Top 10 Travel Tips

I've traveled quite a bit since I've started my career in Marketing, flying about 60,000 miles each year on average. I think I've earned the status of road warrior and tradeshow warrior, (HURRAH!!) and I'm often frustrated by others who don't move as quickly and efficiently through the airport as I do when I'm in a hurry. (Which is almost always.)   While I was on a trip last weekend I was totally frustrated to be stuck in the security line behind several novice travelers. They are usually identified by these common mistakes:
 

• They don't take their shoes off
• They stack several things on top of each other in the basket that goes through the x-ray machine
• They don't take off large metal objects that they are wearing (belt buckle, jewelry, etc)
• They have larger-than-allowed containers of liquid in their carry-on bag
• They  leave their computers or other electronics in their carry-on bag
• They are wearing bulky coats or jackets

Any of these offenses above require the person to stop and try a second time for themselves or their belongings to go through screening. This of course holds up the whole line. Sigh. I usually scan the security lines for people who I think will be stopped (the girl gabbing on her cell phone and putting a 1 liter bottle of water through the machine, the older woman in a wheelchair who is going to be patted down, the man most likely to be racial profiled and pulled aside for additional screening, the frazzled mom with a stroller and kids, etc) Along these lines, I was thoroughly amused by the scene in Up in the Air where George Clooney's character was giving his own advice about going through security lines.

 

 

In addition to this list of people to avoid in a security line, I have a list of top ten tips which will make your trips, whether for business or pleasure, much more enjoyable.

 

Before You Book

There are several things that you can do to ensure you get the best price, times, or locations for your trip. 

 

Tip #1 - Shop Around

 

I usually start looking at flights/hotels/rental cars a week or two before I know I will probably book the trip. The sites I normally check are:

 

www. travelocity.com

www.expedia.com

www.kayak.com

www.bing.com/travel

 

I use these sites first to see which airlines have the best prices and times for the trip I'm looking to book. In addition to checking these discount sites, I also check the actual airline's website as well. The last two times I've flown on Continental I first found the best time/airline/price for my flight on a discount site  to search across airlines (Travelocity and Kayak), but upon searching for the EXACT same flight on continental.com, I got an even better price!

 

For rental cars though I've found this to be the exact opposite. I have always gotten a better price on a discount site than I have directly on the car rental sites. Regardless of what you are booking (flight/hotel/car) shop around, and shop around early to find the best price. 

 

Tip #2 - Enroll in Loyalty Programs

 

There is no downside to enrolling in loyalty programs. They're free, and if you're not collecting the points you're basically leaving money on the table. If possible, collect all of your points in one or two primary brands. My airline of choice (because I used to live in Phoenix) is US Airways. Luckily for me, US Airways, United, and Continental are all part of the Star Alliance now. This means that if I fly on any of these three airlines I can earn points on my US Airways Dividend Rewards account.

 

Tip #3 - Aspire For Elite Status

 

There are several ways you can attain elite status with an airline or hotel brand. You can earn the status outright (miles flown or nights stayed), through an official credit card, or through a partnership between elite programs. The first way is the hardest, the second is the easiest, and the third is just luck. (For example being US Airways Dividend Gold automatically grants me Hyatt Gold status. Too bad I never stay at Hyatts.)

 

Most airline or hotel credit cards will grant you Silver Elite status. Not only does Elite status mean that you will earn points and miles faster (25-33% bonus miles), but you will also gain access to the first level of perks associated with that program or program-specific perks. (Priority check-in, security lines, boarding,  first free checked bag, priority standby statues, etc) I have a US Airways Debit Card through Bank Of America (which would grant me Silver status if I hadn't already earned Gold) which allows me to earn points with my checking account purchases, and I have a US Airways MasterCard which allows me to book rewards flights at a 5000 mile discount!

There is a little known secret to gaining elite status in less than a year whose main intent is to allow you to switch from one loyalty program without waiting a year. For example, I am considering switching to Continental's elite program now that Continental and United are merging. It made sense to be loyal to US Airways when I lived in Phoenix (a US Airways hub), but now that I'm living in San Diego (which isn't a hub to anyone) I might as well switch to an airline with the most flight options and best prices. This is beginning to look like Continental.


