Pack Like a Pro!

Is packing your bag the most frustrating part of preparing for your vacation? Follow a few easy tips that will have you packing like a pro!

1. Roll your clothes. When you roll clothes, they take up less space than when you fold them. The best items to roll are skirts and pants.

2. Use layers of tissue paper for delicate items such as evening clothes. Items rolled in tissue paper tend to get less wrinkled.

3. Don’t overpack. This makes it more difficult for security screeners at the airlines to go through your bag. If they have to remove items, you run the risk of having something damaged.

4. If you’re flying, place items such as toiletries (in the approved 3 oz. size) in plastic bags for easy handling.

5. Traveling as a pair or group? Each person should place a change of clothes in someone else’s bag, in case their luggage is lost.

6. When packing a backpack, place the heavier items, or things such as dirty clothing on the bottom, and the lightest items should go on top.

7. Pack medication, paperwork and one change of clothes in a carry-on bag. Again, this saves you from being stranded without the essentials if your checked bags are lost or delayed.

8. Pack shoes in shoe bags. This keeps other items in your suitcase from getting dirty, and keeps the shoes from getting scuffed.

9. If you are flying, leave about a half-inch of space in bottles of liquid. This will keep the bottles from bursting due to changes in cabin pressure on the plane.

10. Plan on doing a lot of shopping while on vacation? Then pack one smaller suitcase and nest it inside a larger one. You can put your purchases inside the larger suitcase for the return trip.

8. Pack your laptops or other communications gadgets. This helps you communicating with important persons like online trading broker or your colleagues etc.

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Don’t Let Lost Luggage Be A Travel Nightmare

Luggage carousel at Ben-Gurion International A...
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It’s every traveler’s nightmare. You get off the plane, walk over to the baggage claim and you are left with nothing. No matter how many times that luggage carousel goes around and around, your luggage isn’t going to appear. Somewhere between point A and point B, your luggage took a detour and is now sitting miles away from where you are. Usually this type of scenario could ruin a whole vacation or business trip. However there are many helpful tips that a traveler could use to avoid allowing lost luggage to ruin a vacation.

The first tip is to not panic. Starting off a vacation in a panicked state will usually cause many other events and things throughout the vacation to go wrong. So if you find yourself with lost luggage; take a deep breath, calm down and then handle the situation with the airline. Most airlines, if they know where your luggage is, will try to get your luggage to you within 24 hours. They will even send it to your hotel so you don’t have to pick it up.

Another helpful tip is to utilize what resources you have. Inquire what items the hotel can provide you. Many hotels provide toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs and other products to those that might have forgotten to pack these items. Take advantage of what the hotels offer and pick up the items that you will need while on vacation. For items that cannot be obtained from the front desk of the hotel, make a quick stop to a local store. Many vacation hot spots have 24 hour stores where travelers can easily pick up essential items that might have been in that lost luggage. If you are unsure where to head to pick up these items, ask the front desk. They should be able to direct you in the right direction.

Next time you find your luggage lost remember to not panic. Just take some of these helpful tips in mind and you’ll be able to relax and enjoy a wonderful vacation because you successful avoided a vacation nightmare situation.

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Avoiding the Stress After the Vacation is Booked

Luggage
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As the days get closer to your next vacation your mind is no doubt racing with things to remember. Everything from calling a friend to watch the house, to getting a sitter for your pet, to telling the mail carrier about your leaving the city. There are a million things to do to give your mind less stress before you head out on your vacation, but what about doing something to alleviate the stress you have from a potential disaster vacation? This is often forgot about once the trip is booked and paid for, no one remembers to double check and plan ahead for a stress free vacation.

Best thing to do is call the hotel and the airline to make sure that they have your reservation on file. I know you may have an email or a confirmation number that you feel puts you at ease but it is amazing how easy these places can lose that information especially if there was a computer failure or bad weather. It’s best to call ahead and look a little foolish than to be standing in line at the airport without a flight or a hotel to go to.

Traveling light is always recommended. Find out ahead of time what the carry on policy is for the luggage through your airline. The more you can bring on the plane the better. The last thing you want to risk is that someone is going to lose your luggage and you end up using a pay day loan to replace what you brought. However, if it looks to be inevitable that you are going to have to check your bags than you might want to consider checking them all, except for your multi-media bag. This just makes it more enjoyable to only have to carry that through the airport rather than an oversized suitcase that might have trouble getting on the plane in the first place.

Traveling doesn’t ever have to be a nightmare if you are just smart enough to plan ahead for it and enjoy your vacation without stress.

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