Travel Gems for February 1st – 5th
Each Monday through Friday, a Travel Gem of the Day will be posted at SmartWomenTravelers.com. These Travel Gems are tips that will help a traveler travel smarter, safer, handle home issues, be prepared and enjoy their journeys.
Here are last week’s Travel Gems:
Monday Feb. 1 – Don’t be caught without a phone number or address while you’re driving! You can’t find the restaurant where you’re supposed to be meeting your best friend or biggest client, nor do you have their telephone number. Don’t panic.
Keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road and use Google’s information number (800-466-4411) (store this number right now in your mobile phone!). Provide the name of the business (or type of business) you’re looking for in the U.S. or Canada, and the automated operator provides the address and phone number and can even connect you directly. This service is great when you’re on the road and need to find information about a restaurant or hotel.
Tuesday Feb. 2 – When you want to keep the liquids and gels at a minimum but still want your shaving gel, use the hotel’s hair conditioner instead. The conditioner will soften up the hair for easy shaving and let you leave one more restricted items at home.
Wednesday Feb. 3 – Hang on to your stuff, says senior Gate Agent! Check your seat, seat pockets and overhead bin before leaving your flight. It is amazing how many items are left behind on a plane.
If you discover your items missing before the next flight boards, there is a great chance of your item being recovered. However, after the flight has boarded or left the gate, your chances of recovery diminish.
If you do forget an item on a plane, or at TSA, call the airport’s Lost and Found. Hopefully your article will have been turned in. Here is a list by of Lost and Found telephone numbers.
Thursday Feb. 4 – An easy way to have a ‘picture’ of the important pages of your passport is to take a photo with your camera phone. Not only will you have a backup copy of your passport, but when filling out traveler forms you can get your passport number from the photo rather than pulling out (and risk losing) your passport.
Friday Feb. 5 – Have your kids build a postcard collection of your travels by picking up a few postcards at the airport upon arrival (bring postcard stamps from home). Each day, write a few words about where you’re visiting, what you love about your family, and any other journal-type of writing. Mail one every couple of days, or at least once per trip.
Have your kids save these postcards in a binder with clear plastic sleeves, so that they can see the picture on the postcard as well as your writings.
This is a great way for your kids to be excited about your journeys as they build this postcard anthology, and you will have fond memories as you look back on your trips over the years.
