Table of Contents
Travel Hacks: Introduction
Want to travel smarter, cheaper, and with way less stress? Today I’m sharing 10 essential travel hacks that have helped me see the world, without breaking the bank or losing my mind at airport security!
Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned traveller, these are real, tried-and-tested essential travel hacks that I’ve picked up from years of hopping across continents from solo trips and study exchanges to weekend breaks and multi-country adventures. If you’re serious about seeing more of the world, these travel hacks will change the way you plan, pack, and book. Look at them as your essentials of travelling the world.
Related post: Budget Travel: 7‑Month Journey Through 15 Countries
10 Essential Travel Hacks I Wish I Knew Sooner
1. Study Exchange...
I can’t say this enough: do a study exchange if you are at uni/college, of course. Yes, those of you who are in those establishments should have lots of options to do a study exchange. Please do not make any excuses! Just go for it! I had a former friend who had the opportunity to travel abroad whilst at University; she didn’t take this up and now regrets it!
Study exchanges are the absolute best!! And if you ever need advice about going to do a study exchange programme, drop me a line.
2. Create a bucket list
I always have a list of countries I would like to travel and as it’s said, write your visions down and make them a reality. I recently wrote a post on the importance of visiting a new country every year. Check it out – Make It A Habit To Visit A New Country Yearly.
My bucket list includes going to at least one country on every continent in the world. Yep, I have said I will do all this before I am 30.
3. Get to know these flight website deals.
There are so many to choose from: PirateHolidays, Secret Escapes, Groupon, Onthebeach, Lastminute.com, Google Flights, Edream and Skyscanner. If I have to pick one, Skyscanner has to be my absolute fave. They have recently introduced a multi-city section, which allows you to do more than one city at once, but it only really works as a track hack if you are quite open on the dates you want to travel.
If you can kill two birds with one stone and the countries are close by, go for it. I love going to a few places at a time. Just don’t be like my friend who travelled from America to Iceland to Spain. The weather changes required a heavy suitcase. It’s difficult to pack for a number of weather.
4. Do short breaks
Depending on where you live, this may work out really well for you. I personally hate staying in a country for longer than 5 days. If I’m honest with you, I get exhausted and I can’t wait to get back to the normality of life. Sad, I know, but I feel there is only so much you can do for a long period of time, and if it’s not going back home (for me, Nigeria), I don’t want to be there for too long.
Living in the UK helps as you sometimes don’t even need 5 days, short flights mean you can travel during the weekends; if you have a 9-5 like me, you will want to utilise the holidays you get.
5. Don’t be shy away from hostels
I’ve stayed in a number of hostels. They were very clean and accommodating. I had some horrible and amazing experiences. The thing with hostels is that there is a terrible stigma that they are gross, which in actual fact they are very cheap and can be extremely nice. When travelling in South East Asia, I stayed in actually really nice hotels/hostels.
The best websites I used when travelling were Hostels Worldwide.
6. Pack smart
I say this with caution. I originally was going to say pack light, which in essence I did when I was travelling Asia (my friends will lie and say otherwise) LOL. I would say pack smart and only pack what you need. I see people packing things they don’t need a lot of the time and then realising they haven’t taken what they really need. Believe me, it’s annoying, although I am the biggest culprit in this. Pack for each day and night, it’s so much easier that way, and if you want to bring things back, you have enough room. I have a packing guide here.
7. Sign up for those flight deal newsletters.
I know those deals can become annoying. I was a big lover of Groupon until I realised that 8-10 emails a day were just not cutting it. I do get the occasional flight sales from Ryanair, EasyJet and Onthebeach just because I have booked with them before; they do tend to save me a great deal of money.
8. Give feedback when due hotels, flights & travels
I don’t know if you know this, but this can help if you book with a large organisation like Booking.com, they work around the world, and if you give feedback, sometimes you may get discounts on your next hotel booking.
If you book with this link- MyBreakingViews Booking, you can get 15 pounds off your first hotel booking!!!!
Every bit helps when you are trying to gain all the travel essentials.
9. Try and know someone in the country you’re visiting.
Do you have a country you would like to go to, and know someone who lives there? This is not easy for everyone, I know, but for me, doing my study exchange has given me friends who live around the world. I now have friends that I can stay with when I want to travel.
10. Don’t keep refreshing the website!
When you’re booking your travels, just be sure not to keep refreshing. If they see someone is interested in buying flights/hotels, they will bump up the prices, believe me, I’ve seen it happen in less than 5 mins. When 4 of my friends and I booked to go to Hong Kong, my friends had booked their flights before, and within 5 minutes, the flights had increased by 50 Singaporean dollars, about £25. I wasn’t impressed.
Bonus 11: Packing Hacks for Traveling
There are many packing hacks for traveling if you want to find out then head over to – The 5 Best Luggage for Long-Haul Solo Travel
Woman Travel essentials
- Portable phone charger / power bank
- Universal travel adapter
- Personal safety alarm
- Reusable water bottle
- Travel-size first aid kit (painkillers, plasters, rehydration sachets)
- Sanitary products / menstrual cup
- Hand sanitiser and wet wipes
- Scarf or sarong (modesty, sun protection, blanket)
- Door stop alarm or portable lock for accommodation
- Copies of important documents (passport, insurance, visas)
- Comfortable, supportive walking shoes
- Lightweight padlock for luggage/lockers
- Travel insurance details saved offline
- Emergency cash in a separate location
- Sunscreen and after-sun
Head over and get my The MBV Travel & Food Toolkit for free!
Travel Hacks: Conclusion
And there you have 11 travel hacks that have been trialled and tested. As well as a list of women’s travel essentials every girl needs. You are well on your way to travel smarter! Do you have any travel essentials that you could share with me for travelling?
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See you soon,
MBV x
