I always find myself writing posts when i am sitting at my terminal at the airport waiting for a flight. Today I am writing this while I wait for my flight home for Christmas! I was thinking of what posts to do in the coming weeks as I was going through my night before travel rituals and had a total “aha!” moment. I am a creature of habit and there are certain things I do the day before every trip I take that I’m sharing in today’s post, maybe you’re new to traveling or haven’t thought of some of these things yet! If you are traveling for Christmas please be safe and enjoy your time with loved ones.

PACK SMARTER

I always pack the day before a trip so that I am not scrambling last minute to jam everything in (I used to do this and it was a nightmare that led to my bags always being over weight #overagecharges) also I am less likely to forget something. I try to leave some room in my bag in case I decide to purchase anything on my trip then I have room to bring it home. Also, I got this handheld luggage scale awhile ago that is a life saver to make sure that my bag is under 50 lbs before it’s too late. Another tip I can offer, especially for international or holiday travel, is to pack an extra outfit in your carry on in the event that your luggage gets lost you will have two outfits with you (the one you’re wearing and the extra you packed). I had a friend traveling last summer to Europe and when I was driving him to the airport I was running through my checklist with him “do you have your passport?” “toothbrush?” “wallet?” “extra set of clothes in your carry on?”  and he shrugged me off. WELL, somebody lost their luggage and didn’t have it for their entire month long Euro trip. I hate to be the person that says I told you so, but…. LOL! It took months for his luggage to be returned to him in the states. So friends, if there’s anything you take away it should be that you pack an extra set of clothes in your carry on going forward.

HYDRATE

I’m not just talking about drinking a lot of water, I am talking about your skin and hair people! I always have so much trouble with my skin when I travel. I’ve found that if I wash and exfoliate the night before a flight and go makeup free on the airplane it works in my favor. I pack a little bit of makeup and some face wipes in my carry on so that when I land (before I meet up with people at my destination) I can pop into the bathroom to wash my faec and put on some makeup. This was a game changer in my routine. I also get really dried out traveling and I have found that using ActuallyOrganic Argan Oil on my skin and hair helps to alleviate this issue. Pro tip: You can soak cotton pads in it and put them in a ziploc for easier travel. I like this stuff because it’s 100% moroccan argan oil which means no additives or chemicals. I put in my hair before I blow-dry to add moisture and shine, I also use this on my skin to hydrate dry spots.

PLAN YOUR RIDE IN ADVANCE

I want to preface this by saying this is not in anyway sponsored, I just think this is such a cool feature that’s worth noting. Today’s flight was super early and I didn’t want to ask anyone to wake up at 4:30 AM to drive me to the airport, Zachary was already at his parents’, so I knew I had to uber. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get one at such an early hour, then I found out that you can schedule your ride in advance! I scheduled it like two days ahead of time and once it got to the time I scheduled the ride for my app automatically connected me with someone and the process continued as usual. This alleviated so much stress! But when I travel during normal daytime hours I usually have a friend drop us off because we’re only 15 minutes away from the airport, but I usually ask a few weeks in advance. Give them plenty of notice and then send them a reminder that week. All the same would be useful for transport once you get to your destination too.

CREATE AN ITINERARY

I think that it’s important to have some type of plan for any trip you go on. Some trips obviously require more planning than others, but even when I go home to visit my family I make sure to have some type of plan in place before I arrive for what I want to do (and I share it with mom). For trips with Zachary I make a much more detailed itinerary for our time in the destination. Usually when I am creating my itinerary the week before I check local blogs to find recommendations for while we’re there. In case you’re new to the world of reading blogs, let me tell you that bloggers have the best travel recommendations. I ALWAYS find the best hidden gems via other bloggers. Most of us have a travel section or recommendations for the city we live in. My favorites for the north east are Covering Bases, Lemon Stripes, and The College Prepster (for Tampa and New England!). I found a restaurant that we would’ve otherwise never known about that we loved on our NYC Trip from Krista’s blog!

Hope this helps to ease your travel and make you more prepared for your next trip! Safe travels friends. Know that I appreciate you reading and following along. Merry everything!