Travel tips…be honest, you need them! Packing for travel can be a bit of a struggle. You leave your place thinking you’ve got everything you need, and then realize once you get to the airport that you forgot your phone charger, or …your phone!
Sure, it’s easy to overlook things, but leaving behind the essentials could spoil your whole trip. What are the most important items you should always remember to pack?
Here are 12 key travelling tips and useful information that’ll save you time, stress and money so you can focus on what’s really important – your holiday.
EASY AND EFFECTIVE PACKING TIPS
1. Before packing ensure you’ve checked the weather forecast. You’ve chosen to fly on a particular day during a particular season, but unpredictable weather may disrupt your wardrobe choices. Confirming the weather forecast (long & short range) ensures you can plan your travel wardrobe appropriately …even if that does mean you need to pack Winter jackets into your Summer holiday bags!
2. When you’re packing up your clothes, would you like to fit more into your bag and ensure they still remain wrinkle-free? Simply roll up your softer fabric clothing and jeans. All you need to do is unroll your clothes when you arrive at your new destination. They’ll be wrinkle free and just like new.
3. When packed into your luggage, keep your shoes from marking, damaging or dirtying your clothes. Pack them inside a disposable shower cap or plastic bag. Including additional small plastic bags into your luggage will also ensure you’re prepared for spills, wet clothing or any other unexpected inconvenience that you need to isolate from your clean clothing.
4. Do you have heavier items to pack in your luggage? Make sure you put them at the bottom of your wheeled suitcase. This will distribute the weight and make the rolling of the wheels so much easier.
5. Are you on a short trip for either business or pleasure? If it’s just for a weekend or less, have you considered taking carry-on luggage only? If you ensure it fits the carry-on hand luggage requirements you’ll save the additional waiting time for processing luggage and any potential issues with lost or delayed bags.
6. Are you a regular user of social media? Facebook and Twitter? Poll your well travelled or non-local online friends, family or colleagues for ANY and EVERY local recommendation. As they say – think globally, but act locally.
7. Arrive early, before your required check-in. If you want a better seat or even just a different seat, by alerting the ticketing staff early on of your request they are more likely to be able to consider or accommodate your needs as they begin to process the remaining passengers’ baggage.
8. You phone is a powerful tool that can make your travelling administration so much more efficient. Before you leave, ensure you have a hi-res scan of your driver’s license, passport and credit cards saved onto your mobile phone. Ensure additional copies of the files have been emailed to your personal account and of course, synced to the cloud. …Because you just never know.
9. Printing out a copy of your travel and accommodation information ensures that you can quickly, easily and accurately transfer the details into any officially required documents or forms required by officials or the airlines.
10. Include a USB power cable in your bags before you pack your phone or any other equipment into your luggage. Both iPhone and Android users can easily connect these to a locally powered laptop or desktop computer wherever you go to recharge batteries. Congratulations, you just bypassed the need for extra chargers or locally configured plugs (if travelling internationally).
11. Needing directions, but there is no (or unlikely) WIFI where you are travelling to? Don’t get stranded. Before you leave, download the directions directly to your phone. Google Maps allows you to download offline a map including directions – Here’s how. You can also use the Here Maps App to download city, state or even country directions ahead of time.
12. If you’re staying in a hotel or other accommodation, take a photo of the street signage, address, save it as a screen saver on your phone until you become familiar with your new location (bonus: you can also show the photo to locals should you get lost).
Add these useful tips to your travel checklist to minimise the unexpected.
Don’t forget to pack your travel insurance from Worldcare, New Zealand’s trusted travel insurance provider and enjoy your holiday.
Bon voyage.
