This week is a Very Special Episode! All about travel hacks—how to make travel easier, more fun, and less hassle. We got so many great suggestions from listeners; we could do many episodes of nothing but travel hacks. I’ve used several of these ideas already.
In brief:
- Make a packing list.
- Create a travel toiletry kit that you never unpack.
- Pack a “fun bag” for little kids.
- Re-use a Ziploc bag as a toiletry bag. (That’s my well-worn Ziploc bag, pictured.)
- Pack a trash bag and use it as a dirty clothes hamper to separate your dirty and clean clothes.
- Listen to audiobooks.
- Fold clothes in plastic dry-cleaner bags to prevent wrinkles.
- Pack Downy Wrinkle Releaser to fight wrinkles.
- Before you go for a run, ask at the hotel desk for recommended routes.
- Create a diaper-changing station in your car, so you don’t have to use the often nasty gas-station restroom.
- Use a white-noise app to drown out sounds. Also works for dogs!
- Pack a power strip.
- Pack a “hotel bag” with the things you need for one night’s stay, so you don’t have to bring in every suitcase.
- Pack your own snacks—have an airplane picnic.
- Pack an external battery for your smartphone.
- If you’re traveling with a pet and need to stop for a restroom, go to Petsmart or Petco. They have clean restrooms and will allow you to bring your pet.
- Order your groceries ahead of time, at your destination, so you don’t have to go shopping when you arrive.
- Find a new scent to associate with a destination, and that scent will always bring back happy memories.
- Research your destination online ahead of time, for ideas.
- For couples on long trips, play cribbage. Or Uno, the only card game I love.
- To decide what activities to do, have each person make a list of “must-do” ideas so that those suggestions can be achieved; or use the “three choices game,” where one person suggests three choices, and one person makes the final selection from those three.
- Check the weather at your destination. Obvious but helpful!
- Put colorful duct tape on your luggage, to make it easier to spot.
- Leave some room in the suitcase.
- Always pack warm socks.
- Plan a mystery trip to surprise your sweetheart.
- If you forget your phone charger, ask the hotel’s front desk; they can often lend one overnight.
- If you’re an anxious flyer, look for thirty opportunities to be kind before the flight takes off; it’s a great way to minimize anxiety.
Elizabeth’s Demerit: She promised Jack a trip to Legoland, but she’s so afraid that it will be all booked up, she can’t bring herself to try to plan it.
Gretchen’s Gold Star: A friend gave me the idea to bring Eliza with me on my business trip to Los Angeles, and we had a great time there.
Resources
- My book Outer Order, Inner Calm: Declutter and Organize to Make More Room for Happiness is now available for pre-order. An important milestone for any writer!
- If you’d like to get the daily “Moment of Happiness” newsletter, where I send a great daily quotation about happiness and human nature, sign up here.