What Not to Do While Traveling

Know Where You're Going Before You're Lost

Say you’re going to a new airport and you aren’t quite sure where the bus picks up. Its not a good idea to wait until you are running late because the subway isn’t running as fast as it needs to and by the time you get to where you think it is, its no where to be found. Its really fun to wander aimlessly with all your luggage getting more and more stressed out the more you can’t find it.

Google was invented for a reason, USE IT. It will save you a lot of stress and time because when you are running late to the airport and you’re stuck in traffic, you’ll probably have a good freakout.

Just in case you should get lost, always give yourself extra time to get down there to take into account how long its going to take to haul your luggage up and down stairs, for traffic on the way uptown/downtown and if you’re early, there’s about 20 starbucks in the surrounding area you can always go sit at until its time to go.

Where's My Luggage?

We give our lives to the airline industry when we travel, not only are we flying around in a small steel thing with wings thats supposed to stay up in the air thousands of feet up, but they also have to get our luggage through that airport that even you can’t figure out how to get through.

Often, luggage doesn’t make it. Sometimes it ends up in Berlin when you’re going to Boston.

Make sure you have clearly marked your luggage, you know what it looks like to describe it to the lost baggage handlers and try not to cry. Hysterics aren’t going to get you your luggage any faster but see if the airline has an emergency packet they can give you. It should have a pair of underwear, a tooth brush and some other little necessities that are for sure sitting in that suitcase thats taking the world tour you always wanted to take.

Charge!

Make sure you charge your cell phone (and other electronic devices) just in case you are lost in the fog, nearing another state and your phone dies. Its really fun having a panic attack because its 3am and you may have to sleep on the side of the road because you don’t know where you are.

Form of Identification

You always keep your drivers license in your wallet, right? You make sure you have it on you at all times. You are so sure that you don’t even think to check on it before you run out the door to the airport. (and in typical fashion, you are running late)

You get to the airport, you pull open your wallet and its not there. You ransack your perfectly packed purse and its not there either. Suddenly you find yourself in a predicament: you cannot get your plane ticket, you cannot go through security, you cannot board your plane.

If you’re lucky, like I was, you’ll have brought your passport (which you would do for international travel ANYWAY) and won’t have any problems.

So you should either hope your luck is AMAZING and you subconsciously packed a second form of ID, or you better double check that wallet of yours to make sure your DL is in there.

Give Yourself Enough Time!

I always try to be at the airport at least an hour and a half to two hours before my flight leaves. I never make it there by that time, but if I aim to get there early, that leaves enough time for me to be pretty damn late. You especially want to leave early if you don’t have your boarding pass yet. I always check in online and print out my boarding pass prior so I gaurantee my seat. But what happens if you haven’t done this?

Say you get there on a busy evening. The airport is PACKED and you have to stand in long lines to check in and get your luggage checked. This could take you anywhere from half an hour to an hour and then you’ve got security checkpoints!

You get up to the ticket counter and you’re flight is in an overbooked situation (which they usually are these days, bastards) and you don’t have a seat. If you had checked in earlier you wouldn’t have a problem, even if you are running late you can still get on the plane. But if you don’t have a seat, you’ better be at the gate early so you can try to squeeze in, should someone not show up.

I once arrived two hours prior to my flight leaving out of Detroit. I hadn’t checked in and the airport was jammed full of people leaving to go back home. After 45 minutes waiting to check-in, I get up to the counter and find that I don’t have a seat yet, I’ve been able to check in but Seat Assignment was labeled: See Gate.

It took me another hour to get through security and at that point, I only had 15 minutes til my flight departed. I booked my way across the detroit airport and when I got there, learned that the flight was overbooked, I didn’t have a spot and there were 5 people in front of me waiting as well.

I was bumped from that flight and put on a flight the next morning. Lets just say: Inconvenience!

Lastly....

Relax, enjoy and most importantly, HAVE FUN! Its your vacation, don’t let the little things ruin your entire time.