Travel Hacks: Any Procedures or Actions That Solve a Problem, Simplify a Task, Reduce Frustration, and Make Your Next Trip As Awesome As Possible
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About this ebook
Traveling is full of exciting new experiences and discoveries—but it can also be expensive, disorganized, and stressful if you don’t know the insider tricks to make it simpler. Travel Hacks includes hundreds of expert guidelines, hacks, and DIYs for staying relaxed while you plan, book, pack, and travel to your next destination.
Including more than 600 handy tips for everything from how to score discounts on transportation to packing efficiently and avoiding lines, delays, and crowds, Travel Hacks will make every aspect of your travel experience hassle-free. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or about to embark on you first trip, this is the all-inclusive guide to the stress-free vacation of your dreams.
Keith Bradford
Keith Bradford is the sole owner and webmaster of Bradford Media, which publishes 1000 Life Hacks, Yup That Exists, and many other blogs/sites. Since its launch at the beginning of 2013, Bradford Media has gained a collective readership of more than 200,000, and continues to grow each and every day. He’s the author of Life Hacks, College Hacks, and Holiday Hacks. Keith lives in Aurora, Canada, and loves hockey, making music, and reading comic books.
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Reviews for Travel Hacks
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Surprised by just how helpful these travel tips are! I've travelled a great deal myself, around the US and worldwide. Surprised by how many new things I learned from this book!
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Book preview
Travel Hacks - Keith Bradford
Travel Hacks
Any Procedures or Actions That Solve a Problem, Simplify a Task, Reduce Frustration, and Make Your Next Trip As Awesome As Possible
Keith Bradford
Author of Life Hacks
Includes Top Tips For Safe and Healthy Travel!
Plane tickets are cheapest on the Tuesday six weeks before your flight.
Ask for an extra perk before volunteering to give up your seat on an overbooked flight—it works!
Take a picture of your luggage claim ticket with your phone so you can still claim your property if the ticket is lost.
Flight attendants and crews know the best restaurants at airports.
Dial 112 to reach emergency services outside of the United States.
Menus are generally the dirtiest things you touch in a restaurant, so wash your hands after ordering.
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Travel Hacks, by Keith Bradford, Adams MediaINTRODUCTION
Flight delays, traffic jams, lost luggage. Traveling, whether it’s down the street or across the world, can often be hectic, stressful, and expensive. Well, not to worry—Travel Hacks is here to help!
In these pages, we’ve collected more than six hundred quick and easy hacks to help you simplify the traveling experience, so you can get where you need to be without all the headaches and hidden costs burning a hole in your pocket. We’ve gathered secret tips, shortcuts, and detailed lists to prepare you for your journey, help you survive air travel, maximize your vacations, and get back home safe and sound.
The hacks in this book are broken down into chapters centered on certain themes, like planning and booking, packing smart, traveling with kids, and road tripping, to help get you through any vacation, commute, or work trip. You can read the section where you need the most help, or just flip to any page for a quick travel fix. Whatever you need help with, we’ve got you covered, so turn to any page and learn to travel like a pro!
Chapter 1
PLANNING AND BOOKING
Calendar1
Planning on doing a three-day weekend trip? Take Monday off instead of Friday. It’s generally much cheaper to fly Saturday to Monday than to fly Friday to Sunday.
2
Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m., six weeks before your flight, has been proven to be the absolute cheapest time your tickets will ever be.
3
Compared to late-night flights, early morning flights tend to be less crowded and have a lower chance of being delayed on takeoff or landing.
4
To determine how much you’ll spend on a trip, research how much bread, beer, and milk cost in your destination country—it’s the best way to get a sense of how expensive somewhere is.
5
Try using a PC rather than a Mac when exploring hotel booking websites. These websites can tell what type of computer you are using and will show Mac users more expensive bookings first. According to The Wall Street Journal, Mac users are charged $20 to $30 more.
6
If you’re looking for cheap flights during the holiday season, your first instinct may be to look at coach class tickets, but actually many business and economy-plus seats are cheaper at this time. This is because there are a lot more general travelers and a lot fewer business travelers during this time of year.
7
Before leaving for a work trip, look over your company’s expense policy. You might discover that you can expense things you never thought about, like sunscreen.
8
Checking up on flight departure times? Rather than sift through the local airport’s website, simply type the airline and flight number into Google search to get all the up-to-date information you need.
9
When booking a flight that has a layover through the United States, keep in mind that the minimum time you’ll need for a layover is an hour and a half. Anything less and there’s a good chance you won’t be able to catch the next flight.
10
Can’t decide where to go on vacation? Flip a coin—not to decide for you, but because you’ll realize what you really want when it’s in the air.
11
LOOKING TO WORK SOMEWHERE ABROAD? THE EASIEST PLACES FOR PEOPLE FROM NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA TO GO WORK ARE NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. BOTH COUNTRIES OFFER A VISA CALLED THE WORKING HOLIDAY
VISA, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO WORK IN ANY UNSKILLED/MINIMALLY SKILLED JOB FOR UP TO A YEAR.
12
Can’t find a cheap flight to your destination? Try searching for two one-way tickets. Your journey might have a longer layover, and it might be more of a hassle, but it can be worth the amount of money you could save.
13
Hate paying those excess baggage fees at the airport? Check the airline’s website to find out how much you’re allowed to bring and then weigh your suitcases on a mini-luggage scale before leaving. A scale is only about $15 to $20 online but can save you hundreds in extra bagging fees.
14
Check out exchange rates at places in the country you’re going to. Sometimes it can be cheaper to exchange money at your bank before you leave, and in some cases it’s even cheaper to take money out of an ATM when you get there.
Two Tickets15
Planning a trip to another country? Get some simple tips on what to bring, where to eat, what to pack, and so on by doing an online search for things I wish I knew before visiting (country).
16
Before flying internationally, make sure to take down the contact info and location for your country’s embassy in the destination country.
17
Before reading a travel website’s tips for things to do, take a quick look at your own city’s tips to get an idea of the kinds of things they’ll be recommending.
18
The skiplagged
method helps you get to your destination cheaper as the layover, and not the final destination. For example, a New York to Orlando flight is $250, but a flight from New York to Austin with a layover in Orlando is $150. You can search for these deals at Skiplagged.
19
If you end up booking a skiplagged flight and it gets canceled (about 2.5 percent do), the airline is not obligated to get you to the middle destination. Although 97.5 percent of the time you’ll be okay, keep this in mind.
20
Before traveling overseas, make sure to check your passport’s expiration date. Some countries don’t accept passports that are set to expire within six months. So even if you have a valid passport, it