Travel Hacks to Save you Money, Stress, & Frustration

Episode 15: Show notes

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Why would a person want to know some travel hacks?

Since I did just get back from traveling, I thought now would be a perfect time to talk about some travel hacks I use on the regular – since they are fresh on my mind.

I’m in no way a seasoned world traveler, but I do love to travel and have found some tricks to make things easier over the years. So I’m going to share a few things that I do, as well as some feedback and ideas I got from my fun community of ladies over on Instagram.

So get out your pens and pencils and take note of some of these ideas and tricks that might be of help when you’re thinking about your next excursion.

If you want to listen to the tips, click PLAY on the podcast episode above, or you can read the transcript below.

CHEAP FLIGHTS HACKS

One of our favorite parts of travel is the anticipation and planning the trip. Sometimes we plan long road trips, and other times we like to fly. Since we’ve done some flying this year, I thought that I’d start first by talking about some ways to save some money when booking flights.

1. Search for flights in “incognito mode”– I have heard and read that it may help to search for flights on your computer in incognito mode. Incognito mode means that your computer won’t store the cookies from your Google searches, and airlines won’t be able to increase the prices of flights they know you are looking at. 
   • If you don’t know what searching in incognito mode means, simply type into your google search, “How do I search for flights in incognito mode?”, and the answer will pop up. Trust me, you are not the first person to ask Google that!
   • However, I just did a little quick research on if that is true, and I found a video that says, it does not, in fact, make a difference. So, feel free to try that or not.
2. Compare flight prices on different days of the week. – Depending on where you are flying, sometimes the prices for flights are lower on different days of the week. You can sometimes save a lot of money just by adjusting your day of travel by a day or two.
3. Consider getting a card that collects air miles if you like to travel a lot. You can check with your bank to see if there are any credit cards that would work for you that allows you to collect points that can be cashed in for flights. Be sure to read all the fine print and see if any options sound good to you. Some cards that collect points have a yearly fee and others are free.
4. Check for last minute deals, new airline routes that may have discounts, and if you are someone who likes to cruise – you might want to check for repositioning cruises that are sometimes deeply discounted rates.

How We Packed for Summer Camp & Biggest Tip for What Clothes to Pack

Once a trip has been planned, my mind starts to think about the packing process. I’ve learned over time, that I prefer to pack the day before a trip rather than start thinking about it too far in advance. The overthinking part of packing can just about drive me around the bend!

But, whenever I pack for anything, I think of how my mom taught us to pack our suitcases every year for Summer camp.

She had us lay out everything we wanted to take to camp on our beds in outfits – and we needed an entire new outfit for each day. Each outfit pile was to include EVERY LITTLE THING that outfit would need – from shoes to earrings.

Then, once everything was carefully selected, than we could pack it into our suitcases.

I laugh now when I think of the ginormous suitcases we packed with us to go to 5 days of Summer camp!!

Nowadays, I do still lay out my outfits on the bed when I get ready to travel, but I have a totally different philosophy to packing. Instead of packing entire different outfits for each day, I try to mix and match a travel wardrobe, so I can take as few items as possible. And my biggest tip for what clothes to pack is to pack the clothes that you love to wear at home.

The first time I went to Hawaii years ago, I had a friend go shopping with me to pick out things to wear in Hawaii. I thought it would be super hot there, so I packed things I never would wear at home, but I thought that suddenly I would love wearing it in Hawaii.

Turns out – I didn’t want to wear spaghetti strap dresses in Hawaii any more than I did when I was home! I only ended up wearing the things I loved wearing at home, and those new spaghetti strap numbers never ever did get worn.

My philosophy of only packing a carry on bag no matter how many days my trip is, is totally a personal preference thing, but I do not enjoy lugging around heavy pieces of luggage filled with items that I won’t even use or wear during my holiday.

HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE PACKING HACKS FOR FLYING

(Disclosure: This post contains affilate links for your shopping convenience.)

1. Find a good quality suitcase and bags that work well for you. I personally like to travel with a carry on as my main bag. I look for carry ons that have good roller wheels, a sturdy handle, a zipper in the bottom lining of the suitcase, and a zippered front pocket. (This is my exact carry on bag. I LOVE it.) You don’t want to get a bag whose wheels start to fall off after one or two uses – Yes, I had that happen! I also love the zippered lining in the bottom of the bag. It allows you to pack things in between the metal bars of the suitcase and not waste one inch of space.

If your carry-on is black, I would recommend always tying on something in a bright color to give it distinction from all the other black carry-on bags that will be on the valet cart.

2. Make sure all your bags have your identification tag tied on the outside – and also include an identification tag INSIDE your bag. My aunt lost her luggage for over a week when she came up here to Canada to visit me. Apparently, the paper tag the airline put on was accidentally ripped off with her id tag, and it was a real pain to try to find it. The airline recommended having an id inside the bag in case that happens, so now we just always have our id cards inside as well.

