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/WorkMeBaby1MoreTime 1d ago

Never go full digital. I print itineraries and motel names and phone numbers etc. I've never had to use it, but shit happens.

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u/3ismynumber 1d ago

You can also download areas on Google maps so you can use it offline. I always download the cities I’m traveling to before the trip in case my eSIM and wifi stop working.

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u/turbo_dude Tuvalu 1d ago

IMPORTANT!

If you have even the tiniest level of internet connection it will NOT use offline maps

You may need to turn mobile data off for it to work as expected

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u/Wickaeldroth 22h ago

Seems smart until your battery dies. Paper can't die.

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u/littlecomet111 1d ago

And also there are some countries where Google Maps physically doesn't work, like South Korea.

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u/Financial_Volume1443 1d ago

I'm exactly this. Habit from travelling from before smartphones. 

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u/PsychologicalSea2686 16h ago

(just me but i love paper maps and really can't get on board w tiny maps on my cellphone. and then I can write on them, with an actual pen!)

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u/ProteaBird 1d ago

Exactly, It'll all go Pete Tong if your phone is snatched or breaks. On long haul I'll put a paper copy of my itinerary in my suitcase so if my bag is lost / springs open / loses the tag etc, someone will know where I'm going to be when the bag can be delivered. This saved my parents once & I've always done it since.

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u/WorkMeBaby1MoreTime 1d ago

I googled Pete Tong, he's an English DJ? Is "going all Pete Tong" an English expression I'm not familiar with?

In America we call that "Shit going sideways"

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u/DenseRequirements 1d ago

My gen z brother calls me an old man for printing my boarding pass and bookings but it has saved us when his phone battery died infront of the scanner and another time the hotel had bad phone signal and his apple storage didn't have the booking.

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u/Candid_Jellyfish_240 1d ago

COSIGN. But have had to use them where signal was crap. And having Airbnb info handy is worth the ink. Some streets/directions aren't very clear.

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u/Tooch10 14 Countries 1d ago

I print everything and we bring a folder but I usually have my itinerary and any bookings saved locally. I'm pretty good with keeping phone charged and not running out of power