Holiday season is here!
The November/December period is the most optimal for travel, and oh, do we have the best tips for traveling during the peak season. Not only do the school holidays start ushering in positive vibes for your perfect holiday trip, but work also starts grinding to a halt. Family travel group chats start getting created as we finalize plans, and even the most cantankerous of us start getting excited at the prospect of a quick escape.
So, before you start planning your next holiday trip, take time to read through these valuable tips for traveling you might not have realized.
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Kid-friendly theme parks
Travel essentials for your holiday trip
1. Use checklists made by pros to ensure you’ve brought every essential item
It’s human to panic, thinking you’ve forgotten something, right as you lock your house door, passport in hand. To master that panic and start your journey on a good note, you need a 100% foolproof checklist. Thankfully, checklists like these exist online as long as you know where to look.
These checklists include basic essentials such as passports and visas, as well as tips for traveling, such as getting your SIM card or Wi-Fi device before you fly.
2. Send passport details to your group chat as a contingency plan
You can never be too safe while on holiday. Other than checking for standard travel advisories, you should also be aware of where your passport is at all times. And while you should keep it on your person as much as possible, you can’t get any safer than also storing a digital copy in your phone.
The best option here is to send a photo of your passport and other important documents to your travel group chat. This ensures your travel buddies have proof of your identity in the event you lose a bag with your wallet and your phone.
3. Use specialized apps like Klook to streamline itinerary planning
Technology has given us advantages and upgrades over our parents’ generation. This includes not having to print our boarding passes, not worrying about losing our itineraries and using specific apps to level up our holiday trip-planning experience.
Instead of having to sift through multiple websites to look for activities before having to wade through emails to find your booking confirmation, you can use functional apps like Klook to search for, find discounts for, and book attraction tickets.
Klook’s wide array of travel planning options includes basic services like airport transfers and lower prices on tickets, like Japan’s country-wide JR Passes. Plus, check out Klook’s social media pages for timely promotions to theme parks like Korea’s Lotte World and Everland.
4. Back-up plan: Bring a spare pillowcase from home to double up as a portable pillow
Source: Raw Pixel
If you’re the sort that needs a travel pillow for long-haul trips, this tip will save you 1 day’s worth of clothing space in your bag. Rather than lugging a bulky neck pillow around, pick up a fresh pillowcase before you leave your house.
Not only will the pillowcase serve as an extra covering for dubious-looking pillows on the holiday trip, but it’ll also transform into a makeshift pillow everywhere else you go. Just stuff 2-3 clean shirts into it, and tada, you’re good to go!
5. Ziploc bags have hidden strengths to save you from unexpected situations
How do you tackle unexpected situations? Despite living in 2024, weather technology is not yet 100% reliable. Even weather forecasts 1 week in advance could be wide off the mark, and sometimes – just sometimes – we’d find ourselves soaked in the rain just as we expect a sunny beach day.
Our tip for traveling in inclement weather is to bring a couple of Ziploc bags along. They barely take up space, and you’ll find uses for them soon enough, whether for power banks and phones in wet weather or for your DSLR cameras at events like the Holi Festival in India or Songkran in Thailand.
6. Bounce straight to your hotel upon landing with a chartered airport transfer
Flights drain a lot from most of us, and the last thing we’d want to have to deal with upon touching down is scalpers trying to overcharge you as you get to your hotel. It gets even more draining if you don’t speak the language.
If you’re the sort to do cost-benefit analyses when making decisions, you’ll find that airport transfers are a sensible option. Because of economies of scale, prices of airport transfers, like those booked on Klook, are now pretty competitive. Plus, the drivers are generally friendly, and you might be able to wrangle a few local tips for traveling from them before you reach your destination.
7. Mark your luggage as fragile so they come out first on the conveyor belt
As it turns out, having your luggage labeled as fragile when checking them in serves a dual purpose: not only will handlers be more careful with your items, but they’ll also place them on top of the pile of bags.
This ensures your “fragile” bag won’t be under undue weight and also means that handlers at your destination airport will bring your items out first, which will lead to them being the first on the conveyor belt!
8. Parents at theme parks can “tag out” while in line to watch their kids
Nguồn ảnh: VinWonders Phú Quốc
Here’s one of the most useful tips for traveling with children. Adrenaline junkie parents visiting popular theme parks like Hong Kong Disneyland and Universal Studios Singapore will appreciate the ability to “tag out” for their partner while in line. This is especially useful when you have a child who’s either too young or too short for the ride, and both parents really want the full theme park experience.
This is an established policy at these theme parks, although it’s termed differently at each park—Rider Switch at Disneyland and Child Swap at Universal Studios—so the staff should be fully briefed on it. Just approach any theme park assistant, and they’ll be happy to guide you through the process.
9. Check the hotel TV for USB ports to charge your electronics
Smartphone, portable charger, and now Bluetooth earphones. These are just a few essential gadgets that we bring on trips that compete for often-limited power outlets in the hotel room. To get around this problem, check the television in your hotel room and see if it has USB ports.
Smart tips for traveling include knowing how to maximize your hotel room's features. With hotels pulling out the stops to be more appealing to travelers, more are investing in smart TVs. That means spare USB ports you can use without asking if room service has multiple plugs to spare.
10. Know what to do if your flight gets postponed or cancelled
For your peace of mind, these final tips for traveling focus on handling unexpected flight changes. We don’t want to think about the worst that could happen right as we embark on our trips, but sometimes the universe has different plans for us. It’s always better to be prepared than be caught off balance, so here’s what you need to do in case your flight gets postponed or canceled:
- Call your airline and ask for the next available flight. You’ll want to do this ASAP before other passengers do the same.
- Get meal and accommodation vouchers from the airline.
- Keep all luggage tags and flight receipts.
In an ideal world, you’ll have purchased travel insurance for your holiday trip. But in the event you don’t, chances are that the staff won’t be nice enough to give you step-by-step instructions on how to secure what you’re owed.
