Winter Traveling

Google Airlines - What Next???

A winter vacation – how delightful.  A luxury for those with children in school and for those who have to save up over a protracted period of time.  And a real luxury for those who live in the northern climates – an escape from bitter cold, snow, wind, blizzards etc.  How to travel – the next question.  With the cost of gas, is it cheaper to fly or to drive?  Is the distance you are traveling doable with a car?  What about the train?  Where are you going?  With family or friends or without?  Answering these questions will give you a better idea of what to do next.

Air vs Car

Well that depends on where you are going and the cost of everything attached to whichever way you decide to go.  In a car you have gas and if it’s an overnight trip or one of several days, then you have the cost of overnight lodging plus meals.  Don’t forget the gas – try to estimate the cost of gasfor a round trip.  If it is a one day trip, you can pack a lunch or even two, if necessary.  Add up the cost of this so you have something to compare to.  On to the Airport.  If you have to travel to the airport, so you need to go the night before?  If so, add the cost of the overnight lodging to your list.  How about parking?  Many hotels in larger urban areas now offer free parking with the rent of one night at the hotel – and they provide free shuttle service to the airport as well.  If you do not need to go the night before, you will still need to park your car somewhere and that will cost you – add that to the list.  Don’t forget to add the cost of the gas to get to and from the airport.  Then you can add the cost a meal or two.  Above all else, DO NOT BUY FOOD AT THE AIRPORT – probably the most expensive food on earth.

Airport Food Court

Try to figure out a way to eat before leaving for the airport or bring a few snacks along in your carry-on.  OK – now you should have two lists in front of you – one for driving and one for flying – Which way is cheaper?  What about if you are planning a trip for later in the year next year – like next Christmas?  How to predict the cost of flying 11 ½ months in advance? Believe it or not, someone has provided this information predicting lots of things for air travel in 2012.

Once at the airport, most of which are now WiFi or with hotspots here and there, but not many outlets, how to occupy your time while waiting for boarding.  Many now travel with laptops, netbooks, IPads, smartphones etc.  Activities on these items can drain the battery quickly.  Unfortunately, there are not as many outlets as there should be because most airports were built before the advent of all these electronic devices that need juice.  So saving one’s battery or batteries is important.  Travel tips for smart phones is good information to have.

Your Smart Phone

On to Packing

If you are like most people, you take too much – something you don’t realize until you have schlepped your luggage all over two airports, into a taxi or bus, and then to your room.  There are packing tips all over the place on the internet.  Some things I do – always.  I start early and lay out everything I want to take in a spare room (I know – many of you do not have a spare room – so start this early in the AM and do it throughout the day and finish up at the end of the day).  After getting everything out – sort through with a logical mind and take ½ of it and put it away.  Review what is left and sort through again and put ½ of that away.  Do a trial run with the suitcase to make sure everything fits in one suitcase cause it costs to check the second one and by the time you read this the airlines may have put a fee on any checked bag.  Now you should have enough to make it through the vacation.  If there is a laundry where you are going, great.  If not then wash things out every day in your room.  There’s a great little slide show that illustrates how to make the most of packing everything into a carry-on.  Check it out. 

Rolling

I have known for a long time that rolling one’s clothes saves space.  This little video explains how they do it in the army with an added twist at the end.  Something I will definitely try the next time we travel.

The Best for Last

Perhaps the best site yet is called Onebag.com.  It is all about the art and science of packing light.  It is easy to navigate and provides all kinds of tips about packing.  The best thing, however, is the packing list it provides for just about any kind of trip you take.  The beauty is that you can cross off a lot of stuff that is very specific to a particular kind of vacation and still have a very useful check list for your kind of trip.

There is so much more to taking a trip but this is enough to get you started.  Please share your favorite traveling tips – would love to hear what they are.  Happy Trails to you.