The Well Travelled community boasts hundreds of thousands of hours of combined travel time in the air, on ships and on land, so with all that experience out there, we thought we’d pick your brains to find out what travel tips are worth sharing with everyone.
In this new series of articles, we’ll bring you 10 very handy tips every week.
1. Right off the bat, did you know you can get your flight status simply by Googling it? Try it. Just Type “Flight QF1” for example and up it comes with live data. It works on domestic and regional flights as well.
2. When you book, request an upgrade. Regular travellers report that you could end up with a magic code attached to your booking that indicates you have requested an upgrade and if one becomes available, you’re at the front of the queue.
3. Roll your clothes when you pack, don’t fold them. You’ll get way more in and it won’t crease the heck out of everything like conventional flat packing. And of course, remember to use your shoes as packing cases of their own – stuff them with whatever you can.
4. With phones or other electronic devices, if you forget your wall charger or converter but you have the cord – or can buy one – most TVs in hotels these days have USB ports. Just plug your cord in and you’re charging.
5. While on power, don’t pack four convertors for your trip to keep everything charging, pack one and a powerboard. (That said, some cruise lines confiscate powerboards but you’re safe in hotels).
6. Fill out your departure cards before you leave home and you’ll swan through Customs just that bit faster to indulge in duty free delights.
7. Forget paying ridiculous prices for water in airports. You can’t check water through baggage screening but you can take your own empty water bottle and then just fill it up once you’re through.
8. Before you leave home, take a photo of your passport, license and credit cards with your camera phone then email them to yourself as well in case you lose or break your phone. Good idea to ‘cc’ close family members on that email so they have your details as well.
9. Always travel with two credit cards and keep them separate in case one card is lost, stolen or ‘retained’ by a foreign ATM.
10. The ‘ol vegetarian trick. Rather than sit, wait and jostle with everyone else being fed at the same time on a plane, order a ‘special meal’ and get munching first. While you’re handing back your empty tray and settling into a movie, everyone else is staring down the aisle waiting for that elusive trolley to arrive.
