Travel Hacks for Women Tips by Laurie

Hey there! Today I'm going to share some of the best travel hacks for women. I have learned from many of my YouTube audience viewers some travel hacks to make your packing easier and your vacation time in the airport and airplane also easier. One of the first travel hacks is for carry-on luggage. You can tie a brightly colored scarf, a scrap piece of fabric, and tie it around the handle of your carry-on luggage and if it gets checked last minute it's easy to identify. One old travel hack that I have shared before is to just put a piece of blue tape like painter's tape on the outside or two sides of your carry-on suitcase to help identify it or buy a bright green carry-on suitcase like I have and that way other people will not mistake your suitcase for theirs. Another travel hack is to roll your clothes lengthwise if you do not fold. Sometimes I have an extra shirt or an extra thin sweater like this that I can fit in if I roll it lengthwise and then pack it lengthwise against the length of the suitcase. Another travel hack is to help you not have to pack as many liquids in your liquids bag and by that I mean you're going to pack just a little container of your special shampoo and you're going to mix it in your hand with only a small amount with the hotel's shampoo, a small amount. I've also packed only a Lush shampoo bar or they also have conditioner bars. I have Dry Scalp and there's only one at the Lush website. That travel hack is so that you do not have to pack so many containers in your liquids bag. This travel hack is for a hotel room. You can pack your makeup brushes in a crossbody bag purse and then when you get to your hotel room just put them in the little mug that the hotel provides. You can turn the paper cup that hotels provide upside down and poke your toothbrush in the bottom of it to stand up so it does not have to touch the counter and also if you are in a pinch sometimes the hotel room TVs have a USB thing on the back that your charging cord could plug into so you do not need a wall outlet especially if you're in another country. If you're going to a dry vacation location like Las Vegas or Phoenix Arizona you might want to use this travel hack and that is to pack moisturizer and tinted moisturizer as your foundation instead of your regular makeup. Another travel hack is if you are in the airplane and you need a pillow but you do not want to take a pillow because the airline may charge you. You're going to fill a compression cube which compresses the air between the clothes. You're going to pack maybe two shirts, two pairs of undies, and a sock. Zip it up. Double zip it. There's no vacuum needed in my six piece set and then that's going to be in the bottom of your personal item bag. In your flight you're going to take it out. If you need a pillow you can put it there or against the wall of the airplane. If the airline checks your bag last minute and then they lose it you also have an extra outfit ready to go. That helped me go viral on Instagram a couple of years ago. If you are desperate I have shown this on Instagram. This is a neck pillow. To me it's easy to fit in a bag. It's a little odd okay so hang with me. This little part right here is the magic okay and this helps your head not fall forward but it's very sticky right here so that would be my only complaint but you put it around your face. See it's a little odd but you're going to put it around your head and you have to make sure that the back part is down and your back holds it in place. Somehow it is magic because you fall asleep your head does not fall over to the side too much. It stops it because of that pull right there or it doesn't pull over to that side and it doesn't fall forward. It is amazing. One of our viewers recommended it and I asked the man in Australia who designed this or the owner not Noddy. I asked him to send me one and he did a couple of months ago so I've been trying it out but I haven't had a long flight that I could test it out on. Since we're moving into the hopefully fall season and winter travel months I want to remind you of this easy travel hack. If you have a raincoat or if you have a winter coat wear it in the airport or drape it over your carry-on suitcase in the airport. The travel hack is this. Inside their pockets you're going to have a little trash bag. When you get into the airplane or to the gate you want to take off your jacket roll it up and put it in that trash bag and then that can fit above your suitcase or above your personal item bag. Especially if you're traveling to two different climates and it's hot here but it's freezing cold there. That's worked for me being in Houston. Humid. Another travel hack is an easy one. Use scotch guard to spray on some of your shoes to help them be more water repellent or protect them from the stains and then also on any canvas bag like my love book backpacks. Spray them on there for stains. Here's a travel hack for your passport. This is one of the most watched videos in vertical form on my youtube channel and I tell people in case you lose your passport here's what you do. Open it to the very back cover and take a picture of that barcode and people are like well it's the same information that is on the inside picture page of your passport but here's why. If you have a picture of the