1. Don’t always believe the airline’s website when it comes to using miles
After I was unable to find any mile-saver awards seats online for a wide selection of days and routes, I called the airline. An agent told me that the airline’s website can’t book seats for their partner airlines, but agents can. Within minutes, I had enough options that it was difficult to choose between them.
May Cronin, Dallas, Tex.
2. A hotel pool is hours of free fun
No matter where we traveled with our kids, the hotel pool was always a big plus. I used to pack a bag of items that made the pool even better, including a small flexible pool Frisbee, an inflatable beach ball, a few colourful plastic items, and last but not least, goggles to protect the kids’ eyes from the chlorine. I also brought along a few suction-cup hooks for hanging the
wet suites inside the hotel tub for drip-drying.
Mary Crow, Glenville, Pa.
3. Tally spending at the end of a trip
Last year I traveled to Greece with three friends. We knew we didn’t want to spend time calculating proportionate shares of the dinner bills, so we kept a running tab of all expenses in a little note-book. Whoever was up for it would pay a bill, so only one person at a time fussed with money, and this way we all kept pretty close to even. At the end of the trip, the total expense amount was divided evenly, and those who’d paid less reimbursed those who had paid more.
Mary Davis, Round Rock, Tex.
4. Prevent accidents in showers abroad
Grab rails and nonskid surfaces aren’t common in European bathtubs and showers. I pack a few decorative rubber pads that have nonadhesive suction cups, so I can use them when I needed to prevent a slip or fall, and then I take them with me to the next hotel.
Martin Day, Raleigh, N.C.
5. Put an address label on your one-time-use camera
On a trip I exchanged disposable cameras with a traveler so we could feature in our own photos, however, we got mixed up with whose camera was whose. If we’d labelled the cameras we would avoid this problem.
Mark Egan, Rhinebeck, N.Y.
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When at home I ride a motorcycle, and have become used to using a zippered wallet with a chain on a daily basis. I also travel around the world a lot. I discovered that my cycle wallet makes a great travel doc wallet. It’s chained to me all the time, a passport fits in it perfectly, the zipper keeps everything together, and I even use is as a lumbar support on the airplane — it provides just enough back support without pushing me forward (I have long legs!). You can even carry it in a sport coat pocket while it’s still chained to your belt in dressier situations.
We only use carry on bags now, like most travelers, and always use a TSA lock in case the overhead bins are full and they have to take my bag from the cabin to check it.
When travelling don’t forget dental floss as this
can be used for reparing many things I was hiking in Nepal and one strap of my backpack broke – I sewed it
with the floss and it was as solid as can be
Not only should you address label a disposable camera it is wize to photgraph an address label with phone number on the first photo taken with your digital camera. That way, if you lose your camera and it happens to be found by an honest person they can contact you. Also, when formating the memory card format all but the first address photo. That way you won’t have to re photo the address card. I use a regular address label, add the phone number to it, paste it to a larger cardboard, pin it to a wall and make a close uo shot of it.