The status match program basically lets you earn elite status in a 3 month period (vs a whole year) by showing that the frequency you travel in that 3 month period equates out how much you'd travel in a year to achieve that level. For Continental for example I'd need to fly 17,500 miles in a 3 month period to achieve Gold Elite which normally requires 50,000 miles in a year. More on this topic can be found on their website.

Tip #4 - Book Your Flight on a Tuesday

 

Flight prices fluctuate during the week and are lowest on Tuesdays. Random, right? Well, I've researched flight prices since I've heard this and its basically true. More on this topic can be found here, here and here.

 

  
Preparing to Travel

There are several things you can do to make your trip easier. This includes packing smarter, knowing the baggage rules, deciding where to park, and checking in online.

 

Tip #5 - Pack Smart

 

Unless you have elite standing with an airline or are flying Southwest, you will have to pay for your checked baggage. It is also important to keep in mind that the penalty fee for having an overweight bag is sometimes more  than the cost of checking a second bag. On United for example the first bag costs $25, the second is $35, but a bag weighing over 50lbs costs $100. Would you rather pay $125 for your 60lb bag or pay $55 for checking two bags?  This website has a great overview of checked bag fees. And, in case you like to pack to the limit, a useful tool like this can help you weigh your bag  before you go to the airport.

 

If you're going to carry your bag on you don't have to worry about baggage fees! But make sure your toiletries fall within the 3-1-1 size/volume restrictions that are standard on all airlines.   

 

 

Tip #6 - Plan Your Parking Online

 

If you are traveling for personal reasons and will be gone for an extended period of time, parking fees can really add up! I hate to admit that I'm guilty of parking at the terminal when I'm traveling for business. At the San Diego airport it costs $16/day. Various off-site parking lots in the area range from $10-16 and often have coupons. Thanks to these sites (here and here) I was able to find the cheapest parking lot closest to the airport, and now park at a $11/day lot which always has a $1 coupon online!

Tip #7 - Check-In Online

 

There is NO downside to checking in online - even if you still need to check a bag at the airport. Checking in online gets one step in your travel plans out of the way, it often times gives you a chance to switch to a better seat on the flight, if you're elite and are eligible for a First Class upgrade it gives you a chance to put your name on the upgrade list (sometimes they upgrade you by status alone, sometimes you need to request it) and ... there are some chances where you can get around the pre-flight deadlines if you are already checked in prior to arriving at the airport. (You usually have to have your bag checked 45 minutes before departure and your boarding pass printed 30 minutes before departure. There have been several times where the ticketing agent was surprisingly able to get me on the flight even though I had arrived at the airport late .. only because I had  already checked in online!)

 

 

Travel Day

Now that you've booked your trip at the best price possible, have packed smartly, and have secured the best parking space, it is now time for you to make your travel day go as smoothly as possible.
 

Tip #8 - Be Smart Going Through Security

In addition to the tips I initially mentioned regarding who to avoid getting in line behind at security, the way you unpack your belongings and put them through the x-ray machine matters as well. As you're standing in line you should mentally assess how many bins you'll need. I usually need two. One for my laptop and bag of liquids, and another for my purse and shoes (and sometimes my coat.)This is in addition to the third item I put through the machine, my carry-on bag. 

 

It is also important to put your items through in a specific order. I usually put my shoes through first, so that they're the first thing I get on the other side and can put them on immediately. The second most important thing for me to retrieve out of the machine is either my purse or my laptop due to their value. Least important and least stealable? My carry-on bag which w/o my laptop only has books, magazines, pens, etc. 

 

Tip #9 - Think About Hydration/Meals

 

Even though everything is overpriced at the airport, the one thing that I buy consistently regardless of price is bottled water. Its easy to get dehydrated on the plane and while traveling, and a tiny cup of water or two isn't going to be enough to keep you hydrated. If you're only going to buy one thing in the airport it should be a large bottle of water. If you're crossing timezones, staying hydrated is the #1 way to beat jet lag.
 

