10 SMART TRAVEL HACKS + TIPS | ANN LE

Hi loves! How's it going? It's Ann. Welcome to my channel. If you have been following me, I am so sorry I've been MIA. I've been traveling in the last couple of weeks and I thought that I would be able to get some work done while traveling. That didn't work out as I have thought but I am back now and I have a part two of my travel tips and hacks. If you missed part one, I will link it below this video. I have been taking lots and lots of notes while traveling of things that I find very helpful. These are tips and hacks that you will probably love as well. Some of them you may have seen. Some of them are probably new to you. So let's go ahead and get started. In my last trip, I got to travel to two countries for the price of one. This is definitely a time and money saving hack. First, map up your trip and select countries that are within the same route. Then I go on a booking site. I personally like to use kayak.com. This is where I do all of my bookings. I can play around with different dates, multiple stops. I could then compare prices and also itineraries. If you're on a certain budget, try switching around the dates and airports as it can make a huge difference on the prices. So my main destination is Thailand. I decided to make a five-day mid-stop in Tokyo, Japan. This way, I can visit two countries. I played around with different dates and different scenarios to see if there was going to be a big price difference between adding a stop or not. And the prices were just right around the same as if I was flying to one destination. If you are traveling to a foreign country and need help with translation, download Google Translate and the language of the country you are visiting. Make sure to download this at home so that way when you get to the country, you're prepared. You don't have to look for sims card or good wi-fi in order to access this. To use this, you have to download the language of your choice. Then open the camera function and hold it over the text. It should give you some sort of translation. Now it's not going to be 100% accurate but it is better than nothing. It works better over print than handwritten text. This definitely helps me out in supermarkets when it comes to buying certain foods and looking at labels. I love using essential oils for my home and for traveling. Each of these mini bottles hold a different function and they go perfect in your bag or in your pocket. Mint, for instance, helps with queasiness and is a fresh scent that can mask out smelly odor. Or if you're feeling queasy, then add a few drops into your water. My favorite scents are the citrus scents. I like to add this into a water spray bottle and spray it all over my Airbnb or hotel room. For an instant spa after a long day of traveling, add a few drops of this into your bathtub so that way you can decompress. My main essential oil is eucalyptus. This is perfect for when you're on a trip and somebody gets sick. If you have a travel diffuser or humidifier, it can really help you as well. Add a few drops of this oil into your water. Then place it next to the bed while you're resting. Even in your most comfortable shoes, after a long day of walking, your feet can swell up and just rub against your shoes. Take a generous amount of petroleum jelly and rub it around where your problem area is and on your shoes. Doing this can help prevent rubbing and blisters. If you're traveling with any leather accessory, well here's a way on how you can keep your leather looking new and polished. First, clean the surface with a damp cloth. Then take a good amount of petroleum jelly and massage that into the leather. Once it's massaged and conditioned into the leather, it's not going to feel sticky like the jelly. After polishing all the surfaces, your leather should look shiny and new again. I love traveling with my studded earrings. It's pretty and it's multifunctional. Every time I'm in a new country, I always need to switch out my SIM card and so I usually use the back of my studded earring to pop out the side of my phone and switch up my SIM card. Of course, you can also use a clothing pin but that's if you remember to bring one. So a hack that I like to do with clothing pin is I like to pin it within the inside of a spaghetti strap dress or top. Just in case a strap snaps on me, I am prepared. I have a pin in my top that I can take out and repair the strap. Here's a quick hack that you can do to add a secret compartment to your backpack. You will need a zip pouch big enough to store away anything you want to hide. Permanent fabric glue. This thing is very strong and once it bonds, it's on for good. Lastly, for extra security, you can use a needle and thread. Apply an even amount of fabric glue onto the back of your pouch then place the glue side of your pouch onto the back of your backpack. But if you feel like you can also sew the pouch onto the back of your backpack. Now you can store anything you want in here. You can make it a secret compartment or you can just use it for extra storage. If you're a traveler that's on a strict diet or if you just want to save money, this will definitely help you out. As a traveling family, we just like to have a home cooked meal every now and then or save money on going out to eat all the time. So we make sure to pack all the seasoning that we usually use at home. For the seasonings that we can only get back home, we would put those into Ziploc bags and fold them into this plastic container. Finding a place with a kitchen really adds to our traveling experience and our family trip. We love going to the local markets and seeing what the locals buy and eat. We would bring home some fresh produce and just make our own breakfast or dinner. Something that I highly, highly recommend is for you to learn some native phrases before traveling to your destination. So go on YouTube, Google search or listen to a podcast on how to speak the native phrases of the country you're going to. This would definitely help people open up to you and be a little bit more friendly. I always hear people complaining about how unfriendly certain countries are, but for me, I have a total different experience because I would say hello in their native language and goodbye and thank you and everything like that. And I notice by doing that, people will open up to you and they're a lot friendlier because you're showing them respect of their country and their language and they like it. People like that kind of stuff. Thank you all so much for watching. Make sure to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and share it to anyone you know that is traveling that can use some of these travel hacks and tips. And also share in the comment section below which is your favorite travel hacks and tips, what you find helpful, or if you want to share anything else with the rest of us, then comment below. Thank you all so much for watching and I will see you next weekend. Ciao!