Because I travel a lot, I'm often asked for advice on my tips and tricks for bagging a good deal. Here are my top tips.
1. There's a difference between "travelling" and "holidaying". Make sure you know what you want. If you are in need of rest and relaxation, don't book an eight-day, three-city budget break with multiple transfers and connections.You'll come back exhausted. If you're only using your hotel to lay your head after a long day pounding the pavements, book somewhere clean, central and cheap. My rule: only spend more on your accommodation if you plan to enjoy it.
2. Map out your year and identify the times you'd like to travel. If you don't have a lot of holiday leave days, use the public holidays to your advantage. But book well in advance so you don't pay over the odds. On the flipside, take a holiday at short notice. You can always find last-minute hotel and flight deals. Also look at when the best time is to travel, i.e. high season versus low season. Sometimes the first or last week of low season can bag you a bargain.
3. Shop around for travel deals. I have favourite websites for everything from airline tickets to hotel reservations. S
hop around for the best deal, not the lowest room rate, i.e. inclusions such as free wi-fi and breakfast make a big difference. Perhaps find a price on Agoda and email the hotel to see if they'll match or better the deal. If you don't ask, you don't get. When booking your flight, pay attention to airline baggage restrictions and arrival/departure times. A 5am flight might be $50 cheaper than the midday flight, but you might have to get an expensive taxi instead of a train. Weigh up the costs and convenience.
www.momondo.com The best site for comparing flights. You can search by time, duration, stopovers.
www.ctrip.com For China flights. And they'll deliver tickets to your door for cash payment (if you don't want to use your credit card) within two hours.
www.agoda.com My favourite site for cheap hotel deals and checking out hotel pictures easily.
www.evernote.com Keep all your clippings here and access via your iPhone when you're
in situ
www.tripit.com An excellent resource for storing all your travel details and reference numbers. You can email your email confirmations and it will collate automatically and sync with your iPhone.
And join mailings lists, for updated deals (Agoda, Trip Advisor and individual airlines). When I lived in Singapore, I would book cheap flights ahead of time. It's also something for you to look forward to. I once got an email alert, and booked a return flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia for $10 return.
4. Read up-to-date information. Newspaper travel sections, in-flight magazines, travel and food magazines, travel and food blogs often have more current info than guide books. That said, I always take a small guide book with me. Wallpaper Guides are my favourite. I like their maps and their breakdown of a city by area, plus their suggestions suit my interests. Luxe Guides complement the Wallpaper guide well as they often cover the same areas (so you can cross-reference) but also provide addresses in the local language. I also pick up a fold-up city map from the Tourist office in the arrivals hall and pop it in my day bag for the duration of my trip. Lonely Planet Encounters books can be good, although I avoid the larger Lonely Planet guides as they tend to be too heavy and focus on the low-budget and long-term traveller scene. My backpacking days are over.
5. Use your iPhone, iPad, laptop and free wi-fi. Load up your gadget with apps such as Trip It, Evernote, iTranslate, dictionaries, metro maps, city maps, etc. Technology can really assist if used correctly. And it's much lighter! But turn off your global roaming to avoid RIDICULOUS bills.
6. Don't go overboard with planning your itinerary to the minute. Have an idea of the things you want to do and the areas that appeal, but don't kill spontaneity with schedule. That said, you do need to create spontaneity by making sure you're exploring the right parts of the city, i.e. specific streets, neighbourhoods, restaurants, bars. Make a list and each morning (or the evening before) figure out what fits your mood. But if an area, street, gallery or museum is disappointing or not tickling your fancy, ditch it, jump in a cab or hop on the train and pick a new area. Make restaurant bookings in advance (email a few weeks ahead if it's a popular spot) or ask your hotel in the morning to book for you for the night. Or simply follow your nose and chance it.
