and convenient to get through security inspections. Shoes, preferably, have to be be slip-on types. Avoid wearing belts with metal parts. It is also advisable to use clothes with a multitude of secure pockets.
11. Don’t put your money in one location.
This is a basic tip but it may need some emphasizing. Many travelers still fail to be cautious in handling their cash.
12. Make sure you have a smartphone with you and make the most of its functions and features.
If you can afford to travel, a smartphone shouldn’t be too expensive for you to buy. Get a smartphone that has wi-fi connectivity and capable of accessing 3G and 4G networks (in your destination of course, so be sure to inquire). It should have a decent enough camera. Also, it should have a high capacity battery or you should carry a spare battery as you travel.
Take photos of your travel and other important documents. Save offline data of the Google Maps for your destination so you can still have a map even if there’s no Internet connection available. Download maps and guides. Install useful apps like language translators or guides. There are many smartphone features that can be very helpful in your travel.
13. Duty-free shops don’t automatically mean bargain prices. Be a cautious buyer.
Don’t be deceived and avoid assuming that duty-free items always cost significantly less. If there is Internet access in the shop and you have your smartphone with you, you can easily inquire about prices online.
14. Be very familiar with your body.
This one is definitely life-saving. You have to know how your body reacts to certain food, substances, or pollutants. Some food may send you repeatedly visiting the toilet so you have to watch out for them. Smoke may irritate you or elicit allergic reactions so you have to be alert to quickly avoid it. If your skin and scalp develop flakes when exposed to cold temperatures, avoid the embarrassment by keeping your moisturizing lotion handy. It is very important to anticipate your body’s reactions to certain things especially when you are visiting an unfamiliar place.
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These are just a few of the many travel tips that can make traveling more convenient for you. Be sure to remember them or have them saved on your notes. Also, be sure to take our travel readiness test. If you have more travel tips to share, feel free to leave a comment on the box below.
