Travel

Travel Hacks That Will Disaster Proof Your Next Vacation

No matter how many hours you spend planning your perfect vacation getaway, there’s always the chance that something goes wrong. Feel at ease booking your next vacation with these five travel hacks that will help avoid even the worst disaster!

Use First Class Wifi

Get Free Wifi Anywhere And Avoid Email Disasters

The Scenario: You’ve finally made it through security and to your gate, only to realize you forgot to send that final draft to your boss… and there’s no public airport wifi. Fear not! Many airports have a First Class lounge with unlimited wifi. While members are required to pay a fee to get the full benefits, more wifi codes are easily accessed via FourSquare, where users have shared the passwords to Wifi hotspots all over the world. You’ll be connected in no time and fully able to enjoy the start of your vacation.

Save Your Luggage With A Fragile Label

Regardless of whether you have fragile items in your suitcase or not, no one likes to see that their items are mishandled (or worse, broken). A simple trick to make sure your bags are handled with care is to ask for a Fragile Bag tag at check in. Not only will your bags be placed on the top in cargo, but they will also be the first unloaded from the plane. This means an even speedier start to your vacation!

Plan Vacations in Private Mode

While searching for flights, you find an amazing price and your dream vacation starts to feel like a reality. That is, until you refresh the search and see that the same flight just doubled in price! Before you let those dreams crash, try switching your browser to private navigation mode every time you look for hotels and flights. Otherwise, cookies that are on the web pages actually record and remember your previous searches. This drives companies to increase their prices, simply because they know what you want. Time to start planning that vacation stress free!

Avoid Pickpocketing With A Fake Wallet

Man Holding Fake Empty Wallet to Carry For Vacation

Nothing can instantly ruin a vacation like finding out you’ve been pickpocketed. While it’s always advisable to never keep all your money in one place, a great solution to avoid losing your money while traveling is to carry a fake wallet. By wearing this fake wallet somewhere typical, like an outer pocket, thieves are more likely to go for the fake than your real money hidden in another location. Nasty note inside the wallet is optional!

Spill-Proof Your Travel Liquids

The last thing you want to have happen after a long flight is to find out your clothes are covered in shampoo, thanks to a leaky lid. To avoid starting your vacation with a sticky situation, place a piece of plastic wrap underneath the lids before tightly closing the lid. The plastic wrap acts as a protective barrier so that even if the cap comes loose, your belongings will be protected. To be extra cautious, put all sealed liquids in a travel ziplock bag before placing in a suitcase. So long saturated clothes, hello vacation!

Photos: Pixabay, Unsplash and Freepik

The “Ecocapsule”: live wherever you want

Do you ever dream about living in exotic places and visiting the most remote areas of the earth? Do you wish to travel but you just feel like you’re stuck to your home? Your time has come with the new “Ecocapsule”.

A self-sufficient capsule

A solar capsule is Nice Architects’ newest invention. They have described it as a “self-sustainable microhome”. In other words, it is a tiny, movable home that works with solar energy. The product is self-sufficient, practical and functional.

The capsule has various uses

On their webpage, they claim the capsule has many different uses: it can serve as a cottage, a caravan, a mobile office, and even as a pop-up hotel. What’s interesting about it, as its name implies, is that it’s an opportunity for an eco lifestyle. It can obtain both solar and water resources from its environment, allowing it to be placed anywhere.

It provides independence

This innovative home allows you to live completely disconnected from the “real world”, meaning it can be placed literally anywhere. But if you’re not one to live in the loneliness of nature, the invention can still be suitable for you. The capsule has been specifically designed for two people, but of course, you could also live there on your own.

A two-people place

Although the inside of the capsule is very compact and consists of just 21 squared meters, it feels very spacious when standing inside. It includes every single thing two people might need, from a bathroom (which includes a shower), to a small kitchen, and even an unfoldable sofa. And although we mentioned you don’t have to live connected to the rest of the world, the capsule does have electric connections.

It’s app-controlled

What’s perhaps most mind-blowing is that you control the capsule through an app installed in your smartphone. The tiny home is made out of glass fibers and has solar panels on the roof. To “feed” the capsule, it has a battery of 10kWh, which can last up to 4 days.

The Ecocapsule has a protective barrier made from aluminium, as well as 4 wheels for transportation. It has, in addition, two hooks on the top in case of other types of transportation like a helicopter or a crane.

Ecocapsules are now available

Ecocapsules are now available for a price of 79.000€, but there are just 50 available for now. However, a second edition will be coming out, which will have a more affordable price as it will be mass-produced, for which you can now pre-order. You can even place bulk orders, for which you will receive a custom made prices.

Photos: Ecocapsule

Lonely Planet reveals the top 10 countries to travel to in 2019

Every year, Lonely Planet makes up a list of the ten best places in Europe to travel to if you feel like going on a trip. This year, the list is made up of a great variety of destinations. So whether you fancy visiting a small town or prefer going on a hike through beautiful forests, this list will help you decide.

