How To Improve Your Traveling Experience

Everyone knows that it's the Christmas season and that means traveling. Yes I know it can be a bit stressful. You have to make sure you have all of your things packed and you're not forgetting anything. There's a lot of tips and tricks to make your traveling experience easier and less stressful.

Preparation

The first thing you need to do is prepare, the earlier the better. The first thing you will need is money, make sure you have enough money the trip. Call the bank to make sure your credit card works before leaving. You will also need your health insurance card, just in case someone gets hurt or sick. If you take any medications make sure to talk to your doctor to get enough meds for your time on the trip. A small tip is to pack only what you need because over packing can be a hassle and take up too much space. You should check to make sure everything fits in your bag before you leave. About seven days before your trip, you should go shopping to make sure you have everything. Then, the morning before, make sure you have the essentials like your phone and charger and anything else that you might need.

Traveling on plane

Now let's focus on what you will need and what what you will need to do if you're flying. Before leaving make sure you have the right size suitcase (you can look online). You will need to check what time your flight is leaving, once you know that, you can find out what time you will need to leave for the airport. Check into your flight as early as you can so you won't stress about it. Make sure you know how far your location is from the airport so you have enough money for a uber/taxi. If you are going to have a rental car make sure it is at the airport when you arrive so you don't have to wait around for a long time. The last thing is to just enjoy your flight and relax, turn some music on or watch a movie. If you want, try to get a window seat so you can look out the see the view.

Traveling in a car

Traveling in a car is a bit different than a plane, and i think a little easier. The first thing you will need to do before you leave is make sure your oil is changed, and any car maintenance is done. You will need to put the address in the GPS before you start driving to make sure it comes up. You will need to fill up your gas tank and find where the gas stations are along the way. You can also find restaurants on the way. My family and I always end up at Cracker Barrel. If you are driving, you can have a little more fun, i suggest making a road trip playlist because a lot of times the radio doesn't come in as well in certain areas. Bring a blanket and pillow if it's a long ride (or if you just sleeping). Try to find hotels on the route that you are going, you don't want to go backward to get to your hotel. If you don't want to go to a hotel, or the trip isn't very long, you can stop at a rest stop to get a 15-30 minute nap

Traveling with pets

Pets can be a little difficult with traveling but there are two things you can do. Number one is leave them at home - you can have a family friend keep them, or if they are busy you can board them. If you board your pet it cost about $200 a week. If your pet get boarded just know that they will be taken care of really good and will have a lot of friends to play with. If you are too attached to your pet or don't want want to leave them at home, you can bring them with you. If you are taking them with you on a plane, you first need to make sure they allow pets ( you can call or check on the airlines website). If they do allow pets it will cost extra to have them on the plane. On average pets cost $125 and you can only have one pet per passenger (pettravel.com). If you are driving it will again be a little different. You will need to have food for them and a few toys to keep them occupied. It depends on if your pet likes to travel or not. Some pets will get car sick and throw up, while others will just sleep the whole time. Check the hotel you are going to to make sure they allow pets and if so, how much the fee is. Just take note that if you do bring your pet you can only go through drive-thrus and you can't go in to eat anywhere.

So whether you're stuck in traffic or in the middle seat on a plane, take a deep breath and just know that you're going to see someone important. When you get to your destination everything will be settled and all you need to do now is have a good time.