 

You should also think about whether or not you should eat in the airport before your flight, if you want to buy food to bring on the plane, or if you want to purchase food on the flight. (Keeping in mind that shorter flights often don't even have an option to purchase food or snacks.) This website has a good overview of the various airlines and their food purchase options.

 

 

On Your Trip

There are several things you can do to make your hotel stay more comfortable by researching and requesting certain options.

 

Tip #10 - Maximize Your Hotel Stay

 

Per Tip #2 you should be enrolled in the hotel's loyalty program. You should also create a profile online with the hotel's website which often allows you to select certain preferences. My Marriott preferences are:  two full beds vs. one king bed (I'm used to sleeping in a smaller bed and use the extra bed for my suitcase), a room closest to the elevator, a room on a high floor (living on the ground floor gives me the creeps!), and USA Today vs. the Wall Street Journal.

 

On the night before I'm checking out, I almost always ask for a late checkout the next morning. Most hotels have a 10am or 11am standard checkout time. If you ask, and based upon availability, you can often get a 12-2pm checkout time.


One of my favorite hotel room tricks (which I learned from my fellow road warrior friend Jenna) is using the drycleaning bag from the closet. Have you ever worried about how to pack your still-sweaty workout clothes in your suitcase? Guess what - most hotels offer a drycleaning service and have a plastic bag clipped to a hanger in the closet which you can use to put your dirty clothes in. I always grab this bag to put my sweaty workout clothes and running shoes in before I pack them back in my suitcase.

 

Other Tips

I'm sure there are many other great tips on how to make your trip easier and more enjoyable, but these are my top ten. I'd love to hear your tips too - please feel free to share them with me! I promise to put them to good use.

 

Home For The Holidays

This Thanksgiving I went home to San Francisco for the first time in several years. I had decided to drive up so that I could bring my dogs with me and have a car available during the long weekend.

The Drive

I knew that traffic would be bad on the 5 on the way from San Diego to San Francisco so I set a goal to leave before noon. (I had some work I needed to finish before the long weekend, otherwise I would have left first thing in the morning.) I wrapped everything up from home and was on the road early – 11:45am! Hey, even 15 minutes early is an accomplishment for me.

I loaded up the car and started off on my drive. San Francisco or bust! I usually let the dogs sit up in the front seat with me but due to the length of the trip and my guilt about being a bad dog mommy, I decided that for this trip I’d put the pet gate up behind the front seats and blockade the dogs in the backseat. Mika was not happy about that… not happy about that at all! She whined and whimpered incessantly hoping that she’d wear me down and I’d let her up front. About 45 minutes into the drive I couldn’t take her whining anymore and decided to stop to get a sandwich so I could get away from the awful sounds of a dying dog. I had this crazy delusion that once I got back into the car and on the road after the quick pit stop that she would have calmed down and given up on the whining. Nope, it persisted.

Mika Struggling to Get Up Front

We hit traffic about 20 minutes later … and that traffic didn’t end for the next four hours. Yes, FOUR HOURS! Guess how far I got in four hours? 145 miles. Seriously. I stopped again at that point and tried not to get too down about the fact that I should be halfway home by now. The dog whining had died down a bit by now. Possibly because of the crazed look I was getting in my eyes from being stuck in the car for so long and making so little progress. Maybe Mika started getting scared that I would “forget her” at the next rest stop. Aww.. I’m kidding, I’d never do that. Where was Kona during all this? Sitting quietly like the little black angel that she is. Of course.

The traffic lightened up when I finally got to the boring, smelly, farm part of the 5, and eleven hours later I finally made it home to my dad’s. Yay!

Turkey Trot

On Thanksgiving morning I was signed up to run my very first Turkey Trot! My friend Christina and I were going to be running the Turkey Trail Trot in Golden Gate Park sponsored by my alma matter – Oh Lowell High! (If you’re a Lowellite did you hear the Lowell Hymn in your head as I said that?) When I originally asked Christina to run the race I didn’t think to register right away, and once I went back to register a week later the course was full! Ack! Christina talked me into running as a bandit on the course which I felt fairly guilty about .. but she had a point, the race was in the park and I could have just been running in the park.

