SteveEveryone has travel tips to share, so I thought I’d publish our best travel tips we’ve picked up over the years. You may not entirely agree with them, but hopefully, these will provide a bit of food for thought! So without further ado and in no particular order . . .
1. Take a copy of your passport and travel insurance
Obvious right! It’s always better to be safe than sorry. Fortunately, we’ve never been in a position where we’ve lost our passports. I do know that if we ever did, a copy of our travel documents would help us out massively. More obvious, don’t keep the copies together with the original documents! That’s just asking for trouble.
2. Padlocks for luggage
Maybe a not quite so obvious one here. I always ensure that my suitcase is padlocked, along with my rucksack. Actually, my rucksack probably contains more valuables than my suitcase. It mostly carries my camera and video gear, and there are occasions when I’ll be travelling with this and need to leave it out of sight unattended (like being left in an overhead locker on a plane).
I always buy TSA approved padlocks. These are generally needed for visits to the US, as the TSA (Transport Security Administration) needs to be able to gain access to your luggage if it so desires. The TSA can use master keys to get inside your suitcase, without feeling the need to smash it apart just to look inside! Personally, I like the combination padlocks so I don’t have to worry about losing the key!
3. Don’t forget beach towel pegs!
I must admit that I had not seen these things until a few years ago, but as soon as I did I knew I had to get some! How many times have you been to the beach and the sea breeze blows your beach towel away from your sun lounger and onto the sand? Really annoying! Quite simply these pegs hold the towel in place on the sun lounger. Once in place, you can relax and leave your sun lounger in the knowledge that your towel won’t blow away! You can pick these up from Amazon for a few pounds, and most tourist beach resorts will have them in a shop somewhere too. We found ours when in Marmaris, Turkey from one of the myriad of shops selling tourist wares.
Did you know that they have another great use too? Too often we’ve found that the curtains in the hotel room never close completely. These pegs can be used to hold the curtains shut, and thus stopping that damn sunlight from coming into your room and waking you up too early! For beach holidays, this is one of the best travel tips I can recommend.
4. Wipes, baby or otherwise
Even in pre-covid times Amy always packed plenty of hand wipes for our travels. These are super useful for loads of reasons and are very small so can easily fit into hand luggage. Typically we find them handy for wiping down surfaces on a plane or train, as well as freshening up after a long journey. We also use them if we have been on the beach, and need to have a bit of a clean up before we eat anything too.
5. Bring a pen!
This may or may not be obvious, but many times have we been caught out without having a pen to hand. Usually, we’re on a plane going somewhere and we need to fill out a landing card. The flight crew do normally have a few pens, but not nearly enough for everyone on the plane who has forgotten one!
It’s also handy to have a pen with you in case you need to complete some other kind of form whilst away. Maybe an insurance waiver if you are doing extreme activities, or perhaps writing a note to housekeeping.
6. Give you wallet/purse a bit of organisation
This may pander to my OCD, but do like to have a bit of a wallet clear out before I go on a trip. I’d prefer to remove any unused cards from my wallet, and only take with me the ones I intend to use whilst I’m away. I also like to remove any other items I won’t possibly need, like old receipts.
If you are like me and save the receipts from purchases whilst away, you will need plenty of room in the wallet. I also read a great tip somewhere about taking a second wallet with you that contains old cards. This is in the event of being robbed whilst away, and you can give the criminals an old useless wallet when they ask for your money. I’ve never done this myself, but I guess it depends on where you are travelling to and how safe it is.
7. Take pictures, and plenty of them!
I’ve always enjoyed taking lots of pictures whilst travelling. Actually lots of video footage as well. Since I started this blog I’ve enjoyed going through some of my pictures looking for ones to use for my blog posts. I’ve come to realise that whilst I always thought I took a lot of pictures, I probably didn’t take anywhere near enough! There have been so many times we’ve been talking with friends about a particular thing that we saw/did/ate on a trip, and never quite had the right photo to go with it. Depending on what you are doing, a decent smartphone can be just as good as a proper camera. Just make sure you have plenty of memory free to save the shots! If we’re going on a ‘big’ trip, I’ll use my smartphone, SLR and if necessary my underwater camera. (not forgetting my video gear too I should add!)
Don’t forget to have your pictures backed up too! Over the years I’ve heard stories from my friends where they have lost a camera or a smartphone. As a result, they have lost a lot of valuable memories. Android and iPhones can be configured to backup photos to their respective clouds too. There is also dropbox cloud storage as well, which offer a free plan to begin with. Taking a camera, batteries, charger and memory card is one of my best travel tips.
8. Earplugs are a must
Another obvious one! Planes especially can be noisy environments. It is just me or does someone’s little darlings like to scream in close proximity to me as soon as we take off? Decent earplugs can be a lifesaver. Also useful if you have noisy neighbours in your hotel, and not forgetting if you happen to have a partner who likes to snore!
You can get ear plugs in most chemists, as well as at airports too. Bizarrely Amy’s preference are some fetching pink ones found in CVS stores in America. The best she has ever used apparently!
9. Use Google Maps – offline
One of my best travel tips is to download a copy of the area you are travelling to from Google maps. You still use the Google maps app exactly as before, but this time it does not rely on a data connection. Not only is this very handy abroad, but equally so if you are in a remote location in the UK. The UK has quite a few areas of patchy signal, and I’ve learned the hard way not to be able to search for a location or directions. This link will show you how to download offline maps. No more getting lost, and no more worrying about a data connection!
10. Get up early!
Maybe not such a popular option, but the best advice I can give for a trip is to get up early! You can cram in so much more exploring if you start the day early and get cracking. Sometimes getting up early allows for better photos too, as there is better light and fewer crowds. Some popular tourist attractions can have long lines queuing to get into them. By getting up early you can miss most of this and save time. This is great advice if you are going somewhere like Venice. Here the main attractions have very long lines in peak season. (why not check out my Venice posts whilst you are here?)
11. Bring a Power bank
We’ve all got gadgets now, even if it’s just a good old smartphone. For us having a decent sized power bank has been a godsend. It charges my phone, gimbal, kindle and video camera with ease. Just make sure you get a high capacity battery one! After a day of hacking around, it can be very useful if you are away from an electrical outlet.
12. Take your shoes off on the plane!
I don’t see too many other people doing this, but trust me it works! We all know that on a plane things tend to swell up. By taking off your shoes it gives you a chance to flex your toes and enjoy a more comfortable flight. Just remember to put them back on before you visit the bathroom! You can thank me later, but this is one of our best travel tips when on an aircraft.
13. Pack shoes in a bag
Sounds kind of obvious doesn’t it. Actually, we’ve only been doing this for a few years ourselves. By using old supermarket carrier bags, we pack each pair of shoes we are taking away. The bags protect the shoes from marking our other clothes. It also stops any sand from the beach sandals from getting everywhere too! Nobody wants grains of sand getting stuck in the nooks and crannies of your suitcase for the next trip.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our best travel tips! Please leave a comment if you have any amazing tips we can learn from.