Update: The Great Projects Brings You Even More Travel Tips! 30 Travel Hacks Worth Knowing

Update: The Great Projects Brings You Even More Travel Tips! 30 Travel Hacks Worth Knowing

Posted by Ellie Hutchin on 18th Mar 2017

Update: New Bonus Tips!

travel advice, travel tips, travel hacks

The world is ever-changing, so we thought we would bring you 12 new bonus tips to help you with your travels!

  • If you aren’t an experienced traveller, then it may be useful to check out other traveller’s or volunteer reviews to get the most realistic idea of where you’re going. Reviews.com recently posted its best travel review sites of 2017. Click here for travel review sites which can help to to uncover hidden mysteries about your dream destination.

  • Never doubt the power of alternative or herbal remedies! If you’re feeling nervous about a flight, then try herbal remedies such as ‘Kalms’ capsules' or ‘Rescue Remedy’ drops. These alternative therapies help to relieve anxiety, but contain only natural ingredients. Other alternative therapies can also be used to aid digestion in foreign countries, to support your gut in a new environment, such as probiotics that help keep your stomach and digestive system operating smoothly on your travels.

  • Don’t be afraid to be a solo traveller. Travelling has a way of opening people’s minds, expanding their knowledge, and making people truly happy. Nevertheless, the thought of travelling to an entirely different country is sure to be quite overwhelming, but if the only thing stopping you from getting on that plane is the self-doubt of whether you can do it alone, don’t succumb to it! Along with many other personal benefits, solo travelling is a fantastic way to rediscover yourself and if you don’t believe me, check out this awesome blog we found of the benefits of travelling solo.
travel tips for packing

  • Whilst on your volunteer trip abroad, you could be working hard under the hot sun all day and one tip The Great Projects will always recommend to our volunteers is to stay hydrated! Immerse yourself in the full eco ‘ethos’ of responsible travel, and use an alternative technique to keep your drinks cool – insulate metal water bottles with duct tape for cold, crisp rehydration throughout the day. This technique is eco-friendly because it does not require you to purchase fresh and cold bottles throughout the day, which ultimately saves you money too!

  • When travelling, it would appear most people face the same anxieties about trying to fit everything in their suitcases. To save some essential packing space, why not put smaller amounts of foundation, concealer, moisturisers and any other liquid based products into contact lenses cases? This way of packing makeup preserves more space than if you pack your entire makeup bag, and application of the products is made easier due to the shape of the contact cases too.

  • While it’s debatable whether the western world’s technology addiction is a good or bad thing, we still need our cables and chargers in the meantime nonetheless! To keep them protected from bending too much, or getting tangled up in something else and breaking, keep them tucked away neatly in a glasses case. This helps to keep your belongings more organised too.

  • If you’re planning to bring some rechargeable batteries with you, there is a nifty little tip that’s rumoured to help make them last longer! It is not recommended to try this tip with alkaline batteries, but if you store nickel metal hydride batteries in the fridge it can give them a longer life!

  • Get a waterproof bumbag so you can keep your belongings safe at all times. Whether you’re in the middle of the jungle and need to keep your hands free, or you’re alone and don’t feel it’s safe enough to place your belongings down somewhere while you complete an activity, then get a waterproof bumbag or fanny pack. The bag will simply clip around your hips, and a waterproof feature ensures your belongings are protected in any type of environment. So, during that jungle trek if you come across a waterfall and have an urge to jump in, do it! If you spot a whale shark whilst on the boat in Tanzania jump right in and say hello with the reassurance that your belongings are safe.

travel hacks for the airport

  • At the airport, have you ever been asked for your boarding passes and your passports and gotten stuck desperately trying (with difficulty) to get everything out of your bag as quickly as possible? During this time, if documents like these are not quickly to hand, it becomes very awkward flapping around trying not to hold up the seemingly endless queue behind you. If you try to wear clothes with deep pockets to the airport, you can keep belongings in your pockets and present documents easily as and when you need to, ultimately saving time and embarrassment!

  • The airport is arguably the most stressful part of any journey abroad, due to queuing, queuing and more queuing, and beating the rat race in the waiting area. For a small fee, you can pay to check into a lounge prior to your flight, where you can relax, have something to eat and read a magazine until it’s time to board. This is a great idea particularly for very early morning or late-night flights, as you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the chaotic travellers around you.

  • Airports are busy places and it’s safe to say that if you’re driving to leave your car there, finding a space can be a time-consuming and stressful thing. To save time and stress, organise a ‘meet and greet’ to meet you when you arrive and park your car for you. Then, when you return, you let the airport know when you’re collecting your luggage, and someone comes to meet you right outside with your car once again! Pricing will of course depend on the airport you travel from, but from personal experience, a meet and greet does not cost much more than what you would be paying to find your own space to leave your car in.

