Travel Tips
February 16th, 2006I’ve decided to not do a massive photo post, but work on a few a day. I just posted five new Amsterdam photos (you can see them on flickr [in case you don't know what the hell I'm on about, click on the little square images at the top of the page] for now, I’ll eventually put them in my archives here).
I’ll get to our trip in the coming days, but I thought I’d bust out some tips, mostly for myself to remember in the future, but maybe you have some good pointers that others might use? If so, leave a comment.
Blurbomat Travel Tips:
- Everyone has their own jet lag tricks, but the best thing is to eat on local time. Eat a big breakfast and keep the carbs coming throughout the day. If you can’t make it, just go the hotel and nap. Nobody is going to kill you. We took some over-the-counter sleeping pills the first night and the next day we slept in and were ready for action. Coming back is another story, but if you can, try to push your sleep time back to normal as soon as you can and eat on your normal schedule. It helps if you’ve actually got food in the house. We were out of everything and had to scrounge around yesterday. Pain.
- Use massive 2.5 gallon ez zip bags to store clothing, underwear, socks in their own bags without spending a fortune on other alternatives. These can be found at the grocery store. Use smaller EZ zip bags for toiletries and meds (keep prescription meds in original containers). We put all our bandages (in case of foot blisters) in one and not only is it convenient, the bag keeps them dry. This is something I think Rick Steves suggested or showed and it’s awesome. I was able to pack very quickly to come home because the bags kept everything all together. Plus, laundry sorting is made easier. Unless you have 20 tons of laundry.
- If you have more than one piece of heavy luggage, budget well and take a cab from the airport to your hotel. It will be more expensive, yes, but if you flew to JFK to visit New York, you’d just take the hit on the cab. Think of it like New York and take the hit.
- Drink water, all the time.
- Make sure your heaviest pieces of luggage have good wheels and can be rolled on streets and sidewalks and up and down curbs. I bought a cheapy laptop bag with wheels that we stashed both our iBooks in and it was a lifesaver. L-I-F-E-S-A-V-E-R. It docked with the carry-on nicely as well, so that each of us effectively had one piece of luggage each after we left baggage claim. One piece of very heavy luggage each. One was so heavy we got dinged by KLM on the return. €25! It might have been a little smarter to check two smaller bags instead of one large bag. That would have made a taxi a must.
- I have a rolling duffle made by Burton that I’ve had for five or so years that has gone everywhere with me. The problem is that it’s not quite big enough for two people. Heather and I bought a really good rolling duffle from a local travel store before we left made by Eagle Creek. I don’t want to tell you which one, because it’s so damn big, it’s embarrassing. The Eagle Creek one is better than the Burton by far, it holds a ton more stuff and can stand up on it’s own, no matter how crazy I’ve packed it.
- This one is from my father. Take half as many clothes as you think you’ll need and twice as much money. We had to take our coats and big warm clothes, and we were glad we did, but I took about double the clothing I needed on our Amsterdam trip.
- Talk to locals wherever you can. We’re indebted to Joke (pronounced Yoka) for hipping us to a sweet Belgian beer bar that was our local hangout nearly every evening. The locals can hip you to the good shit, and Joke did. Thanks Joke!
- Get noise reduction headphones. I have cheapy ones that a gift exchange and a Target card got me for my birthday last summer. I smashed one ear into the pillow and the other ear had the noise reduction earbud in. The ones I have will allow a person to lie down, possibly with both the buds in. The noise reduction isn’t like higher end headphones, but anything helps. Coming home it reduced the sound of a couple of kids crying. And having lived through that, I have nothing but admiration and sympathy for the parents. Still, I had laundry to do when I got home, so I crammed those headphones way in. Plus, great sound quality. They take some getting used to, but once you wear them, you can’t go back. Kind of like using WiFi.
- For some kinds of travel, you will be walking more than you might normally. Pack extra good bandages for blisters and pack extra pain relievers.
- Most new electronic gear is manufactured to be run on current worldwide with the simple addition of a plug adapter (not a power converter). The same cannot be said of things that women use to do their hair like hair irons and the like. To get the computers working and the camera battery charger working was a matter of a $4 USD adapter.
