Savvy Travel Tips from Frequent Fliers

Here are  travel and safety tips from frequent fliers:

1.  Take blunt-tip baby scissors. They pass through security and are indespensible at opening foil packets or plastic tubes.  Save the magazines samples of lotions and cosmetics to bring on journeys. The scissors are handy to use with hotel sewing kits. I had to use them to cut ace wrap for my son’s wrist, while enroute to France.
2.  Buy skin serums in the form of capsules, for individual uses while on trips.  Easy to pack and no bottles to tote back home. I take the sample packets found in magazines and in some stores at their beauty events.
3. Take small wrapped toys for little tots and dole them out during the trip.  Get comic books or fun magazines for the older ones. Pack energy bars, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and snacks since meals can be off schedule.
4. Double your payment for bills before you leave, so no worries while abroad. This way you are covered if your trip is unexpectedly longer, and you do not return to a stack of bills to pay.
5.  Get some new toys to give your pets when you depart. My cats like a new catnip mouse or cardboard scratching post.
6. Those large plastic travel bags really do work, to flatten clothes when packing.
7. Watch for pickpockets and this INCLUDES little children. Some families are in it together.  A prime time is when people are gathered around street muscicians or buskers. Watch your possessions when there is a diversion on the street or when people ask directions and stick a map in your face.
8. Familiarize yourself with landmarks, not just street names.  When you are running to catch the last bus out of the night street market in Thailand, it’s handier to remember to turn left at the xyz restaurant. In London I totally forgot which apartment building I was in the first time I returned. Luckily I remembered the construction right in front of it and found it okay.
9. Don’t be polite. If you are uncomfortable around someone, just leave.  If you want to get away from someone walking behind you, cross the street and go into a restaurant. Learn the word “help” in whatever language is spoken where your are visiting. If being followed, nip into a restaurant or store.
10. There are disposable washcloths that I buy and take to Europe. I use the hotel shampoo to wash out my clothes and skip packing laundry detergent. Buy travel size products. I roomed with a friend on a trip who brought huge bottles with her and then had trouble packing everything going home.