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Travel tips  | Travelsmart

Travel tips

1. Keep your luggage pre-packed with a toiletry kit, meal replacement powder, hosiery (black socks for men), underpants, and a belt. These are items you can't do without. The cost of having duplicates is minimal. "Recharge" your luggage as soon as possible following a trip.

2. To avoid both bad diets and high prices, pre-pack your own snacks. You can buy tiny zip-lock snack bags that you can fill with raw nuts of various kinds. Raw soybeans are real appetite suppressors, plus you get the value of soy. Add in some out-of-the-shell pistachios, raw pumpkin seeds, and almonds for flavor. Other nuts to consider include raw cashews, raw peanuts, walnuts, and brazil nuts. Nuts are good, because they have both protein and essential fatty acids--they suppress appetite and do not play havoc with your pancreas the way a bagel does.

3. If you are traveling to a strange city, visit your library for some information on that city, first. You can even get a map at your local bookstore--if they don't have it they may be able to order it. Or, just plan on stopping at a gas station and picking one up. Knowing where you are going is a stress reducer and being able to navigate properly may save your life.

4. When you reserve a hotel room, be very specific. It's common to reserve a non-smoking room and then be told when you arrive that those rooms are all taken. When reserving, make it clear that you REQUIRE a non-smoking room. Many people who do smoke prefer to sleep in rooms where there is no smoking, but people who don't smoke or who have allergies or have an aversion to smoking-induced health problems simply cannot stay in a room where they are rebreathing someone's cigarettes all night. Do not take no for an answer.

5. If you are flying, buy top-grade luggage (such as Samsonite brand) that is soft-sided with wheels and a retractable handle. Tie a ribbon on one handle, so your black bag doesn't get confused with someone else's. Do NOT put your business card outside your luggage--doing so lets people know you are not at home.

6. Always check the air filter in your hotel room, and demand a dirty one be changed immediately. Otherwise, you may wake up with a clogged snot-locker and foul breath you can't get rid of until late into the day.

7. If you travel fairly often, keep a basket of magazines and other "throw away" literature to bring with you. This allows you to decrease the bulk and weight of your luggage or add new things as you gain room from reading. You can always tear out "keeper" articles. Why bring something to read? Because this way you make good use of time that would otherwise be wasted. And the mental stimulation reduces travel anxiety.

8. Leave your pets at home. Many people think their cat or dog can't bear to part with them for a few days or months, but they are wrong. The number of pet fatalities is extremely high, as the physical and psychological stress on the animals is anything but humane.

9. When packing dress shoes, slip each one into an old athletic sock. This will protect the finish and also provide a nice buffing cloth.

10. Buy a set of water-fillable weights, and you can exercise in your hotel room. If no exercise facility is available, you can work your legs on stairs and you can do various floor and chair exercises. Arnold Schwarzenegger did not have any exercise equipment when he filmed Predator deep in the jungle. He did chinups on the forest trees, among other things. Don't let travel be an excuse to let your body become weak and sickly. You can stay in shape without special clothes or facilities, if you just use your imagination.