The BEST Travel Hacks of ALL time ✈️ Don't skip this!

I have been traveling full time for like the last 10 years. And one of the questions I get asked the most is, what are my travel tips and hacks? What are the things I actually do that make my travel life easier? And trust me, over 10 years, I have learned a lot. And today I'm going to share them all with you. Now, these are the things I actually do and swear by. These are my tried and true. No sponsors, no funny business. This is the stuff I actually do. And if you want to elevate your travel game even further, I have a totally free guide. I'll have that linked in the video description and pinned in the comments for you. I wrote it myself. It's just a simple little guide to help you up your travel game and travel like a pro. It's yours. Have it. Let me get into these tips. I take all of my essential travel documents. That's like a copy of my travel insurance policy, copy of my passport, itineraries, flight tickets, everything that's absolutely essential. And I put it in Google Drive. I make that Google Drive folder available offline and I share it with a trusted, responsible adult. I'll let you decide who you think that is in your life. But for example, it could be your mom, your sister, your dad, your brother. Could even be a best friend. But you want somebody else to be able to have access to it. That way, if you lose your phone or it gets stolen or you lose your passport or God forbid you're in the hospital and you need help, other people have access to that really important stuff. Make sure you have a universal travel adapter. I cannot believe people are traveling without these. It is a simple little box and it is able to convert into every single different country's travel power outlet thing. I make sure I have one that has multiple USB and USB-C outlets on it, and it just makes my travel life so much easier. Now we're on the topic of charging. Two charging cords I want you to have. One is a two meter long cord for your phone. Two meters people, two meters. It will change your life when you're in airports or you're in hotels and they don't have the power points in the correct location. It's super convenient for you. You can stretch it. And especially in airports, I can be charging from so far away and still using my phone so I don't have to abandon it. The second cord I want you to have is one with multiple outlets. So for me, it's like a USB whatever. And then on the other end, it has all three of the major outlets on it. The old school iPhone one, the classic one that you can use with Androids and stuff, and then the new USB-C as well. That thing is a game changer for me. Also, you absolutely need a backup battery pack. I can't believe people travel without them, but it's so essential. You just never know when your phone is going to run out of power. You don't want to get stuck in a situation where you run out. It's incredibly helpful when you're on flights and girls. If you're going out on the night out, having that with you just in case your phone runs out with the charging cord, absolutely essential. I don't care who you are. You need to be tracking your luggage. I have air tags and a tile. I use both. I kind of prefer the air tag, but I put air tags in my suitcase and I put it in my backpack, carry on whatever it is that I have with me as well. So I'm able to track my stuff. My suitcase did get lost once and I was able to show the airport staff where it was sitting in the airport so they could go and retrieve it for me. One of my ultimate safety hacks, it seems so wild, is that I use a tote bag as my everyday going around bag. I recently upgraded to a better one, but I just find a simple tote goes a really long way. I have never been pickpocketed. I think I look like a local. I don't look like a tourist. I blend in unless, of course, I'm somewhere like China, in which case I look like a Yeti. But if I'm in Europe or somewhere like that, people just think I'm one of the locals and I have not been pickpocketed yet. I also have a sling for my phone. That thing is incredible. You have like an adapter piece. It sits into your phone and then you have this really long cord. I wrap that around my wrist. I tie my phone to my bag so somebody can just reach in and take it. And in places like London and Paris, so essential. And I have never had an issue. So make sure you're doing whatever it takes to blend in and not look super touristy. I also have a little breakout bag that I put in my carry on and I can grab that little pouch and put it straight into my seat with me when I'm getting on a flight. Now, that little breakout kit is essential. It has everything I need to survive that long haul flight in it. It has my noise cancelling headphones, eye drops, moisturizer, face wash. I have a toothbrush and toothpaste in there. I have some little lollies or snacks or something like that. My backup battery charger, my two meter long charging cord for my phone, anything and everything