Travel Tips, Tricks, and What We Pack

Travel...our favorite thing to do!

When planning to go on a trip, we typically start talking about it months in advance so that we can keep an eye on flight prices and try to get the best deal. We watch flights using Google Flights and Hopper. Hopper is an app that you download on your phone, that helps to show you what days are the cheapest to buy airline tickets.

We typically only fly United within the states. Sometimes Southwest if it is an unbeatable deal! International travel just kinda depends on the best prices and availability that suits our needs.

When staying somewhere, we would much rather pretend to be locals, than be touristy. Because of this, we typically try to stay in an Airbnb. We also use Hotel Tonight to get cheap hotel prices when traveling without plans or set reservations. Typically we will book our Airbnbs far in advance. Hotel Tonight only lets you book a week or so in advance, but the prices are normally cheapest the night of. Hotel Tonight is also an app that you download on your phone, and they have hotels worldwide, not just in the states!

We have an American Express Platinum card that we use to buy typically everything, and we are able to rack up points that we then use towards purchasing flights. We also get yearly allowance with the card to use for baggage fees, airline food/snacks, and Uber. With this card we are able to get into the AMEX Lounge which is at most large airports. It is a nice clean place to rest with free drinks and food, which saves us lots of money during layovers. Airport food is pricey, so we try to avoid it at all costs.

Now onto packing...

Ideally less is best, but that is easier said than done. When traveling we typically try to stick with carry-ons. However on big trips, we will each check a bag. We have even checked empty suitcases before because we like to buy stuff when traveling in other countries. When we went to Spain, we came home with suitcase full of leather bags, wine, and artwork. Haha.

Comfy shoes, clothing to layer, neutral colors to outfit swap, and a rain jacket are the basic things we normally try to keep in mind when packing. Being organized and keeping stuff compact is the key to not overpacking, or forgetting. We like to use gallon ziplock bags for some of our smaller things (underwear, socks, phone chargers, outlet converters, paperwork, etc).

Bookbag! Always wear a bookbag. We use bookbags as our personal bags when flying. It is easy to carry around and lets you be hands free. We like to have our computers and camera gear in the bookbags with us, that way we know it is not getting thrown around. In the bookbag, we pack our necessary items. You never know if your checked luggage will be lost or not, so we make sure to have what we need to be comfortable in our personal bags. We make sure to have our bathroom bags, contacts, medicine, and a spare change of clothes, socks, and anything else we think might be important at the time.

Here is a list of things we never travel without:

Tums
Advil
Benadryl
Dramamine
Mints -- these are great to have for nausea
Gum -- helps with ear pressure on the airplane
Hand Sanitizer
Wipes
Outlet Converters
Lavender Essential Oil -- great for stress...traveling is stressful!
Tissues
Headphones
Chargers
Laptop
Camera Gear
Extra memory cards
Lots of healthy snacks
Empty water bottles
Cash // US + whatever country we are visiting
Bandaids -- blisters always happen at the worst times
**A copy of every document**


** We have a copy of our passports, IDs, insurance info, flight/hotel info, etc and we keep it in a separate bag than the originals. For example, one in a bookbag, the other in a suitcase. If your personal bag gets stolen, you do not want to be stranded in another country without a passport. Copies are crucial!!


Happy Traveling!!

--Duke & Lauran