I love to travel. It’s one of the funnest things, even after accounting for schlepped luggage and cramped planes. And while I like sitting in first class and staying in fancy hotels, I’m not much of a travel snob: I have taken Greyhound a time or two and stayed in budget hotels a few more times than that. As long as the hotel is clean, I can deal.
To date, I have been to 45 US states, five Canadian provinces/territories, and 27 countries: more than some people, not as much as others. Other than getting pickpocketed in Barcelona, I’ve had few bad experiences. Also, I have managed to find Diet Coke everywhere, except in Chengdu where I had to settle for Coke Zero. (In 2012, only Beijing had Diet Coke.)
I’ve taken guided tours, planned trips with detailed itineraries, and just shown up. As long as I’m getting out and seeing new things, I’ll figure out how to have a good time.
Here are a few of my tricks:
Book hotels directly from the hotel company’s web site. The hotel booking sites all seem to be a little shady. You will usually get the best rate, you’ll have the fewest hassles if things to wrong, and you’ll get the full frequent-stay credit.
It’s better to book airfare directly, too. However, I usually book through Chase because my credit card comes with a 25% bonus if I redeem my credit card points for travel on their web site. If flights are cancelled, I’ll have less priority than people who booked directly, but I’ve spent the night in airports before.
I have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (affiliate link), which is useful if you travel a lot, not if you don’t. If you’re going to be traveling, look for a credit card with such things as rental car insurance and no foreign exchange fees. An airline-specific card is nice if you travel a lot for work. Just make sure you can get enough value for the annual fees.
Your best bet for foreign ATM fees is to have a checking account with Charles Schwab, because they refund ATM fees all over the world. Otherwise, expect to pay $5.00 or so for each withdrawal.
I have taken two Gate 1 tours and been super happy with them. They were recommended by some retired friends who both love a bargain and expect to be treated well when they travel, a high bar. My first Gate 1 trip was booked with a friend who then had to cancel, so I went by myself. (And I learned that one drawback to Gate 1 is that they aren’t flexible about changes and cancellations, which is the tradeoff for low prices and great quality tours.) Many of the people on the tours I took were repeat customers, and a few of the other newbies remarked that Gate 1 was so much better than other companies they have used. You and I can get $50 off if you enter my account number and name (8724416, Ann Catherine Logue) when you make a reservation, but I would recommend them even without the referral bonus.
I have a subscription to Travelzoo and have found some nice luxury hotel deals through them. The company sources and sells deals, kind of like Groupon. It now costs $40 a year and I haven’t booked anything through them since they started charging, but that’s more because I haven’t been traveling much these days.
Check Atlas Obscura for interesting sites to see, including places that aren’t necessarily tourist hot spots.
Especially in Europe in high season, get skip-the-line museum tickets in advance. I have even bought them at lunchtime to go later in the afternoon. Who wants to spend vacation standing in line? (I got this tip from Rick Steves, who has lots of good advice.)
Search Reddit for good local restaurants and sites to see. You don’t need to have a Reddit account to read posts.
Run a basic Google search for community events and check the local tourist board to see what’s on when you’re visiting someplace. Google often defaults to its calendar, which doesn’t sort as neatly as I’d like it to. That means this is more work than you might think, but it pays off.
And even small trips where you do a lot of ordinary things can be fun. I recently attended a family event in Sioux City, Iowa. I flew into Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in part because the flight times were better and in part so that I could cross South Dakota off the list of states that I hadn’t been to. I really liked the idea of being at the confluence of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. The speed limit between Sioux Falls and Sioux City was 80 mph, which was nice! I wasn’t expecting to see an active quarry right in Sioux Falls, but there it was. I saw signs for Wall Drug. Everyone I met in Sioux City was really nice. I asked one person what I should do in my free time, and he sent me to the Jolly Time Popcorn shop, a great recommendation. I learned a lot about the area in a short time, and that’s fine.
What are your travel tips? Please, share in the comments.
ICYMI, here are some past newsletter issues that cover travel:
It's rather basic, but I always pack a 'first aid kit' in a gallon Ziplock bag. I do it for my young adults, too, when they travel. Band aids, hydrocortisone cream, Neosporin, Advil/Tylenol, cold meds, throat lozenges. Ironically, I had packed cold meds and lozenges when we visited our student studying abroad, left them with him and then caught a cold two days later when we continued traveling and had difficulty finding lozenges. I thought that Ricola would be everywhere, but nope. Paid about $15 for a small package of a Euro brand and learned my lesson.
Great article! I fly a lot for work, and I started using one of those drawstring bags (that are often given away with logos on them) to put everything I want to use on the plane. This lets me pull it out when I get on the plane, and then I don't have to worry about trying to access my backpack during the flight. The drawstring also means that things stay put in it.