We had a household debrief after returning from two weeks in France, and here is our advice to our future selves about travel:
- Don’t check bags.
- Don’t take neck pillows.
- When taking backpacks, make sure they can somehow connect to roller suitcases.
- Take fewer clothes.
- Don’t take bulky one-fine-dining-experience-only shoes; take flats instead.
- Don’t clothes shop before going, clothes shop once there.
- Take sunscreen (although European sunscreen is very good).
- One shared toothpaste is okay.
- It’s okay — and feels like lovely magic — to take an Uber to/from airport, no matter the moral purity of figuring out transit.
- Always buy multi date transit tickets in any city: even if it doesn’t make financial sense, the convenience is priceless.
- Getting local SIM cards in advance is worth the effort, and makes assuming European life on arrival more seamless.
- A 5 hour layover in Toronto or Montreal on return is a long slog; the ideal, to minimize waiting but minimize rushing, would be 90-120 minutes.
- Don’t eat the second meal on the return flight, save that for layover dining.
Comments
As an intrepid and frequent traveler, I agree with almost all... except the pillow! Rather than a traditional neck pillow, I use a small "nap pillow" (casper used to have a great one). I find it extremely useful while traveling... sleeping in hotels with crappy pillows but also as a lap stand for my computer, behind my back on buses and trains, underneath my bum to get a better view. Lucy's preference is the Muji bead-filled. But here's the true genius of the travel pillow. Put it *inside* your backpack on the way there... and then, on the way back, attach it to the outside of the carry-on. You now have exactly a pillow-sized amount of shopping you can do!
Take fewer clothes is number one, for me, because it helps to enable so many others. As for shoes, I find it very difficult to pack as spare pair of shoes, even sandals. They are just so bulky, even stuffed with socks and underwear.
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