Travel Tips and Strategies Archives - Mom's Guide To Travel

Dec 16 2017

Last-Minute Travel Gift Ideas for the Holidays

Something to be said about buying gifts at the last-minute

Uh-oh. Are you scrambling for a last-minute gift for the traveler in your life?

Don’t worry. I’m right there with you!

Last-minute Travel Gift Ideas

I’ll be talking about last-minute gift ideas on WBAL-TV in Baltimore on Sunday but since most of you will miss the segment, I thought I’d share the gift ideas with you here.

Whether you’re looking for a unique stocking stuffer or a stylish bag, this short list of travel gift ideas will hopefully save the day.

BRINA: Insulated Wine Sleeves

These stylish sleeves keep your wine chilled for hours so that you don’t have to worry about finding a bucket anymore.

Made in Italy, these wine sleeves come in an assortment of colors (over 2 dozen variations), range in price from $65 to $168, and are both fun and functional.

http://www.brina.us

ANKER: PowerCore Slim 5000

Anker is well known for making stellar supplemental battery products. And they’ve remained consistent with this charging bank for your phone.

This ultra slim external battery with high-speed charging technology is designed perfectly for smartphones. https://www.anker.com/products/variant/PowerCore-Slim-5000/A1250011

Quilted Koala Duffel Travel Set

Looking for a roomy duffel bag for your traveler?

This 3-piece set will fit perfectly in a standard overhead compartment and is great for an overnight trip.

The 3-piece set comes in 6 different colors and includes a large duffle, a large makeup bag as well as a small makeup bag.

Slate Blue Travel Set with Free Small Makeup Bag! Just $44

Travalo: Refillable Atomizer

Your favorite perfume deserves to arrive in style, and not shattered into pieces all over your gym bag!

This pocket-size fragrance atomizer allows you to take any perfume with you on the go.

http://us.travalo.com

Dec 16 2015

Holiday Travel Tips To Keep You Sane

The holidays is one of the most stressful times of year for travelers. Delays, unpredictable weather, crowds, and short tempers cause millions of people to be not-so-merry when they have to fly or get on the road for the holidays. However, you’re not one of them because you’ve landed on this page to prepare yourself with a few holiday travel tips to keep you sane.

Air Travel Tips

Get there earlier: Arrive at least 90 minutes before your scheduled flight to account for lines, delays, luggage hiccups.

Pack Strategically: It’s always nice to have luggage with easily accessible compartments like the Victorinox Werks Traveler 2.0 but if you don’t just remember these quick tips. You want to keep your liquids and electronics on the top part or an easily accessible area of your luggage. Keep your socks handy as well for when you need to walk barefoot through the scanner.

Travelers with TSA Pre Check don’t have to worry about this specific tip.

Watch the Weather: Check the weather a week prior to your travels and periodically before you take off. You want to look at your local weather, destination weather and points in between to prepare yourself to not only pack accordingly but to prepare for potential delays.

Invest in Travel Insurance: To protect yourself in case of unforeseen cancellations and delays, consider signing up for travel insurance. Here are a few companies to consider: American Express, Roam Right, Access America, Travelex, and Travel Guard. Make sure you read the fine print clearly to see what you are covered for, compare pricing and exclusions.

Road Rules

Use transponders like the EZ Pass to bypass traffic. The North East Coast 95 corridor can get pretty jammed. Now might be the time to sign up for EZ Pass to cut through the traffic, especially parts that lead up to the toll. You may also pass less for certain tolls with the pass.

Stay Charged

Let’s face it, there’s a high probability you will experience travel delays this time of year. Make sure that you carry your charging plugs or portable batteries. You can never have too many charging devices. If several people in your party are using mobile devices, consider taking an outlet strip with you so that you can all charge at once.

Practice Patience

It’s hard to be patient when you just want to get where you want to go. However, getting yourself annoyed for things out of your control won’t get you there any faster. Take deep breaths when you feel your blood rising and practice kindness to the people who are working to get you to your destination. Taking it out on them might make matters worse.

Need someone to take over planning your next travel experience?

Plan My Trip!

Dec 15 2015

How to Choose The Best Flight To Save Time And Money

This is one of the things that I wanted to talk to people about. Since I travel a lot because of my job, I know a few tricks of the trade.

Choosing Price or Choosing Time

Most of the time people think that price should be a driving force for choosing flights. I’m here to tell you that this should not necessarily be the driving force for you. Time is money and so you really need to consider the value of your time.

If you can get a direct flight to your destination, then book a direct flight. Why?

It takes less time to get to your destination
You don’t have to worry about potentially missing your flight because of a delay with your first leg. (Been there done that).
Overall, you have less frustrations.
Your time is worth something!

