Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Top Five Travel Tips


Since we're enjoying a summer vacation this week, it seemed fitting to incorporate a little travel talk around here today.  Below are my top five travel tips from things I've learned along the way...

1. Use the dry cleaning bags for dirty clothes
Much like I like a clean bedroom at home without clothes thrown all over - I like a clean hotel room too.  If clothes are all over the room, it's a little overwhelming to me.  In most hotel closets are the bags you can put clothes in for them to wash and there's usually two so I like to take one for Derek and one for me to put our dirty clothes in so they are in one spot and out of the way.

2. Have the concierge make your reservations
Sometimes we wait until the last minute to make dinner reservations (we're trying to be better about that!) and it can be hard to get into some of the restaurants we want to go to.  We've learned that hotel concierges have a much better change at making reservations that doing it ourselves and usually just hand over where we want to eat with a timeframe and they do a great job.  Plus, it's less work for you!

3. Leave a "free" day open
Years ago I'd pack our days with activity after activity so we saw/did everything the destination had to offer.  Now we usually have something planned for the morning or afternoon and enjoy a pool or relaxing setting for the other half of the day.  If possible, I love trying to leave a completely free day later on in the trip to do something we saw once/gotten a recommendation from a local/etc. once we've arrived so there's time for that new thing.

4. Take notes
Similar to enjoying having this blog as a scrapbook, I love remembering all the details of our travels from where we ate to what we did and little things I'd otherwise forget in between.  I keep a note going in my phone to jot down details from each day so at the end of the trip I'm not trying to remember the little details of the first day.  We're big "repeat" destination people and once we find a place we like, we love going back and having all the details helps to easily plan another trip.

5. Pack in the order of your trip
Many times on a longer trip we'll either switch locations or at least hotels so I'd rather take the extra time when packing to plan out what I'll wear for each occasion and get it in a stack with the things for later in the trip on the bottom and the things for the start right on top so I can just grab what's next in the stack and stay more organized.  This also works well combined with #1 because if you're switching to a new hotel you can just put that dirty clothes bag right on top of the clean clothes and remove it when you get to the new place without having to really even unpack/repack your suitcase.



What are your best travel tips???

13 comments:

  1. I am with you - a clean hotel room is just more relaxing than a messy one. Good things for those bags! I recently picked up some packing cubes and they have been a game changer for me. Love the idea of taking notes on your phone, that way you don't miss anything!

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  2. I do the same thing with dirty clothes while on vacation! I cannot stand having clothes thrown out everywhere. I always pack my bathroom supplies like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and lotion in gallon size bags because I've had one incident where my shampoo opened up in my bag and got all over everything! Luckily this was after I picked my bag up from the carousel at the airport after I had flown home, but I had to clean everything. I've learned my lesson!
    Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts

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  3. These are great trips! I love using bags in our suitcases for dirty clothes too. Organization is key to us when enjoying vacation. If clothes and shoes are scattered everywhere, I can't relax in our room!!
    Kelsey
    www.thepeacockroost.com

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  4. These are such great tips. I always bring a bag with me for dirty clothes! I think having the last day as a free day is a great idea!

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  5. great tips girly! I am all about separating things out in my bag so they are easier to find (in mini bags). the notebook thing for jotting stuff down is a good one i hadn't thought of!

    xoxo cheshire kat

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  6. I love your idea of packing in order of the trip! We're known for changing hotels as well, and nothing is worse than getting everything out of your bag, to only have to pack up all over again.

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  7. These are great tips! I always try to pack in order of what I am wearing. And always forget a bag for dirty clothes! Packing for the beach currently so this is very timely, thanks!

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  8. YES to #5! I do that every single time that I pack a bag for the weekend (and you know how often I end up doing that!) It is a total game changer. It makes life 100% easier when you're living out of a suitcase and I will forever and always pack that way.

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  9. These are FANTASTIC tips! I'm heading to Chicago next week and I'll definitely be thinking of all of these things!

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  10. I do the same thing with our dirty clothes! I find Target bags work just as well, too. :) We definitely need to utilize the concierge services more when we travel, I bet they're a wealth of knowledge and able to help way more than we realize.

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  11. Awesome tips especially about leaving a free day open. I never thought to pack in order for the trip, definitely keeping that in mind for our next trip <3
    Green Fashionista

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  12. I definitely use the laundry bag trick!! We've definitely used the concierge when we were abroad so we could get reservations when we couldn't communicate effectively!! I love keeping detailed notes too!

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  13. #3 is key for me. i used to plan plan plan as well, and it would always end up that we'd be so tired or overwhelmed that we would bail on something. now i plan what i don't want to miss, and everything is is laid back... and i always plan a free day. whether you end up wandering around doing nothing, or doing something you saw earlier in the trip, it makes things a lot better!

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