23 EASY Travel Hacks so YOU can SAVE Big & Travel MORE! ✈️🧳

With travel costs increasing daily I know we're all looking for ways to save money and decrease the stress of travel so we can enjoy the experiences we've been looking forward to. Today I'm sharing a compilation of my favorite travel tips that are completely free or almost Let's start with a few packing hacks. I'm a huge fan of using compression packing cubes when I travel but if you don't want to spend the money just use those plastic ziploc bags you get from Amazon when you get clothes or those zippered plastic bags that sheets and comforters come in these days. Use those as your packing cubes. They won't necessarily help you pack more but they will help keep you organized and really we probably don't need to be packing more. I know this next one weirds some of you out but if you're really trying to pack less luggage you should use any space you can and packing socks and underwear inside your shoes does just that. You can always put them in a plastic bag before you put them in your shoes if that makes you feel better. This next hack has been a real game changer for me for packing my liquids bag when I'm trying to pack carry-on only and that is to pre-load cotton pads with eye makeup remover and toner and I do think it works better on cotton pads than cotton balls and then you want to put those in ziploc bags and squeeze all the air out so they don't dry out. This will save you a ton of space in your liquids bag and another great way to save room in your liquids bag is by decanting your larger travel size containers into a dollar store or wherever you buy them contact lens holder. In fact a great way to determine how much of each toiletry item you actually need to bring with you is a week or two before your trip pack your toiletry bag then use your toiletries like normal for the amount of days you'll be on your trip then you will know exactly how much you need to pack and while you're at the dollar store getting that contact case pick up a poncho or two to pack because rain happens. This way you can save space by not having to pack your full-size raincoat for just in cases and a poncho does a great job of covering you and whatever backpack or purse you might be carrying too. By the way if you're new here hey y'all I'm Christy the GenX Gypsy and welcome. I have been traveling the world off and on for well almost 40 years now and I want to help you travel better so you can focus on creating unforgettable memories and really just live your best life. Now moving on to our next section of hacks I want to make sure that you are getting the full benefits of your credit cards. Even if you don't have a specific travel credit card your card could include a couple of benefits that could save you a lot of money. Many credit cards available will give you a full reimbursement for your TSA pre-check or global entry expenditures if you charge them to that card. They will basically give you a credit for the amount spent and they will do that every time you need to renew which is every five years. That could save you $78 to $100 every five years. Another awesome free benefit you could get from your credit card is airport lounge access. Some credit cards like Capital One or American Express have their own lounges which are really nice but other credit cards will give you access to priority pass select lounges. It is important to check and see which lounges you can get into before you travel so you can take full advantage. Now let's talk about food. One of my favorite subjects. If you are taking a long haul flight that is going to include food service like a hot breakfast, lunch or dinner, pre-order a special meal at least a few weeks before your flight. There are all sorts of options from vegan to kosher to low sodium, the gamut. The reason to do this is because you will get served first or close to first and you won't run the possibility of them running out of the meals or at least the good meals which has happened to me quite a few times especially back when they served meals a lot and yes this is completely free. Even if you are getting a meal on the plane I would still pack my own snacks to bring from home because you never know when there might be a delay and you end up sitting in an airport facing those spendy airport food prices unless you can get into a lounge. One of my favorite hacks when bringing your own food onto the plane and a way to save space in your personal item bag is to pick up a bag from a restaurant that is common in airports like Starbucks or McDonald's and use that bag to pack your snacks in and yes TSA does allow food through security although if it is a liquid or liquid-like it will need to go into your liquids bag like yogurt or hummus. Basically airport security considers anything that won't hold its shape outside of its packaging to be a liquid and yes that includes peanut butter as well. Here are a few hacks you can take care of before you leave for the airport. Dress up your suitcase with a little colorful luggage tag or maybe some colorful yarn or tape whatever you want to dress it up to make your luggage stand out to you. Even if you are planning on having your suitcase with you the whole time as a carry-on there is