I’ve traveled to 6 continents, flying to Tokyo tomorrow on a business trip. Went on my first international trip when I was only 2, with my parents to Hong Kong. Got bit with the travel bug and never turned back. 
Feel free to ask me any travel tips, especially travel tips for women. I’m totally willing to share.
I too have traveled a lot, and if I may, I just want to pop in and give my No.-1 travel tip: When considering a room in a cheap hotel or guest house, lift up the mattress suddenly. If nothing moves, take the room.
Also A frequent traveler, (flying BKK-HKG-YYZ tomorrow after two months away!).
My most repeated travel tip is to keep your mouth shut in the shower. (That water may not agree with your tummy!) Its so obvious and easy, but tons of people never give it a thought! Then they blame airline food, street food, ice cubes etc, etc. Seriously, just keep your mouth closed in the shower, you’re not at home!
I also carry wet wipes and wipe everything we’re going to touch when we board, seatbelts, tray tables, arm rests, etc. It’s easy to catch something on a long haul flight, and horrid to get ill immediately upon arrival! (And never touch the in flight mags!)
I guess I could offer tips, too, but everything seems so obvious with practice, that I’m not sure what inexperienced travellers feel.
Oh, the first time I flew business class, I didn’t know there was a special, business class lounge. This only applies for international travel, though. If you buy first class domestic, you don’t typically get access to the first class lounge.
Rather than stay in a hotel, rent a small vacation home through VRBO. You’ll find plenty whose prices are comparable to hotels, and they’re a thousand times more comfortable. In addition, you’ll recoup some money by cooking at “home” instead of eating every meal out.
Traveling has become far more enjoyable since we started doing this.
I get really unhappy at the idea of paying > $100 for a room I might be in for 8 hours while I sleep and shower, but given the alternatives (bugs, noise, filth, sketchy people), it is absolutely worth it.
When I was young, I’d go as cheap as I could. Now that I’m older, I appreciate the cleanliness, comfort and increased safety.
H’m.
-Don’t carry more luggage than you can run through an airport with.
-Carry the minimum onto the plane; less to keep track of, less to stow. ID, boarding pass, your normal diversion (books or whatever) is enough. If there’s an emergency, you won’t get off with more than what’s in your pockets anyway. In other words, check everything you can.*
-Allow extra time. Rushing is never fun.
-My wife and I, when travelling to the States, will book a hotel for the night at our first US stop, then continue on refreshed the next morning. After 12-15 hours on a plane, that bed looks mighty good.
*After about ten transpacific flights, I’ve had luggage lost…never. Much easier to check it.
Both have their places. Sometimes you just want the comfort and anonymity of a hotel. You want maid service and room service and don’t want to cook. We’re going to stay in Hilo on the Big Island in March, and one of our neighbors here, who works in the tourism industry, keeps telling us just look on Airbnb and such. But we’ve booked a room in a nice hotel. $156.45 a night with our local discount, and that’s fine with us. Sometimes you just have to treat yourself.
It also depends on countries too. We stayed at a really nice hotel near Angkor Wat in Cambodia for less than $60 a couple years ago.
Couple more thoughts:
-buy distinctive luggage. Not black, red, or dark blue anyway. Much easier to pick out on the carousel a bag that’s bright orange or whatever
-take it easy with the scents, please. Perfumes, colognes, body spray, can all have an adverse effect on those around you
-patience
Do not ever expect that you are the exception to the rules. You aren’t. I don’t care how important you think you are, or how stupid you think the rules are. Especially in airports. As Loki said in American Gods, “Don’t piss off them bitches in airports.”
I took some fluorescent paint to the rim around the top of my very common model piece of luggage just to distinguish it. Now I can sight it anywhere, very quickly.
Check for the Adam’s Apple.
All you need is your passport, credit card and it doesn’t hurt to have a couple of hundred bucks in cash just to tide you over. Anything else you can live without.
I generally keep my passport “hidden” in my luggage/carry on bag if I don’t have it with me. Hotel safes can a) be forgotten until you’re at the airport and it’s too late, b) be accessed by the right level of hotel staff and c) be unopenable after the power goes off.
