I fly around often for work, and I have some strategies and tricks to make my trips easier. Whether you travel or the time, or just occasionally, see below for some things you may not be doing, yet.
- Install Rideshare Apps: Uber and Lyft are in most cities, and I far prefer them to yellow cabs for comfort and ease of booking the rides. I prefer Lyft, since it allows for tipping in the app (Uber doesn’t), because I often don’t have cash on me.
- Get a BauBax Travel Jacket: If you think it would be helpful to have a jacket that includes a neck pillow, gloves, stylus pen, neoprene lined drink pocket, a 10-inch tablet pocket, a water-resistant smartphone pocket, a passport pocket, and more, check out BauBax.
- PreCheck. Not only is the security line shorter, but you don’t have to remove your shoes, laptop, belt, etc.
- Travel Charger and Cord: if you pack at the last minute, that can lead to stress when trying to find things you need to bring, like a charger and cord for your phone. Just get extras that are strictly for traveling and keep them in your computer bag.
- Take a Picture of Your Room Number: after a while, the hotels all blur together, and it’s a hassle if you forget your room number and must go to the front desk to ask them where it is. When you go to the room for the first time, just take a picture of the room number outside your door with your phone.
- SeatGuru for the Best Seats: TripAdvisor has a service at SeatGuru.com where you can enter in the airline and flight number you plan to book, and you can see which seats are the best. Sometimes, seats you think are better are a little narrow or don’t recline.
- Install Airline App: the airline apps make it easy to check-in for your flight from your phone, as well as receiving updates on delays and gate changes (let me see your printed boarding pass do that!). Plus, many of them enable paperless boarding, so it’s one less thing to keep track of.
- Collapsible Water Bottle: flying dehydrates you, and while the flight attendants will bring around water, I want more than those little dentist cups. Get a collapsible water bottle and fill it up after security. When you’ve finished it, either try and get more water on the flight, or dry and collapse your bottle.
Travel is a whole lot more fun when you prepare well. Have a safe and fun trip.