mikeschemm

I always arrive early to the airport. Nice to know that I will not be stressed by traffic or anything else. Enjoy a cocktail, or use a lounge if upgraded or I have a certificate. I can go indefinitely with carry on. I use the largest allowable carry one. Only check when really necessary after my bag was lost in one of my first international trips. Always walk fast, but try not to disturb people. Always try to print boarding passes, hotel reservations, etc. Always carry some U.S. money, but mostly rely on debit ATMs. Even third world countries have ATMs almost everywhere these days. My bank gives excellent exchange rates with no fee. It even reimburses the MC or Visa fee. Almost always greatly enjoy most First or Business class international travel food. Go to the toilet shortly before boarding. Have TSA Global, and always try not to waste time in line. Always board as soon as allowed to make sure there is carry on space. Sit near exits for easy on and off. When flying through Changi on an upgraded ticket, sometimes even arrive the day before so I can take full advantage of their Singapore Airlines excellent lounge, then sleep in the transit hotel inside immigration, even though I am usually on another Star Alliance plane..

melrowgo

I'm not sure if folks would be surprised at any of these, but they are some things we tend to do. A couple have been mentioned, but the rest have not, and I preface them by saying my travel is exclusively for pleasure these days.

1. I have no issue with checking bags - I just rarely do. Using carry-on bags forces us to bring only that which is really needed, stored in a compact bag & a day pack, which makes travel at the destination much easier. Since adopting this packing approach over a decade ago, we've been on 2-3 week trips as varied as China, New Zealand, Patagonia, France, Italy, and cruises. The few times lately we've checked a bag are due to bringing back items that we either too large to fit in the carry-on (a feather-light duvet from China) or were larger than 100ml liquid (limoncello from Florence and pisco from Chile). I have friends who are astounded we travel with just carry-ons.
2. I use the travel apps and notifications, and I save images of my boarding passes to my phone. Even so, I pre-print all boarding passes, itineraries, reservations, travel insurance docs, etc and store them together in a plastic file envelope (similar to
   this
   this
   ). It's in one place, slips easily into my backpack, does not require internet access (sometimes a challenge internationally), and is easy to show to an reservation agent or receptionist when I don't speak the native language.
3. I have a nylon multi-zipper bag into which I put things I'll need access to on a plane (similar to
   this
   this
   ). Nothing gets lost down in the seat pocket or left behind, and I'm not having to fumble with getting things out of my bag during the flight.
4. I try to reconfirm reservations about a week before travel. I saw the importance of this once again on our trip to Patagonia when a reconfirmation email received a grateful reply saying they'd accidentally entered our reservation on the wrong dates. (How I missed this on my printout, I don't know.) While it worked out for us to stay on our original dates, we could have found ourselves at a lodge in Chile with no data signal and no way to make other arrangements if it hadn't.
5. I like to photograph the outside & inside of rental cars while my SO is going over the vehicle check sheet with the rental agent. That way I can prove the condition of the vehicle we received should there be any questions upon its return.
6. I use my phone to take close-up pictures of my prescription medicine bottles, with one of the pills from that bottle next to it. I know one is supposed to take the actual bottles on a trip, especially an international one, but that takes up too much space. (I have a few medical challenges, so many meds.) This way, if I'm ever questioned or need an emergency refill, I can show the photos stored on my phone as reference
7. We ask the locals where they eat, often finding places no guidebook would ever show. I'm not talking about going somewhere way out of the way, just somewhere nearby that serves good food at a good value. We've had some of our best meals this way.
8. I download the Google Translate with whatever languages are needed before we depart on an international trip. I know English is becoming universal, but I guess I feel it's important to try to communicate in the local language, even clumsily. Having the GT dictionaries downloaded has come in handy more than once when we are outside signal range. My favorite recent experience with this was one time we stopped to ask directions in Patagonia and my broken Spanish just wasn't cutting it. At the exact same moment, I and the person I was asking pulled out our phones for GT, then laughed when we realized how universal it was.
9. If we're staying in a place for more than a couple of days, we'll see if they have a city pass or something similar. These often include many of the sights we were hoping to see anyway, and we may pay less than if we purchased entrances separately. We also so this for public transportation if we're in a spot known for a good system. For example, years ago when we were in England, we got a transit pass in London (rail, subway, and bus) and a heritage pass (many of the castles and historic sites in the country). Saved a bunch.
10. We bring playing cards with us on our trips. They take up little room, provide cheap family entertainment in a pinch, and they're a great ice breaker in unfamiliar surroundings. On a recent trip, we had planned to go on a half-day walk in a beautiful national park, only to have it pour rain the entire day. Instead we spent a relaxing afternoon in the lodge playing cards in front of a wall of windows that looked out on the mountains. A group of 3 people from Cornwall who were similarly stranded asked what we were playing, so we invited them to join us. We ended up eating dinner together in the lodge and sharing a couple of bottles of wine afterward.

