39 Travel Hacks From 8 Years of Travel

This video is sponsored by Endor, an app that creates personalized soundscapes to help you focus, relax, and sleep. The first 100 people to click the link in the description will get a free week of audio experiences. Good morning, guys. My name is Jord, and I've been traveling the world continuously for the last eight years while going to almost 100 countries. And in this video, I wanna break down 39 travel hacks that I've learned over that time. This is gonna be part of a new kind of series of videos where I'm going into some of the things that I've learned and trying to help other people that wanna be able to travel the world continuously like I have. Now, these are all the things I could think of that have definitely helped me that I've learned along the way. And if there's any others that you think might help people, then drop them in the comments below. And if you have any questions about any of them, then feel free to ask in the comments, and I'll make sure to get back to you. So, let's jump into it. Now, the first one is a good one. It's one you've probably heard before, but when packing, take out half of what you think you'll need. You'll still have more than enough. And whenever you start packing, everyone on their first trip has these giant backpacks. You can always recognize a first-time backpacker because they have these huge backpacks on the back of them. Take out about half. It'll still be more than enough. Most of the time, you'll end up only using half your backpack anyway. So, if you're just starting to travel now, take out half of it. You're all good. All you really need anyway is your passport and your wallet, your passport and your bank card. That's all you need. Everything else you can replace or buy along the way. Carry your own water bottle through airports. Just make sure to drink everything before security control. And then afterwards, you can just usually refill it from a free water station. They won't take it off you if it doesn't have any water in it. And that way, it stops you from paying the silly rates for water on the other side of security. Always carry a universal adapter, especially if you don't know where you're going next. Now, you don't always know which plug you need and you can always buy them locally as well. But as long as you have a universal adapter, then you've got something good to back up. Now, this is a good one. Tinder and other dating apps are actually a great way to learn about local places. Now, you don't have to use them just as a hookup app. There's lots of people on Tinder and Bumble and other apps that'll be more than willing just to meet up and go out and show you what they like about their home. You could find cool restaurants, hip bars, clubs, and places that tourists wouldn't usually know about, but a local person would be more than happy to show you. And anything else is a bonus. Okay, guys, this is a big one. You don't need to wait in line when queuing to board the plane. You can just sit. You can sit, wait, and relax while everyone else boards because you're gonna get a seat anyway. Everyone has a seat. So don't wait for an hour to board the plane when you can just sit there, watch everyone else do it, and stroll on. Earplugs. Now, I don't need to explain much about this, but obviously they're very useful, especially for long journeys and especially for hostels. And speaking of background noise, that brings me nicely to Endel. Endel is an environment-based app that uses cutting-edge technology to create real-time personalized soundscapes designed to help you focus, relax, and sleep. I've been using it recently while in coffee shops and co-working spaces on the focus mode, and it really helps to cut out the other distracting noises around you, something like someone on their phone. Instead, I can just plug in Endel, and it helps me just to get on with the work that I need to do while traveling, what's enabled me to travel continuously for the past few years, focus for a few hours, and then get back to the travel. The AI-powered technology adapts in real time to things like location, weather, and your heart rate. It's also a great way to help you sleep, even if you're in a 16-person dorm. The sleep mode plays simple sounds based on your own circadian rhythm to help you drift off. The first 100 people to click the link in the description will get a free week of audio experiences. And now, back to the travel hacks. If you're staying at a hostel or a dorm, then think about paying the extra two or three euros for a slightly smaller room, especially if it's off-season. Now, what I mean is there's the really cheap 16-person dorms or eight-person dorms, but there's also usually a four-person dorm that might be empty. So just by paying an extra couple euros a night, you can get the whole room to yourself because all the other cheap skates are staying in the 16-person dorm because it was a couple euros cheaper. Did you know that you can use left luggage facilities at railway stations and bus stations? If you're only staying somewhere for one or two nights, to save yourself from lugging it around the city. You can also