Travel Tips For The Smoothest Trip Possible

Traveling can be a bit gritty and stressful at times, but once you know how things are done you can quite easily get by without making too many mistakes. There are also some great tips for making things a bit easier and keeping things smooth along the way. Here are some of my best tips for an effortless and easy trip.

Transportation

I recently took a Mexico City limo service on a recent trip there and it was so much easier (and luxurious!) than taking public transportation. You get a personal driver and you get driven directly to your destination, there aren’t 50 stops between you and your destination. This is comfortable and you have your own space. You really cannot put a price on these two things when you travel.

Let your bank know where you are

Telling your bank that you are planning to travel can save a lot of headaches when using your cards overseas. Banks have become rather good at detecting fraud and when they see your card being used in Lisbon rather than New York City, alarm bells are certainly going to ring. They may even block the card and you could even be without money! It is always advisable to carry a backup card, but please do call your bank before you leave.

Don’t use data roaming

Data roaming is extremely expensive and for most travelers (minus the business travelers with unlimited plans) it really isn’t an option. If you absolutely need data then buy a local SIM card. These are usually very cheap and should give you enough internet to keep you going if you really need it. The great thing is that if you come back again you can always use the SIM card again.

Leftover foreign currency

I absolutely hate when I have taken out too much money and have no idea how to spend it in the end and when my trip is over I am left with money that is practically useless to me. It is generally too little to convert back and you would never throw it away and it ends up just sitting in a drawer. You can use your leftover currency to pay part of your hotel bill and put the rest on your card.

Google Maps

Download offline maps before you go on your smartphone or tablet and you practically cannot get lost. All you need to do is pull out the side bar on the app and you should see “Offline Maps” and you can download the area that you are traveling to. This uses the GPS on your phone and doesn’t require you to have a roaming data connection or WiFi. This is absolutely ideal when you are walking around or even just trying to find your hotel. This can also help you to plan some stops along the way.