I think I need to make it through that long haul flight is in that little pouch. So when I'm boarding the plane, I grab my little pouch. I stash my backpack up the top and I am good to go. I also make sure I have a pen in there. Always have a pen. I'm going to be really honest with you. I don't bother with neck pillows anymore or even eye masks. Just those those 14 hour flights in economy kill me every time. There is no there is no hack to get around it unless you're able to jag three seats or even two seats on the plane. If you're bolt upright for 14 hours, I'm sorry, but you're suffering. And I cannot be carrying a neck pillow around with me every day when I travel full time. So I just don't mess with that kind of stuff anymore. If you have a recommendation for a neck pillow that you swear by, give it to me. If you are a person that runs some kind of a travel neck pillow brand and you're seeing this and you think you can talk me into it, send it to me. I'm willing to try it. But I have to tell you, I don't really believe in them. I know other people love them. Then just not really for me. Another thing I don't really bother with is packing cubes. I've had a lot of brands that run or make packing cubes their thing. Reach out to me and try to sponsor me. And they're like, use our packing cubes. I hate them. I know people love them. I hate them. I just feel like it's so unnecessary. I prefer just to do a tight roll. If you're folding your clothes into your suitcase, you're doing it wrong. You need to tight roll. But we will have to get so much more in there. And don't forget to use your shoes. I stash a lot of my smaller pieces of clothing inside my running shoes or my boots or whatever it is that I have with me. And it truly works wonders. Now, when you are packing your suitcase, especially for a long trip, I absolutely recommend layering something scented into your luggage. You can do that with dryer sheets, maybe tissue that has been sprayed with a little bit of perfume. But if you're in another country like Germany is the place that I found them. Some countries have these little sachets and they're like scented little sachets and you can layer them into things. They're meant to be used for wardrobes. I use them for suitcases and it keeps my luggage smelling so fresh. Another packing hack for you is to get in on and around the concept of a capsule wardrobe. This changed my life. I was always buying individual pieces of clothing, and I felt like I had nothing to wear. Now I pack a capsule wardrobe. So everything has to go with everything else. I try not to buy anything that's too patterned or too loud. I'm usually buying T-shirts that are black and white. I'm buying denim jeans and shorts. I'm buying white, black, pink skirts, everything that can be mixed and matched together. I pack less, but I have more outfits. I also recommend packing a laundry bag. I can't believe people don't do this. I have like a little zip up laundry bag. It just keeps the clean stuff separate from the dirty stuff. And if I am doing a laundry run somewhere in my hotel or I need to drop my laundry off somewhere like I'm in Southeast Asia, for example, I'm not walking around the streets, dropping underwear everywhere. It's safely zipped up and secure in my sweet little laundry bag. Trust me, it makes the world of difference. I mentioned them already, but if you don't have noise cancelling headphones, what are you even doing? They are a game changer. I personally like the over ear ones. I find them really comfortable to use. I bought a pair. I'll have those links in the video description for you. I paid the full three hundred and fifty four hundred dollars for them. Wasn't gifted to me or anything like that. I've been using them for a few years. They have an incredibly long battery life. I use and abuse those things like you would not believe. They have the adapter cord so I can plug them in when I'm on a long haul flight and I can watch the movies with a really good sound. You absolutely need noise cancelling headphones. Another thing you need. Where is it? Hold on, let me grab it. It's going to change your life. Where did I put it? Where are you? Oh, we're back. I picked this up in Singapore's Changi Airport. Does not look like much. Absolute game changer. The brand is Moft. Moft, if you see this, sponsor me. I'm your biggest fan. Let me show you what it does. It snaps on. So I have this gigantic magnet on the back of my phone. That's not the one it comes with. They give you a cute magnet. But I have this super powered one for other reasons. Snaps on. Right. And then you can use it as a stand when you're on long haul flights so you can watch movies on your phone and it goes a bunch of different ways. Look at this. You can do it like this way. It's like this. You can absolutely do it that way. It converts also this way. I'm their biggest fan. Look at that thing. It's truly a game changer. Circling back to a few safety tips for you. I always share my