Travel Tips

Here's a summary of ten, from an article on 20 Tips for Travelers from MSN website. To see them in full and to see the other 10, go to the link. As always, if it interests you do it soon as links sometimes disappear.

http://travel.msn.com/Guides/article.aspx?cp-documentid=671288

*At the bottom are some tips sent to me.
If you have any post them in the comments section or email them to me and I'll add them.
As for myself, I like to pack my clothes in those vacuum bags. I may add others as I think of them.

1. DIY car insurance
Put a vinyl bumper stickers that peels off easily on your rental car so you look like a local and don't have to worry about thieves who target tourists.

2. Beat the competition
Skip the rental-car bus and take a taxi to the rental-car agency and beat the long line of people waiting for their wheels.

3. Strap happy
Try a padded seat-belt cover from the auto-parts store for your camera or shoulder bag.

4. Coming clean
Don’t count on public restrooms to have soap, use mini shampoos from hotels work as liquid soap. E

5. Wrap star
Line your suitcases with bubble wrap and layer it between your clothes. The wrap lies flat against the sides, keeps your clothes wrinkle-free, is almost weightless, and you can wrap your breakables you want to carry home in it.

6. Show and cell
Use camera-phone to create a photo album with pictures of basic necessities like a bottle of water, a toilet, a taxi, and stamps when traveling in a country where you don’t speak the language.

7. Ham it up
Use handheld short-distance radios to communicate where you can’t use a cell phone. (We did this years ago before cell phones in the Disney Parks and the next time we went back we saw a lot of people doing it.)

8. Drop some pounds
Use lighter weight luggage.

9. Check it twice
Look closely at your boarding passes when you do curbside check-in and then check them again anytime you show them to make sure yours isn’t mixed up with someone elses.

10. Throw on the towel
Bring your own towels to lay across our lounge chairs when you go to a beach resort, to a hotel with a pool, or on a cruise for chairs that are easy to spot. Use the resort's towels to dry off.


*"One of my favorites is that on Continental (may be true of all airlines) the exit rows do not recline. If you care about that, you won't want the exit row, but if you are like me who suffers from claustrophobia and hates having people recline into her, I always choose the exit row or one behind it so no one can recline into me. These seats are blocked out from selection on line until 24 hours before the flight (to the minute). So I choose one seat, but then at the 24 hour mark I log on and try to get an aisle exit row. You have to let them see you at the airport to make sure you can fulfill the duties, but it's a great thing. People are learning about this, so you want to make sure you log on right at the 24 hour mark to try and get them." - K.Y.

*"When ____ and I travel we pack half of each other's clothes in our 2 suitcases. This way if one suitcase goes astray at least each of us has some clothes. I also save my old undies when I get new ones. I take them on the trip and discard them as I go along. Less laundry and less wash to take home."