Why are many people afraid to travel, content only to watch travel shows on TV? It's not about the money here. After all, you can go on a trip with a modest budget. The language barrier? Also unlikely. After all, Google Translate has made it easier for people to communicate.
Mostly, fear of travel is based on the fear that something will go wrong. After all, the walls help at home. And what about abroad, where are their own rules and norms of life? 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 on the road and in another country.
Travel planning
To make the trip a success and not make a hole in the family budget, you need to prepare for it in advance. Here are life hacks for tourists who are going to use public transport -by plane, train, bus. Carriers have long understood that the main influx of passengers is observed at the end and beginning of the week. If possible, travel on a Tuesday or Wednesday - tickets can be up to five times cheaper than those on Friday.
Start looking for deals on the desired destination six months before the trip. That's when airlines throw tickets on sale. There is another option - "Last minute". Seeing that the cabin of the aircraft is not yet filled, airlines reduce prices for the remaining tickets. But the minus of the "Last Minute" is that you can never go anywhere. Each country has its own nuances of saving on public transport. But there are also general rules that will help tourists save their money.
Low-cost airlines and charters. Flight with transfers
It may seem to an inexperienced traveler that the pricing of an air ticket depends solely on the distance traveled by the liner. But that's not the case at all. 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 now explain why this is so. Just take advantage of the better offer.
There are a few more life hacks for traveling by plane. Low-cost airlines are budget carriers. They sell tickets at ridiculous prices. True, the purchased ticket cannot be returned or reissued for another date. On the planes of low-cost airlines they don’t feed, and sometimes they just have draconian baggage conditions - likeunaccompanied and hand luggage.
Ticket pricing also depends on the service airport. So take a map and look carefully. Do you need to go to Milan? The airport of this city of Malpensa wants too much for its services. Select your destination Bergamo! From this city to the capital of Lombardy can be reached by train in 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 money. After all, travel agencies that charter the plane are interested in 100% filling the cabin. You can buy a ticket from them without purchasing tickets.
Rail Services to Know About
Here are some helpful tips for train travelers. If you want to get from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main, the ticket price can shock you. But German rail transport offers many services that allow you to save a lot. 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 visit the border areas of neighboring states) all day long. And such a service costs only 52 euros (4 thousand rubles).
But that's not all! Deutsche Bann, the main rail operator, is interested in increasing passenger traffic. Therefore, if you are not traveling alone on the All Germany ticket, you only need to pay extra 4 euros (300 rubles) for each person! Similar discounts apply for trips on smalldistances. You can buy a ticket that allows you to travel around one federal state during the day. The only downside of such a trip is that you can’t take the Inter-City high-speed trains. And on the railways in France, there is a different system of economy. If you book tickets in advance on the website, then on certain days a discount is set, and a significant one. To find out about it, you need to open a special "cheap ticket calendar".
Booking a hotel
The issue of accommodation also needs to be de alt with 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 the following: you can specify travel dates that are beneficial in terms of savings. After all, most people go on vacation during the high season. And increased demand causes sky-high prices. If you come to the resort just before the opening or "at the end" of the season, you can get good discounts on housing.
Things to do just before traveling
Take care to make a photocopy, 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 are going to some wilderness without ATMs). Put money on the card, taking only the amount you need on the road. But be sure to warn your bank about the upcoming trip. Otherwise, an unpleasant surprise awaits you in a foreign country. To avoid hackerssome banks block the card when they try to withdraw money from it abroad. Are you going on a trip with the whole family? Ask the neighbors to look after the apartment, leave them your phone number.
Be fully prepared
It will be useful to know what you can bring into the country of your trip. After all, it may happen that when you cross the border, alcohol and even food will be confiscated from you. You also need to ask what can and cannot be taken out of the country. Sometimes you can run into a large fine just because of a piece of coral that you picked up on the beach as a memento of the resort.
Write down the phone number and address of your country's embassy 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, maps should be mentioned. Road atlases may contain outdated information. Download special applications to your mobile phone, with the help of which you will have access to the most detailed maps of the area.
Make a list of things
Going on a trip, people (especially women) want to take with them a lot of clothes, shoes, cosmetics, and other little things. And upon arrival at the resort, it turns out that 90% of the outfits simply have nowhere to wear, and the most requested items are a T-shirt, shorts and a pair of flip flops. By the way, about these last ones: be sure to take slates with you. They can be used as slippers in the room, in the shower, for going to the pool or to the water park. From clothes should take a few setseveryday items and one weekend outfit. High heels are best left at home. The hairpins can pierce the fabric of the suitcase.
