15 Pro Travel-Hacks for Your Next Adventure

Long-time UWSP Adventure Tours Tour Leader Sue Kissinger recently shared some great travel tips with her upcoming South Africa Tour group.  These tips will be awesome for all of our travelers flying to Johannesburg this month.  In fact, we think they’re pretty helpful for all of our current and future travelers!

In planning for our upcoming South Africa tour, I found a copy of the December 2017 Readers Digest that a friend gave me (thanks Elaine!) – the cover story was “68 Secrets to Stress-Free Travel”   In rereading that story, I found that signing up for a tour like this one through UWSP Adventure Tours and having a knowledgeable trip leader like Alvin (and an experienced co-leader like me) takes a lot of the stresses out of the trip. 

Here are a few of the tips from the article that I felt might be helpful as we are in the home stretch towards our adventure (I have edited them a little):

1. Don’t forget to check in the night before. If you end up getting to the airport late, the airline is more likely to give away your seat if you haven’t checked in.
2. Do work out a color scheme. Plan your outfits around a color(s). The goal is to be able to mix and match a good number of outfits so you need fewer articles of clothing overall.
3. Do seal in the freshness. Top the inside of your suitcase with a dryer sheet so your clothes smell fresh throughout your trip.
4. Don’t walk on your clothes. Place your shoes in a shower cap or plastic bag before you pack them and you’ll keep dirty footprints off your clean clothes
5. Do protect with plastic. Use Ziplocs to organize your clothes (especially small items like sox & undergarments) and keep them fresh and dry.  Also, pack a bigger plastic bag to store your dirty clothes to keep them away from your clean clothing.
6. Don’t wait for the flight agent if your flight is cancelled. Instead, call the airline as you stand in line as you may be able to re-ticket faster.
7. Don’t skip the safety video. Even if you have seen then a hundred times, watch it again.  It’s about safety first, of course.  But now a days, some of them are actually fun!
8. Do count the rows to the nearest emergency exit. Yes – it’s a worst case scenario thing to do, but… it could save your life.
9. Don’t sleep through takeoff and landing.  You’ll limit your ability to pop your ears which could lead to more serious problems.
10. Don’t get dehydrated. Many in-flight headaches are not caused by increased air pressure but because of dehydration.  The rule of thumb is – “Drink 8 ounces of water for every 8 hours in the air” (I’m not sure about that much water but it will help with #12 below as I will need to go to the bathroom often!)
11. Don’t close the air vent. Keep it open to create an air current that blows germs away from you, increasing the odds that you will stay healthy.  That said – use a tissue to touch the vent as it is one of the dirtiest spots on a plane.
12. Do take a hike. The CDC recommends getting up and walking around the cabin every 2-3 hours to reduce the risk of blood clots.  Also, don’t sit with your legs crossed!
13. Don’t catch a cold. Low humidity makes you 113 times more likely to catch a cold.  Keep your nose moisturized and ward off germs by using a saline nasal spray and hand sanitizer frequently while flying.
14. Don’t hurt your back. Using a lumbar pillow or a rolled-up jacket can support your lower back.  Keeping your arms on the armrests will alleviate pressure on your back. 
15. Don’t use your U-shaped pillow as directed.  Position it backward to prevent your chin from falling forward should you nod off.  Also, spray it with lavender linen spray for a soothing scent.

I also like to store my carry-on with a complete change of clothing and all my important things in an overhead bin but keep my “personal item”, which tends to be a zipped tote bag or small backpack, under my seat.  This personal item hopefully contains everything I will need during the flight including snacks, books, earplugs, glasses/contact case, earphones, water bottle (refillable), pain reliever/medicines, journal/notebook/pen, tissues, gum, hand sanitizer…  This way everything is easy to reach and I don’t have to keep getting up and opening  the overhead bins. 

I hope these tips help – I am so excited to start our adventure! 

-Sue 

Written by Sue Kissinger (UWSP Adventure Tours- Tour Leader)