I'd like to think of myself as a pretty well travelled individual. Over the last 10 years I've found myself making memories all over Europe, and with doing so I've picked up a trick or two.
Travel can be one of the most amazing experiences, but it can also be costly, and a bit of a hassle sometimes, which is why it's so important so take note of travel hacks. And with that in mind I thought I would share my own tips that will make travel a little easier and save you a few quid too.
Need quick transport in a city you don't speak the language? Ask any hotel reception to call a taxi for you. Unfortunately for those who like easy travel, Uber isn't available everywhere yet. So when you need transport and fast, you might find it tricky to communicate with taxi companies if you don't speak the language. If you are near a hotel however it's likely that the receptionist will speak English and be able to order you a fuss free taxi, whether you're staying there or not. Yep it's a little cheeky but I've not yet met a receptionist who wasn't willing to help me out!
Out and about but an item of your clothing has ripped, or snapped? Ask any hotel reception for a sewing kit to fix it quick. When exploring beautiful Almeria a few years back, the strap on my playsuit snapped and I didn't have time to return to my own hotel before my tour started. I nipped into the closest hotel and asked the receptionist very nicely if they had a sewing kit I could use. Luckily they did so I soon had a fully functioning playsuit with minimal hassle.
Low on phone battery? It's always worth keeping a whole phone charger in your bag incase you visit a cafe or bar with an available plug socket. When I go camping I also keep the charger for my battery packs in my bag so that I can charge those up at the pub as I rarely have access to electricity while camping.
Helped yourself to the drinks and snacks in your hotel room mini bar and now you're facing a bill larger that it should be? Restore the items with shop bought replacements. Hotel mini bar items are often incredibly expensive compared to buying them in regular stores so depending on how much you scoffed you could save yourself a good few quid by replacing them.
Minimal hand luggage allowance on your flight? Just hide anything extra you bring! Buy anything from the airport shops, ask for a large carrier bag and put your forbidden hand luggage inside. Most airlines won't have a limit on the amount of duty free shopping you can buy and wont check what's actually inside your shopping bag, meaning you can bring along whatever you want as long as it will fit discreetly inside a duty free carrier bag.
Want a cheeky bev on the airplane but don't want to spend a small fortune? Smuggle it on. I'm not sure about the legalities of this one but let's say in theory you bought a small bottle of alcohol in the duty free store which could be quite cheap. In theory you could also buy a 600ml bottle of Pepsi, drink half of it and then refill the bottle with the alcohol, discarding the empty spirit bottle in an airport bin. I have it on good authority that a whole bottle of 20cl Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum fits completely into half a bottle of Pepsi and also matches the colour quite closely meaning no one on the airplane would be able to tell it was anything other than a regular bottle of Pepsi - in theory.
Arriving in a new place? Always take a free walking tour! If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know I'm a huge advocate for free walking tours, but for a good reason. If you're new to a city taking a free walking tour provides you with an affordable way to view important parts of the city, as well as gaining valuable knowledge from the guide. Often guides will also hand out free resources like vouchers and city maps which you might not get for free elsewhere.
You can find more reasons to take a free walking tour here.
Hotel with no pool? No problem, just nip to the hotel next door! When on one of my recent trips I met a lad who was working in a small Spanish town. His apartment block didn't have a pool so when he wanted to go swimming he simply found out which local hotels had easy access swimming pools. I've never done this one myself but I think it's a brilliant idea!
So those were my top cheeky travel hacks! I've love to know some of the travel hacks you sweat by! Let's have a chat about them on twitter or in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So here are my top cheeky travel hacks...
Need quick transport in a city you don't speak the language? Ask any hotel reception to call a taxi for you. Unfortunately for those who like easy travel, Uber isn't available everywhere yet. So when you need transport and fast, you might find it tricky to communicate with taxi companies if you don't speak the language. If you are near a hotel however it's likely that the receptionist will speak English and be able to order you a fuss free taxi, whether you're staying there or not. Yep it's a little cheeky but I've not yet met a receptionist who wasn't willing to help me out!
Out and about but an item of your clothing has ripped, or snapped? Ask any hotel reception for a sewing kit to fix it quick. When exploring beautiful Almeria a few years back, the strap on my playsuit snapped and I didn't have time to return to my own hotel before my tour started. I nipped into the closest hotel and asked the receptionist very nicely if they had a sewing kit I could use. Luckily they did so I soon had a fully functioning playsuit with minimal hassle.
Low on phone battery? It's always worth keeping a whole phone charger in your bag incase you visit a cafe or bar with an available plug socket. When I go camping I also keep the charger for my battery packs in my bag so that I can charge those up at the pub as I rarely have access to electricity while camping.
Helped yourself to the drinks and snacks in your hotel room mini bar and now you're facing a bill larger that it should be? Restore the items with shop bought replacements. Hotel mini bar items are often incredibly expensive compared to buying them in regular stores so depending on how much you scoffed you could save yourself a good few quid by replacing them.
Minimal hand luggage allowance on your flight? Just hide anything extra you bring! Buy anything from the airport shops, ask for a large carrier bag and put your forbidden hand luggage inside. Most airlines won't have a limit on the amount of duty free shopping you can buy and wont check what's actually inside your shopping bag, meaning you can bring along whatever you want as long as it will fit discreetly inside a duty free carrier bag.
Want a cheeky bev on the airplane but don't want to spend a small fortune? Smuggle it on. I'm not sure about the legalities of this one but let's say in theory you bought a small bottle of alcohol in the duty free store which could be quite cheap. In theory you could also buy a 600ml bottle of Pepsi, drink half of it and then refill the bottle with the alcohol, discarding the empty spirit bottle in an airport bin. I have it on good authority that a whole bottle of 20cl Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum fits completely into half a bottle of Pepsi and also matches the colour quite closely meaning no one on the airplane would be able to tell it was anything other than a regular bottle of Pepsi - in theory.
Arriving in a new place? Always take a free walking tour! If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know I'm a huge advocate for free walking tours, but for a good reason. If you're new to a city taking a free walking tour provides you with an affordable way to view important parts of the city, as well as gaining valuable knowledge from the guide. Often guides will also hand out free resources like vouchers and city maps which you might not get for free elsewhere.
You can find more reasons to take a free walking tour here.
Hotel with no pool? No problem, just nip to the hotel next door! When on one of my recent trips I met a lad who was working in a small Spanish town. His apartment block didn't have a pool so when he wanted to go swimming he simply found out which local hotels had easy access swimming pools. I've never done this one myself but I think it's a brilliant idea!
So those were my top cheeky travel hacks! I've love to know some of the travel hacks you sweat by! Let's have a chat about them on twitter or in the comments below!
Thanks for reading!
x
If you liked this post don't forget to click here to follow me on Bloglovin!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for more travel tips?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