  • You can never predict what things will go wrong on your travels, but it’s always a wise idea to be prepared for the worst. While it’s rare, occasionally people’s luggage can go missing, so it’s vital to keep all your valuables, prescription medication, and even a couple of spare pairs of underwear in your hand luggage in case your belongings are lost.

Flight Hacks

  • If you decide to book your hotel and/or flights online, ensure you enable private browsing to avoid being tracked by travel sites. They will often raise their prices simply because you’ve visited their site before!

  • When reserving your seats on the plane for two people, be sure to book the window and the aisle seat. Why on earth would you do that you ask? If no one books the middle seat, then you have the entire row! If someone does book it, then all you have to do is ask them to swap with you so you can sit next to your fellow traveler. Alternatively, we can assist in booking your flights also.

  • If you mark your baggage as fragile, it is guaranteed to be handled in the right way as they place it at the top of the pile. This is also useful in baggage collection, as your bag will be one of the first to come out!

  • When reserving your seats on the plane, book seats near the exits or nearer the front for extra leg room at no additional cost!



Tech Hacks

  • Getting down with the knitty-gritty of volunteer life doesn’t guarantee the safety of city-life equipment. It might be worth your while to get a cheap pay-as-you-go phone in case of breakage. This is a great way to avoid scary over-seas network charges too. You can get some for less than £20 at superstores such as Tesco and Asda.

  • Attention travel bloggers! Make sure you let the host of your blog site aware that you are travelling, and you may be posting from overseas. Otherwise, the servers can think you are a hacker and you may be locked out of the site until you return home. You can do this by logging onto your account settings on the host’s website and authorising the country’s IP addresses.

  • If you do take your devices with you, download Google Translate and download the languages of the countries you are going to visit. By doing this you can make use of it offline so you save data! It also has a cool camera feature where you can hover over a line of printed text and it translates it for you (especially good for menus!). Similarly, google maps also allows you to access maps offline.



Money Hacks

  • Use in–country ATMs to withdraw local currency using your credit/debit card. Using third party companies often involves extra fees and you’re not guaranteed the best exchange rates. Although, make sure you inform your bank of your travel endeavours so they do not suspect fraudulent activity and swallow your card! (This happened to me, it was dreadful.) That won’t be fun if you have no access to money for the duration of your trip…kinda worrying too.

  • Stash your cash in more than one place for extra security, and preferably in places that are not obvious to thieves.

  • Sew an extra pocket on the inside of your clothes to store your cash when in areas notorious for theft. Alternatively, a fanny pack works just as well! Amazon have a pretty varied (and fairly cheap) selection.



Packing Hacks

  • Now, you don’t want to bring too much, but you can’t forget about your favourite jewellery, right? Keep things simple and organised by using a pill container as a great way to store it.

  • Don’t just shove your headphones in your bag, unloved and exposed to knotted, tangled life. Wrap them around a binder clip and attach it somewhere in your bag for happy headphones!

  • Hair clips come in handy for some pretty imaginative uses. Keep yours safe and easily accessible by storing them in a small container such as a Tic Tac box!

  • Chuck a couple of dryer sheets in your backpack to keep your clothes smelling nice and fresh. This also reduces static, so it can do wonders for avoiding sticky-up hair!

  • What people understand as 'Tea' is different for every country believe it or not. Keep your caffeine needs under control by ensuring you have your tea bags of choice with you.



In Country Hacks

  • Use the travel website Foursquare to obtain WiFi passwords for your destination by checking their questions and comments. People have often asked this on there and many have responded with useful answers. You never know just who may have been in the same situation as you and left the answer for all online!

  • When your trip of a lifetime sadly comes to an end, make the most of your volunteering experience by collecting all your loose change and giving it to the homeless, or as a donation to the project you are participating in.

  • No one expects tourists to be fluent in the country’s language, but to make your life easier when communicating with the locals (and save yourself the humiliation of a bad game of charades) have a wee phrasebook to hand. This way you can write down any words or phrases (like, ‘where is the bathroom?’) that will come in handy for the duration of your trip.

  • On the off chance you pack all of your wires for your chargers, but don’t actually pack the wall plug, it will be useful to know that you can charge appliances in the USB slot of a TV.

Hopefully, we’ve been able to save you quite a bit of time and aggravation with our nifty travel hacks. Use them to your every advantage and make the most out of the trip, by ensuring all the little things are sorted, so you can focus on what really matters: the animals!


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