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Traveling can be difficult and tricky at times. One of my top goals when preparing for a trip is to make everything go as smoothly as possible! There are a number of travel hacks I have learned through my adventures that I think others will find helpful too.
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Contents
- 1 Keeping your clothes Wrinkle Free
- 2 Keeping your items from making a mess
- 3 Packing and Reusing
- 4 Food and Drinks
Keeping your clothes Wrinkle Free
- Did you know that you can use hot steam from a shower to unwrinkle your clothes? Crank the shower as hot as it will go, hang your item up over the shower door or something near it, close the door and give it about 3-5 minutes. When you hold up your item, the wrinkles are magically gone! Works like a charm!
- Rolling your clothes keeps them less wrinkled. It also uses less space so that’s a win-win! I usually keep mine in Pro Packing Cubes
or Shacke Pak packing cubes
to keep them organized in my bag by categories like tops, bottoms, underwear and socks, then my sweatshirts.
- They also have Eagle Creek Pack-It Garment Folders
that come with a board to help fold them perfectly so they don’t wrinkle. This was also very handy to keep my dresses and my boyfriends dress shirts and pants from looking wrinkly. The one below is the one we have used and LOVE by eagle creek.
Keeping your items from making a mess
- Take off the lid of your liquids and put saran wrap over the top of the bottle. Replace the lid tightly. This is a MUST before going on an airplane because the liquid will expand and burst out the top of the bottle if not. This is also true with makeup ladies so be careful!
- Bring a gallon bag to keep your shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in. I also put them inside a small waterproof caddy so absolutely nothing would get out onto my clothes in case of a spill.
- Always put your shoe bottoms face up on the top of your items in your suitcase or face down on the bottom of your suitcase. This makes sure you don’t get mud or dirt all over your clean clothes.
- Bring a garbage bag or an old drawstring gym bag to put your dirty/smelly clothes or shoes in so the rest of your clean stuff doesn’t pick up an odor.
Packing and Reusing
- Use body wash instead of soap to wash your clothes
- Leave at least 1/4 of your suitcase for things you pick up along the way
- Pick up one of those travel size spray bottles from Walmart for $1 and fill it with sunscreen. They come with a cap and conveniently fit in small places like your purse, pocket, and your backpack. This was a lifesaver in Rome!
- Always wear your heaviest or bulkiest items when you travel. This saves room in your suitcase and helps keep you under the weight limit for your bags.
- Photocopy your passport and driver’s license and bring along 2-3 copies in various places in your bag. If either of your real IDs get stolen, at least you’ll have a paper copy to prove you are who you are. You can also carry your passport copy around in exchange of your real passport while exploring the city in case your driver’s license isn’t enough.
Food and Drinks
- Buy a huge baguette wherever possible. It lasts for at least 3 meals and fills you up quickly. I would pick up a small tub of butter or olive oil and just dip my bread in it for a snack or a meal.
- Buy your liquor, bottles of wine, beer at grocery stores instead of paying for expensive drinks at the hotel bars or the actual bars when you go out. We saved SO much money doing this.
- Ask where the natives eat. They can tell you where all of the cheap hidden gems are and you get to go on an adventure in order to find them! It’s a win-win!
- Bring a LifeStraw Water Bottle
. This enabled me to get water from anywhere and not have to worry about whether it was safe to drink. That is a big deal in some countries! I also saved a lot of money not having to buy a bottle of water everywhere we went.
- My best tip is to buy every meal possible at a grocery store. It saves you money and then you get to pick a beautiful spot to eat in the city or town you are exploring! Below is a snack we had on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower as we waited for the lights to come on.
These are a few of my travel hacks! What are some of yours? Comment them below and don’t forget to Pin this for later!
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