Travelling is fun until mishaps such as taking the wrong turn or finding yourself without your purse the next morning can ruin your vacation in a matter of moments. To help your journey be completely stress-free and to enable you to enjoy your holiday, below we have compiled a list of travel hacks you can put to use the next time you travel.

1.  Turn on “Private Browsing” to Get the Best Price for Flights

Most of us have a budget when going away, and our options and decisions when travelling are governed by it. Therefore, if you want to get the best opportunities when searching for flights or hotels, this is one of these travel hacks that will ensure you get the best deal!

Flight prices change frequently and some airline and travel sites are able to record what you are looking at, log cookies on your browser and raise those prices accordingly – simply because you have searched for those flights before. This is to trick you into buying your flights sooner and encourage impulse buying. To avoid being tracked and having cookies installed to force you into buying flights at a higher rate, simply turn on “Private Browsing” or “Incognito Mode” whenever you book flights.

2. Pack Smart to Save Space and Bring an Extra Bag

Good packing skills are a life-saver. Have you ever found yourself on a trip with someone who knows how to pack everything appropriately, while you look at the mess your suitcase is in?

Learning to roll your clothes, pack your belt in your shirt, choose your outfits wisely and bring only what you need will help you become a smarter traveller. We know the temptation to pack everything before a trip is tempting but next time around, try convincing yourself you do not need ten tops for a two-day trip. Also, try to keep in mind never to leave packing to the last minute. It’s worth making a list a week or so in advance and over the next few days slowly packing and thinking whether you need to take everything you have with you. It can also be a good idea to pack an extra bag, such as a hold-all or other squashable bag for “just in case” or emergency scenarios when going away!

3. Always Carry a Portable Charger

In today’s world, your smartphone is your friend, your guide, your translator and your personal source of entertainment. Just the prospect of carrying around a phone in a foreign country without the option to charge it up (when it inevitably reaches 20%) seems like a nightmarish reality! To avoid such circumstances, it is a good idea to carry a portable charger or power bank with you for those times when you just don’t have enough juice!

4. Email Yourself a Copy of Your Passport

While a hard copy is certainly important to carry around, sometimes forgetfulness can be a disease that plagues you forever. Emailing yourself a scan (or even just a photograph) of your passport is the safest way to ensure that a copy of your passport is just one click away. Simple steps like these can save loads of trouble in the future.

5. Carry a Dummy Wallet to Confuse Pickpockets

You don’t want to end up without a single penny in your pocket while in a foreign country. While the idea might sound like the plot of a movie, the reality is far from it and is very unpleasant. While you might want to travel without any worries, pickpocketing can be a common occurrence in major cities. Therefore, to fend yourself from such an experience, and to be able to enjoy every moment without having to reach for your pocket to ensure your wallet is still there, use this travel hack and carry a dummy wallet with you to confuse pickpockets and keep your actual wallet in a zipped compartment in a backpack or handbag.

6. Download Google Maps for Offline Use

If you don’t trust your data connection or are someone who always likes having backups to feel safe, you can always try downloading Google Maps so that you can use it even when you are offline. All you need is enough storage on your phone. The process to download a section of Google Maps is very straightforward – simply press on your profile in the top right of the screen, then tap on “Offline Maps”. From there tap on “Select Your Own Map” and then tap on “Download”.

 

For more smartphone travel hacks, take a look at our Essential Travel Apps blog more more ideas on which apps to use to be a smarter traveller!

7. Use Bluetooth Trackers to Help You Keep Your Luggage Safe

We’ve all had the nightmare when travelling – either you’re sitting in a cafe with your suitcase and you leave it behind, you’re travelling by train and are wary of leaving your bags in the vestibule or you simply want the reassurance of always having your bags close by. Not particularly a travel hack, than a travel tip, a bluetooth tracker, such as Tile, your phone will send you an alert if you leave without your bag (or it leaves without you) and can give you a close match as to the last place it was. Also particularly useful are Tile’s line of slim trackers, which can easily be slid into a wallet or passport sleeve for added peace of mind.

8. Mark Your Baggage as Fragile

This travel hack simply requires you to request a ‘fragile’ sticker at the counter and it does not cost you a penny more. Not only does the sticker assure you that your luggage would be handled with care, but also that you will not have to wait for your luggage to come on the belt for long as most often the fragile tagged luggage come on to the belt first.

9. Put Your Rechargeable Batteries in the Fridge

If you want to keep your batteries fresher and full of juice for longer, simply put them in the hotel minibar along with those bottles of champagne. Although this is perhaps one of the most bizarre travel hacks on the list, most rechargeable batteries retain 90% of their full charge when kept in cold temperatures, meaning you don’t need to charge them as often.

10. Keep a Pen in Every Bag and Pocket

Pens usually come in handy in the millennial world and asking a stranger for one every time you need to fill out a landing card or just note down a detail can be quite annoying. This travel hack, therefore, will come in useful as it requires that you keep a pen in every bag or pocket when you travel. Not only will it save your personal time but also so you can handle these extra tasks conveniently.

Do you have any travel hacks or tips you simply cannot live without? Let us know in the comments on our Facebook or Instagram pages!