Your adventures with travel don’t have to be the horror stories that so many people you know have probably told you. Most people are able to get to their destination, experience their trip and come home without so much as a single negative event. This article will give you more ideas of how you can make sure that this is the way it goes for you as well.
If you are planning a trip abroad, make sure you get your passport well in advance. Many people underestimate how long it takes to get a passport for the first time and are left scrambling and paying extra fees to get it expedited. Plan for your passport to take six to eight weeks to arrive, especially in peak travel season.
Pack an extra bag for dirty clothes. No one wants to pack their dirty unmentionables in with all their nice things. Pack a small, collapsible bag to pack dirty clothes in for the return trip. Alternatively, bring a garbage bag. You can wrap dirty clothes in the garbage bag to keep them separate from everything else.
When picking a destination to travel to pick somewhere that is affordable. You don’t want to travel somewhere that is so expensive you can’t enjoy yourself to the fullest. You want to make sure you have fun, but at the same time, you want to make it fit into your budget.
If you will be traveling to a foreign country where English is not the primary language, please make the effort to learn at least a few basic phrases, and make sure your pronunciation is as close as possible to the real thing. If you start out in THEIR language, most non-English speakers will quickly realize that you don’t actually speak their tongue, and will meet you more than halfway in a helpful attempt to communicate. Starting out in English, on the other hand, sends the message that they need to communicate on your terms, which is impolite.
A luggage tag isn’t always enough. You also should place ID inside the bags. A luggage tag hanging from the outside of your luggage can easily be ripped off in transit. Include identifying information inside your bags, as well, in case the outer tags are lost.
If you’re going on a cruise, make sure you bring a small day bag with you. You’ll find that your luggage won’t be available right away when you board the ship. So you’ll want to have a bag with a swim suit, a book, an extra change of clothes in it, and anything else you might need right away.
Flexibility pays when it comes to booking your plane ticket! If your arrival or departure dates aren’t set in stone, you can often times find better deals on tickets. Likewise, if you’re willing to depart from a variety of airports in the area, you can often save big bucks.
When you first arrive at your hotel room, check the mini-bar. Some guests are known for refilling bottles with water, so make sure each and every bottle is fully sealed. If any of them are not, you should immediately phone the front desk and tell them what you have found. You do not want to be charged for someone else’s dishonesty.
Know the rates of currency when you’re traveling abroad so you can get an idea of what you’re going to encounter. When you know how far a dollar goes before you reach your destination, you have a better idea of how much you can afford to spend, and you can develop an appropriate itinerary. Doing this will allow you to maximize fun while minimizing spending.
Exploring America’s National Parks is a wonderful experience. While you are out and about in the park it is important to clean up after yourself. It is imperative that we do our part to make sure the parks stay beautiful and clean for everyone to visit in the years to come.
If you need to find a place to eat or want recommendations for a local attraction, stay away from hotel employees. Most of them are given money to advise you to go to certain locations. Visit shops, cafes or restaurants that you like and ask them for advice on where you should go.
When you are traveling with your laptop, bring an audio/visual cord with you. Most hotels have high-speed internet access and many also have a nice HDTV in their rooms. If you have an A/V cord, you can hook your laptop up to the TV, allowing you to stream videos or enjoy other online content from a large screen.
Be very careful of sending text messages while traveling. While roaming charges within your home country are becoming less common, do not make the mistake of assuming your ‘unlimited texting’ plan is valid abroad and check with your phone company. Many travelers have come home from vacation to find an unexpectedly large phone bill waiting for them due to overseas usage fees.
Don’t make plans with the airlines the day you go or later. Instead, try calling them the night before to reconfirm your flight is still scheduled or to see if it’s overbooked. Give yourself at least a half hour to get to the airport. Also save time by checking in at home and pre-printing your boarding passes.
Use your work address or a business card in your suitcase tags if you are wary of strangers getting a hold of your home address. With the increase in identity theft cases, many people want to protect their identities whenever possible. By using your work address on your luggage, you can protect your identity while still making it possible for you to be reached if your bags are lost.
Making sure that your trip goes off without a hitch and that you have a wonderful time, regardless of if your trip is for business or travel is the point of this article. If you implement what you read here you should have a nice, calm, uneventful trip next time you leave town.