11 Travel Tips That Can Help You Save Your Time and Energy

When we’re planning a trip, we usually get so excited that we forget about the little things that can make all the difference. With the peak holiday season approaching, it’s the perfect time to recap on the most useful tricks that you can easily apply wherever you go. Even if you booked a 5-star hotel, there are ways to make your stay even more fabulous.

We at Bright Side did thorough research and compiled a list of 11 super-useful hacks to help make your worry-free and all the more enjoyable.

1. Always check the bathroom.

Before you even book a hotel room, make sure to check details that can reveal if you’re choosing the right place. Most times you can judge whether a hotel is good or bad just by checking out the bathroom. A good hotel won’t put a toilet brush or plunger inside the bathroom, because it gives the impression the bathroom is poorly maintained or not clean.

2. Use shower caps to pack dirty shoes.

Instead of wasting your precious time cleaning your shoes before packing up your stuff, grab some extra shower caps. This is especially useful if you’re out of large enough plastic bags. The elastic band on shower caps makes them perfect for wrapping up dirty shoes, so you don’t transfer dirt onto the clothes in your suitcase.

3. Roll your clothes instead of folding it.

There are various ways to pack clothes in a suitcase to optimize the space, and many people swear by the rolling method. Also called ’’ranger rolling’’, this packing technique basically involves folding your clothes and then tightly rolling them up. This method is great for pants, casual dresses, T-shirts, pajamas, and swimsuits. On the other hand, rolling may not work so well with bulky clothes, like sweaters because they can take up more space when rolled.

4. Use hot water from a kettle to clean items before use.

Those of you who pay extra attention to cleanliness will especially appreciate this simple hack. To make sure that cups, glasses, and utensils in your hotel room are spotless and germ-free, just boil some water in the kettle and rinse everything out before use.

5. Check the emergency exit as soon as you arrive.

Once you arrive at your hotel and leave your belongings in the room, walk the hotel hallways to get a sense of space and your surroundings. In case of an emergency, you won’t have time to do this, so make sure you know where escape routes are and how to safely reach the exit. It’s also a good idea to make some test calls from the landline phone in your hotel room, just in case. When you arrive, try calling the front desk to make sure you can reach them if anything goes wrong.

6. Bring adhesive tape or band-aids with you wherever you go.

Aside from the obvious reasons, adhesive tape or band-aids can come in handy in various unplanned scenarios. You can use them to baby-proof your hotel room in case you end up in one that’s not child-friendly. Simply covering power outlets with a couple of strips can prevent accidents. You can also easily eliminate any annoying lights in your surroundings by just taping them off.

7. Use car air freshener to mask the bad smell.

A stale, musty odor is not an unusual occurrence in hotel rooms, but there is an easy solution to this problem. Always carry a small car vent air freshener that you can easily attach to the AC unit in your hotel room and get rid of an unpleasant odor in no time.

8. Iron your clothes using shower steam.

The travel-size iron is a great invention, but there will be times when you simply forget to bring it, or you don’t have enough space in your suitcase. What you can do instead is to hang your clothes in the bathroom while showering and let the steam do its magic. Depending on the fabric, the shower steam can lessen or remove the wrinkles from your clothes in a blink of an eye.

9. Reverse image search can help you find cheaper accommodation.

Accommodation offered on websites like Airbnb can be a fantastic alternative to hotels, but it can often turn out a bit pricey. This little search trick can help you eliminate the cost of booking through the website. Just type reverse image search into Google and upload the picture of the property you’re interested. This may take you to other websites with lower booking fees or, if you’re lucky, directly to the owner’s website.

10. Use a coffee mug instead of a speaker.

If you end up in a hotel room that’s lacking in many entertainment options, you can use this low-tech volume-boosting trick. When maximizing the volume on your phone is just not enough and when you don’t have any kind of speaker on hand, just put your phone in a dry, empty mug or a cup, like in the above picture, and enjoy the music.

11. Put your suitcase in a bathtub first.

Instead of opening your suitcase right away when you arrive at a hotel, put your luggage in the bathroom or in the bathtub first. In the meantime, you can go check around your room if there are any bugs and insects. Therefore, the bugs won’t approach your luggage, because the bathroom is the safest place to hide away from those pesky creatures.

Which of these tricks are you planning to try out on your next trip?