3. Wear your bulkiest outfit and shoes on the airplane, and take a sweater or large scarf that you can use for a blanket. It will save space in your suitcase, and the sweater will come in handy even in the Summer when the air conditioning starts to blow on you full force. 
4. Avoid wearing large, heavy jewelry or a belt with a big buckle when flying. You might have to remove them when going through security and it’s just a pain to get it all put back on when people are waiting behind you!
5. Pack all your liquids in a see-through bag, making sure you keep within the limitations of the airline. I like to keep these travel sized items always in their see through bag, so when it’s time to travel they are easy to find and are ready to go. The liquids I travel with are travel sized root lifter for my hair, mousse, hairspray, face lotion, body lotion, toothpaste, and sunscreen. I use a norwex face cloth and water to wash my face, so that cuts down on having to take any liquid face soap.

 The liquid limits are sometimes a challenge to keep, so another thing I’ve done in the past is to just buy the travel sized items I need once I arrive at my destination. If I’m travelling to a family member’s house, I may just leave them there, then, for the next time I go visit!

Also, you can use small containers and just pour in some of your regular used liquids into them. I like to use tiny makeup sample containers for my face lotion, and you can also find great travel sized liquid containers on Amazon or even in the dollar store.

6. Packing cubes are something new I’ve just started using, and they are definitely life changing! If you don’t know what they are, they are zippered bags – usually in different rectangle sizes. The set I got are compression packing cubes with 2 zippers. I carefully load up my clothes into the cube and zip it shut. They, there is another zipper that you zip that compresses the cube even tighter together to squeeze all the extra air out. It saves so much space and also helps organize your suitcase.And, sidenote, I discovered on this last trip that a little packing cube filled with clothes makes a great little pillow on the plane, too!

Here is the packing cube set that I have – the 4 piece in white.

Now, a note on any links that I share. If you ever click on a link that I share and it’s an exorbitantly high rate, rest assured, I did not pay that!! Amazon adjusts it’s prices in ways that I can’t understand… so there is often suggested similar items. Click on one of those that seems to have a more reasonable price.

7. Strategically choose a good personal item bag. Another important item you are allowed to take with you on a plane with your carry on is a personal item. It can be a purse or laptop bag, and it can be a good size. You can check the airline for exact measurements allowed. I found a personal item bag that I absolutely love. (This is it!) It might not be the most glamorous bag in the world, but it’s as practical as all get out! It has a roomy main pocket, with pockets all around the front, back, and sides of the bag. Someone told me once that if you’re a photographer with a nice camera, you never want to travel with a fancy camera bag. It’s much better to travel with something less flashy to avoid it being stolen.

This bag is perfect! It’s not flashy, but yes, it can hold a fancy camera, and no one around you will be the wiser. It will also hold a medium sized packing cube filled with clothes, 2 pairs of glasses, 2 granola bars and a bag of almonds, your lipstick, nail clippers, dental floss, pencil, an ipad, cell phone, Travel coffee mug, your passport, & boarding passes. And, here’s another tip – always put your passport and boarding passes in exactly the same zippered pocket area in your bag. Then you won’t have a slight heart attack thinking you’ve lost it when you’re searching for it standing in line to board.

My husband says he likes to travel with a shirt with a pocket on the day he flies. It’s always the place where he puts his passport and it’s easy to get in and out.

OTHER TRAVEL HACKS

1.Someone on Instagram said that travelling and trying to get used to different beds is a challenge. I get that! My husband likes to pack his favorite pillow to help with that issue…and I pack the Advil! As we age, it seems our backs react to different beds right away!

2. That reminds me, don’t forget to pack your vitamins and medications. I went to the Dollar Store before I left on my latest trip and found some great pill holders that worked great for my daily vitamins. 

3. Pack snacks along. Depending on your flight times and connections, meal times might get wonky on travel days. Gone are the days where you’ll be served meals if your flight is over dinner time. So, pack along something you can eat on the go. Also, you won’t be allowed to take a full water bottle through security, but there are now water bottle filling stations, so if you take an empty bottle you can fill it once you go through security.

4. Travel days usually mean a fair bit of waiting around, so I like to have a good book with me. I use my ipad mini for that and either download something on Kindle, or check out a free book through our public library app. It can save a lot of room if you don’t have to lug around books!

5. If you are using digital devices like a cell phone or ipad, you may want to consider bringing a portable charger along if your travel day is long.  You don’t want to run out of charge right before you need to send an important text message!

6. Make sure the shoes you wear on travel day are comfortable. You may need to do a fair bit of walking between gates in the airport, and you don’t want to have your feet getting blisters from your shoes.

7. One Instagram follower gave this helpful tip. Use disposable shower caps from hotels to put your shoes in before you put them in the suitcase so they won’t get the rest of your items dirty.

8. Take along the cotton bag a new sheet set comes in as a dirty clothes bag. Then you can pop it in the wash with the rest of your dirty clothes when you’re doing laundry.

Other posts on travel

That’s all the travel hacks and tips that I can think of right now. If you are planning a trip to Vancouver Island, Canada anytime, I just wrote a new blog post last week that lists our favorite coffee shops on Vancouver Island. Searching for fun coffee shops is one of my husband’s and my favorite things to do, so I thought you might enjoy seeing the fun places we’ve found.

• Find all my previous TRAVEL POSTS HERE
• Some of my favorite things to pack and favorite bags are here in my Amazon Shop.

More about our Podcast

The Harbour Breeze Home podcast is hosted by Rita Joy, author of the Harbour Breeze Home blog. With lighthearted conversation and storytelling style, Rita Joy will share tips and tricks to help you take steps to help make your home look and feel its best. Watch for new shows coming your way on Mondays.

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