Offshore171

Jillista

you save all your boarding passes? Like in a big file or something? This fascinates me.

MarTN

Joining the rental car frequent guest plan so you can skip the long lines. Do people think they cost extra??

BenA

Honie

Ahhh I was nodding along to quite a few posts but this is me, have to get on the plane a little merry, then top up on a gentle schedule during the flight. Never had a crew that wasn't understanding and quite often will bring me the odd glass if the bottle is running low and I'm still awake. Claustrophobia and lack of control is my issue.

SpinzCity

* Print out boarding passes (as well as itinerary, maps, and all other travel documents) on medium card stock - - it’s a heavy weight paper that is immensely more durable and easy to work with than regular paper. TSA agents, gate agents, and train conductors are always surprised by it. I’m surprised that everybody doesn’t use it !

* Bring a full-size pillow ($2.67 at Walmart) for overnight flights, then leave it on the plane; squishes up pretty small in the carry-on; other people on the plane are jealous (I even had mine stolen once by another pax but I got it back).

* Build in long layovers when possible (domestic it’s 4 hours max, but international it’s up to 24 hours; Google Flights can yield longer layovers when the airline website fails to offer it; better chances at bumps too since you can be at the gate when the gate agent first shows up); add in an overnight on European connections and hit the town.

* Learn if and where any open air / observation decks are in airports to catch some rays on layovers.

* Wear a moneybelt all the time. Have the credit cards and passport there, along with larger cash - - even have a spare set of home keys scotch taped to an old card; sometimes even a spare car key. I even wear one where there is not a pickpocketing problem, just because it is so much safer in case of inadvertent fumble-itis.

* When leaving Europe, know the passport page number of my entry date into Schengen, so that the immigration agent doesn’t have to search for it (in my passport, that can take a while!); when the leafing starts, I just say “Page 36”, and the agent then goes straight to it.

* Buy a pile of small, light bottle openers on ebay and have them keychained or placed in every bag / toiletry kit / etc.

* [For budget travellers only] book an airport hotel with shuttle the first night, then pick up a rental car the next day (this lets you enjoy all the beverages on the flight, too); also - - check out easy public transport options to off-airport rental car locations, to save a bundle.

* Travel with two carry-on-sized bags - - checking one (with the quality single malt) on the outbound and carrying on the other (with enough essentials for the whole trip, really), but check both on the return home.

* Get leakproof 100ml bottles, and fill them with quality single malt. Agents at security sometimes see them in the quart-sized ziploc ask what’s in them. I tell them whisky. I once got asked what strength the whisky was, and I said it was 43% (cask strength might be an issue as a flammable liquid?).

cubbie

Loren Pechtel

Last time I was planning to go to Shanghai I tried to cache the map data. It said it wasn't allowed.

DragonSoul

I do it and I've yet to have a clean wipe afterwards. But I'm mostly in the back of the plane where it's not uncommon (although not common) to see people changing a baby's diaper/nappy on the tray or a half-hearted attempt to clean up vomit.

thebigben

I think I'll start using those tips. I do like them quite a bit

Cloudship

The only one I can say I do regularly is to always print my boarding pass from a kiosk at the airport. First it gives me a chance to see how full the plane is and get a better seat if available. But more importantly, I can't tell you how many times my phone has died or the airline app has frozen solid just as I was about to board. I will still sometimes use the mobile boarding pass for efficiency sake, but always have a printed one just in case.

Oh, and I ALWAYS have some kind of beverage - soda or water - with me when I board. How many times have you been stuck on the ground waiting for an hour to take off or get to your gate.

Roamin'Around

If you're flying BA I predict you'll think it's a waste of money.

fumje

I have been saving all of my boarding passes for a while, clipped together by year. It doesn't take up that much space. They go in a box on my bookshelf, and occasionally when adding new ones I flip through the old stack. It prompts me to remember my travels.

Really, the most onerous part of this habit is getting the boarding pass in the first place.