Travel & Tourism tips and tricks

Packing Hacks for Stress Free Family Holiday

Travel & Tourism You’ve decided on your destination, booked your flights, picked your accommodation and got yourself some cheap family travel insurance… looks like the only thing you’ve got left to do is the p-word: Pack. Although many dread it and procrastinate and throw their suitcases out the window in frustration because the 25kg weight rule airlines have is impossible to comply with, packing for a family holiday doesn’t have to be a nightmare. We all know what you bring can make or break a trip – check out this list of dos and don’ts to help ensure the latter doesn’t happen. Packing Tips •Do give each of your children a personal backpack. Throw in a change of clothes, a water bottle, a snack and some toys – as long as you make sure it’s not too heavy for them (because you know you’ll be the one lugging it around if it is), they’ll have lots to do on the plane ride. The spare clothes will come in if you have a spill-prone kid, plus having the backpack around will be great for long days out once you arrive at your destination. •Do give your back a break and pack lightly – you probably only need to bring half of what you think you need. A good rule of thumb when it comes to packing for children is planning complete outfits. One for each day you’ll be away plus one extra in case of accidents is usually more than enough. •Do bring your own sunscreen (and don’t forget to pack it in your checked bag) so you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg at some tourist spot. •Do make multiple copies of your holiday itinerary and put one in every piece of luggage – if you misplace one, you’ve got extras. It’s also helpful to make sure your home address, hotel addresses and flight details are in each bag as well so, if a piece of luggage happens to get lost, it can easily be sent back to you. (Stolen or lost luggage is annoyingly frequent, so make sure to sort out some cheap family travel insurance in case it happens to you.) •Do divvy up each family member’s clothes and put some in all suitcases so that if a bag is lost, everyone still has something to wear. Packing Slips •Don’t pack medication into your checked bags. Keep it in your carry-on in case your bag gets lost. •Don’t pack last minute. It just adds unnecessary stress and you’re sure to forget something – leave adequate time to pack properly. •Don’t bring full-sized toiletries. Save room and keep your bags light by bringing travel-sized soap, shampoo and conditioner. •Don’t pack everything into one large suitcase. You’ll be without all your belongings if your bag gets lost – plus it’s going to be exceptionally heavy to lug around. Get a couple medium-sized suitcases instead. •Don’t forget to check how easy (or difficult) it is to manoeuvre your luggage. Take a stroll around the block with your packed bags to test what it’ll be like travelling abroad with them, and consider reorganising if they’re too heavy. Packing properly can alleviate an enormous portion of travel-related stress – and so can investing in appropriate and cheap family travel insurance (make sure it covers the entire family, plus any luggage and technology you bring). With all that done and dusted, you and your family can pack your stress away and unpack a world of foreign fun. Author Plate Patrick Chong is the Managing Director of InsureMore, an award-winning team of specialists in global single trip, annual and cheap family travel insurance. Besides offering great deals on travel insurance, Patrick also collects and shares the best free travel competitions to help his clients get the most out of their holidays.