7. Be true to your interests. If you're not into history or art galleries or science museums, don't visit them. Likewise, if you don't like shopping or dining out (we can never be friends by the way!) stick to what you do enjoy. Just because you're in a new city doesn't mean you have to change your personality.
8. Don't forget the details. Travel insurance, a spare credit card, enough local currency to get you a taxi to your hotel, etc. Personally, I prefer to use a credit card at restaurants and shops (hooked to the day's exchange rate) as it saves me from changing too much cash. That said, not everywhere accepts credit cards so do have local currency on you.
9. Have a plan for your first night. It's easy to arrive late to a city and decide to "stay in". It's a mistake. If you land at 5pm, make a dinner booking at a restaurant for 9pm. It will give you a purpose and a plan. So get to your hotel, check-in, unpack, have a shower and get out to a nearby bar for a pre-dinner drink by 8:30. It can be a local dive or a fancy five-star affair. Just make sure that it has an authentic excitement factor, i.e. a killer view of Hong Kong harbour, a busy and theatrical izakaya in Tokyo, a view of The Bund in Shanghai. It's a great way to start a holiday.
10. Get your bearings. Often the best way to quickly get acquainted with a new city is to take an
open-top bus tour. I find this a time-effective and cost-effective way of discovering the scale of a city. Sit on the bus for the whole ride with your map in hand and get an overall feeling for the city and its neighbourhood. Choose the areas that most appeal and explore them in more detail on your time.
11. Travel light. I usually only travel with a carry-on suitcase and an oversized handbag. Scarves and earrings are your friends. Shoes and full-size toiletries are your enemies. One trick is to put your toiletries in your handbag. Most airlines allow you a "laptop bag" and do not define or weigh "handbags/purses", so use this to your advantage. I use a Longchamp large tote as it looks smart and is very practical both on the flight and as a day bag. It fits snugly at my feet on the plane and can fit a laptop, my wallet, iPod, camera, noise-cancelling headphones plus my toiletry and cosmetics. I separate the liquids into a clear bag (travel-size deoderant, moisturiser, hair conditioner, perfume, foundation) so I can easily throw them through the x-ray. If I do get an overly officious check-in assistant who weighs my handbag, I just check-in my roll-on case and carry my tote. Buy magazines and books after you check-in so they don't get weighed.
12. Invest in quality luggage: mine's an expandable Samsonite that rolls on four wheels, so I can roll it in front of me or behind with one hand. And if I do shop on a trip, I can expand it and check it in on the return flight. If you know you're going to shop for heavy or bulky items, take a bigger suitcase, but don't overpack to begin with. Likewise, if you have bulky winter gear and need more space, take a bigger suitcase, but don't fill the space just because it's there. Also buy a good toiletry bag with compartments and a hook (to hang in the bathroom) and some
two-sided packing cells which are particularly handy for keeping clothes and underwear together. Separate clean from dirty as you travel.
13. Learn some key phrases. At the very least, learn to say hello, please and thank-you in the local language. It shows that you have made an effort.
14. Splash Out. Be organised, but be creative and open-minded. Travel is about enjoying new experiences. Splash out in some areas but batten down the hatches in others. It's no use spending a lot of money on airfares and hotels but then scrimping on activities. Just think: it will cost you a LOT more money to return and eat at that restaurant, drink that cocktail or go to that observation deck because you're being thrifty. Be generous with yourself.
15. Create memories. Photos are great, but create more memories. Buy a fragrance at duty-free on departure, then use it during your trip. Once you're back home, every time you smell that fragrance you'll be reminded of your happy memories of that trip. The same with music: listen to a new album while in transit. And don't buy a lot of souvenirs; buy something small, simple and practical. For example, we bought a globe and cushion covers in Tokyo, some tea cups in New York, a wine stop in Taipei and drink coasters in Seoul. We bought some ceramic bowls in Vietnam from the hotel gift shop. They were the same bowls we ate our breakfast from each day. Now every morning as I eat my cereal, I'm reminded of my honeymoon.
