3 practical travel tips

Today I just took my 17th flight of the year. Last year I took 20+ flights as well, and have been to over 30 countries in my life. Here are 3 practical travel tips to level up your travel experience.

Travel light:

I used to travel with a checked bag everywhere I went. I’d pack inefficiently, and overpack many items that I wouldn’t use during the trip. Travelling with checked luggage adds another layer to travel that complicates things.

Imagine an airline never losing your luggage.

Imagine never paying to check your luggage.

Imagine arriving at the airport and immediately going through security and to your gate.

Imagine arriving at your destination and getting on with your day, no waiting for a baggage carousel.

Travelling with carry on luggage or even more extreme with just a personal item like a small backpack has tremendous benefits in terms of logistics, timing, and cost.

Packing cubes:

Use packing cubes to help organize your clothes and other items. Packing cubes are smaller zipper compartments that help you to keep items organized within a larger bag. Packing your items more tightly helps you get to things within you luggage much more quickly and helps you to repack more quickly as well. This can be a lifesaver when you’re staying in multiple locations during a trip and have to unpack and repack several times.

Bring a reusable water bottle:

Easy access to water is essential for maintaining energy levels, staying cool, and avoiding the negative consequences of dehydration like headache, irritability, and fatigue. A reusable water bottle can help increase the time that you have easy access to cold fresh water and many locations in cities have available taps in public locations. Every airport terminal I’ve been to has several water fountain or water bottle fill up stations. Bringing your own water bottle also means you can save on the costs that can add up if you need to buy a water bottle every time you’re thirsty.

These were 3 practical quality of life improvements that have made my travel experience much better over the past few years and have enabled me to stay energetic and enthusiastic while navigating countless airports, planes, trains, and cities.