Short, Sweet & Can’t be Beat: The Benefits of Short Breaks

Travel & Tourism While some people love to use all their precious holiday days in one go in a weeks-long, all-out summer extravaganza, they often spend the rest of the year pining for the sun and for some R&R. Wouldn’t it be better to sprinkle four or five shorter breaks throughout the year, so you always have a holiday just around the corner? Need more convincing? Here is my list of the top benefits of short breaks. •Planning – Half the fun of a holiday is the sense of anticipation you have leading up to it. With multiple trips a year you will always be looking for flights, checking out bijou hotels and stunning beaches and giving your brain a break from the everyday. From making your packing list to plotting out your travel itinerary, the only thing better than planning a holiday is being on one. •Discover More – It’s simple: the more trips you take, the more opportunity you have to tick those major sights off your bucket list. •Travel Light – Short breaks mean carry-on only travel. This allows you to spend less time in airports and causes less stress when travelling, giving you more precious hours and energy to enjoy your stay. •Experience More – All seasoned mini-breakers know that you can do as much in four days as in two weeks. When you’ve only got a few days to spare, you tend to pack more in and waste far less time. You’ll use every minute of your break rather than spending hours poring over the guidebook indecisively. •Worry Less – Though it might sound as if having multiple short breaks instead of one long one would be logistically more difficult, it is actually the opposite. It is far easier to budget and save for smaller trips. Finding house sitters, booking pets into kennels and getting holiday leave is also easier when you’re only asking for a few days. •Revitalise Yourself – Keep your productivity high year-round and avoid that awful slump when you are months away from a holiday by escaping regularly from the real world. A few days of relaxing, pursuing your passions and discovering new things will leave you refreshed and revitalised. You’ll feel more relaxed at home and at work and have more energy and motivation. Be Mini Break Ready If you decide to convert to mini breaks, then you’ll need to make a few changes to your normal holiday routines. Instead of full-sized sun creams and shampoos, stock up on the 100ml versions so you can breeze past the luggage carousels travelling hand-luggage only. You’ll also need to swap from a single trip insurance policy to annual multi trip travel insurance, which offers regular travellers a simple policy that covers them year-round. Annual multi trip travel insurance allows you can take spontaneous trips safe in the knowledge that you are covered every time you leave the country. So… what are you waiting for? And where will you go first? Author Plate Ethan Bailey is an experienced adventure traveller and insurance expert with the team at Let’s Go Insure. Ethan’s passion is to inspire his clients to go just that little bit further, deeper and higher on their travels and his expertise in providing the ideal insurance cover allows them to do just that. If you’re looking for the best annual multi trip travel insurance Let’s Go works with the most experienced underwriters, intermediaries and insurers to offer a range of competitive insurance without compromising on cover.

Global Budget Beaters: 3 Affordable Travel Destinations

Travel & Tourism As backpacking has grown in popularity, it seems to have become more expensive, but seeing the world doesn’t have to cost the Earth. Some of the most unique experiences can be had, not by spending huge sums of money, but by encountering fascinating cultures with friendship and respect. Some think that travelling on a budget is dull and restrictive, but this is far from the truth. Here are three budget-friendly locations that are anything but boring. Armenia Armenia is a classic, budget-friendly destination. Hostel rooms cost a couple of pounds per night and public transport is famously cheap. Travellers on a shoestring can happily eat out for around £2 sampling some of the country’s specialities, such as stuffed vine leaves or grilled shashlik with flatbread. A day trip from the capital will only cost about £10. Don’t leave the country without seeing some of the stunning monasteries clinging to rugged mountainsides. Thailand Thailand is certainly not off the beaten track. These days the country is on almost every backpackers’ bucket list due to its beautiful beaches and world-famous parties. Despite its popularity, there are still plenty of places in Thailand where a traveller can live cheaply. Catch a Full Moon party before heading inland or to the north. Here you’ll find cheap and cheerful dorm rooms for around £2 a night along with delicious street food for less than a pound. You won’t find a nicer (or cheaper) Pad Thai anywhere else in the world! East Timor East Timor is another South Asian beauty but with a totally different feel to more usual destinations like Indonesia or Thailand. An interesting colonial history has left the country with a lot of Portuguese influences and East Timor is relatively untouched by tourists. It’s easy and cost-effective to navigate the country by public bus, making its sights all the more accessible to travellers. Food will only set you back a few pounds a day, though accommodation is a little pricier coming in at around £10 a night. Before You Go Though backpacking in these countries can be perfectly safe, familiarise yourself with key facts, such as the political situation, traveller-friendly towns and access to transport before you go to ensure your trip runs smoothly. Before you set off it is absolutely necessary that you invest in backpacker travel insurance. Cover is not a luxury and there are plenty of affordable backpacker travel insurance policies out there. As a backpacker, travel insurance is your safety net, protecting you in case something goes wrong, from cancelled flights to stolen cameras to an unexpected illness. Backpacking on a budget is possible, and it doesn’t have to be dull. Budget restrictions should be seen as a challenge, motivating you to choose to visit more unusual and authentic places than many people manage to reach on expensive trips. Author Plate Ethan Bailey is an experienced adventure traveller and insurance expert with the team at Let’s Go Insure. Ethan’s passion is to inspire his clients to go just that little bit further, deeper and higher on their travels and his expertise in providing the ideal insurance cover allows them to do just that. If you’re looking for the best backpacker travel insurance Let’s Go works with the most experienced underwriters, intermediaries and insurers to offer a range of competitive insurance without compromising on cover.