The list of necessary things for a traveler should include a universal adapter for sockets. If you are flying, take a roll of cling film with you. You can wrap your suitcase with it yourself and save on this service at the airport. In the summer, bring repellent with you on your trip. An empty plastic bottle will help you out at the airport. It is known that during the security inspection, any liquid exceeding 100 ml in volume is seized. After passing through the security checkpoint, you can fill a bottle of drinking water from the fountain in the flight lounge. Antibacterial lotion will help you disinfect your hands in the absence of soap and water.
Vacation first aid kit
If you have a chronic illness, be sure to take your medication with you in case of a sudden flare-up. In a new place there are always bacteria to which the locals have developed immunity. Therefore, microscopic scoundrels attack the aliens. When going on vacation, be sure to put an antibiotic in the first aid kit. Exotic food may seem delicious to you, but an unaccustomed stomach can fall into bewilderment and even shock from it. "Smecta", "Mezim" and other drugs that help digestion should also be present in the travel kit.
Pills for motion sickness will come in handy in case of a sea voyage or a long bus ride. If you are going to cold countries or to a ski resort, take anti-cold teas. Are you planning an activerelaxation? Spray for wound treatment may be useful to you. 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 need to purchase a medical policy. Find out what insured events it covers and what is the algorithm of actions in case of illness or injury.
Casting stuff
Make a list of everything you need for your trip. Read it carefully before you pack your things in a suitcase: maybe you can do without something? Hotels, for example, have sanitary facilities in the room, so shower gel, soap and shampoo can be left at home. There is a hair dryer in almost every 3-star hotel.
Some things can perform different functions. We have already mentioned that flip flops come in handy as house slippers and as shoes for going to the pool. A massive umbrella can successfully replace a raincoat. If you are not invited to a wedding, then do not take shoes with high heels. It is by them, and even by the abundance of cosmetics in Western Europe, that a woman from the post-Soviet space is recognized.
How to fold things compactly
If nothing can be deleted from the prepared luggage, let's 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 shoes. We stack a pair of jacks. So that not a single cubic centimeter is empty, you can put some light clothes rolled up in a roll in your shoes. So we also protect the shoes from deformation. BUTRolled clothes fit more compactly in a suitcase and are less wrinkled.
Movers at airports are very rude with luggage. Therefore, if you are traveling by plane, do not put your laptop in your suitcase. It is better to put office equipment in a special briefcase and take it with you on board. Panama put on your head, sunglasses put in a case. Use small things to fill the remaining free space in your suitcase.
Traveling with children
Kids ride the train or fly the plane for free. Older children need to buy a ticket, but there is a special fare for them. You will receive exactly the same discounts for children when you check into a hotel. But the fact that you are traveling with babies, you need to notify the staff in advance.
There are several life hacks for traveling with kids. Buy your child a backpack or a small troll suitcase. Put there those things that you may need on the road: your favorite toy, coloring with pencils, changeable panties, tights. For babies, you need to take a few diapers, a bottle of food, a pacifier on the road. But it is better to replace a bulky stroller with a “kangaroo”.
At the airport
Do not rush to register headlong. Airlines are selling more economy class tickets than there are available seats. Therefore, additional passengers are registered in the business sector. If you know how to compactly fold things, then passing through the security checkpoint will not take you much time. Immediately putouterwear, a briefcase with a laptop, shoes, a belt, a watch, a wallet with change in a special container.
Passengers of regular flights are en titled to certain services in case of aircraft delay. If the liner is four hours late, the airline must provide its customers with hot meals and soft drinks. And if flights are delayed more than six hours, it must provide passengers with overnight hotel accommodation with transfers to and from the airport.
How to quickly get to your vacation spot
Travel hacks go beyond packing and travel tips. Find out on the Internet about transport at the airport of arrival. A taxi booked online is cheaper than a taxi hired locally. In the West, subway tickets can only be bought from a vending machine. Some of them only accept coins. And you have only banknotes. What to do? Go to the vending machine with drinks and snacks. Insert a bill, and then click the "Cancel" button. The machine will return your money to you, but in small change.