Frustration with connections and too much time in airports are big reasons why people are hesitant to fly.

Be Mindful of Flying From Coast To Coast

If you are flying from the East Coast to the West Coast, you have to strongly consider the return leg of your itinerary. When we fly from the West Coast back to the East Coast, we have to depart really early to arrive at a decent hour or deal with arriving at midnight.

Booking a flight with a connection only makes it worse. This begs the case for why you would strongly consider paying a little extra in order to avoid a connection and spend less time traveling.

Ask Yourself Some Questions

The best way for you to decide if you’d rather spend more money on your flights is to consider some questions for yourself.

What is the value of your time?

Are you all about getting to your destination as quickly as possible?

Think about your hourly rate. If you are spending 10 hours in the airport and your hourly rate is $100 (and you’re not able to get work done), then you’ve just lost out on $1000! Is the ticket price more or less than this. If it’s less, then go with the higher priced ticket because your time is more valuable than the savings difference. (Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing.)

Use your credit card rewards points

You can use your points to:

Get a free roundtrip ticket or
Offset one of the legs of your flight

That’s usually what I consider first. If points are involved, they are the deciding factor in which airline I will choose to fly.

Do you like the airline?

This is pretty simple. If you don’t like the airline, don’t fly it! That’s one easy solution for how to choose the best flight.

Listen, we all have our favorites and we all have our dislikes. Steer clear of the airlines that you don’t like. You don’t care for them for a reason and deciding to fly with them because of price could just ruin your trip before it even starts.

Keep building the relationship with your airline of choice and raking in those rewards points. Sure, the ticket might be more expensive but if you’ve been flying them for a while and are a member of their rewards programs, your flight will just be adding to your points’ bank. It’s better than wasting money on a ticket for an airline where you don’t have any loyalty points (because you hate them and would never sign up for their program).

Think smart about how and where you spend your money – it’s all about getting a return on it. And with rewards programs you get just that: a return.

I like Southwest and American airlines, so most of my domestic points are with them. They are always at the top of my flight search list.

That’s how you should choose over one airline versus another.

Which do you prefer? Would you rather save money on your airline tickets or deal with the trade-offs?

For more money saving travel advice check out my book

Jun 30 2015

Travel Products That Help Make Your Travel Life Easier

This travel segment originally aired on WBALT-TV 11 Baltimore. You can also watch it on the site here. In the segment I talk about several travel products that I love which help make my life easier.

Video Transcript

JENNIFER: DAN SAYS CHANCES ARE YOU ARE GOING SOMEWHERE. WHEN YOU TRAVEL, THERE ARE THINGS TO TAKE WITH YOU TO MAKE YOUR TRIP EASIER. FAMILY TRAVEL STRATEGIST, TAWANNA BROWNE SMITH IS HERE. GOOD MORNING. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE LUGGAGE AND HOW FAR IT HAS COME.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PRODUCTS. THIS IS REALLY FOR THE SOLO TRAVELING MOM OR DAD. THIS IS CALLED THE RIDE ON CARRY ON. ESSENTIALLY IT IS A CHAIR THAT WILL HELP TO REPLACE YOU CARRYING AN ADDITIONAL ROLLING STROLLER. YOU PUT YOUR CHILD IN THE CHAIR. YOU STRAP THEM IN. THEN THERE’S THE SEAT BUCKLE HERE. THEN YOU HAVE YOUR LUGGAGE. THEN YOU JUST PULL THEM.

JENNIFER: HOPE THEY ARE SAFE AND OKAY.

THEY ARE SAFE BECAUSE THEY ARE LOCKED IN IT. YOUR LUGGAGE IS GOING TO BE PACKED. YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT TIPPING OVER. THE WEIGHT IS BALANCED. THIS IS A HEADREST THAT’S A TURNTABLE THERE FOR THEM.

JENNIFER: I CAN SEE HOW THAT WOULD WORK.

WHEN YOU GET ON THE PLANE, YOU PUT IT INSIDE. YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT.

JENNIFER: ALL RIGHT. LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS STUFF. THIS IS MEANT TO MAKE LIFE EASIER. YOU ARE NOT CARRY ANYTHING.

IF YOU WANT TO BE BAGLESS, IT HAS 17 POCKETS. YOU CAN PUT A MINI PAD AND CELL PHONE AND LOOP YOUR HEAD AND MONEY IN THERE. YOUR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS CAN BE IN THERE. YOUR ID IS IN THERE AS WELL. YOU CAN ALSO PUT A CAMERA IN HERE. THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS YOU CAN USE THIS. WHEN YOU GO THROUGH SECURITY, JUST TAKE IT OFF AND PUT IT THROUGH THE SECURITY TRAY. YOU ARE DONE.