barcode then some stranger does not see all of your personal information. Sometimes that passport number has your identity attached to it and which makes it easier to steal your identity. So that anytime you want to replace your passport that's going to make it faster because the optimizing whatever machine can scan it and read it instantly but also other people who are in your hotel room who might look at the copy of your picture page of your passport and steal your identity that way. That person may not if it's just the barcode. Does that make sense? So it's protecting your identity from the copies of your passport being stolen and one relief for all travelers out there traveling with a passport to know is if your passport booklet is open all the way that's the only time that a criminal could steal your identity from the chip that's in that book of your passport. Your identity is inside this little chip that is embedded in the booklet or the outer cover of your passport booklet which helps with stolen identity protection very much. Your credit cards definitely can have your information stolen from the chip and that's why you need to take like an RFID wallet that has the blocking technology or you can take the little sleeves that are RFID blocking for each card if that helps. Here's a travel hack for packing bras. One of my husband's favorite boxer companies is Tommy John and they suggest that you stack your bras and then in each cup pack it with molding things like socks like I did with my homecoming dress in high school. Stuff each cup with socks. Another tip is to have a packing cube not the compression kind but a packing cube. Have the cup be in the corner section and you fold the bra in half so that the cups fit inside each other. Match the cups to the corner of the packing cube or match them to the corner of your suitcase is what I have also done before and I would also do that with packing a hat. Pack it upside down and then fill the head of the hat with a sweater, shirts, socks. One travel hack that Tommy John suggested is this. You're going to pack your bra, stack two bras if you need to, inside a gallon baggie and you're going to blow some air like seal it halfway and blow some air in the gallon baggie and that air somewhat protects it once you seal the bag. These travel hacks are how to pack shoes. You can pack them in a shower cap. You can pack shoes in the free newspaper bag if you still get that like we do. You can pack them in a produce bag and remember they do not have to be packed together in carry-on suitcase. It's like Tetris. Just make them fit where there is space. One travel tip is to pack shoes first. You've got the bulky items first and then you can fill in the little pockets and pack socks or other items inside your shoes. One of my viewers named Vicky had a new travel hack for 2024 and she says that she packs her makeup brushes in an umbrella bag like the travel size umbrella bag. I do now have this hardshell case. Oh my word, you can pack so many different things in that hardshell umbrella case. So smart Vicky. You can also roll up a sweater especially a fragile sweater really nice or one that has like a waffle weave or holes all through it that you would wear over a tank top or something inside a shower cap. One travel hack that I do, I finally bought, I had a big one like a long one with a mirror but I found out I didn't really need that mirror or the space. So I pack a magnetized customizable little makeup palette. I've always used Mary Kay. My friend uses Saint which they have a really pretty palette but you can just customize it and I only take like my neutral colors with maybe one or two accents for eyeshadow. You think you're going to dress up a lot or put on makeup sometimes on vacation and you end up being so casual and not caring sometimes. One travel hack that I figured out after about 10 years of packing an only carry-on suitcase because as a pilot's wife we used to only fly standby. I learned if you pack your liquid containers horizontally you can fit more in. Is that not so smart? But here is what I just learned in 2024. I was packing all my liquid containers like as one okay and I'll be like oh gosh I can barely fit anything else in there but look at all of the space that I'm losing. If you pack different sized containers, my travel tip is to pack the small containers at the last and you're going to fill in those long containers first. I have two toothpaste tubes in there. Anyway that's going to help you as well so you're not wasting any space and then your long skinny containers like a tide pen which is a travel hack in itself for any stain that comes up. Those or your eyeshadow primer or mascara those would fit lengthwise on the ends of your bag. This is my really skinny bag that I pack if I'm going to Europe because they have really strict airport security rules for liquids. Another travel hack that people love, I love sharing it, is this. It's very old. Instead of packing like your makeup remover in a travel size you just squirt your makeup remover on cotton balls and then zip them in a little ziploc baggie and they stay moist and one of our viewers said that if she's on a trip longer than five days then she will add a couple of drops of water to the bag to add some moisture to the bag. I hope that helps. This travel hack is for checked