What's your golden travel rule?

[Denali]

If you scored reward J flights, dont cheap on your accomodation or transport to/from etc. Enjoy the nicer hotel/BNB, comfort and convenience is our priority, especially after a long haul. Have someone with your name on a tablet to take your bags to whisk you off to your 1st hotel. Hire that private guide to avoid the cattle bus

Have a "do nothing" day every 3-4 days to rest and to help avoid injury or sickness (from doing too much or being tired)

Always do the laundry before the final pack/flight home or take clothes you are not bringing home

Buy things when you arrive, like toiletries etc. If hiring a car keep a slab of water in the car at all times. Forgot something, just buy new. I used Argos and Tesco click & collect last month a lot , we bought yoga roller, massage gun, eletrical thingy as we only packed one for charging. I think I had 3 Argos deliveries in 2 days

Always travel with Betadine gargle, multple bottles if a long trip. Gargle before bed even when you dont think you need to

 

[Scarlett]

I don’t have one.

All of the above suggestions I have indeed followed or applied at various times, but I wouldn’t say they’re rules, or golden. I’ve probably NOT done all of them at some stage, deliberately or not.

Maybe something I try to use as a guide is, not to return to the same place. Well not whilst there’s still parts of the world I haven’t yet seen.

 

[kamchatsky]

For very early morning overnight flights (e.g. depart at 00:01 -2:00), get to the airport the day before!

 

[Happy Dude]

Why fly direct when you can connect (for the extra SC)!

Must be a reference to QFF. Lamentably, SCs and extra SCs don't have a lot of value in Velocity now so not much incentive to spend more to connect.

 

[Happy Trails]

Do not, under any circumstances, accept a downgrade.

 

[Cruise Luxury]

Don’t fly economy overnight!

 

[offshore171]

Don’t book layovers less than 2hr.

3 if it’s Heathrow.

 

[RooFlyer]

If it’s an important connection such as domestic to international, take the second flight the next day and stay overnight.

Never take the last flight of the day to a destination.

If you are flying to meet a cruise departure, fly in two days before hand.

 

[cove]

Take a photo of your luggage before you fly.

 

[offshore171]

Take a photo of your luggage before you fly.

And keep a photo of your passport too. Save it under Favourites.

 

[Seat0B]

If possible, avoid flights before 9 am

And since my exploits in Sri Lanka, I'm adding avoid flights that depart between midnight and 0400, along with avoid flights that arrive between 0400 and 0700 unless you are arriving at home or have already booked the previous night into a hotel. I'm just getting too old and grumpy to deal with arriving somewhere at 0430 and having to wait until 1500 to check in to my hotel

 

[Seat0B]

Count my bags/carry-on etc every time before leaving home/hotel/airport/car

Yep, that is one that I do all the time too. It has averted several near disasters!

 

[Seat0B]

I'm based in PER. When flying to the US, never take a red eye to the east coast or that god awful first flight of the morning out of PER.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that is very good advice - and not just for trips originating in PER.

 

[Seat0B]

Have a "do nothing" day every 3-4 days to rest and to help avoid injury or sickness (from doing too much or being tired)

This is really good advice, and also one we follow quite religiously. It allows time to catch up on laundry, make calls home to family and friends, catch up on emails, have a sleep in, go late to breakfast, mosey around the neighbourhood, stop off for coffee and cake when you feel like it and so many other great things. I even do this when skiing if I'm not gifted with a weather day. Every third or 4th day I either have a late start or an early finish, and it is very restorative.

Another related "rule" we are enjoying now we have more time in our lives is to stay at least 2 nights, preferably more,in each location, and as much as possible avoid the different place/different hotel every night approach. I may well have some entries for travel mistakes thread coming up though as, a bit like @Scarlett, we have deliberately broken this rule for a week of travel in Iceland in August. We are travelling with Mr Seat 0A's sister and her hubby, and they are the "ants in your pants" style of traveller, so we will have a run of 5 single nights as the price of travelling with them. It will be interesting, for this and other reasons - including that I am a night owl, and my sister-in-law things 0600 is a sleep in . This may well be the first and last time we travel with them!

 

[Seat0B]

For very early morning overnight flights (e.g. depart at 00:01 -2:00), get to the airport the day before!

Or else, this will also be an entry in the travel mistakes thread and become part of your family folk lore! Ask me how I know??

