Tips

Travel Booking Sites

• Hopper: I use this app to book about 95% of my flights. It allows you to put in a destination and time frame you want to travel and tells you what time of year the tickets will be the cheapest. You can set it up to get alerts on your phone when ticket prices drop. Also, some airlines run really good sales on flight tickets on Black Friday. Totally worth staying up until midnight for! 

• Hostelworld: I try to always stay in cheap hostels... I'm talking like $10 a night hostels lol I only spend a few hours a night sleeping there and they usually have a functioning bathroom, bed and locker so that's really all I need! I like to book tours or excursions with the money I would have spent on a hotel.

• Tripadvisor: I use this to book all of my excursions I do. I love this site because the excursions are ranked by fellow travelers' ratings. There's also lots of comments that people leave about the tours to help you decide if it's something you would enjoy.

Before the Trip

• Travel.state.gov: The travel site I depend on the most! Here you can find travel alerts, immunizations, visa requirements and tons of other information on countries you want to visit.

• STEP log all of my trips, the places I'm staying and emergency contacts on this site. This let's the US embassy know where you are in case you get into trouble or need help. And it's free!

• Global Entry: This program allows me to breeze through passport control and customs coming back into the states. To apply you fill out an application, the government does an extensive background check on you and your photo and fingerprints are taken. When you arrive from at international flight into the states, you just go to a Global Entry kiosk, scan your passport and fingerprints, snap a quick photo then answer 5 quick questions. After you're done, you just walk through customs and out of the airport! So fast and so nice when I'm returning from 24 hours of traveling lol

• SPOT tracker: I bought the SPOT GPS tracker and carry it with me on my trips. It allows people (like my mom) to see where I'm at even if I don't have a cell phone signal. The Find Friends app also works internationally but you must have a cell phone signal for this to work.

• Eyewitness guides: I just love these little books! The first time I used one was in Beijing and I couldn't have gotten around without it! The books list the top things to do in each city and have great detailed small maps you can carry around. They're loaded with tons of recommended places to eat, tours, places to stay and safety tips while in that city.

• 1,000 Places to See Before You Die: Very useful book! I always try to read the section on the country I'm traveling to because it gives a great overview of the best things to do, how to get from place to place, where to stay and where to eat.

• Hydrate: I drink tons and tons of water starting about two days before my trip. It's so easy to spend 24 hours on planes and forget to drink water. Staying hydrated keeps me from getting super tired.

During the Trip

• Souvenirs: I pick a small item from each country I can easily put in my backpack and that's it! I feel like on previous trips before this year I would spend tons of money on souvenirs for myself or friends and family and most of them just got thrown away or forgotten about. I just take tons of pictures and get a magnet for my refrigerator at each place I travel to and save the 'souvenir money' for another trip! I also buy my mom a little keychain at each place because she collects them and she watches my doggies on all my trips :)

• Airport snacks: I bring an empty water bottle with me and fill it up at the water station outside the bathrooms once I get to my terminal to save from buying water at every airport and it saves plastic! I also bring cliff bars on every trip to snack on in the airport to avoid expensive airport prices. These little bars are handy if I can't find food for a few hours in another country (China for example lol).

• Travel lite: I carry a 32L backpack with me on all my trips... even to super cold places! It saves so much time in the airport not having to check baggage and wait for it after you get off your flight. It also saves you about $50 each way on some flights. Traveling lite makes things so much easier. I only take two pairs of yoga pants, two dry fit shirts, underwear, a sports bra and socks for clothes. I don't have to waste time 'picking out my outfit every morning' which is nice. It's also just easier in general traveling with less stuff to keep up with!

• Coffee & Melatonin: I totally live off coffee and melatonin on my trips! I take a melatonin before each long flight to get good sleep on the plane.

• Currency Converter: Handy little tool to use when overseas and trying to figure out how much something will cost you in USD. Don't exchange your money in the US or at the airport if you want to save a little money. 

• Open a checking account that has no international debit fees and withdrawal money from a bank once you arrive to your destination. Select the currency in that country and NOT USD to avoid additional transaction fees :) The account I use is Capital One 360 and it's worked with no problems in every country I've traveled to so far!