location with multiple people. I have like six or seven different people that have my live location at any given time through the Find My app. They always know where I am. And that's because I always have an eSIM on my phone. Always, no matter where I go, I don't care how much it costs. I don't care about the rolling expense for me, like having to buy a brand new eSIM all the time. I just don't care about the cost. It's worth it for my safety. I'm always able to call somebody for help if I need to. And I'm always able to use my maps and get out of a situation or call Grab or an Uber if I need to. And importantly, people always know where I am because my friends worry about me and they just like to check in and see where I am. And if for any reason somebody didn't hear from me for a couple of days, they would be able to find where I am really easily. So make sure, especially if you're a girl traveling by yourself, make sure you are sharing your live location with people you love and trust. I also don't typically wear a lot of jewelry in most countries. If I'm somewhere like Singapore, for example, sure, I'll go for it and wear my jewelry. But most of the time I keep it really simple and I'm trying to do everything I can not to attract attention to myself, which can be really difficult at times because I stand out in a crowd because I'm so tall and I'm often filming and that's causing a real scene. But in terms of danger, I try not to bring too much attention to myself. And I also don't really go out at night. I'm not trying to show up to a bar by myself as a girl. If I meet other travel girls and we go out together, that's fine. Or maybe I sign up for a bar crawl or something like that. But just in general, I try to avoid alcohol. You know, drink spiking is a real thing. I just don't want to be in a situation where I'm out late at night on my own. And those kinds of simple safety tips, I know it seems really obvious, but go a really long way to helping me feel safe all the time. Now, in terms of getting money out and money changes, people seem to love money changes. If that's your thing, that's fine. I found an amazing bank and I don't get charged any transaction fees overseas at all for tap transactions. And I get five free cash withdrawals overseas per month. And that does me just fine. If I need cash out, I'm in a country, I can get it out. I won't get charged. And then I get the local currency. It just works out so much better for me. Personally, I feel like money changes are a real rip off and I try to avoid them wherever I can. I just want to say this because it's a safe space. Solar travel can be really lonely and travel in general is exhausting. I used to feel really guilty about it because I have this amazing life. I get to travel. I get to see the world, all these really great things. But I would have times where I would feel super lonely or I would feel super exhausted. And then I met some other really amazing travel girls and we were talking about it and they were talking about how exhausted they were. And they had worked so hard to save up for this trip. It was their trip of a lifetime. And they were just exhausted. And they just need to spend a few days hold up at an Airbnb eating pizza and watching movies. And I was like, that is so relatable. So if you ever feel that way, you're out, you're traveling, you've worked really hard for this amazing holiday and you're just feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. Honestly, don't worry about it. It happens. If the loneliness strikes, always go out and try and meet other travel girls. There are always travelers willing to talk to you. And I really found through travel that just a smile and a hello with the locals goes a really long way. It's so easy to strike up a conversation with somebody, especially at like a local cafe or a restaurant. If you're trying local food, people love to talk to you, especially if you're traveling solo. So just never be afraid to put yourself out there and go for it. This one is my favorite travel hack. And I don't want to say hack. What if you guys don't think it's a hack and everyone already knows about it? But let me show you. This is this is the one I've saved to last because it's really my favorite one. Did you know on Google Maps? Let me zoom into somewhere cool like New York. When you save a place, you can select and create different categories and you can assign those categories an emoji. I am able to save different things on my Google Maps by emoji. So instead of looking at my Google Maps and it's just a bunch of stars and I have to press on everyone to see what it is, I have them saved by shopping, sweets, coffee, food, landmarks, a.k.a. sites and hotels. So if I'm somewhere like I'm down here, where is that? Soho ish, maybe I'm down in Soho and I'm like, wait a minute. I really feel like something to eat or I really feel like a cup of coffee or I really feel like a sweet treat. I can open my map. I can look at the icons