 

[Tiki]

Don't wear brand new boots/shoes on a trip. Last time I did this I had blisters for days.

Maybe more relevant for adventure travelers, but I always bring old clothes and shoes on birding trips and plan to leave them behind. Then I have spare room in my bag for souvenirs.

Back up photos daily to a USB or cloud drive. You could lose your camera or the SD card could get corrupted.

Try to have shopping destinations at the end of a multi-destination trip so you don't have to lug everything around. Example: I had some adventure birding in South America and tossed the old clothes and shoes before flying to the US to see family. I then had plenty of room for shopping at Ross, Macys Backstage, etc.

I do a lot of what others already posted- track my flights on Flight Aware and Google, usually travel carry on only, take photos of bags and passport.

I also have a $20 rule that is relevant to a former backpacker. If spending $20 on a taxi (vs bus/walking), food delivery or whatever will make your life easier then do it!

As I get older and less resilient physically I now have a new rule. No overnight flights in Y on the outbound. I don't want my back trashed before I even get there and it's hard to find J awards these days. I can handle spending the night in an airport as long as I can lie down. Any flight from BNE to SIN, DOH, DXB, KUL that arrives before midnight. Then sleep somewhere. And next day a morning flight to IST. On the return I can deal with it if I have to, I'm retired and can just stay home until my back recovers.

 

[Austman]

Use the lounge/airport bathroom as close as possible before your long haul flight is ready for boarding.

The next opportunity might be hours away.

 

[MARTINE]

I never eat in a main street in a tourist precinct
Or
Where there are pictures of the food in twenty languages
Or
Where I am being practically person-handled into the ‘restaurant’ by a tout

 

[Larko1]

Don't wear brand new boots/shoes on a trip. Last time I did this I had blisters for days.

Maybe more relevant for adventure travelers, but I always bring old clothes and shoes on birding trips and plan to leave them behind. Then I have spare room in my bag for souvenirs.

Back up photos daily to a USB or cloud drive. You could lose your camera or the SD card could get corrupted.

Try to have shopping destinations at the end of a multi-destination trip so you don't have to lug everything around. Example: I had some adventure birding in South America and tossed the old clothes and shoes before flying to the US to see family. I then had plenty of room for shopping at Ross, Macys Backstage, etc.

I do a lot of what others already posted- track my flights on Flight Aware and Google, usually travel carry on only, take photos of bags and passport.

I also have a $20 rule that is relevant to a former backpacker. If spending $20 on a taxi (vs bus/walking), food delivery or whatever will make your life easier then do it!

As I get older and less resilient physically I now have a new rule. No overnight flights in Y on the outbound. I don't want my back trashed before I even get there and it's hard to find J awards these days. I can handle spending the night in an airport as long as I can lie down. Any flight from BNE to SIN, DOH, DXB, KUL that arrives before midnight. Then sleep somewhere. And next day a morning flight to IST. On the return I can deal with it if I have to, I'm retired and can just stay home until my back recovers.

Don't fall asleep in a lounge especially after midnight......it's very expensive when you sleep through the alarm on your phone and miss your flight home

 

[VPS]

If you scored reward J flights, dont cheap on your accomodation or transport to/from etc. Enjoy the nicer hotel/BNB, comfort and convenience is our priority, especially after a long haul. Have someone with your name on a tablet to take your bags to whisk you off to your 1st hotel. Hire that private guide to avoid the cattle bus

Have a "do nothing" day every 3-4 days to rest and to help avoid injury or sickness (from doing too much or being tired)

Always do the laundry before the final pack/flight home or take clothes you are not bringing home

Buy things when you arrive, like toiletries etc. If hiring a car keep a slab of water in the car at all times. Forgot something, just buy new. I used Argos and Tesco click & collect last month a lot , we bought yoga roller, massage gun, eletrical thingy as we only packed one for charging. I think I had 3 Argos deliveries in 2 days

Always travel with Betadine gargle, multple bottles if a long trip. Gargle before bed even when you dont think you need to

I'm totally with you on the do nothing day.

Buying things when you arrive is great if you have a car but otherwise I have to carry things I want smaller things.

After three months in the one spot I'm not sure I'm going to get all my stuff in the car. I will be driving around the UK donating things to friends as a I visit and then I think there will be a big bag going to a charity shop