Travel tips for a seamless holiday trip

As the holidays draw nearer, many people are planning trips to go see family, enjoy a little vacation, or just experience Christmas somewhere. For some, traveling is such a daunting process, they just wish they could teleport to their destination. 

I’ve been traveling for as long as I can remember. As a child, I was privileged to have traveled quite often with my family from a very young age. These trips ranged from really short road trips to my villages/hometowns, to spending holidays in different states with relatives/friends, traveling with a group from school under the guidance of our teachers, and even traveling across continents due to my parents’ careers. However, the first time I traveled by myself entirely was in 2016. It was an hour’s flight from Uyo to Lagos for a scholarship award event. That was the beginning of a whole new life for me; and since then, I have gone on an uncountable number of trips, alone, with people; short trips, and very long trips. To be very honest, I really enjoy everything about traveling. 

Now, you might be wondering, what are some things I have done over the years that make traveling less stressful for me? 

In this article, I’ll be sharing some tips that I have implemented to make traveling a seamless, fun, and more affordable process for me over time. Although I’m not an immigration or travel agent, these are steps I have followed personally and have worked for me. Please do your personal research and due diligence in addition to this. 

Ten tips to make traveling easier for you

1. Carry out research on desired destination and travel requirements: Depending on your nationality, country of residence, and proposed destination, there might be certain travel requirements and documents that permit you entry into your destination. This might be in the form of a VISA, with some countries requiring extra documentation upon entry like vaccination records, booked accommodation, bank statements, proof of return, etc. You should do this in advance for international trips as some visas could take up to six months to get appointments or even get approved. You might also need some time to get any vaccinations you might need, police records from your country of residence, etc. 
2. Check the weather and pack appropriately: You should not assume that the weather at your destination will be the same as the weather in your home city. Different continents, countries, and even states can have different weather conditions at the same time, in varying magnitudes as well. When planning a trip, be sure to check the weather conditions in your desired month, looking out for forecasts and past patterns of natural disasters and extreme weather in previous years. You want to pack weather-appropriate clothes for the season. If it’s colder, you might need to include more coats, jackets, shawls, mufflers, gloves, and covered footwear. However, you don’t want to overpack from home because you might still need to shop for some items at the destination if you cannot get exactly what you need at your home location.
3. Book tickets and accommodation well in advance to save costs: To save a lot of money, aim to book your flight tickets as soon as you know your dates. Most recommend booking domestic flights at least two months in advance, and international flights at least six months in advance. To be honest, I most times book earlier than these. This is because most of my trips are well-planned in advance and rarely spontaneous. However, sometimes, due to demand/supply, promos and campaigns, and other market factors, prices could fluctuate as the date gets closer. But, this is not a risk you might want to take, because what if the price doesn’t fluctuate—which is actually the case most times, anyway? If this happens and I’m aware of a price drop, I usually rebook my ticket to take advantage of the discount and get the rest of the money I paid as an e-credit. To try to save some money, if you decide on your dates and destination well in advance but are not ready to book immediately, you can also set up alerts on Google Flights. Google Flights will track the flight prices for your desired route and alert you if/when there’s a price drop. 
4. Have a packing checklist: I’m such a planner generally, and this has really helped me while traveling as well. I always create a packing checklist which I populate in the weeks leading to my trip. This way, I’m less stressed and worried at the last minute, I pack more efficiently, reduce overpacking, don’t forget vital items, and I also get to shop/restock whatever I’m lacking for the trip. The good thing about this is that I only worked on it once and I simply reuse it for every trip I have by tweaking it to suit each trip based on the location, the vibe I’m going for on the trip, and any special desires. I can work on turning my capsule packing checklist into a template to share, please let me know if this is something you’d like me to share. 
5. Create a travel-day to-do list on the day before: To also help reduce the workload on my brain on the day of, and to help with remembering everything, I always create an explicit to-do list for travel day at least before I sleep the night before. This is an extremely detailed to-do list that I follow with assigned time–to also keep me on schedule. In this list, I walk through what an ideal travel day will be for me, beginning with tasks at home like taking out the trash, unplugging equipment, shutting windows and doors, and getting to the airport/station. I also leave some time buffer between tasks to account for unforeseen situations. 