- Give yourself some time each day to rest and relax. It’s a vacation, right?
- This one is from a reader, but it’s a great one. If you are traveling with your cell phone, but it doesn’t work in the country you are going to and you know this beforehand, change your voicemail greeting so that it tells people in case of emergency (like a lost dog) a number that they can reach a family member or friend. Yeah. Would have saved about 48,000 BTU of stress in our case.
You got any good tips? Post them in the comments.
February 17th, 2006 at 10:58 am
I cannot second the carry-on advice enough. Pack at least a day or two’s worth of stuff, from clothes to toiletries in a solid carry-on on wheels that can be put on top of your luggage for easy travel. My hubs and I have learned the hard way to do this, and we ended up buying a fabulously inexpensive, yet totally effective, set of gigantic suitcases (2), plus one small(ish) carry on made by Swiss Army at Marshall’s. These suckers are fantastic and saved our asses, particularly the carry on.
Carry ons will save the day. I cannot say this enough. CARRY ON. Plus, I always recommend carrying your prescription meds on no matter what, plus ALL of your toiletries and any perfume or pricey-appearing stuff. They *do* steal things out of bags more often than we’d all like to consider, and these often go first.
February 17th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
My family swears by the ‘bundle wrapping’ method for packing clothes. You can find an explanation at onebag.com. We tend to do a lot of backpack-style travel, and getting everything into one bag is essential.
I’m in love with Band-Aid brand blister bandages. They stay stuck to blisters rather than rolling up into a nasty wad of fuzzy goo by the end of the day.
Eat light, eat fruit, but also try the local stuff. One of our biggest food regrets is being too chicken to try anything on our first trip to Mexico. We were all so scared of getting sick.
As for sleep aids, my only recommendation is to take them once you’re actually ON THE PLANE, not getting ready to board the plane. Just in case there are mechanical problems and you have to wait several hours. Because trying desperately to stay awake is just no fun.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Just catching up and thank goodness Chuck was found! I’m just like Heather, I’d have been on the first plane home.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
I always bring liquid hand soap, because hotel rooms seldom have it.
Also, I bring a portable, battery-operated white noise machine/alarm clock, because it’s more comfortable for sleeping than earphones, and it’s hard to predict how noisy your hotel room will be. Also, I don’t like relying on wake-up calls.
In addition to bringing enough of your prescription medications with you, I also recommend bringing enough of your sanitary product of choice if you are a woman, and any obscure-ish toiletries that you cannot live (or have good hair) without.
One final note: good luggage is worth the cost. After carrying a fortysomething-pound bag whose wheels had broken while running many blocks to catch the last train out of a city, I will never buy another $20 suitcase again.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:17 pm
We always book a window seat and an isle seat. If the plane is not full you just might luck out and the seat in between you stays empty - most people traveling alone are not going to request a middle seat. If the flight is full it’s easy to offer either your window or aisle seat to the poor person who is now stuck inbetween you. They will be eternally grateful. 90% of the time this has resulted in us getting that empty middle seat all to ourselves.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I know a couple other commenters mentioned it but creating a travel-document pouch and treating it with almost holy reverence is absolutely essential, especially when traveling in a pair. Put all of your papers - passports, hotel rez, travel documents, visas - together in one large and obviously-there looking pouch and treat it like its your own newborn baby.
And, as is evidenced by the following tinyurl, always do this when traveling with your husband who’s in the process of waiting for his green card and has one, only one, all important travel document that ALLOWS him in and out of the United States, holy jesus do you need the travel document pouch then:
http://tinyurl.com/84ggj
February 17th, 2006 at 3:09 pm
jimbo? travel tips? duh.
always carry a bottle of pepto pills (not chewables). your small intestine will thank you for it. especially after the schezhuan hot pot.
advil - veeeery important. you can’t get an asprin in many countries without going to a pharmacist. and the pharmacist is always closed when you need that advil.
your luggage should be able to witshand a drop from a four-story window. if you don’t think it can make it, better buy a better bag.
