4 Simple Travel Tips I Humbly Thought You Would Find Useful
How to win at travelling. As told by a millennial who thought “this will be so easy!” and was so wrong.
Twelve months ago, I decided to go on a semester abroad to Sweden. So began my attempt to compile an exhaustive list of travel tips from delightfully digestible publications like Buzzfeed’s 298 Travel Hacks That’ll Really Come In Handy The Next Time You Go Anywhere” (I got through about half before my eyes started to glaze over) and the Government of Canada’s Her Own Way, a 27-page guide to travelling alone as a woman.
This is not that list (you’re welcome). I’m skipping that tedious laundry list because I’m assuming you already know that you should make photocopies of important documents, get travel insurance, confirm full taxi fares before getting in even though it’s awkward etc. Of course you do, you’re the kind of millennial that invests in real estate instead of avocado toast!
With that in mind, here are four pieces of advice that I humbly thought you would find useful.
1. Get a travel credit card, because your current one (probably) charges foreign currency transaction fees
Remember the contract you signed with your bank with the endless fine print? It probably had a clause like this one from the Bank of Montreal:
Basically, your bank will charge you an extra 2.5% when you buy something in a foreign currency. Ridiculous, I know. To avoid paying it, you may want to open a travel credit card with no foreign currency transaction fee and/or lucrative travel benefits (e.g. a cash signing bonus, frequent flyer miles, hotel accommodations). If you’d like to look into travel rewards cards, my friend wrote this great article comparing them and RateHub is an excellent resources for comparing credit cards.
I used the Home Trust Preferred Visa. It’s not mentioned in the article above, but I chose it because it has no required minimum income so I could get it without piggybacking off my parents. It’s a no-frills card, with:
- No annual fee
- 1% cash back on all purchases
- No foreign currency transaction fees
Now you can go back to not reading the Terms and Conditions.
2. Put a baby picture in your wallet to encourage good samaritans to return it
A group of researchers supervised by Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire dispersed 240 wallets throughout Edinburgh to see how many would be returned. The study found that while 42% of all wallets were returned, that figure rose to a striking 88% for wallets holding a baby picture. People may take candy from a baby, but they’re not so heartless as to leave new parents without their credit cards.
So put a baby picture in your wallet! This one has a free Pexels license.
Of course, you’ll only get it back if you include your contact information. Maybe slip in a business card too.
3. Women travellers may want to consider wearing a fake wedding ring
This is one of the tips presented by the Government of Canada’s Her Own Way. I regret that we live in a world where waving a fake wedding ring dissuades unwanted attention, but nonetheless this is a helpful and inexpensive safety precaution. Use at your discretion.
In the interest of burglar safety, I would go for a simple faux wedding band rather than the plastic 54-carat princess-cut diamond ring, but hey it’s your non-marriage!
4. If your flight is delayed, get paid
Cheesy rhymes optional. Flights get delayed and passengers get bumped for a lot of reasons including broken coffee machines, climate change, and aggressive overbooking policies.
It sucks, but as a passenger you may be entitled to receive up to $700 in compensation if you were delayed 3+ hours. Companies like Air Help will file the claim on your behalf in exchange for a cut of your winnings. The online form takes 10 minutes and requires basic information like the flight number and reason for the delay. Keep in mind that they charge pretty hefty service fees — in my case, 25% of my winnings! However, if you don’t receive compensation you won’t be charged so it’s fairly low-risk. As the Ivana Trump saying goes, “Don’t get mad, get everything!*”
*everything minus the 25% service fee
That’s all from me. Thanks for reading. I wish you a safe, thrilling adventure! If you have an interesting travel hack, please let me know. I am, at the time of this writing, still on exchange…
