Simple Habits That Made Travel Days So Much Easier

Whether you're going on a solo journey, a romantic getaway, or a group vacation with your friends and family, planning a trip is almost always stressful. Luckily, there are seasoned travelers out there who have discovered the best travel hacks to make preparing for your next trip as easy as possible.

So, when someone asked , "What simple habit made travel days noticeably easier for you?" we couldn't wait to see what people had to say. The responses are full of helpful tips and tricks that are easy to apply to an upcoming trip, whether it starts in two weeks or two hours. Here's some of the best advice people shared:

1. "Making a custom Google map. Basically, I save anywhere I might want to go on a trip on Google Maps (with one flag for 'must see' places, a second flag for other attractions, and a third for restaurants). It helps create an easy balance between my desire to plan and my desire to be a bit spontaneous. I usually pick one 'must-see' place for the day and start there. When I'm done, I wander around nearby to see what's interesting. When I get bored or hungry, I pull out the map and see other nearby options that I thought were a good idea."

2. "Pack a spare outfit in my personal bag to change into mid-trip/during layover. Nothing makes me feel better than switching into new clothes."

— u/Clarence_Bow

Related: "People Visiting The USA For The First Time Are Sharing Misconceptions They Had"

3. "Traveling with saline nose spray and eye drops . A must for long flights and dry climates."

4. "Asking 'reliable' locals for recommendations. I'm a scuba diver and typically get to know new people in the diving center when visiting a new country. I trust those locals, and they can easily tell you which places to visit/avoid, so no need to spend hours googling things like restaurants, which was something I was wasting my time on before."

— u/AllaZakharenko

5. "I always try to make a point of getting lost. Heck, with mapping, it's so easy to get back on track these days, but getting lost and not relying on mapping makes you actually look at your surroundings. Another really oddball hack we use is opening Pokémon Go. All the Poké Stops are interesting local features. We've found some really fun things that way that don't show up elsewhere — interesting architectural features, a funny statue, random things. And don't forget to check Atlas Obscura when planning an itinerary."

6. "A maximum of one planned 'thing' per day, whether it is a museum, a tour, a class, a meetup with friends or family, whatever. The rest of the day is choose your own adventure. This eases stress but also allows for wiggle room and schedule modifications in the case of bad weather, illness, laziness, etc."

— u/Hangrycouchpotato

7. "Wearing a hoodie on the plane. If it's a big enough hood, it can go over your eyes, and it protects your head from all the other heads you have shared your seat with."

8. "One of the biggies was just realizing that you don't always have to do round-trip flights. Especially if you intend to cover some distance, it often makes sense to land in one place, travel in some general direction, and leave from another. You can usually get flights that don't penalize you for this. I don't know why I had it in my head for so long that flights had to be round-trip. Just click that 'multi-destination' button in your flight app; freedom awaits."

— u/AreaPrudent7191

9. "I don't plan anything for arrival days. Too much can go wrong with travel delays. Jet lag can be a b----. Even if I'm getting in relatively early, I don't try to pressure myself to see attractions. Just walk around a bit and get some food. I don't need to start a trip already feeling like I'm falling behind schedule."

Related: "People Are Sharing Common Customs Abroad That They Want The US To Adopt"

10. "Bringing my daily psyllium husk with me, plus a travel bidet . I used to just stop taking it while on vacation, and my bowels would get wild."

— u/AFlockOfTySegalls

11. "Start and end vacations in the middle of the work week. That way, I'm not starting my vacation exhausted from a full work week, and I don't have to go back to work from vacation and face a full work week, just a partial week before I have a weekend to rest up again. Plan something fun for that next weekend, too, to address the post-vacation doldrums."

12. "Taking a shower right before leaving for the airport for a long flight."

— u/burner4242

13. "When I travel to a different time zone, to beat most of the jet lag…the second I sit on the plane, I set my time to the destination and pretend I'm there. So if it's nighttime, I sleep. If it isn't, then I force myself to be awake the whole time so I can sleep easily when I get there. Been doing this for years, and I never really struggle with it… Maybe I'm off by an hour for a day or two, but that's about it."

— yankeecandles14

14. " Wet wipes . Is toilet paper in the public bathroom out? Soap dispenser not working? Table dirty? Tired of wearing makeup? Wet wipes every time."

