My Best Travel Hacks

There is no such thing as being too informed. Sometimes traveling can be a bit tedious and frustrating, but maybe my advice can come in handy. I travel often by plane, car or train and there’s always a few things we can learn to make our experience a little more enjoyable. Without further delay, here are my favourite travel hacks.

Airport Hacks:

• When you park at the airport, take a photo of where you parked your car. You think you will remember, but you probably wont. While you’re at it, take a photo of your luggage, when you loose your luggage, the first thing they are going to ask for is what your bag looks like.

• If you’re worried about your luggage not being handled with care, you can add a fragile sticker on your luggage, the airport staff will take more care of your bag and it will be placed on top of the others. Meaning it’s going to come-out first at the end of your flight.

• Once inside the airport, make sure you go immediately to your gate to make sure you know where it is, this is better than waiting until 10 minutes before your flight to realize that you need to switch terminals. Head to your gate 30 minutes before you board.

• If your flight is delayed or cancelled, consider calling the airline service centre while you wait in the lineup to speak with a gate agent. Get the information as soon as possible.

• If you have any leftover foreign currency, you can always add it to a Starbucks or Tim Hortons gift card while you’re at the airport. Don’t just throw it away.

• Take a car service to the airport. Either Lyft or Uber are very reliable car services. Burdening your friends and family for rides to the airport is a thing of the past. These services were invented for precisely this reason.

• Use the restrooms outside of security. Most of the time in the terminal, the restroom lines are always out of control. People coming in and out of planes seem to be heading to the restrooms often.

• Bring an empty water bottle. Once in the terminal, you can fill-up your bottle. You don’t need to buy another 5$ plastic water bottle; be efficient.

Flight Hacks:

• Book the window and isle seat if you’re traveling as a couple. You will likely have the row to yourself and then even if someone does book the middle seat, they will gladly switch with one of you.

• If you hate turbulence, you should book your seats in the middle of the plane, it’s going to be the least bumpy of a ride.

• If you want extra service, sit at the back of the plane, that is where the flight attendants will be during the flight, regardless of the plane you are on.

• To avoid jet-lag, drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol and then also set your clock to the new time zone and follow that as if it were current. Also, this tip helps with pressure dehydration for long flights.

• Take-out one of the towels from your luggage and wrap-it around your neck to use as a free neck-rest.

Accommodations Hacks:

• When booking a hotel, you can add a note saying which floors you prefer. Lower floors will have a greater chance of theft, noise and a poor view. But they are easier to evacuate the building in the case of an emergency.

• You’re going to want to avoid to book room above the pool, the smell of chlorine is likely to invade your room.

• Put your phone inside a glass or mug to amplify the music sound instead of using speakers.

• You can use the ironing board as a standing desk, for your computer. For those who dont like to sit at their computer for long periods of time.

• The tv remote control is considered the dirtiest thing in a hotel room (And never gets cleaned). Use a shower cap, or plastic to cover the remote, if you don’t want to spread germs. You can also use Clorox wipes to disinfect the remote.

General Travel Hacks:

• Take photos of any damage that you have encountered in your hotel room or rental car; and email it to yourself. Emailing yourself those photos will associate a time and a date when those photos were taken, so you will not get into any trouble for any pre-existing damage.

• Call your bank before leaving on a trip, to let them know the dates and locations you are going. This will avoid you from getting your cards frozen.

• Consider purchasing some non-perishable food to keep at home, when you arrive back from your trip.

. . .

9