luggage and what you're going to do is or what's what this is mainly for is if you need to pack like a fragile glass bottle of something or like a something fragile okay you're gonna put your socks over your hand like that and they're gonna fit inside your shoe okay for protection and then you're going to slide that glass bottle down in your socks before putting them in your shoe for added protection. The newest travel hack for me is if you are flying to Europe. I bought a dual voltage curling iron. Now I do not have to pack those bulky converter that will I can plug my curling iron into. Real quick the travel tip for converters versus adapters is your curling iron or hairdryer that you buy here in America they have to be plugged into a converter before they can be plugged into an adapter that fits that wall for that country. I have a whole video I'll make pop up up here somewhere for you that explains it in more depth and my river cruise trip video explains it as well but it actually worked it worked just fine here plugging into my outlet and it worked totally easily in Europe. Another travel hack that I learned in Brussels for my Christmas market trip is pack more adapters. We have so many electronics in some hotels even this fancy Marriott hotel right off of the Grand Place in Brussels only had one outlet in the bedroom part so if you are traveling with anybody you need more outlets and you need more adapters which have the outlets in them. Mine has like three so highly recommend that. Another travel hack is make sure that your battery charger for your phone the portable portable charger goes in your purse because you're going to be taking so many pictures during your vacation or the battery is draining faster because you're using video form videoing those fun family memories you're going to need to charge it on the way back home or in the dark if you're out in the dark. This travel hack is for washing your face. I absolutely love these wristbands now that came with this awesome headband that the younger people are wearing now for their videos on makeup and all that kind of stuff. The wristbands stop the water while you're washing your face they stop the water from dripping down your arms especially if you're wearing a long sleeved shirt for your pajama shirt these block all the water well they are bulky I mean kind of but a travel hack is to just pack your little headband things and wrap them around your wrist twice and that would also block the water. If you've never tried those wristband things y'all they are like gold for this 52 year old lady. Another travel tip that's for safety is in different countries if you use a taxi ask the amount of the fare before you get into the car and then if you are using an uber always make sure the license plate matches what the uber app says the car is going to have. One travel hack to pack less is to pack several tide sink packets they do count as a liquid so they need to be in your liquids bag you can wash like three or four shirts lots of undies in just one sink full of that washing or use the bathtub and the hotel shampoo. Another travel hack especially for a long flight beside a crying baby is noise canceling headphones or noise canceling airpods. Mine I finally got these last winter I think maybe two winters ago for Christmas they close that noise immediately you need to listen when the flight attendants are making their safety briefing at the beginning my husband just got noise canceling headphones this year and he's like wow that really blocks the noise they are worth it. Here's a travel hack for packing medicine make sure you have your essential must-have medicine in your purse lineup bag instead of in your carry-on suitcase. I have a whole video on how you need to pack it for international and domestic flights that is has been really confusing at the beginning but I give many scenarios through that video so please watch the entire video before asking me what if this what if that because I think that video is going to help you but if the airline has to check your luggage last minute and they are running out of bags so soon or either they want to get people on faster so they're saying oh now we have to check the bags and they lose your luggage you are out and that must have medicine needs to be on your person. Another travel hack is to divide your cash and stash it in different locations like the padding of your sports bra let's say you're not going to put it all in one item that could get stolen and I have a great video about Amazon products and tips and tricks that you can do to prevent theft when traveling. You also do not want to take your regular wallet because you only need a few cards that's why I recommend like a thin RFID type wallet and then also I recommend toothpaste tablets if you are absolutely strapped on liquid bag space and then I haven't found a stick moisturizer that I like I tried the Attique brand and it is too hard like it takes too long to soften it up it never got soft enough to swipe on my face for some moisturizer. Okay if you are going to be on a long flight I have a great video of like 11 different long flight outfits with some tips and tricks throughout that video that I'll put up here at some point. Alright thanks for your time and I wish you many smart travel hacks that you learn on your next trip.