do this at hotels. If you're planning to travel for a couple of weeks through a country and you've brought a big bag with you, but you don't need it, you can leave it at your hostel or hotel on the first night and then pick it up in two weeks' time if you stay there on the last night. Most hotels and most hostels will be more than willing to do this for you. Just ask, leave your big bag, and then come back later to collect it. I even know some people that do this at hotels they're not staying at. They just go to reception and ask, and sometimes they'll do it for you. Okay, when I found out this, it blew my mind. Did you know that the aisle armrest on a plane can be lifted up? I had no idea. But there's a little button underneath where you can press it and lift up the aisle armrest. So if you need to get up and down quickly, then you can. If you just want to remove it so you have more space, you can. So try that next time you're on a plane. Try traveling with hand luggage only, especially in Europe. You can fit quite a lot into a hand luggage, and take it on board with you rather than checked-in baggage. And especially in Europe, because the checked baggage fees are so high on those low-cost airlines, that it's way better and way cheaper if you can just travel with hand luggage. You also get to skip the baggage control when you land, and you can just walk straight through. It's much quicker, especially for a short trip. Now, another thing that I even feel bad saying, because I've been doing this for ages, and hopefully this doesn't change, you can usually just get away with a couple bags of hand luggage. You don't get checked, or you rarely ever get checked at the gate. So the only time you're gonna get checked is at check-in, and lots of the time you can get an e-boarding pass if you don't have to check in your baggage. And so by the time you get to your gate, even if you have two or three bags, as long as it doesn't look huge, you can usually get onto the plane with a couple bags of hand luggage. Take a thin bag, plastic bag, or laundry bag with you for your laundry. Or better yet, take a pillowcase. You can use that pillowcase for your laundry, and you can also use it as a makeshift pillow. Just stuff some of your clothes in there, some of the soft ones, and then you've got a pillow for when you're traveling without carrying around an actual pillow. Night trains and night buses. Now, there is a school of thought that says these are great because they'll save you accommodation. So if you wanna save money, you can take a night train or a night bus, and then that saves you spending on a hotel because you've got somewhere to sleep for the night and you arrive in a new place. But what I would say is look up beforehand to see what that journey's gonna be like because it could be one of the most beautiful train journeys in the world that you're skipping because you're sleeping through it, and it might be actually a lot nicer to take a daytime night, sorry, a daytime train through that area, and then you get all of the amazing scenery. Also, the problem with night buses and night trains is they usually arrive early in the morning, like 7 or 8 a.m., and you can't check into where you're staying anyway, so you kinda lose the next day after having really bad sleep, and then you have to wait around so you can check in. It might be nicer to spend a little bit extra, spend the whole day traveling, and then check into a hotel or hostel, and you have the next day fresh. Try to avoid Europe during the summer holidays. And I know not everyone will do this, but the reason is it's very expensive, the schools are out, there's a lot more people traveling, airports are very busy, and you're probably paying about three or four times more than you would do out of season. Always check the taxi prices before you arrive to a new airport. This is definitely worth it because when you arrive somewhere, it's probably the first most likely place that you're gonna get scammed, so if you know the taxi prices beforehand, at least you can get to your hotel before you have any other decisions to make. You can get there, rest, be fresh, and then get scammed. Also check which ride sharing app is available once you land. Now it's not always Uber, lots of countries have their own apps that you can use or taxi apps, and that way you know you're gonna get the best price to wherever you're going. Airport lounges might work out cheaper if you travel long term. And now what I mean is I pay for priority pass, the unlimited package, which is about $450 a year, and probably go to the airport 30 to 50 times a year. Now if you were to spend $10 to $15 on each visit, it's actually cheaper to have an airport lounge pass and get the unlimited food, alcohol, and coffee, all of that that you get with a lounge rather than just buying a coffee or a bad airport meal. There are also lots of credit cards that include priority pass or other lounges on there, so go and have a look around because depending on where you're from, there's probably a great travel card that includes lounge on it. Always have a backup amount of USD when traveling in more difficult countries. Now