My Top 12 Travel Tips

Travelling is exciting right like - which country to visit, how much to spend. Customise your trip according to your taste. However, keeping a few important tips in mind will make your travels much easier. 

Here are my top 12 travel tips:

 1. Take an extra day off before and after your trip. If you are seeking a leisure travel, try taking a day off before and after the trip. It helps you relax more and gradually get back to work. Also, it helps you save a few bucks as weekday fares are generally less than the weekend fares. 

2. For airport security checks, we are often asked to take out and show our kid's toys and travel pack creme/powder. So pack all that together in a small kid's backpack. If you do not want too many hand baggages, after the security check, place the small backpack inside your bigger backpack. That way it becomes more easy to deal with the security check officer as well as your kid's demands. 

3. Do not carry all cash and cards with you at all times. Use hotel lockers to keep your passport, part of your cash/cards and other expensive things. 

4. Travel light: Carry less clothes and more detergent sachets. For jeans and heavier clothes you can always use laundry services at the hotel or any other service provider. Most hotel wash basins have a stopper. Fill wash basin with detergent and hot water. Soak the clothes for a few minutes before rinsing it clean. Many hotels provide retractable clothesline to dry clothes. It looks something like this. 

5. Use offline Google maps to navigate without internet. Internet is required just to display the map. If you offline the entire city map on Google, you just need to enable GPS to help you navigate anywhere in the city. 

6. Always take a travel insurance, even if it is not a Visa requirement. A minimum cost can help recover additional expenses in case of a medical or other emergencies during travel. 

 7. Download movies and other entertainment stuffs so that flight delays or long queues or hold ups don't bother you 

8. Almost all travel information and reviews are available in crowd sourced online platforms such as Wikitravel and Tripadvisor. To plan your vacation, get inputs from these forums and also contribute back

 9. Ask before drinking the local water or before eating any local food. 

10. Take time to mingle among the people. That is where you see the real thing about any place. 

11. Only take what cash you need for the day. It is safer not to have a lot of money in sight when you open your purse to pay. 

12. Eat the street food and the food found at the local markets. It is the best.