quality footwear. you don’t need a lot of it, but make sure you have one pair of shoes that you could use to walk across a desert. the bus breaks down, and you might have to.
synthetic fibers. wash fast, dry fast, and cool fast.
india? china? se asia? bring some purell.
italy sucks.
if you travel in the third world, one day, guaranteed, you will become violently ill. accept it. and be prepared. a cycle of cipro, some pepto, and a roll of toilet paper. don’t leave home without them.
ipods save you life on long bus rides, in airports, and on transcontinental flights.
sleep on the plane. ambien rocks.
roller bags are great for airports, but honestly, a good backpack uaually trumps it for wandering around european cities with shitty sidewalks and cobblestone, and anywhere where you might encounter dirt.
italy sucks.
scan your passport and email it to yourself and your parents.
email yourself you contact list in case you lose your rollodex. this list includes your credit card phone numbers so you can cancel the cards before that bastard pickpocket from rome gets the chance to use them.
don’t lose your glasses.
don’t bring anything you can’t afford to lose or break.
get a USB key and a flickr account. you can back up your photos online as you go.
try to get the exit row.
talk to kids.
learn how to say “excuse me” “thank you” “hello” “good bye” and “do you speak english?” in the local tongue.
drink the beer.
don’t drink the water.
never, ever, ever trust anyone who approaches you in a place of public transportation.
and italy sucks. but go there anyway. you’ll love it.
February 17th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
you said:
“Drink water, all the time.”
That might work in Amsterdam, but don’t drink lots of water when you’re in Paris. ‘Cuz there are almost no public restrooms. And if yo’re lucky enough to find one, you’ve got to make sure you’ve got the right change to pay for it. (Now that I wrote this I realized that guys probably have no worries about full bladders in France ‘cuz they can whiz in street corners like the locals)
And for sure don’t drink lots of water if you’re traveling in China. The bathrooms there aren’t nonexistent, but they are so gross that you are more likely to lose your lunch in them than actually being able to hold your nose long enough to pee.
February 17th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Do not lose your new, expensive glasses somewhere in the Swiss alps, as my mother can attest to.
Don’t ask those “bling-bling you from Canada? I love Canada! Yayy Canada! Hello hello!” dudes in Paris who sell tourist shit on the street for a photo with them, because they will kiss you on the cheek and it will be a bit creepy, as I can attest to.
Also, don’t ask middle-aged Florentine men in a little street band for a photo with them, because the keyboardist will insist you sit on his lap and put his hand around your waist and it will be a lot creepy, as I can attest to.
..I guess just don’t ask random people for photos with you, is what I’m trying to say. Yay for being such a worldly-wise Canadian teenager! I’m doing my country proud. I tells ya!
Even if you’re very sad to leave, you shouldn’t cry about it, because if you cry whilst going down the funicular in Capri, people who are going up will look at you oddly.
You also shouldn’t start to cry, again, when your waiter in Rome is taking away your plate, because said waiter will be quite alarmed and drop your plate on the table and run away to the kitchen.
Anyway, I’m glad you and Heather had such a great time in Amsterdam. Travelling is so enriching and I think that I would count my two weeks in Europe last year as the most defining, uh, two weeks of my life.
February 18th, 2006 at 8:29 pm
I recommend traveling only with a carry on. Either a rolling suitcase or a nice backpack.
We spent 25 days abroad last summer and everything I needed fit into a medium hiking backpack. I used Zip Loc baggies and we did laundry in the sink.
A couple of pairs of khakis, a skirt, 3 shirts, a jacket and a sweater, and some awesome shoes got me through 7 countries.
Rick Steves was my hero in planning the trip. His guide books are worth every penny.
February 19th, 2006 at 12:33 am
If you ever go back to Europe (or anywhere that’s a long plane trip away) with Leta, here are two suggestions:
1. Get bulkhead seats (i.e. the front of your section so that you are facing a wall or bulkhead instead of the back of another row of seats). There’s slightly more leg room, and a bit of room for Leta to move around in.