a very good chance you might have to have your suitcase checked if they run out of room on the plane and you are going to want to be able to easily identify your suitcase at baggage claim. You should also take a picture of your suitcase to have just in case your bag does get lost. Normally this is where I would talk about air tags and trackers but I'm sticking to free and cheap hacks in this video but if you really want to make sure your luggage doesn't get lost put a tracker in it and for up to the minute updates on your flight you should download the app for the airline you are flying on to your phone. This is going to be the best way to be the first or close to the first to know if there are going to be any changes to your air travel and give you a head start on taking care of any issues that arise from those changes especially if there is a cancellation or a significant delay. Next are some of my favorite hacks to use in the airplane. This first one might initially sound a little crazy but bring a few doggy poop bags to use to collect the trash at your seat. They are so small and thin they take up no space to pack but are super useful for collecting those little bits of trash that accumulate during the flight like gum wrappers or napkins or tissues. They are especially useful for those of us that prefer a window seat and don't have easy access to the flight attendants as they go by. Bring a gallon size ziploc bag or another one of those amazon clothing bags to put in the seat pocket in front of you to keep all of your belongings in like your phone or your kindle or e-reader, tissues, power bank, pretty much anything you want to grab while you're in flight. Not only does this keep those items clean but you're also a lot less likely to leave something behind. If you like to watch videos during your flight you can use your sunglasses on the tray table as your phone holder so you don't have to hold your phone in your hand the whole time or you can attach a ziploc bag just make sure it's a ziploc bag that your phone actually fits in and you can attach that ziploc bag to the tray table locking mechanism. Either way just make sure you've downloaded all of the videos you want to watch before you get on the plane and that you brought headphones to listen to those videos because I can guarantee the passengers around you don't want to listen to them. Now here's a tiktok hack I haven't used yet but I am definitely planning to when I travel to Japan in August on a 15-hour flight. Wear a long scarf and then tie it around the tray table hinges to create a sling and this will help take the pressure off your back when you are sitting for so long especially those of us who are a little height challenged. If that's a little too extra for you another way to relieve your back is to roll up your sweater or jacket or perhaps the airline has given you a pillow or blanket and you can put one of those behind your lower back area in the lumbar area and that should help give your back a little bit of rest as well. And finally some hacks to use when you get to your destination. If you are getting a rental car take a picture of the car and the license plate in case you end up parking in a large parking lot like Disney or any other theme parks or perhaps the national parks and you forget what car you are looking for. When I went on my recent trip to Mexico I was driving a rental car because my car had been totaled and everybody was fine and it's all worked out but at the time I was just so glad I had taken a picture of the car in the airport parking lot because after a major delay I didn't get home until about 1 a.m. and if it hadn't been for that picture I would have never remembered what car I was looking for. A great way to get a feel for a new city you're visiting is to find a free walking tour on the first day to get a little lay of the land. There are several websites you can go to to find these tours and I'll have a link in the description below to a list of them. You just might find some interesting places to go that weren't on your original itinerary. If you are somewhere that your phone is constantly on roaming mode or searching for a signal like in the national parks or when you're out on a boat tour or just somewhere that doesn't have a lot of cell towers put it in airplane mode so you will save your battery especially if you are taking lots of pictures and videos which is exactly what you should be doing on vacation. This next hack was sent to me by one of my friends and is courtesy of Samantha Brown. If you need extra counter space or even a desk to use in your hotel pull out the ironing board. It's hugely height adjustable so you can set it to be either table height or counter height. Just be respectful and maybe cover it with a towel before you use it to eat your takeout from. So you know the next people to use it to actually iron their clothes don't end up with weird food smells on their clothes. That wouldn't be very nice. And one huge way to save on some unexpected expenses is to pack a travel first aid kit especially if you're traveling to an already expensive location or a foreign country. In this video here I go over everything I include in my TSA friendly first aid kit I take with me everywhere.