Unconventional Travel Tips for Your Next Trip
If you know me, you know I’m no stranger to traveling. I grew up abroad and have traveled domestically and internationally with my family. Over the years, I’ve picked up some tips and tricks for making travel easier and more organized, especially when traveling with children. I share a lot of tips (travel and otherwise) in my popular Friday Five Newsletter, so if you’d like to get weekly tips straight to your inbox, sign up for that here.
Now, let’s discuss a few unconventional travel tips you may want to incorporate into your next trip.
Join AARP
No, really. AARP isn’t just for retired folks anymore. You can join as long as you’re at least 18 years old. The discounts are amazing—you save on basically every travel thing (including gas)! It's only $15 to join, plus you get a nice gift (it changes over time, but it's gifts like a free trunk organizer or day bag).
I saved $100 on buying a few excursions for a cruise I took my daughter on to celebrate her birthday. And there are other monthly savings, too, like your cell phone bill (AT&T offers members $10 off a line, every single month!) and eating at restaurants. If you go out to eat one time at one of the restaurants on AARP's savings list, the membership will pay for itself—includes Carrabba's, Bonefish, McAlisters, Bubba Gump, Jamba Juice, Papa Johns, Jets Pizza, and dozens more.
I'm a proud member of AARP despite being far from retirement age. Come on over, the water’s great!
Download Offline Maps
If you've ever gone on a road trip and been in a spot where your phone data is not easily available, this tip is for you: you can download offline maps in Google Maps and Apple Maps.
This is an easy thing you can do ahead of a trip (or even just for the location where you live!) so that you'll have the directions you need even if cell phone service gets wonky or goes completely offline.
Use a Travel App
I've been using TripIt for over a decade, and it's so helpful (they have a pro version, but I've never found a need to upgrade from the free version).
With TripIt, you can forward any travel-related emails (flight itineraries, car rental confirmations, hotel receipts) to plans@tripit.com, and they'll organize your trips details into a great travel itinerary all in one place that you can share with travel partners.
They can even send you a reminder when it’s time to leave for the airport or recommend restaurants in the area where you’re traveling.
Get Yourself a Flykitt
The time changes that often come with travel can really wreck the first few days of a trip (and then again when you come home), but using a system like Flykitt can make that transition a lot smoother.
Flykitt is a kit of supplements and tools (like dark light-blocking glasses and caffeine) to help your body adjust more easily when traveling. You put your typical wake and sleep times in their app + your travel timing, and the app then tells you when to eat, when to sleep, when to avoid or seek out light, and when to take the different supplements to avoid jet lag.
On the first trip I tried it in London (where I was 8 hours ahead of my normal), I was very pleasantly surprised that my first and second days felt completely normal—energetic and rested—which is not how those types of time changes typically go for me.
If you've got any trips coming up, you might want to try it out yourself.
Sign Up for Dollar Flight Club
Dollar Flight Club is an amazing resource when you’re looking for flight deals.
You just sign up for a free account (you can try premium or premium+ for $1 before the annual fee kicks in), put in your home airport + a handful of places you'd like to travel, then they send you ridiculous deals on flight prices.
I’ve had deals on flights from San Francisco to Costa Rica for $293 round-trip or Oakland to Paris for $497 round-trip).
Download Book Samples
My friend Carrie shared this brilliant tip with me:
"One of the things I've been doing lately before a flight is downloading a bunch of free samples of Kindle books. Then, on the flight, I'll read the first few chapters of many books. I always learn a few things, even just from reading the first few chapters, and then it's always super clear which books I'm dying to read more and which ones I am fine to stop and not purchase the rest of the book."
The best part is you don't even have to have a Kindle device to read these—you can just use the Kindle app on your phone!
Here are my favorite books if you need a recommendation.
Become a Trusted House-sitter
Some time ago, my friend Rachel advised me to join TrustedHousesitters as her "#1 tip for people with dogs" (we were considering adopting at the time).
We didn't end up adopting the dog, but we still joined TrustedHousesitters and have been house-sitting for others with pets (I once spent a fun weekend with a cute cat named Nova while doing a little "business retreat" for myself to do some planning).
It's a great way to get some pet time if you love animals but don't have any of your own at home, travel to new places and stay for free, or get a pet sitter if you have pets at home that need care when you're away.
You pay to join the site (if you use JESSICA25 you'll get a significant discount), and then no money changes hands after that. And you can see reviews both ways.
Extend the Length of Your Stay
If you haven’t yet done an extended trip (2 weeks or more) with your family, I highly encourage it if you can swing it. And while the experience is incredible, it is different from a weekend trip or even a week-long trip, and there are some things you’ll need to consider in preparation for extended travel.
To help, I’ve created a full rundown of extended travel tips where I go over 11 things you don’t want to forget—everything from different types of containers to medical supplies and water filtration (you’ll also find links for some of my favorite products that make extended travel simpler).
Check Out My Travel Tips on Instagram
If you enjoy quick travel tips, I have a travel highlight on Instagram where I share travel tips—things I do with my family as well as tips from my audience and other creators.
Everything from items that are useful when traveling to how my kids pack themselves for travel using my support, and more.
You might also want to get my travel toolkit to save yourself time with packing lists, planning checklists, and loads of my best tips and hacks.
Check these out and let me know if there are any travel-related tips you’d like to see.
Want more tips?
If you’d like more tips like these, my popular Friday Five Newsletter is the best place to get them every week!
About The Author
Jessica Eastman Stewart is a consultant, workshop facilitator, and podcast guest expert. She teaches busy professionals how to get more organized at home and at work so they can stop feeling worn out and start living a Joyfully Managed Life! Thousands of readers drop everything when her weekly newsletter, The Friday Five, arrives in their inbox. Every Friday, you’ll get FIVE amazing tips to help life feel INSTANTLY more joyful and easy!
