Why are so many people afraid to travel content with just watching a TV show on TV? It's not about the money. After all, you can go on a trip with a modest budget. The language barrier? It is also unlikely. After all, "Google translator" facilitated communication between people.
Basically, the fear of travel is based on the fear that something will go wrong. After all, houses help. But how abroad, where are your own rules and standards of living? In order to overcome this fear of the “alien world” and encourage you to travel more actively, we have selected useful life hacks for tourists here. These little tips will make your life easier both on the road and in another country.
Travel planning
To make the trip a success and not to make a dent in the family budget, you need to prepare for it in advance. Here you have life hacks for tourists who are going to use public transport - by plane, train, bus. Carriers have long realized that the main influx of passengers is observed at the end and beginning of the week. If possible, go on a trip on Tuesday or Wednesday - tickets can be five times cheaper than similar ones on Friday.
Start looking for offers in the right direction six months before the trip. That's when airlines throw tickets on sale. There is another option - “Last minute”. Seeing that the cabin is not yet full, airlines are lowering the prices of the remaining tickets. But the minus of the “Last Minute” is that you can never leave anywhere. Each country has its own nuances of saving on public transport. But there are general rules that will help tourists save their money.
Low-cost airlines and charters. Change flights
It may seem to an inexperienced traveler that the pricing of a ticket depends solely on the distance traveled by the liner. But this is not at all true. For example, a direct ticket from Moscow to Tokyo costs more than a thousand dollars, and with a transfer in Doha - one and a half times cheaper. We will not explain now why this is happening. Just take advantage of a better offer.
There are several life hacks for traveling by plane. Low-cost airlines are low-cost carriers. They sell tickets at very ridiculous prices. True, the purchased ticket cannot be handed over or reissued for another date. They don’t feed on low-cost airlines, and sometimes they just have draconian baggage conditions - both unaccompanied and hand luggage.
Ticket pricing also depends on the airport of service. Therefore, take a card and look carefully. Do you need to Milan? The airport of this city of Malpensa wants too much for its services. Choose your Bergamo destination! From this city to the capital of Lombardy can be reached by train for an hour and a half. Do the same if you want to visit Venice (Treviso) or Cologne (Dortmund).
Charter flights are also a good opportunity to save. After all, travel agencies chartering an airplane are interested in one hundred percent filling of the cabin. You can buy a ticket from them without buying a ticket.
Railway services to be aware of
Here are helpful tips for train travelers. If you want to travel from Berlin to Frankfurt, the price of a ticket can plunge you into shock. But German rail transport offers many services that can significantly save. The Germans use them, why not resort to them and us? The “All Germany” ticket allows you to travel all over the country (and even drop into the border areas of neighboring states) all day. And such a service costs only 52 euros (4 thousand rubles).
But that's not all! Deutsche Bann, the main railway operator, is interested in increasing passenger traffic. Therefore, if you are traveling on an “All Germany” ticket, not one, for each person you need to pay only 4 euros (300 rubles)! Similar discounts apply when traveling for short distances. You can buy a ticket that allows you to travel throughout the day on one federal land. The disadvantage of such a trip can only be called the fact that you can not get on Inter-City high-speed trains. And on the railways in France, a different saving system operates. If you book in advance tickets on the website, then on certain days a discount is set, and a substantial one. To find out about it, you need to open a special "calendar of cheap tickets."
We reserve a hotel
The issue of accommodation also needs to be addressed ahead of time. Some hoteliers offer very large discounts on rooms if you make a partial or full prepayment. Other life hacks for tourists include these: you can specify the dates of travel that are favorable in terms of economy. After all, most people go on vacation in the high season. And the increased demand causes cosmic prices. If you arrive at the resort just before the opening or at the end of the season, you can get good discounts on accommodation.
What you need to do immediately before the trip
Make sure to make a copy machine, and even better scans of documents. In a foreign country, it is better to keep passports in a safe, and go outside with a copy of it. You should not take cash with you (unless you go to some wilderness without ATMs). Put money on the card, taking only the amount needed on the road. But you should definitely warn your bank about the upcoming trip. Otherwise, an unpleasant surprise awaits you in a foreign country. To avoid hacking fraud, some banks block the card when they try to withdraw money from it abroad. Going on a trip with the whole family? Ask the neighbors to look after the apartment, leave them your phone number.
Be fully equipped
It will be useful to find out what you can import into your country of travel. After all, it may happen that when you cross the border, alcohol and even food will be taken from you. You also need to ask what is possible and what cannot be exported from the country. Sometimes you can run into a large fine simply because of a piece of coral that you picked up on the beach as a keepsake of the resort.
Write down the telephone number and address of the embassy of your country in the country you are visiting. They will help to restore the lost passport and solve a lot of other problems. Of the life hacks for traveling by car, mention should be made of maps. Road atlases may contain outdated information. Download special applications on your mobile phone with the help of which the most detailed maps of the area will be available to you.