I personally think a light weight zip up hoodie is perfect for a flight and often just enough for the climate change.
Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in that something costs more than you think it should, or you’re getting “ripped off” (and you may be but is $10 in the grand scheme of things really worth the hassle?), or you don’t want to pay the premium for the hotel car pickup vs a taxi line when you land in an unfamiliar country, and do be aware if jet lag or culture shock is making you more than a little irritable, etc.
cool thread.
No? Maybe it depends on the airline and/or the country–I typically use Air Canada’s business class lounge when I fly business class domestically in Canada.
Whereas I do the opposite wherever possible- if I can get everything into hand luggage, I will. I haven’t had a bag lost, but I have had one temporarily mislaid, and only a few months ago a friend arrived in India, and her bag didn’t until 4 days later. It’s no harder to keep track of a full bag than a barely full one.
Even if checking most of my luggage, I’ll have at least one change of clothes, mini med kit (paracetamol, anti-diarrhoea stuff and the like) toothbrush, charger, adaptor and tiny tube of paste in there. The bare minimum to spend a night somewhere if something happens.
Having worked (albeit just in a coffee shop) in an airport, I’ve seen enough mix ups to know they do happen. Luggage transfer systems are normally pretty good, but they’re not perfect.
I’ve had luggage lost on multiple occasions. One time my backpack ended up in Panama and they swore up and down there was no “purple, green and black” backpack with partially identified contents; three months later I changed planes in Panama, went to the big pile of lost luggage and pointed out a backpack. “Oh, this one?” “Yes, this one. Purple, green and black.” “
But… it’s not.” “ what color do you call this?” “Purple.” “This?” “Green.” “And this?” “Black.” “So how is it not purple, green and black?” “Oh, but it’s green, black and purple!”
I didn’t kill her.
My carryon is a backpack which carries laptop(s) and charger, wallet, in-flight entertainment, individually-packaged pads, ibuprofen and one change of clothes. Everything else, I can live without for a few days - hopefully, not three months!
I always carry my phone charger, plug converter, painkillers, and a change of clothes in my carryon luggage.
I like to eat a decent meal before I fly because airline food is so inconsistent - on some airlines (Singapore Airlines, for example), it’s amazing, while on others an emergency Mars Bar in my carryon has been a major source of nourishment during the flight.
Also, hotel breakfast buffets are your friend, especially in countries where food is expensive or you have a budget.
Yah, I’ll walk it back enough to note that my carryon is pretty much what you two say - well, I’ve got a pair of socks and underwear in the backpack, not a full change, but that’s quibbling.
I finally solved the toothpaste issue. The choices are to pay ripoff price for “travel size” or save an economical size tube that is a quarter full. Now the TSA says the original container can’t be over 4 ounces.
I squeezed enough for a trip out into a wide-mouth pill bottle. Just dip the end of your toothbrush into it, to get enough to brush. You don’t even need to cap it, it won’t run out of the bottle.
You can do the same with lotion. Thick lotion like creams, again, no cap required on the container.
I’ve also been to 6 continents, over 20 countries, and All 50 states.
*Be aware of time differences and your body clock when scheduling international flights. Jet lag has actually gotten worse for me as I’ve aged even as an experienced traveler.
*Before flying overseas you may want to speak with someone at your hotel to see if they have early check in for your room available. If they don’t, consider paying for the previous night so the room is already yours (let the hotel know you’re doing this so it doesn’t appear to be a no show). Last year we arrived in Amsterdam at 9am jet lagged as hell but couldn’t get into our hotel until 3pm. I would have gladly paid an extra $100 to be able to get into a bed for a nap.
On a related note:
*Gawd bless you if you can get some decent sleep on a plane. No matter what I do or take I just can’t do it. Even on first class.
Conversely, in some countries it’s a great way to get ripped off, specially if your stomach takes a while to wake up. A bit of a google can tell you if there are places near the hotel which will be having breakfast: pretty much any urban hotel in Spain will be within 100m of a bar with decent breakfast offerings (just don’t expect Kellog’s at the bar, which the hotel may have).