How We Travel
A few weeks ago, I was appreciating insights from Mali’s extremely
long trip to the UK, and I commented that I would write our travel tips. Her post and writing down my own made me realize that how we travel (what is important to us when we go somewhere) is so personal that what works for one person probably won’t work for another. But in case this helps anyone:
- We have a master packing list that we use for every trip. It has everything we need for a weekend at the beach or three weeks in France. When we’re going on a trip, I hit duplicate and delete things off the list that we don’t need, such as a passport at the beach. It’s a streamlined list, so I never overpack or forget anything. I used every piece of clothing on this trip, but I also fit all in a carry-on.
- Speaking of which, we pack all clothes and non-liquid toiletries in carry-on bags. Then we pack a duffle bag inside a suitcase and check it. Our plane tickets often come with one checked bag each. The checked bag has our meals (see below) and toiletries. During the trip, the large suitcase collects dirty laundry, and when we pop out the duffle bag at the last stop, it gives us an extra bag for things we bring back with us.
- No matter where we go, we bring breakfast, coffee, and lunch with us. Those meals don’t matter to us, and we save a ton of money and time that way. I have a scoop of peanut butter and VIA coffee in the room, and usually a kind bar for an early lunch. Then we get a snack and dinner out.
- We also sometimes do what the kids call grocery dinners. Instead of getting takeaway, we go to the grocery store and get veggies and yogurt and crackers or prepared foods. Can you tell that meals don’t really matter to us unless it’s a favourite restaurant?
- We record a family audio journal every night. We started doing this when the twins were eight (when I first got a recording device), and we only do it for longer trips (vs. a weekend at the beach). By talking through the day for 10 – 15 minutes every night, we capture all the details and everyone’s memories, and we go back and listen to them and remember things we’ve forgotten all the time. We weren’t great about getting everything down in a written journal, but the audio journal has been a low-lift with a big pay off.
What are your best travel tips?
3 comments
The checking of one suitcase has been great for the last couple trips we took. But if it was free, we’d each check a half empty bag.
My daughter has been planning a trip for her and her friends and it’s fascinating to hear what she’s picked up from her father and me. Always take breakfast of some sort – it’s really not worth the expense. And a water bottle – you will always need that. Her friends wanted an AirB&B with a kitchen – she was derisive because no one really cooks. She had days planned out with lots of flex time, so things could just flow.
I’m tired of travel planning. I need unlimited travel funds so I can get someone else to do it.
Ooh, this is fascinating.
I like the “bag-inside-bag” idea – might need to implement that… (for laundry, we try to bring an actual laundry bag or 2… but suitcase might work us, too).
I also really like how you do the daily recap audio-recordings! I typically try to write down daily highlights, but actual voice recordings sound more fun and can include everyone’s take on the day.
When you say you bring breakfast/lunch… do you mean, when you travel abroad, you would bring food stuff from the US? For 4 people for, say, 10 days? Or maybe I misunderstand and you mean you take breakfast/lunch with you when you go exploring?
When we travel, we typically make our own breakfasts, pack lunches to go, and then we are off… Packed lunches give us the flexibility to eat any time, anywhere we want. We usually make our own dinners, too (for 5 people, or 7 if my parents come along, it’s just easier that way – and we like staying at airbnb’s with kitchens). We’ll be going to Portugal in April, so we’ll see how things will go – we can go grocery shopping (it would be fun!) and make some meals, but maybe eat out a bit more than usual…
Fascinating. We are all so different! I always put at least one change of clothes in my carry-on, but couldn’t possibly fit everything in.
Bad news though. When you come to NZ, you won’t be allowed to bring food into the country. If you try, you must declare it (the little beagles at the airport will sniff it out or you can be hit with big fines), and there’s no guarantee you’ll be allowed to keep some of the items. Definitely no fruit etc though. You can buy it all here of course.
Our last trip we ate at our self-contained flats a lot – mostly “grocery dinners” with pre-prepared meals, or sometimes we cooked. And we always had breakfast there too. If we stayed in hotels that included breakfasts in our room rates, then breakfast became lunch. But I like searching out little cafes for breakfast (coffee and croissant or something) and lunch.