and I can see myself on the map and quickly and easily see which of those options I desire is close to me. If you are a super organized type A person that just made you really happy and excited, and you've got a really big couple of days ahead of you, you need to sit down and reorganize all the things you've ever saved on Google Maps. I have this amazing best friend, Katie. She lives in London. She is she's type A like that. She loves to be organized. I showed that to her and she was like, clear my schedule. She absolutely loved that. I do just want to share a little bit of travel wisdom with you, especially from a solo travel girl, because I get a lot of questions about it all the time. And one of the things that people talk about is maybe confidence, comfort, bravery. And I think a lot of people experience or resonate with the idea of feeling anxious when you're trying to travel solo. I get it. Me too. Honestly, I haven't always been this confident. I haven't always been this brave when it comes to solo travel. I wish that there was something I could tell you that would just fix it for you, that there was a pill you could take, that there was a tea you could drink, that there was a meditation you could do. In my experience, it comes down to exposure therapy. I felt so anxious when I was trying to solo travel because I did not trust myself. I just didn't trust myself. I didn't trust myself to get myself out of situations, to book the right thing, to make the right decision, to get somewhere in one piece. I just didn't have that self-belief. And the only way that I was able to fix that in myself was by doing the thing. So that's what I do. Just do it. And don't stop. You just have to keep doing it. You have to go out there. You have to feel uncomfortable walking around by yourself. You have to go to the museums, the cafes, the restaurants and sit at a table by yourself. Don't look at your phone. Don't read a book. Just sit there. Breathe. Be present. Talk to other people. Enjoy your coffee. Do whatever it takes to get yourself out of your comfort zone and put yourself in those situations and just keep doing it. I'm going to just keep saying just keep doing it, because honestly, that is the thing that fixed it for me. That is how I got to be so confident. And now I can solo travel anywhere, anytime. I feel so confident. I have so much trust in myself. I know there's not a situation that I can't handle. I know I'm always going to meet people and make friends. I know that if I'm unhappy or uncomfortable, I can leave a situation and I just have so much faith and belief in myself. And that kind of thing is life changing. And it's such a big part of why I'm such an advocate for solo travel, especially for women. I think it's incredibly empowering and it takes us out of these roles that we play for other people. And it brings us into this space where we can just be ourselves and connect with ourselves and hear our own voice and hear our own heart and really learn to trust ourselves. So if you're thinking about solo female travel, please do it. It will absolutely change your life. And on that note, two things I want to mention to you. I am thinking about running group trips. There will be group trips just for the girls, girls only trips. Obviously, girls in groups of friends, you don't have to be solo. You're absolutely welcome to come, but it will be girls only. If that's something you'd be interested in, I would love for you to put something in the comments below and let me know and let me know what kind of places you'd like to go to, what your budget might be, anything like that. I would love to hear about it. And secondly, if you want to up your travel game, I have a totally free guide for you. It is my how to travel like a pro guide. Short, sweet, simple. Just going to give you some more practical tips and tricks to help you reach expert level travel, in which I am self-proclaiming myself the expert, which feels a little arrogant, so just ignore that. But I have that for you. It's totally free. I have that linked below a video description and in the comments for you. Download it. Use it. Let me know if it's helpful. And if you have any questions for me at all about travel, if you want more travel tips and tricks, please let me know. I'm just taking a little bit of time off this week and having a little bit of downtime while I enjoy being present in one space for more than just a couple of nights. So I wanted to sit down and share this with you, and I really, really hope it's been helpful and shed a little bit of light on some of the things I do just to make my travel life a whole lot easier. Now, you guys, if you don't already, be sure to subscribe right now so you never miss a single episode or any of my travel vlogs and adventures around the world. And be sure to say hello in the comments below. I hope you have a great weekend and I will see you with a brand new episode, a travel vlog next week. Hope you know how much I love you.