After taking a look at this top ten list, you’ll immediately want to start packing your bags. Bon voyage!

10. Istria, Croatia

If you’re one to day-dream about walking through medieval villages and bright-green, fertile valleys, this is your destination. Often compared to the Toscane because of its ravishing landscapes, Istria is perfect if you love the small-town-rural-farm feeling. You’ll also be able to indulge with the gastronomy treasures, in this heart-shaped peninsula.

Another point in favour of Istria is that this region thrives from tourism, so locals will most probably speak your language, meaning there won’t be any communication problems.

Photo: Pixabay

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8 travelling tips that will change your life

Even just thinking about the preparation needed for travelling can already be tiring enough to keep most people from actually going. Leaving your home often means sacrificing comfort. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

It’s finally time to go out there and live your life. Meet new people, learn new languages, take pictures of the most amazing places… You will not be able to wait to go on your next trip.

Planning ahead

Thorough planning is essential to safely go off on a trip, as well as to be a step ahead of the inconveniences that may come up. Most of us pack our bags the day before, if not the same the day we leave, but the less you take to make up your suitcase, the higher the possibility you left something behind.

However, planning is often not enough. This is why these trips and tricks are essential to get the most our of your vacation. And you probably didn’t even know about them.

1. Disposable tissues to prevent your clothes from getting damp

If you are worried about the humidity inside your luggage, don’t forget to pack a box of tissues. They will absorb any humidity in your clothes and inside your suitcase. It’s a great tip to make sure your clothes don’t give off any funny odors and stay fresh until you arrive at your destination.

2. Roll up, don’t fold

If you wish to manage your suitcase space efficiently, this trick is perfect for you. Instead of folding you clothes when preparing your suitcase, the best way to pack up your clothes without taking up any extra space is rolling them up. It’s also a great way to prevent your clothes from getting all wrinkly

3. A jewellery-filled pillbox

Taking jewellery with you when travelling can be a real pain in the backside. You never know where to put them, and it is very likely you’ll lose some, if not all. This is why using a pill box to keep your jewellery in is a great idea. You will know exactly where they are at all times, and it is very unlikely you’ll lose any.

4. Scan everything you can

Especially when visiting a different country, it is essential to have your documents with you at all times. However, keeping papers like a passport or a driver’s license on you all the time can be risky. Losing them would really give you a hard time.

An excellent solution to this is scanning all of the important documents, and keeping them on your phone or tablet. This way, you’ll make sure you’re not taking any risks and you’ll still be documented.

4. A shower cap for you shoes

Packing your shoes seems to always be a problem. No one wants their clothes filled with dirt, but no matter how you tuck them in, it always ends up happening.

A good tip to prevent shoe-dirt on your clothes is keeping your shoes inside a shower cap. This way you’ll keep your clothes clean and protected, with no extra effort.

5. Ok Maps, I’m lost!

When going on international trips, you don’t always consider the option of buying international roaming plans, either because it can become very expensive or you just can’t be bothered. In the end, we always end up depending on Wi-Fi signals.

However, this can become very tricky if we don’t know our way around the city. We often need GPS systems like Google Maps to guide us. This can be a real headache if we haven’t hired an international roaming plan.

If you do need to find your way around, a useful app to do so is Google Maps. You can even use it without having Internet access. What you will have to do before leaving your Wi-Fi space, is type into the app where you will want to go during the day and then typing in “Ok Maps”.

Then, the app will ask you if you want to download the information on the whole area and you will automatically have all of the info you need within a finger’s reach.

6. 3×2 on plane seats

A great trick to obtain more space when travelling by plane, is choosing your seats correctly. No one likes to spend hours and hours stuck to a stranger.

If you are not travelling on your own and you need two seats, a great idea to get more free space is reserving, in a row of three, the seat next to the window, and the one at the aisle. This way, it will be very likely no one will get the seat in the middle, allowing both your companion and yourself to have more (free) space.

In case someone else were to reserve the seat in the middle, you can still politely ask to switch places. They will most probably not have a problem changing seats.

7. An end to undesired spills

How often has it happened that you kept a liquid inside you suitcase and at the end of the trip is had spilled all over your stuff? If you don’t want to find yourself in the situation of having to clean up this sticky mess, you will like this tip.

Open up the liquid-containing recipients and cover the openings with cling film. Then, put the lids back on. This way, the pieces of cling film will work as hermetic sealings and you won’t have any surprise spills.

8. In case you forgot your charger

Don’t worry if you forgot your charger at home, it has probably happened to all of us at least once in our lives. It’s very annoying when this happens, however, what most don’t know is that it usually has an easy solution.

Most hotels have boxes filled with chargers at the reception, so you can just go ahead and ask for one that’s suitable for your device. With this tip you won’t have to worry about running out of battery and you’ll most likely be able to charge your device in your room.

Photos: Unsplash and Pixabay