2. If you can arrange it, travel with a friend or relative with a child the same age. The kids will keep each other company, and the parents can spell each other off. We did this last year during a trip to Germany, and it worked like a charm.
February 19th, 2006 at 10:03 am
I have tons of tips — but have found that travel is generally a personal thing — so people do it with their own style. Here are some of my own highlights:
– I usually only take what I can carry on with me (my luggage travels more than I do if I check it).
– Unless spoken to, keep your mouth shut at all times when going through US customs. People who work US customs are angry angry people.
– Like safe sex, your computer should be protected at all times from viruses on the plethora of wireless connections you will encounter while travelling; make sure your computer has a condom (and a lock). Also, sometimes a PDA / cellphone combo is a better thing to bring than a laptop.
– The world is full of Internet Cafes.
– Bring a cell phone charger regardless of how short your trip is (you’d think that I’d remember this after forgetting it so many times… nope… once again for my last trip I forgot my phone charger.)
– Go with the flow. I call this entering travel time or whatever time. Nothing ever goes smoothly - but if you go with the flow things work out in the end.
Welcome back and I can wait to see all the Holland photos. I love the Dutch — they are consistently great people…
February 19th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
in the last few years i’ve switched from being a diehard backpacker to a business traveler staying in top-quality hotels (the beauty of graduating college?)
so these tips are all over the place… =)
few things:
1) always sign up for a frequent flyer account with the airline you’re flying on (or use your number from a partner airline). those miles will add up, and even if you only plan on flying them once, the gate agents will usually treat you better if you’ve got an account with them.
2) save hotel toiletries. when you’ve got a pretty good sized bag of them under your sink, take them to a local women’s shelter.
3) if you can help it, DO NOT CHECK LUGGAGE. i’ve carried a 14 day trip in a carry-on (including 3 suits and 4 pairs of shoes) - it’s possible.
4) i always try to do overnight transatlantic flights. i’ll sleep on the flight (as much as possible) and then stay awake until around 8 or 9 the next night. never had a problem with jet lag. haven’t figured out a trick for the way back, though.
February 21st, 2006 at 9:36 am
I recently returned from a 13 day trip to Europe that involved visits to Netherlands, Switzerland, & Belgium.
My tips:
Wrinkle free shirts: As a small women, I don’t qualify for the 99-cent deal for starched & folder shirts and I’m unwilling to pay $5. I iron myself and use tissue paper when folding the shirt. I also have a small pouch with a firm bottom that keeps my khakis and shirts flat in my suitcase - no wrinkles!
Jet Lag: As Jon said, there is no one solution. For me, it is evening flights and lots of sleep. Business class is God’s gift. I could never afford this on my own, so I’m lucky to get this priviledge from my employer. I slept about 5 of 11 hours on the plane.
Stolen purse: I go without a purse. Both my light jacket and wool coat have an inside pocket where I kept cards, cash, and passport. If I’m out walking a lot, I use a small backpack to hold luna bars, water, guidebook, camera, etc.
Comments on tips from Jon:
Ziplocs: I thought I stumbled on this by myself. Who knew it was so common! It is a great way to keep things sorted and to squish down clothes.
Good luggage: I also bought an Eagle Creek duffle (ORV Trunk). It set me back a pretty penny, but it is lightweight to start and held an amazing amount of “stuff”. I will forever love my ORV. My fiance has the Victorinox 26″ XL Standard Traveler; nice balance and good wheels, but less storage capacity.
Taxis: Worth every penny.
Water: I wish I’d thought to bring my camelback. I was forever looking for markets to buy bottled water at a reasonable price.
Proper attire: I’m a big fan of wool sweaters & socks and lightweight insulating layers. Wool doesn’t have to be bulky and itchy. A couple quality pieces are worth the cost.
Noise cancelling headphones: I actually have this very cheap set ($15) from Koss http://tinyurl.com/okkdj. Not noise cancelling, but the soft ear cushion works just like ear plugs. I get great sound on planes and they are good for sleeping too. I have two sets. The older set (5 years old) is much sturdier than the new set.