General Travel Tips:
- Take pictures of your passports, driver’s licenses, birth certificate, and all other essential documents and email them to yourself. If your documents were to get misplaced while traveling, you can look them up via your email. (Be sure your email account is accessible from any computer. If not, sign up for a free Yahoo, Google, etc. account.)
- When packing, consider dividing up everyone’s clothes in all suitcases. Should one bag go missing, everyone will have some clothes to get you through until your bag is located and returned to you.
- Do not put your home address on your luggage tags, just your phone number. There have been some theft rings that use luggage tag info to begin to prospect homes for burglary.
- PLEASE carry your passports or your driver’s license and RAISED SEAL GOVERNMENT-issued birth certificate with you when you leave your home. You will want to have these on your person so in case something were to happen to your luggage you will still be allowed to process through immigration internationally or aboard a ship for a cruise.
- BE SURE to take copies of ALL travel documents so that you have all of your reservation numbers, etc. with you. This will save you time and energy should any vendor along the way want to see written confirmation.
- When buying luggage and seat assignments, do not wait until arriving at the airport. Baggage fees are typically higher the day of travel and the longer you wait on seat selection the less likely you are to have favorable seats.
- Flight times can change quickly. Be sure to check them the day before you fly and leave yourself enough time to get to the airport, check-in, complete security, etc. Being there too early never caused a travel delay or interruption. Please don’t assume there won’t be traffic, a wreck, fog, etc. that could delay your transit time to the airport.
- If you are renting a car, please be sure to photograph or video it carefully before driving off the rental lot. If you have a video, be sure to show that you have not yet left the lot in the video. When you return the car after your rental, videotape it again. This will mitigate any claims of damage after you return home. Often times someone may damage your car and you are unaware. You might receive a claim once home and feel as though you are being taken advantage of. By doing this, you will have the peace of mind of knowing exactly the status of the rental car before and after you use it.
- Tourist areas are also known to pick-pockets and thieves. When traveling, divide up your money and identification into different bags, pockets, etc. so that if you were to be unfortunate enough to have a negative experience, you can recover by not having everything stolen or misplaced.
- Take your own Yeti's or tumblers. Many bartenders will serve directly in them and if not, you can pour your own drink in. Will keep it cooler in the heat. The cruise line will only have paper straws and in some drinks, edible straws. If you want an option, pack a metal straw.
Cruise Tips:
- Do not attach your cruise luggage tags until the morning you are headed for the ship. They will get damaged if you put them on before you fly.
- Aim to arrive at the port between 11:00 am and 11:30 am or as directed by your boarding documents. This will allow the first wave of super excited passengers to go first and will make your wait times less and your relaxation greater.
- Remember that the first few hours of the cruise people are so excited that they may be inadvertently rude. Everyone will be so excited to see and do that many are just not thinking about their manners. After dinner the first night you will almost feel the entire ship exhale. At this point the relaxation really begins.
- Remember that leaving the east coast of Florida puts you crossing the Gulf Stream in the first few hours of cruising. If you notice any motion this will typically go away within the first few hours, likely by after dinner.
- Be sure to put your cell phones, tablets, etc. in airplane mode unless you are going to pay the incredibly high roaming and satellite bills from the cruise ship.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: Remember to relax and have a great trip! Take lots of pictures and enjoy your vacation.
