Tourism feels like all fun and games until you grow up and learn that there is a whole lot of planning and plotting involved in it. As kids, if we were lucky enough, our parents would take us on vacations while we got excited the night before. However, with time, we come to terms with the fact that tourism involves many tiny secrets that parents never really told us. Here are some tourist-based secrets to make your trip an efficiently planned one.
Tourism Secrets You Need to Know
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Booking in Advance
The booking in advance rule applies to every booking you plan to make throughout your trip. Our parents never told us this, but the best way to save money while traveling is to never do anything at the last minute. Whether booking your plane tickets, hotel arrangements, Airbnb’s, or rental cars, always make sure that you do it well in advance to avoid the increased rates that come on urgent bookings. Flights will be the most inexpensive, around three weeks to four months of your departure date.
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Packing Dilemma
Our parents kept us out of the packing dilemma and never learned how to do it! However, not that the secret is out, we’d like to tell you, it’s not rocket science. Get yourself travel bags and learn the items that you absolutely can’t live without. Once you have them lined up before you, fold them all military-style and start stuffing them in. Military-style folding is the best way to save space.
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Reward Programs
This is yet another sly trick that our parents had under their sleeves all this time. Frequent travelers would be aware that if you are often on the go, there are tons of reward programs, travel-based, that can work in your favor. These programs give you points for making purchases on certain days or locations.
Once you have tons of points saved up, you can take care of your accommodation and get rid of the expenses such as plane tickets or even hotel rent for a couple of nights. Credits and reward programs are available everywhere, so keep an eye out for them.
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Connecting Flights
Many travelers tend to get annoyed at the idea of connecting flights. Sure, it does sound like a tad bit of a hassle, but it helps save up a lot of money in the long run. According to experts, if you wish to save a couple of hundred dollars, opt for connecting flights instead of a direct one. The most you will have to do is spend a couple of hours at an airport in a country that you’ve never been to. But, that’s not so bad today with so many shopping opportunities and entertainment available at airports.
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Emailing Details
Lastly, our generation is known for losing things. No matter how mindful you are, theft and loss are very common for travelers. Save yourself from the hassle of being left stranded because of a lost passport, and always keep a picture of the scan of your passport. Email yourself all the major details such as passport scans, flight tickets, bus tickets, and more. Also, keep screenshots of all these things so that you are never in trouble, even if some pickpocket ends up getting the best out of you.
Travelling is all rainbows and butterflies until you start dealing with all the responsibility that comes with it. Keep these five major secret hacks for traveling in mind, and you can be sure of having a smooth trip.