JENNIFER: IT IS LIGHTWEIGHT. I IMAGINE IT COMES IN MANY COLORS.

YES, IT DOES. AND ITS AVAILABLE FOR MEN AS WELL.

JENNIFER: NOW CHECK THIS OUT. LOOK AT THAT.

THIS IS A REALLY INNOVATIVE PRODUCT. I HAVEN’T SEEN ANYTHING ON THE MARKET LIKE IT. THESE ARE BRIDGELESS EYE WEAR. YOU ARE PROBABLY WANDERING WHAT IT WAS. NOISE CANCELING HEADPHONES FOR YOUR EYES. THEY ARE LIKE SUCTION CUPS. THEY BLOCK OUT AMBIANT AND UVA LIGHT. YOU CAN USE THIS ON THE PLANE WHEN PEOPLE HAVE THE SHADES OPEN, AT THE BEA CH TO BLOCK OUT THE SUN, IN THE CAR TO TAKE A NAP.

JENNIFER: ALL RIGHT. THIS IS AN ARMREST.

THIS IS AN ARM PILLOW. IT IS THE LITTLE THINGS THAT COUNT. THIS LITTLE THING MAKES YOUR — THIS CUSHION MAKES YOUR — FLIP IT ON THE ARMREST AND MAKES IT MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE. IT IS ADDING FIRST CLASS TO YOUR ECONOMY CLASS. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE OCCLES YOU CAN USE IT FOR YOUR EYES.

OR USE IT AS A LUMBAR CUSHION IN THE CHAIR. IT’S MULTIFUNCTIONAL.

ALL RIGHT. MATCHING OUR CLOTHES HERE.

YES, THIS IS THE HARD CASE SPINNER LUGGAGE. AND IT HAS DUAL ACCESS. I TOOK THIS LUGGAGE WITH ME TO SPAIN. THE FIRST T HING THAT I LIKE IS IT HAS THE TSA APPROVED LOCKS. YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE AN ADDITIONAL LOCK TO PUT ON IT. THESE JUST LOCK IN. YOU HAVE THE COMBINATION. THEN YOU CAN ACCESS YOUR LUGGAGE IN TWO WAYS. THERE’S A FRONT WAY TO ACCESS IT AND —

JENNIFER: OF COURSE IT IS GOING TO STICK.

OF COURSE. IT HAS THE DIFFERENT COMPARTMENTS. THIS IS CARRY ON LUGGAGE. THIS IS APPROVED FOR YOU. IT ALSO WORKS INTERNATIONALLY. I CAN ACCESS IT THE BACK WAY.

JENNIFER: THAT’S GOING TO HAVE THE BIGGER CAVITY. ALL RIGHT. YOU ARE COMING BACK IN THE NEXT HOUR. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT THEN?

I’LL BE TALKING ABOUT PACKING TIPS STRATEGIES.

You can watch the second segment about packing tips here.

Jun 29 2015

Packing Tips: How To Pack For Your Next Trip

This video originally aired on WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore on Sunday June 28th. You can also watch it on the WBAL-TV site here. In the segment I share some packing tips and give pointers on how to pack your luggage.

Video Transcript
(courtesy of WBAL-TV 11)
WELCOME BACK. TAWANNA BROWNE SMITH IS GOING TO SHARE HOW TO PACK.
I’M GOING TO SHARE PACKING TIPS. IT IS ABOUT ORGANIZATION AND EFFICIENCY. DON’T JUST THROW IT IN. YOU WANT IT TO BE NEAT. WHEN YOU GET TO YOUR DESTINATION AND YOU NEED TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING, YOU WANT IT TO BE EASILY ACCESSIBLE. I ALWAYS LOOK FOR PRODUCTS THAT ARE GOING TO MAKE MY LIFE EASIER WHEN IT COMES TO PACKING.

FIRST OFF, LET’S TALK ABOUT ORGANIZATION. I LIKE TO USE PACKING LIST CARDS. YOU KNOW, MY HUSBAND ALWAYS WANTED ME TO PACK HIS SUITCASE FOR HIM AS WELL. I HAD MY TWO KIDS TO PACK FOR. I CREATED THESE FOR MY FAMILY. HERE’S THE DAD PACKING LIST CARD.

THAT’S ALL OF YOUR STUFF. ON THE BACK, WRITE IN WHATEVER YOU NEED.

BARRY: DAD’S PACKING LIST. THEN I HAVE MY OWN.

YES, I LEAVE THEM IN THE LUGGAGE. YOU CAN ALSO USE AN APP. I PERSONALLY LIKE TO CHECK THINGS OFF. I’M A LIST TYPE OF PERSON.

