Travel Hacks

The search online for the best travel hacks to make your next holiday easier can bring up thousands of results. But without reading up on the travel hacks others have discovered, what could you be missing? You may be packing your bag in a way that isn’t efficient, minimizing the room you have to spare. Or you could book a flight with a certain airline or at a certain time and in doing so, spend hundreds of dollars more than you need to! Whether you are a first time traveller preparing for your first steps in a foreign country, or a seasoned traveller that has a number of tips under your belt already, it can pay to keep up to date with the latest travel tips and advice.

To help travellers cut through the outdated and irrelevant travel advice, Fast Cover created an infographic to identify and share the most popular travel tips for 2016. The infographic provides the travel hacks that can save travelers money and make each step of a holiday- from booking flights to returning home- simpler.

To do so, over 500 travel hack articles were sourced and organized according to their popularity (indicated by the number of shares each article had). The most popular articles were then carefully looked over to identify the most useful tips for travellers in 2016.

The tips are presented in the five stages of every trip; stages which travellers of all kinds can identify with.

Stage One: Booking

The first stage is of course booking your holiday, including flights, accommodation and travel insurance. Some tips many travellers would perhaps have heard of- such as booking an Airbnb or hostel to save money on accommodation. Other tips that can save you money are less well known. For example, did you take the time to compare the cost of a flight on a Tuesday to the cost of the flight on a Friday? You might find that the cost differs significantly. The infographic suggests booking on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or on the weekend to catch the best fare. You may also get a cheaper deal if you delete your cookies before booking your flight as there’s a chance you’ll be shown more expensive fares for flights you’ve searched for numerous times.

Getting the best deal on travel insurance simply requires time and effort. Travel Insurance companies offer different policies at different prices and with different benefits, so it’s a good idea to compare a few. And if you get a policy with cancellation cover, the earlier you purchase it the better. Once your policy with cancellation cover is issued, you have the confidence of knowing that if you become sick or injured before you travel you can make a claim on lost deposits. 

Stage Two: Preparing

Here are a number of ways you can save money. Suspending your gym membership and any other membership you have can save a little money, while turning message bank and data off on your phone will save you even more. Remember to notify your bank so that if you use a credit or debit card overseas they don’t suspend it!

Another part of preparing is packing. It often sounds like a simpler task than it is. To save space, try rolling your clothes and using your shoes to store other items like socks. A spare USB cable can be helpful through transit, as can packing older clothes which you can donate during your travels to lighten your bag as you go (or make room for souvenirs!). Take a power board and you’ll be the most popular person in an airport or a hostel.

Stage Three: Being in Transit

While waiting for a plane can be the bane of a traveller’s time overseas, it can be greatly improved with a few tips. Have a pen and you won’t stress so much about filling in arrival and departure forms. An empty water bottle will save you paying for $4 bottles of water. Personalise your luggage and you’ll be less likely to miss it in the airport or at the baggage claim.

Stage Four: Getting Around Like a Local

The fourth stage is the one that makes the first three stages all worthwhile: being at your destination. After getting a good exchange rate through using an ATM you can buy a local SIM and save on communicating with travelling companions. The offline maps you’ve downloaded will make navigating a breeze and using Uber, you’ll save some money on getting around.

Fifth Stage: Going Home

And then there is the last stage. The one no traveller enjoying their holiday wants to experience: going home. Asking to checkout late and Googling your flight to make sure it’s on time will lessen the negativity you feel about having to go back home. To dodge experiencing the post-holiday blues, use the time travelling home to think about where you’ll go next!

John Golicz, Executive Editor, 1000TravelTips.com in collaboration with Fast Cover | April 11, 2016

Fast Cover is an Australian travel insurance company that has been providing cover to Australians of any age since 2010. Their aim is to make getting travel insurance simpler. The company has experienced rapid growth due primarily to the philosophy of making travel insurance easy to understand, quick to get and of the quality travellers deserve.