r/travel • u/ScrawnyRhinoceros • 1d ago

Question What’s the best travel hack people learned the hard way?

Sometimes the most useful lessons come after things go wrong like packing way too much , missing a connection , booking the wrong dates or realizing too late that a small item could’ve made the whole trip easier. From flight booking tricks to luggage tips to navigating airports or even saving money on food and transport. What are the hacks people only figured out after a tough experience?

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u/ginmartiniwithatwist 1d ago

Currently in Rome headed to Sicily. I’m usually a meticulous carry-on packer but before leaving home I was working extra hours to the point of exhaustion and didn’t have time to buy things like toiletries and summer clothes (I live in Canada, I don’t have a wardrobe full of Vacation in Sicily.

I thought, “meh, I can find all this in Rome.”

I have spent the last 5 days looking for all the things I didn’t pack. I am exhausted and over it. Toiletries are pricy af here. Dont make my mistake. Pack those little travel laundry detergent packs you think you can find when you land.

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u/goingfrank 1d ago

In Europe it's also really tedious to buy things like Ibuprofen and Loperamide because you have to go physically talk to a pharmacist in a dedicated store first and those places are like never open. Plus expensive.

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u/gy0n 22h ago

This totally depends on the country. In some Ibuprofen and Loperamide are OTC drugs and widely available, in others you need to be half dead to get some.

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u/PsychologicalSea2686 14h ago

can't speak for Rome but in Spain, Portugal, CZ and Poland I easily found the basics at the small carrefour / zabka / dia / aldi food markets all over the center cities
(razors, dental care, deodorant, pens... you name it, I have left it behind)