Make a list of things
Going on a trip, people (and especially women) want to bring a lot of clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and other little things. And upon arrival at the resort, it turns out that 90% of the outfits are simply nowhere to wear, and the most popular things are a T-shirt, shorts and a pair of flip flops. By the way, about these last ones: be sure to take your slates with you. They can be used as slippers in the room, in the shower, to go to the pool or to the water park. From clothes, you should take several sets of everyday things and one outfit. High-heeled shoes are best left at home. Studs can pierce the fabric of a suitcase.
In the list of things necessary for a traveler, you need to include a universal adapter for sockets. If you are flying, grab a roll of cling film. You can wrap the suitcase yourself and save on this service at the airport. In the summer, take a repellent with you on a trip. An empty plastic bottle will help you out at the airport. It is known that any security exceeding 100 ml in volume is seized during a security inspection. After passing the control point, you can fill the bottle with drinking water from the fountain in the flight waiting room. The antibacterial lotion will help you to disinfect your hands in the absence of soap and water.
First aid kit on vacation
If you have a chronic illness, be sure to bring along medications for it in case of sudden exacerbation. In a new place, there are always bacteria to which the locals have developed immunity. Therefore, microscopic bastards attack aliens. If you are going on vacation, be sure to put an antibiotic in the medicine cabinet. Exotic food may seem delicious to you, but a stomach that is unusual for it can fall into confusion and even shock from it. "Smecta", "Mezim" and other drugs that aid digestion should also be present in a travel medicine cabinet.
Pills for motion sickness will come in handy in case of a sea trip or a long trip by bus. If you go to cold countries or to a ski resort, take a cold tea. Planning an active vacation? A wound treatment spray may come in handy. Going to the countries of equatorial Africa and Latin America, be sure to get vaccinated against yellow fever and malaria. To enter some countries, you must purchase a medical policy. Find out what insurance cases it covers and what is the algorithm of actions in case of illness or injury.
Casting things
Make a list of everything you might need on a trip. Reread it carefully before packing in a suitcase: is it possible to do without something? In hotels, for example, the room has hygiene products, so that shower gel, soap and shampoo can be left at home. There is a hairdryer in almost every 3-star hotel.
Some things can perform different functions. We have already mentioned that flip flops come in handy as slippers and as walking shoes for the pool. A massive umbrella can successfully replace a raincoat. If you are not invited to the wedding, then do not take high-heeled shoes. It is from them, and even by the abundance of cosmetics in Western Europe, that a woman from the post-Soviet space is recognized.
How to pack things compactly
If it is already impossible to cross out anything from the prepared baggage, we will start packing it. We put all the heaviest things at the bottom of the suitcase. It can be jackets, thick sweaters, sweaters. Next comes the turn of shoes. We stack the pair with a jack. So that not a single cubic centimeter is empty, you can put some light clothes rolled up in a shoe in the shoes. So we also protect the shoes from deformation. And the clothes rolled up in a roll more compactly fit in a suitcase and also wrinkle less.
Movers at airports are very rude to their luggage. Therefore, if you travel by plane, do not put your laptop in a suitcase. Office equipment is better to put in a special briefcase and take with you on board. Put the panama on your head, put the sunglasses in the case. Fill the remaining free space in the suitcase with small things.
We travel with children
Kids ride the train or fly on the plane for free. Older children need to buy a ticket, but they have a special fare. You will receive exactly the same discounts for children upon checking into a hotel. But that you are traveling with the kids, you need to notify the staff in advance.
There are several life hacks for traveling with children. Buy your child a backpack or a small trolley case. Fold there those things that you may need on the road: your favorite toy, coloring with pencils, replaceable panties, tights. For babies, it is necessary to take several diapers, a bottle of food, a pacifier on the road. But the bulky stroller is better to replace the "kangaroo."
In an Aeroport
Do not rush to register headlong. Airlines sell economy class tickets more than there are seats. Therefore, additional passengers are drawn up in the business sector. If you know how to pack things compactly, then going through a security checkpoint will not take you much time. Immediately put outerwear, a briefcase with a laptop, shoes, belt, watch, wallet with small things in a special container.
Regular flights passengers are entitled to some services in case of an aircraft delay. If the liner is four hours late, the airline must provide its customers with hot meals and soft drinks. And if the delay in flights is more than six hours, it should provide passengers with an overnight stay at the hotel with a transfer from and to the airport.
How to quickly get to a vacation spot
Life hacks for tourists are not limited to tips on packing and preparing your trip. Learn from the Internet about transport at the airport of arrival. A taxi ordered online costs less than a hired taxi on the spot. In the West, tickets for the subway can only be bought at a vending machine. Some of them accept only coins. And you have only banknotes. What to do? Go to the vending machine with drinks and snacks. Insert the bill, and then click the "Cancel" button. The machine will return your money to you, but already a trifle.