for me, I usually have $100 just tucked away somewhere just in case because if you travel long enough, you will eventually need it, whether that's a visa on the border or just a moment where you can't get out cash and you need to exchange the dollars, or let's just say a facilitation fee when something goes very wrong. Have a copy of your passport on your phone. Now obviously you should have your passport anyway, but there might be times where you don't have it on you and you need to show a copy of your passport. Usually just having the photo of it will be more than enough for anyone that asks. So have it on your phone, have it saved to your emails or Google Drive or wherever, somewhere you can just access it easily. Compare Airbnb and booking.com whenever you're looking for somewhere to stay depending on which country you're in. Now some countries, Airbnb will be a lot cheaper and some countries, booking.com or hotels will be a lot cheaper. It just depends on the local rules and regulations and how much people are charging in different places. Recently, I've noticed hotels being a lot cheaper than Airbnb, and not just cheaper, but also better value. Download a currency conversion app to your phone before you travel. Now this is great just to have anyway, but the worst thing you wanna do is get to a new country and have no idea how much things cost. If you've already checked the currency and you already have the currency app on your phone, then you won't get caught out like that and you'll know straight away how much it is in your home currency. Credit cards are great for insurance. Now a lot of people worry about having a credit card because they don't wanna go into debt or credit, but actually it's a great way to cover yourself because if you pay with a credit card, then you can do credit card chargebacks and they usually also have other perks like points and insurance. So look into the best credit card for you because it is really a great tool to have while traveling. Even if you just have it as a backup to your normal debit card. But booking things like flights and bigger purchases on credit cards definitely makes sense and it's something I do all the time. Stock up on antibiotics when you can. Now eventually it will probably happen where you do have a scrape and it gets infected, so you'll need antibiotics. The annoying thing is that in a lot of countries antibiotics are prescription only and it's very difficult to get a prescription if you're not a citizen of that country or without going to the hospital or a clinic. You can't just go into the pharmacy and ask. So if you're in a place where you can get antibiotics without prescription, then it might make sense to stock up just for when it inevitably happens. eSIMs are a great option for any quick trip. Now this is a new thing. I don't know if you've tried it. I use AirAllo and it's so good. You can just download the SIM to your phone and then you instantly have data when you arrive to a new country. If you're staying somewhere longer, I think the local SIMs, the physical SIM is still a cheaper alternative, but actually just being able to put the SIM on your phone with a click of a button makes it so, so easy when you first land. Pack your backpack and suitcase every way at the same time. Now this may sound insanely organized and I'm actually not that organized of a person, but it does make things so easy when you're looking for something. Even just having like your documents or your medicine or whatever in the same pocket when you need to go to it, it's there. I think it's an old military thing that they teach, but actually it makes travel and long-term travel when you're always living from a suitcase so much easier. Carry a pen with you and know where it is. You'll need it. You'll need it when you're filling in the immigration cards. There's always a reason you'll need it so it makes sense to have a pen. You don't wanna be that guy that's asking everyone for a pen. Just have one. Wear loose clothing when going through the airport. And not only is this way more comfortable when you're on the plane, having some nice cotton or t-shirts, jogging bottoms, whatever, it's actually also way better going through security because it means you don't have to take off your belt and jacket, just anything without metal or anything that's not as clunky is way nicer to travel. You'll be quickly through security and you'll be really comfortable. Travel with a power bank, especially for long journeys where you're doing multiple connections or you're on a 30-hour journey. You know, your phone will probably run out. We always, we all use it too much. So if you have a power bank, you've got a backup, don't use it until that very last moment when you might need it to find your hotel or to get through immigration and show your onward flight or anything like that. Onward flights. This is another one I just thought of off the top of my head but a lot of countries will require you to have a return flight or an onward flight to get the visa. There's some great services that mean you don't actually have to book the flight. I think it's onwardflights.com or something like