I saw on the website that a lot of people dressed up for the race. The costumes ranged from turkeys to Indians to Pilgrims. I decided to make a modest effort to be festive and put my hair in Indian style braids. AND I wore a yellow running shirt. You know, a Thanksgiving color! Well, kinda. There were a lot of great costumes among the racers on this race day. There were several people in full body turkey costumes, dozens of people with turkey hats, a few people dressed like Indians and Pilgrims, a cute couple dressed like peas and carrots, and a funny pair dressed up as a turkey and a chef with a big fake knife!

Turkey Trail Trot 2009

The course was 5 miles (not the 5K I had hoped for) and started from the Polo Fields in Golden Gate park and lapped around a larger grassy loop up and down into picnic areas. I haven’t been training or running very hard since my marathon a month ago and was a bit nervous to be trying to go all out on a short distance. The pressure was off though when I found out that I couldn’t register and have my finish time tracked. But then … when Christina came to pick up her race number the night before she found out about a “secret” registration link which allowed you to register for only $10! You wouldn’t get a shirt but who cares! I immediately signed up and thought about how all races should give that option. I almost never wear race shirts and have donated almost all of them.

This excitement was quickly dashed on Thursday morning when I showed up to pick up my number and it wasn’t there. Did I have a print out of my race confirmation? Of course not, I’ve run dozens of races and never had a problem, I had never even though to print it. So okay, back to the bandit plan.

My goal for the race was to run a sub 8 minute mile. That had me aiming for a finish time of around 39 minutes. I’m disappointed to say that I finished in 42 minutes .. BUT .. my GPS watch tracked the course at 5.24 miles not 5.00 miles, so over that distance my pace ended up averaging out to 8:01. Perfect! I’m embarrassed to say that around mile 2 a turkey flew past me, but I did managed to cross the finish line well ahead of the peas and carrots!

Side Note: Interesting - I got a snarky comment on my blog late last night from someone with a private profile going off about how being a bandit is equitable to being a thief. While I see his point to a certain degree he's not totally correct to bash me for this race because #1 I DID register online but my registration got lost. And #2 Because I wasn't registered for the race I didn't take any water, food, and I didn't even cross the finish line. There have also been numerous races that I've registered for but haven't run for one reason for another... so not that I've registered for this race and not run it in the past, but in the running universe I have paid more than I have taken.

Commenter said...

"Christina talked me into running as a bandit on the course which I felt fairly guilty about .. but she had a point, the race was in the park and I could have just been running in the park."

And would you have run the very same coure in the park if there was no Turkey Trail Trot occurring? Race bandits are thieves, plain and simple. The course is designed to accomodate 1,000 runners only. You did NOT pay for the insurance, the permits, the portapotties, the refreshments, etc for the event. Nor did your participation contribute to the donation that went to Lowell.

Any event can happen in public space--concerts, picnics, sporting events. If they all charge a fee for admission, does that give you a right to simply partake in the events without paying, especially when the events have sold out or have restricted entries?

Race bandits are thieves.

Turkey Lunch

After the race I went back home to shower and change and my dad and I headed out for lunch and to go see the movie the Blind Side. I was hoping that the California Pizza Kitchen near the theater would be open but it wasn’t. Neither was Chevy’s. Big sad face. Luckily Max’s Opera Café was open though so we went there. In honor of Thanksgiving they had a special menu that featured Thanksgiving dinner! (And a very limited menu outside of that.) Since it was only lunch time I wasn’t ready for turkey so I ordered a veggie wrap – but then at the last minute asked if they could add some turkey to it as well. Dinner was great and the movie was great as well! Very touching and a great story, even more heart warming to know its based on a true story. I totally recommend seeing it!

Turkey Wrap @ Max's Opera Cafe

Lunch w/My Dad

Thanksgiving Dinner

My dad and I had planned on going out for Thanksgiving dinner and I searched on OpenTable.com to find the perfect place. A number of places were offering special “Thanksgiving” dinner packages and we ending up choosing the restaurant First Crush near Union Square. The restaurant was packed when we got there at 6pm! The restaurant was really cute and everything on the menu looked great. I had been planning on having turkey for dinner but after looking at the menu I knew I had to go fish all the way! I had mushroom soup, pistachio crusted Hawaiian walu fish, and crème brulee for desert. My dad had hmm… I can’t remember what he started with (probably because I was too busy shoving food in my face), we shared crab cakes, and then he had a shrimp and cheesy risotto as his entrée. I tried to get him to split some of the dessert with me to share some of my guilt but he passed. More crème brulee for me!

