08/02/2023
Summer ‘23 Travel
Tips: with the horrid tales of flight delays, delayed/lost baggage, tarmac delays of hours in high temps, it’s time to think practically when traveling by air. My personal rules at the moment:
1. If you can drive to destination, drive.
2. Use carryon bag only. Don’t check a bag! You don’t need all those shoes and cosmetics.
3. If you must check a bag, track your bag! I love my Apple air tag. Use your airline’s app for bag tracking.
4. Download and follow your airline’s social media accounts. Unacceptably service or lost bags? Say that on their X account, Insta, and Facebook.
5. Never board a plane w/o snacks and several bottles of water in your backpack/purse/carryon.
6. Have a paper copy of your boarding passes (old school) along with your electronic one. Don’t throw away your baggage claim ticket until you have that baggage in your hand.
7. Sit in your assigned seat and don’t change with a friend or family member until that plane has reached altitude (obviously families with small children, elderly or special situations may call for something different).
8. Use independent flight tracking apps (Flighty, Flight Aware, etc…). Often these update in advance of your airline’s.
9. Pay attention to weather and alerts of potential delays for your day of travel. Airline may offer opportunity to change flight in advance due to weather. If you have flexibility, that could help. Get a good weather app.
10. It’s impossible to travel w/technology today—you must have, and know how to use, a smart phone. Remember your charger and a portable power pack for it.
11. At least one, if not two credit cards, and one should be different from your bank’s debit card. If you get delayed, you need $ options.
12. Travel insurance.
13. Pack patience and a smile. You’re able to travel freely, and that’s not to be taken lightly. And remember, the employees at airports, airlines, etc…are having a rough time too!
✈️🏝️🚊🏢