that. I'll put it in the description but you can just pay a small fee and they will reserve a flight for you for 24, 48 hours that you can use to get through immigration and then you don't actually have to take that flight. Keep backup emergency coffee in your big bag. I know this is mainly one for coffee drinkers but you know what I mean. There's always a time when you won't have coffee and you really want it. So if you just have a few sachets that you can take from any hotel as a quick backup coffee, then you'll thank yourself later. Keep backup bank cards. Now, this is an obvious one but it's only obvious once it happens to you. If you lose your card and it's your only debit card that you have on you, you're in a bit of trouble. It's not the end of the world but it would be way easier if you did also have a backup card that you just keep in your bag for emergencies. Now, if you do happen to lose a card and you don't have a backup one, what you can also normally do with most mobile banking apps these days is you can, and with most smartphones these days, is you could add a card to your NFC chip on your phone with things like Revolut, Starlink, Monzo and then you can use your phone to pay for things until you get your replacement card. If you need to make any phone calls while abroad and you don't have any international minutes, then what you can actually do is use Skype to call any landline around the world. I've been doing this for years. It costs a few cents per minute and I think I topped up 15 to $20 a few years ago and I've still barely touched it and I use it whenever I need to call the bank or anything like that. Always have cash with you when arriving to a border that requires cash payments for a visa. Now, sometimes there's an ATM and sometimes it works but a lot of the time you're gonna get there, there's gonna be no ATM and they'll require dollars for a visa, especially in lesser-traveled countries. Unless they actually have an ATM or a way to pay that card, you're gonna rely on the people around you to spot you and then you pay them back later so it's way better to have cash. Doing your research on where to eat when you arrive somewhere is always worth it. Normally, when you first arrive to a new country, the first places that you come across are always the touristy, overpriced restaurants and it always happens because those restaurants are around the sites when you're walking around but you're gonna pay a lot and have not nearly as good of a meal as if you did some research beforehand, jump in a cab and go to a local place where you could eat really well, probably for half the price. Know how to use a VPN. Now, you don't need to pay for a VPN every month. There's loads of free trials around that you can just sign up for it when you need it and then cancel that free trial before you start paying for it but there's gonna be a time eventually where you need to use a VPN. There's loads of countries where certain apps, websites, even your banking is blocked so knowing how to use a VPN will come in massively handy. You can just download one, install it. It's very simple but it would definitely help you out. Sun lotion is your friend. Don't skimp out on the sun lotion. Sure, it can be expensive. You could pay $10, $20 in a tropical country for some sun lotion but it's way better than getting really sunburned and this is something that I know about being very fair-skinned and any other Scots, English, Irish will definitely know as well which brings me to take a T-shirt when snorkeling. The times I have got the most burnt in my life have been when I've been snorkeling without a T-shirt. It's been very hot but you don't realize because the water's over your back and you're watching fish for an hour. You come to the shore and then suddenly you have these massive blisters pop up later. I just avoid that at all costs these days by wearing a T-shirt while snorkeling. You don't really feel it anyway and it means I can enjoy the snorkeling without turning out like a lobster. It saves you in the long run. And that's it. Those are my 39 travel hacks from eight years of traveling. Now, I'm gonna be doing some more videos like this and I'm also gonna dive into more of the money side of it as well like the bank cards you can use, the points, the credit cards, do all of that stuff. Everything that I do that enables me to travel quite easily and it has enabled me to travel to 100 countries. Now, I've made a lot of these mistakes before. I've learned these the hard way so now I wanna share some of that knowledge on the YouTube channel. I'm still also gonna be doing my other travel vlog videos but I'm gonna cut it up with some more of these kind of how to helpful videos as well. That's it. I wanna say thank you to Endor for sponsoring this video. I'm gonna leave you there. I will also have all of these on the blog below so go check that out. It'll be in the description and it'll be in the comments and you'll be able to see all of these tips laid out, links to everything I've mentioned and you'll be able to ask any questions about all of them as well. For now, thank you for watching and see you in the next video. Bye.