La-Tessa Montgomery (The Spirited Traveler) loves to travel and hits the road as often as time and budget allows. Here, she’s sharing her top 5 travel tips to ensure her journeys are pleasurable, memorable, and low stress.
Travel Tips
I’m often asked how I manage to travel survive my quick, 4 day trips around the globe, all the while managing to have an awesome time. Well, there’s a definite method to my madness. Here are my top 5 tips to ensure a good trip.
1.Research
–Do a quick search for flights and lodging so you have an overall idea as to how much your trip will cost.
–Determine what travel documents are needed. Do you need a passport? A Visa? Be sure to give yourself time to apply for, and receive, the necessary documents before your scheduled departure.
–Create a travel agenda. A travel itinerary keeps me on track, ensures I hit the high spots I’ve identified, and keeps me from getting overwhelmed with too much to do. Or worse, finding myself in another country with nothing to do. –Familiarize yourself with prevalent forms public transit. This allows you to work out the best, safest, and most budget friendly ways to take in the sights and get around the city.
2. Be Prepared
–Set travel alerts with your banks to ensure you are able to use your credit cards while traveling.
-Work out the best way to attain local currency. Look at currency exchanges and banks for their rates and procedures. Airport ATMs are generally a safe and quick way to get local money at a low rate.
–Pack seasonally appropriate clothing. Check the weather before you pack. Trust me on this one.
–Get an international plan for your cell phone. There’s nothing worse than being abroad and wifi is not available. Especially if it means you can’t send a text or pull up a map.
–Make a plan for any language barriers. Familiarize yourself with a few common phrases. Salutations: “Thank you”, “you’re welcome”, and basic directional words serve me best. Pack proper travel accessories! I could do an entire article just on this one tip.
3. Don’t Forget the Essentials
–Ensure you have what you need to be comfortable, this may include a travel pillow, power adapters, books, etc.
–Don’t forget your toiletry items. Be sure you have your medications, facial, hygiene, hair, and other such products. –Save the name and address of the place you’ll be staying in your phone. Also, pack a printed copy of the same info, along with basic directions in a bag.
4. Explore
After days, weeks, months, or years of planning, you’ve made it to your destination! Do not be afraid to store your bags and go check out the neighborhood you’ll call home for the next few days. I give myself my time check out my surroundings, make acquaintances with the hotel concierge, and get an overall sense of self.
5. Chronicle
Take all the pictures, videos, and notes you can! There is nothing worse than getting back from a trip and not remembering that cute little shop you saw, or that restaurant with the best lobster you‘ve ever had, or…. you get the idea.
For additional travel tips, check out The Spirited Traveler’s full article here. For more tips, travel insights, and the latest travel adventures, you can find The Spirited Traveler at: Website Facebook Instagram Pinterest