5 tips for travelling domestic or abroad

Being a frequent traveler means that you experience the good and bad of traveling, and along the way I managed to acquire a couple of tips that made my travelling experience much better. Here is a list that I would like to share with you; hopefully this can save you from committing the same mistakes that I did.

1. Pack lightly !

I know it seems cliché but whenever I have to travel, I always end up packing way more things that I planned for, and I always end up having too many things in my suitcase. Last year, I went to Barcelona for an Internship, and I hadn’t realized how many unnecessary piece of clothing I brought there until the last day of my trip two month later, when I realized that most of the things I wanted to bring back were the things that I had acquired during my travels over Europe.

2. Don’t let jet-lag ruin your trip!

I somewhat became a pro at flying over the course of this semester as I have to go to Miami to tend for the family business once every three weeks. And one thing that I have learned is that sleeping is essential if you don’t want to be all groggy and in a bad mood when you arrive at your destination. I recommend sleeping as much as you can on the plane to avoid that feeling. And if you’re like me and can’t sleep because of the noise, invest in a pair of noise canceling headphone; you won’t regret them. Also, drink lots of water once you land, pretend that it’s your time zone and just follow your routine.

3. Plan ahead.

Be sure to know what you want to do when you travel abroad. I suggest making a list of the things you want to do and numbering them in order of most important; however, do not forge to leave one day here and there to allow yourself to discover the country on your own. While I was in Barcelona, I made a list of the things I wanted to do to visit all the ‘touristy’ places that everybody wanted to visit. But I also left 2 days during the course of my internship during which I allowed myself to wander across the city of Barcelona and found little places that, although not as popular, stole my heart as I found them to be the most authentic discoveries I made during my trip.

4. Flat tire policy (which has nothing to do with actual tires).

This one happened to me recently when I was flying back to Los Angeles from New York. I had gone to New York for the thanksgiving holidays this past year; however, when we were going to the airport to get the flight back to Los Angeles, we hadn’t realized that so many people would be wanting to fly back on the same day. Long story short, we missed our flight because of traffic. Thank god, we remembered that some airlines have what they call a flat tire policy. This means that if you have a sort of accident, the airline will try and accommodate you. We were flying American Airlines that day, and they were very understanding to our situation and let us catch a later plane. That was a really long day, but we eventually saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and I was thankful for that policy.

5. Try and enjoy every moment.

I know that I can be hard to go out of the nice hotel that you may be staying at when travelling abroad, but you should try and enjoy all the little moments from your trip. A lot of people do not have the opportunity to travel and see the wonders we have around the world, so I try to enjoy it as much as I can when I travel. When I went to Barcelona for my internship during this past summer, I took that opportunity to travel across Europe during weekends, as the train tickets and even airfare are affordable. So almost every week end, I would be in another country, visiting family or friends along the way. It was very tiring; however, I made the most of my trip and enjoyed every single moment.

I hope that these trips were helpful to you all. There are many more tips for travelling that others may give you, but these are all I can think of in the moment. Please do share your own tip down in the comments section, as I would love to have some of your travelling insight!