Fangirl Quest’s Super Cool Travel Tips

1. The King and Queen of Travel Tips: The Extension Cord

Most of us use a heck of a lot of electronic thingamajigs while traveling. If you’re one of those people, here’s the smartest thing you can ever do: pack an extension cord. If your destination has different kind of power sockets, you’ll only need to buy one adapter this way, too! An extension cord also helps you get that phone right next to your bed, and your hairdryer closer to the mirror in those hotels where the only socket is by the tv. This is probably our #1 out of any travel tips ever.

Clas Ohlson sells some cheap & lovely extension cords!

2. Travel Diary

Why should you have one? Because memories are amazing. Believe us, having a travel diary is not childish or stupid or anything like that. This is lovely: carry around with you a small notebook for travel memories. Satu usually writes down a list of places we visit (every single one, I mean even all the MickyDees!), some funny quotes and events and that way, she remembers a lot from our travels. Tiia writes a more old-fashioned type diary, but that’s only because she has a lousy memory. If we meet new people, we let them scribble down something in our precious diaries and love reading their messages afterwards.

Paperchase has some of the prettiest notebooks known to man. The one on the right is from Tiia’s Redbubble shop.

3. Transparent Bags and Pouches

Your hygiene products, make-up, hair brush, memory cards, mints, tissue packets… they’re all so much easier to find if you pack all your small stuff in transparent pouches or bags. Pro tip: to make your security check at the airport even easier than it is: buy yourself a make-up bag within the size limits of the plastic bags at the airport. That way you can just slam that on the tray and fly through!

Clear make-up pouches and bags from M&S, Superdrug and Boots.

4. Planning a Roadtrip? Forget the Navigator!

There are travel tips for the weak, and travel tips for the brave! This is one of the latter! Let’s just face it – GPS navigators sometimes make really silly mistakes. Most of them don’t even take the time to consider all those lovely scenic routes! Instead, consider installing a nice road map app on a tablet and have someone navigate with their eyes (not the driver though). We did this back when we drove all the way from Vancouver to San Diego, Las Vegas to Albuquerque, Dallas to New Orleans and then all the way up the east coast to New York – and only missed a couple of turns. We only used Maps.me and got from here to there just fine!

Screenshots from Maps.me, our faithful guide.

5. Packing List

If you’re the type that always forgets this and that from their bags when going on a holiday, we can warmly recommend writing down a list before starting. “But how do I make one?” you ask. Use Tiia’s trick: think about your day from the moment you wake up until the second your head hits the pillow again. Think about what do you normally need in the mornings, like underwear, socks, clothes, toothbrush & toothpaste, moisturizer, make-up… then, make-up remover, soap, shampoo, conditioner, something comfortable to sleep in… Write down everything you think you’d use while traveling. Make a separate section for electronics: phone, camera, tablet, laptop (and of course, all the chargers and memory cards etc. to go with them), hairdryer etc. Keep a piece of paper on your nightstand days before your trip and write down everything that comes to mind, one by one.

Think of something you need to take with you? Write it down immediately!