6. Stick to brands you trust: This is a very personal preference, but I prefer maintaining a relationship with my chosen airline and hotel chains. I try to keep it at a maximum of 2 airline brands and 2 hotel chains I frequent. This helps me with gaining loyalty points which I can use to save money, get free ad-ons, etc. With loyalty points also comes better service sometimes. Some brands dedicate special service points, customer service channels, promotions, and exclusives for loyal members based on your membership tier. As you patronize a brand more, you get to learn more about its services, conflict resolutions, and possible shortcomings, so you can experience fewer surprises as you go. Finally, having all your travels in one app (or two apps) makes it easier to keep up with all your bookings easily. It gives a holistic view of your itinerary and you are less likely to forget a trip, mix up dates or times, or struggle to find any vital information you might need urgently. 
7. Schedule your ride to the airport: If you don’t have someone dropping you off at the airport or train station, you should consider scheduling your ride in advance. The ride-hailing apps offer this service in certain countries; and while it could be a few dollars more expensive, it helps you with time management and reduces delays. There’s nothing as frustrating as trying to find a taxi right when you need to leave and there are none available or there’s a very long wait time. This is especially crucial if you have a really early or late take-off time and the supply of riders at that time might be very low. 
8. Check-in online: Check-in usually opens up 24 hours before travel time, so you should set a reminder to check in online as soon as possible. The benefit of doing this is to get real-time updates and reminders for some brands, get an airport audio announcement if the flight is about to take off and you’re yet to board, save time by going straight to the security checkpoint at the airport if you don’t have any checked-in luggage to drop off, be first in line if you requested for an upgrade, and some brands even assign boarding/seating positions based on check-in time. For some trips (mostly international trips), you might be unable to check in online because an agent needs to validate your travel document(s), like visas before you can check in. However, some airlines allow you to upload this to their system and do the verification online. 
9. Have a digital scale and packing cubes: Make sure to check the luggage allowance for your ticket and pack accordingly. Most times, you have to pay outrageous amounts if your baggage goes over the accepted weight, size, or number of bags allowance. For weight, I always use a digital scale to weigh my bags at home before departing. These scales are usually portable, easy to get, and not expensive. You can get one like this. I also started using packing cubes last year to pack and it has been a game changer. While packing cubes don’t reduce the weight, they can help with compression, air, and space management, allowing me to fit more items into my bags. This was the reason I was always able to use carry-ons for all my trips this year, including a 10-day trip, apart from the trips I made when I was relocating to a new city. There are different packing cube sets you can get on Amazon depending on your preferred prices, color, design, and budget, like this or this. 
10. Be security conscious: Travel stations and airports are filled with a lot of people. This could be overwhelming and also pose a lot more security threats. You have to be alert and security-conscious throughout your travel. From the airport, bus stops, plane, train, and even at your destination. Especially at the airport, don’t receive anything from strangers, always take your bags with you everywhere, lock your bags before dropping them off at the check-in counter, and track your bags on your mobile device. You can do this in-app if your flight offers this, or you could buy AirTags and drop them in your bags. Tag your bags for easier identification at baggage claim, and take pictures of your bags before drop-off. This will come in handy if your bag gets missing or is damaged by the airline. For security at your destination, take a self-lock for hotel doors and always let someone you trust who isn’t with you know your exact itinerary with times, any changes that might come up, and if possible share your live location. 
11. Bonus tip–Have as much fun as you can: Do budget-friendly activities that you actually enjoy. Be open-minded. Sometimes, we make mistakes, or we could have bad experiences, but try as much as you can to stay cheerful through it all and see it as part of the adventure. If you’re traveling with people, feel free to take time off your gadgets and social media to bond with them and rest as well. Don’t feel pressure to create content or post on social media at that time, well except it’s your job and that’s a work trip. Plus, it’s advised not to post locations or your surroundings on the internet in real time due to security concerns and stalkers. In all, travel is beautiful and shows you different perspectives of life, so experience it as fully as you can.

Conclusion

This is my first travel article on my blog and I’m so excited to finally share something I have really enjoyed personally over the years. I hope this article has been helpful to you, especially as we get into the holiday travel season. If you’d like me to do a follow-up article expatiating the checklist I mentioned above and more tips like airline miles, etc., kindly drop a comment below. 

If you also have any other travel-related questions, article suggestions, or comments, feel free to drop a comment below or send an email to contactaniekan at gmail dot com. Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog using the button below if you’d like to receive an email notification whenever I publish similar articles. 

Thank you for reading and happy holidays!

Aniekan.