After dinner we headed back home (on the Muni! I roughed it!) and I headed straight for bed in a fine food coma. Yum yum yum. I wish I could have that meal all over again!

Heading To Wine Country

Later the next morning I had plans to meet some of my friends to drive up to Sonoma for a day and a half of wine tasting. There was a special event going on this past weekend where for $30 you gained entry to 23 wineries in the area! Not only was that an awesome deal on tasting fees, but each winery had “holiday treats” to eat and they were offering 15% off on all purchases. Some of the wineries only had crackers and nuts and chocolates, but others had sandwiches, crab appetizers, chocolate truffles, and one place even gave out small bowls of pork and beans! Mmmmm! On Friday we managed to visit 6 wineries in the 4 hours that we had. We ate so much that driving wasn’t that much of an issue, but just to be the safe responsible citizens that we are we had arranged for a limo to take us around.

Living the Fabulous Life

SF Friends at VJB Winery

Christmas Carolers at VJB Winery

Seafood Feast On The Grill

After the wine tour we came back home to our swinging pad in Oakmont, a community for active seniors. We brought life to that area! The plan for the evening was to BBQ crab legs to start, and to cook ceviche style tilapia to go into fresh fish tacos. The marinade for the tilapia probably took more than anything else, but it was well worth it.

Fresh Crab Off the Grill

Preparing for Dinner!

I’m Black and White ….

After dinner we retired to the fireplace area (like the active seniors we are) and played a few rounds of Bridge and Gin Rummy. Just kidding, we played the game Taboo. Some of the clues the teams were giving were hilarious and made me think of that scene in the movie Four Christmases where they’re playing the game. Have you seen it? Anyways, of all of the funny clues and guesses that came out that night, by far my favorite was:

Jared: Okay I’m an animal, and I’m black and white, and I smell really bad.

Tom: A panda?

A panda?? Haha! Not a skunk? Oh Tom..

Taste of Sonoma – Take Two

Since the passes we had bought to the Holiday Open House event were good for Friday and Saturday, we couldn’t pass up the chance to go out and check out more wineries! We didn’t have a limo or driver this time and all also had to drive back to the city that night so we were more moderate in our tastings. We managed to visit 6 more wineries on our list in the 4 hours that we had on Saturday which wasn’t too bad! That even included time that we took out for a picnic lunch break at one of the wineries.

When the event ended at 4pm we went back to the house to collect my dogs, pack up the car, and prepare to head back to the city. Although Mika whined like a banshee the entire 1 ½ hour drive up to Sonoma, she was a perfect angel on the way back. Weird. By the time we got home I was full and tired .. and called it a night and cancelled my overly ambitious plans to go out afterwards with some other friends. What was I thinking?

Mika As Co-Pilot

Driving Back to SD

I was so traumatized by the drive north to San Francisco and wanted to make sure I got an early start on the way back down to San Diego. I planned on leaving by 8am so I’d hopefully get home before dinner time .. and I did it! I left right at 8am! Who am I? This strange punctual road-trip girl! There wasn’t any traffic on the way back down and I got back home by 4pm. Who would have thought I’d be happy about an 8 hour drive? Well I sure was! The drive back down was fairly uneventful. Luckily the dogs slept almost the entire way and the car was peaceful and quite. I cleared out a ton of podcasts on my long drive down and the trip really wasn’t too bad.

It was really nice to come home for Thanksgiving and to spend time with my dad and friends. For the past four years I’ve worked an annual dental tradeshow in New York, NY and have taken off for New York on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. That really cut my Thanksgiving weekends short. For years! I wasn’t going this year for the first time in ages it seems which gave me the opportunity to take the time to come home. It was worth it! There’s no place like home.