Related: "People Who Moved To America Share Their Funniest First Memories"

15. "Bringing a large trash bag. For hotels, because they give you a tiny little can for trash. I like my room neat. Not to see wrappers, empty paper cups all over. I pack light. I can always wash. Bring Band-Aids...blisters are no joke."

— u/OwlPrestigious543

16. "Having an established dinner plan. It doesn't have to be fancy; I just find that knowing where I'll be getting dinner eases stress for me. I spent one too many evenings in my early days, starving after a day of exploring with no idea where to land for a bite, often ending up with a meal I hated out of pure desperation. Now I structure my plans around one guaranteed meal, and I view it as a built-in moment of relaxation."

17. "Planning a mid-day break where I go back to the accommodation to rest and charge my phone."

— u/IvanBoulevard

18. "One item per pocket, and pockets must close securely. No worrying if your boarding pass slipped out while you were grabbing your ChapStick. No worrying about items falling out of open pockets. Everything in its place and securely held."

— u/pinata217

19. "I always have hard paper copies of my bookings...flight, hotel, etc. I pack some good snacks/treats for the flights. I always make sure everything I need for the flight is handy in my purse under my seat. I have a small travel kit with earplugs , an eye mask , headphones, a pen, and a hair elastic all together. I use a larger purse and put my carry-on in the overhead, which makes for way less clutter."

20. "Being flexible and okay with dropping stuff from the pre-planned itinerary, especially on the day of, depending on how it's going, how I feel, or the reality of it all. I've always been a planner, it works for me, but on my last trip (Japan), I was confronted with and then got good at having a list of things I planned to do in a given day, but then being okay with dropping things or swapping out for something else, on the day, based on how I felt (or the weather, or actual logistics I could only know once at the destination)."

— u/blueberry_pancakes14

21. "The past few years, I've done a few multi-city trips that involved a lot of train travel, most recently in central Europe last month. The thing that helped the most was just booking a hotel close to the train station whenever possible and practical, rather than one close to the tourist attractions or popular neighborhoods, especially on short (1–2 day) stays. Sometimes you get off a train, and the last thing you want to do is take another bus or an Uber to your hotel. And then you have to do the reverse when you move on to the next city. It's just so much easier when you step out of the train station, and the hotel is right across the street."

— u/kahyuen

Related: "18 Totally Unhinged Things That Americans Think Are Normal For Some Reason"

22. "Small change: adding in 'rest' as the first thing once getting to my accommodation. Doesn't matter if I'm dead tired, energetic, excited, or something else. Either I'll fall asleep, or I'll rest while setting up things (like finding an outlet, getting the Wi-Fi to work, maybe take a shower/bath) for an hour at least. Usually helps my mind calm down from stuff like 'Omg I'm here, I need to do this and that and that.'"

23. "Not planning full itineraries, but modules for a day that can be moved around based on the weather, and how we're feeling. Raining on the day you thought you'd see that outside locale? Move it to tomorrow and take that museum day today."

— u/Merivel1

24. "When traveling to a new city or hotel, meticulously plan out how to get from your airport terminal to your accommodations. Decide whether to use a cab, Uber, or public transit, where the pickup location is, and how to pay. Use Google street view to familiarize yourself with the steps from where the metro station or bus stop is to your hotel and what the street outside your hotel or Airbnb entrance looks like, so you're not trying to find hidden street numbers or turning the wrong way because your cab dropped you off a block away from your hotel."

25. "Having 'days off' during travel. No plans, no obligations, no FOMO."

— u/pomoerotic

26. And lastly, "I'm a travel and nature photographer, so I travel or find myself on the move a lot. I never leave home without at least a half a dozen bandanas . I have them in every conceivable color and two different fabrics. I have used them to keep ice on my knee during a flight when I fell at the airport. I later used it to wrap under my knee as support. I tie them to my hiking poles and camera strap. I usually have one tied around my neck to stay cool on the trails or in hot and humid countries. I often move the one on my camera strap to my forehead if the humidity is insane. I use them in bathrooms with filthy door handles or without paper towels. I've tied things together with them and gave some away in Cuba when a new mom begged for one to use for her infant's diaper."

"And just to make things even more fun, I make it my goal to find a new one in each country I visit. Trust me, this is easier said than done. :-)"

— u/newelljo

Do you have any simple travel tips that have made your life noticeably easier? Share them in the comments or use the anonymous form below!

Note: Some entries have been edited for length/clarity.

Your daily brain workout: If You Finish Today's Word Chains, You're A High-IQ Individual

Read it on BuzzFeed.com