Top 5 Worry-Free Travel Tips

Travel is (IMO) one of the most important and influential decisions that anyone can make. Whether you're 10 or 100, travel broadens your horizons, introduces you to new people and experiences, and just makes you happy (and all of your friends jealous).

Travel is GREAT, but planning the perfect get-away can be stressful, especially on a budget. And that keeps a lot of people from travelling (cue to me wistfully looking at flights I can't afford!)

Here are my top 5 tips for stress free travel:

1) Plan. 

Planning can make or break a trip. I recommend at least a month for short trips, 6+ months for longer, international trips. Google, Pinterest, and search all your heart desires for accommodations, flights, transportation, attractions, etc. Find maps of the subway system, and make a schedule. If you know what you'll be doing every day and how to get there, you'll spend more time actually enjoying your vacation and less time stressing out about being lost in an unfamiliar city. You can be like the crazies (aka me) and plan every waking minute, or just get a feel for the city and be more spontaneous during your trip. 

2) Save.

This kind of goes along with planning. But, if you're on a budget (or just plain thrifty), you're going to want to have an amazing vacation, while spending as little as possible. Putting yourself on a "payment plan" by putting away a part of your pay every week, or committing to not spending $5 on coffee every day, every penny will add up! Set up an automatic transfer through your bank and you probably won't even notice the money you're putting away. 

Having the money saved in advance prevents that terrible post-vacation credit card bill guilt, and allows you to not stress about the money that you're investing into travel! This also puts you ahead of the game to start planning your next trip!

3) Make Copies.

Your passports, itinerary, flight details, hotel names and addresses, who you're travelling with, contact numbers. Anything and everything you could possibly need, print it off, screenshot it on your phone, email it to yourself (cell phones die people!), and leave a copy of everything with your family or a trusted friend. If anything goes wrong, you'll want to have a copy somewhere secure. Backups = less stress.

4) Consider Group travel.

Travelling in a group is a) cheaper b) FUN! 

Grab a few friends, split a hotel room, and travel together! Or better yet, travel with a group of strangers through a tour company! Not only is there strength (and less stress) in numbers, it generally makes it cheaper to share travel costs than to go at it alone. I'm actually travelling to Europe next year with EF college break (not spons.) and instead of worrying about flights, hotels, etc, we're spending our time thinking about what we'll eat, see, and buy! 

5) Take care of your home.

While you're off travelling the world and making memories to last a lifetime, the last thing you want to worry about is your home. My friends at SimpiSafe sent me this awesome checklist to make sure everything (and everyone!) in your home is safe while you're away! For more info on them and their system you can visit them here and learn more about keeping your home safe while traveling!

What are your favorite tips for a worry-free trip? Where is your next adventure taking you? Let me know!

love + pixie dust,

Sarah