Thursday Thirteen #4: Travel Tips

I have often been told by friends and family that they would love to travel as much as we do, but it is so hard and they therefore do not.  Traveling isn’t really easy for me either, but I have learned a few lessons that make it a bit easier.  Here is a list of things I have learned the hard way. 

 

1. I used to bring a liter of water for each member of the family on every trip, carry it along with us and guzzle it down.  I was very worried about becoming dehydrated.  I used to have to pee every 15 minutes and spend the entire trip painfully holding it or pursuing all the creepy bathrooms around the world.  Now I hydrate a couple of days before the trip and for a couple of days after the trip, only drinking moderately while traveling.  I never carry water anymore and I rarely pee in strange places.
2. I used to bring snacks on trips.  Granola bars, nuts, trail mix, dried fruit would all be put in my bag with the 4 liters of water.  Heavy bag!  I always used to have a tummy ache while traveling.  I never could figure out why my belly always hurt on trips but never at any other time?  It was all the snacks, they are all gas producing snacks, which don’t mix well with hours of sitting on planes, trains and automobiles.  Snacks are no longer brought on trips.
3. I used to splurge on trips.  I would think to myself, that I am on vacation I should treat myself.  I would eat and drink with gusto, and feel icky.  Now I eat well at home, treat myself at home or near home.  On trips I eat sparingly.  I think of trips as fun time and eat to feel good physically.  While traveling I don’t really burn any calories and everything that I put in my mouth just sits in my belly and hurts, so I only eat two or three bites and I feel much better.  Surprising but true.  Even at hotels I only eat a little bit of plain boring normal food and I don’t get run down or belly aches.
4. I used to wear sweats or jeans on trips, dress comfortably.  Now I dress up, I am conscious of wearing something comfortable but I make sure it looks professional.  The quality of how people treat you on a trip is very influential on the quality of your experience.  People treat you better when you look professional.  I always wear a button down shirt, loafers and slacks.  I fix my hair and even wear makeup.  It really does make a huge difference in the quality of interaction with all the people, both other travelers and professionals.
5. I used to keep to myself.  I used to quietly stare off into space and not interact with anyone in the crowded airports and train stations.  Now I make eye contact and small talk with everyone.  It not only influences how they treat me, but it makes me feel better to have acquaintances.  It may be all in my head but smiling and saying hello to the people in line or the lady behind the counter really makes a huge difference in the quality of my trip.
6. I used to bring way too much crap.  This is a hard one especially with kids, you don’t want to be caught somewhere and need something and not have it.  But, really carrying a ton of crap you don’t need is worse.  I have really scaled down in what I bring.  One toothbrush, one extra pair of underwear and that is it.  Just kidding, but wouldn’t that be great?  If you really need it you can buy it, but really you don’t need it!
7. I used to bring a bag just for Lily, full of snacks and toys, and books, and her favorite blanket, her favorite stuffed animal, etc.  This never worked.  She would throw each item on the floor and scream louder and louder.  All the crap just got in the way and never helped her to feel better in the least.  So now I bring one coloring book and a couple of crayons.  
8. I practice traveling type circumstances for a couple of months before the trip.  I take her out to lunch, force her to take naps in her car seat while I drive around.  I take her to crowded food court type places and have picnics.  I make her take a nap in the bed with me, all kinds of things that we can introduce at home a little at a time to make the trip a little less difficult for her.
9. I make sure to let Lily run a lot when we have the chance.  We have one person stand in line while the other person chases Lily around the line or nearby.  We let her fun up and down the long crowded terminals.  We skip and hop and dance and basically act like idiots, but she does so much better when she is physically exhausted.  I cannot tell you how many laps I have run around airport terminals, but we take turns on Lily duty and it seems to work.
10. I used to want to sit at the front of the plane, to get off first.  Now I try to get tickets at the back.  With a little one the back is awesome.  There is usually a little bit of standing room in the back of the plane, for a screaming little one it is nice to have a place to stand up and rock them, a place that is out of the way.  We spent the entire flight from Japan to America and then back from America to Japan taking turns standing up and rocking Lily.  She just wouldn’t sit in her seat, she wouldn’t sleep, it was nice to have that place to stand.  There was a kitchen back there and the flight attendants were very nice about letting us pace around in a circle rocking Lily.
11. I used to just show up places and see what was there and see what I felt like doing at the time.  I discovered that doing research makes a world of difference.  Instead of buying a map when I get there, I buy the map ahead of time.  I pour over the map and memorize the how to get where I want to go.  Weather it is walking, or driving I know the way before I get there.  I know the land marks, I have the path highlighted on the map and the map in my bag.  So much stress, so many arguments have occurred because we were trying to figure out where we were going while driving down the road or while wandering around the streets.  We even would show up in a city in Italy, buy the map when we got off the train and spend the day not knowing where we were or what we were looking at.  Now I know what I am doing, where I am going and what I am looking at.  The rest of the family they don’t care but having one person lead the way makes it smooth, so do the prep work it really pays off.
12. I used to carry a backpack and not a purse.  Now I carry a small purse so that the essentials are easy to access.  Like tickets, a pen, id, money, toothbrush, the map, phone numbers.  It is very important to have easy access to these items, throwing them in the backpack and digging around for everything all the time is a recipe for disaster.  Leave the backpack at home anyways, less is more.
13. I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping on trips.  I would never be able to sleep away from home and this contributed to my feeling crappy while traveling.  Now I incorporate physical exercise everyday.  We make sure there is a gym at our hotel or nearby.  Or we will make sure we briskly walk at least three miles, everyday.  I think one of the reasons I had so much trouble sleeping is that I would spend the majority of the time sitting and exercise helps.   

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