YOU WANT TO LOOK FOR LUGGAGE OR BAGGAGE THAT HAS COMPARTMENTS. THIS IS FOR THE ORGANIZATIONAL SIDE OF THINGS. THIS LUGGAGE IS FROM THE SAME PEOPLE THAT MAKE SWISS ARMY KNIVES. HERE IT SHOWS YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU CAN PUT INSIDE THIS LUGGAGE.

BARRY: LITTLE POCKETS HERE. DEEP POCKETS THERE.

EXACTLY. HERE YOU PUT YOUR SMALL GADGETS LIKE A SMALL PHONE. THEN YOU HAVE YOUR IPAD. THE OTHER COMPARTMENT IS WHERE YOU WOULD PUT YOUR CLOTHING.

IN THIS, I’LL SHOW YOU AN EXAMPLE OF USING PACKING CUBES. THESE ARE LITTLE WONDERFUL BAGS TO HELP YOU KEEP YOUR CLOTHING ORGANIZED. IF YOU ARE SHARING LUGGAGE WITH SOMEONE, THIS IS GREAT. THIS IS A CARRY ON SO YOU MIGHT NOT.

BUT YOU CAN KEEP YOUR STUFF SEPARATE BY USING DIFFERENT COLORS. THIS EXAMPLE — I’LL USE MY KIDS. I GIVE THEM A BLACK PACKING CUBE. IN MINE, I USE A GREEN COLOR. EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT COLOR THEY HAVE. I HAVE SOCKS IN THIS. THESE ARE CLOTHING. LOOK. FITS NEATLY IN THERE. I’M MAXIMIZING THE SPACE. I ROLL CLOTHES IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE SPACE.

BARRY: YOU GOT TO GET IT IN.

I GOT TO GET IT IN. I’M A WOMAN. I DON’T LIKE TO FORGET THINGS.

BARRY: YOU TALK ABOUT THIS BEING A CARRY-ON BAG. THIS IS ENOUGH FOR ONE OR TWO DAYS?

THIS IS A WEEK’S WORTH OF CLOTHING.

BARRY: HOW MANY PEOPLE?

ME AND A 7-YEAR-OLD. EAGLE CREEK IS A WONDERFUL COMPANY FOR THE PACKING CUBES. THEY COME IN DIFFERENT COLORS. SOME PEOPLE JUST USE ZIP LOCK BAGS. IF DEPENDS IF YOU WANT TO SPEND MONEY.

THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT COMPANIES THAT SELL THE PACKING CUBES. IT IS MAKING SURE THAT EVERYTHING IS COMPACT. IT GIVES YOU COMPRESSION TO FIT MORE IN. YOU DON’T NEED THEM IF YOU KNOW HOW TO ROLL THINGS. THIS ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE EASY ACCESSIBILITY.

IF YOU GO TO THE HOTEL ROOM AND YOU WANT TO PUT YOURSELF INSIDE THE DRAWER, TAKE THIS. I DON’T LIKE TO PUT MY CLOTHES IN THE DRAWER. BARRY: JUST LEAVE THEM IN THERE.

BARRY: OTHER PEOPLE TALK ABOUT FOLDING.

IF THE MILITARY HAS BEEN DOING IT FOR ALL OF THESE YEARS — IFS THE CORRECT WAY. SOME PEOPLE ARE METICULOUS. THIS IS PERFECT. ROLL THE CLOTHES. DON’T FOLD THEM.

BARRY: WHAT ABOUT THIS? THIS SECTION HERE — YES. I’M TELLING YOU I LOVE. I HAVE TWO MORE BAGS IN HERE. THIS IS MY TOILETRY BAG. WHEN I HAVE TO GO THROUGH TSA, IT IS A QUICK BAG, THEY CAN SEE THROUGH IT, I PUT IT THROUGH THERE.

BARRY: ON WITH THE BAG, YOU HAVE TO PULL OUT LAPTOPS .

I HAVE PRE-CHECK. SO NO. YOU JUST HAVE TO PULL THIS OUT AND YOUR LAPTOP. THAT’S WHY YOU WANT TO GET A CLEAR BAG OR A ZIPLOCK BAG.

BARRY: THE WAY IT IS DESIGNED, YOU CAN GO TO THIS SECTION.

YOU WOULD KEEP ALL THE THINGS IN THE FRONT SECTION. THIS BAG AS IT STANDS UP, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UNZIP IT A LITTLE BIT TO PULL AND GRAB WHAT YOU NEED.

BARRY: ALL RIGHT. WE APPRECIATE YOU COMING IN AND SHARING THE TIPS. ESPECIALLY THE PACKING TIPS.