Travel
16 Travel Hacks Our Travel Writers Swear By
Exploring a new destination is fun, but the rigamarole to get there, not so much. Plane travel can be exhausting, packing fraught, and ensuring you have what you need to stay safe and connected during your trip means taking a lot into consideration before you step out the door. We’ve all been there many times.
But travel shouldn’t be so stressful. And those who’ve made a profession out of it, like our travel writers, have many tricks they turn to on every trip that make their journeys bearable, and even enjoyable. “What are the hacks we should be using?” we asked them. Their answers—and their anecdotes about why they changed the way they pack or entertain their kids—wowed us in these 16 ways.
Gear Hacks
😠 The Problem: You hate packing a regular toothbrush, and your electric one only plugs into the wall
💫 The Solution: The Suri e-toothbrush
Having to pack a regular old toothbrush is always such a letdown. I went electric a long time ago. At home I use an Oral B, but it’s bulky, the battery rarely lasts more than a week, and it’s prone to spontaneously buzzing and vibrating in my bag. Awkward.
Then I got a Suri. These electric toothbrushes are sleek, and their slender hard case has a built-in USB-C-powered UV light that disinfects. You can power it in the case, too—not that you’ll likely need to. The company claims the battery lasts 40 days on a single charge. I’ve not personally tested this, but mine worked every day of the two weeks I just spent hopping between Oregon, Colorado and Virginia.
Suri is good for your conscience, too. We throw away upward of four billion regular brushes annually, and most electric versions are still heavy on single-use plastics. Suri’s are made of eco-friendly materials like cornstarch and castor beans. The handle is aluminum. All of it can be recycled for free. Now it too just lives in my bag. —Tim Neville
😠 The Problem: You’ve yet to find a sizable carry-on that fits in the overhead compartment or under the seat
💫 The Solution: The Cotopaxi 35L
Friends assume I’m a champion bag-packer. They might be right. In 2019 I spent three weeks circumnavigating the globe, with three stops (the South Pacific, Middle East, Scandinavia) in three climates, and all I brought was a carry-on. That was the first time I really put the Cotopaxi Allpa 35L ($225) to the test, and it’s since been my go-to bag for almost every travel adventure.
The zippered clamshell design has two interior mesh compartments for clothes and two smaller mesh pockets that stash my notebooks and batteries. There’s also an exterior laptop sleeve and another pocket that nicely accommodates my toiletry bag and sunglasses. I can wear the Allpa like a backpack or carry it like a briefcase.
While I love roller bags, a soft-sided backpack is really the right way to fly. I jam the Allpa into those half-size overhead bins on regional flights, and if I don’t pack it to the gills, it fits under the seat in front of me (though The Allpa 28L is better for that). Critically, it’s subtly rugged—its rubberized exterior adds neither bulk nor weight but has repelled snow, rain, and cat pee, as well as endured abuse in boats and one very dusty truck bed on an all-night trip across Zimbabwe. Five years in, mine looks pretty much the same as the day I bought it. —T.N.
😠 The Problem: You can’t fit everything into your suitcase
💫 The Solution: Thule packing cubes
To buy or not to buy packing cubes isn’t a question, because the answer is: absolutely. Not only can I cram more stuff in my luggage, with space-saving cubes of underwear and T-shirts, but having everything organized keeps me sane, and that makes life a million times easier on the road. Instead of rummaging around to find socks, I jump right to that cube. When flying, my family saves on baggage fees by bringing one big suitcase filled with everyone’s cubes to divvy up later. Packing cubes are super handy on river and backpacking trips too.
I’ve gravitated to Thule’s for everything but nicer shirts and pants; those I put into an Eagle Creek Pack-It garment folder that keeps them (mostly) wrinkle-free. There’s a “clean/dirty” Thule cube fashioned with a soft plastic barrier, perfect for a damp bathing suit, shoes, or dirty clothes. One could argue that cubes are cubes, but Thule’s are sturdy, allowing me to compress a maximum number of items into a dense packet without blowing out the zipper or stitching. —T.N.
Thule cubes from $20 at REI Pack-It garment folder from $30 at Eagle Creek
😠 The Problem: When you fly, your legs and feet swell uncomfortably
💫 The Solution: Compression socks
Rarely do I have the luxury—or luck—of flying to a far-flung destination in a lie-flat bed. Which is why I’ve come to rely on compression socks—what I call the poor man’s upgrade. Remaining seated for extended periods causes blood to pool in your legs, and that pressure causes veins to swell, so by the time you deplane, perhaps your feet have swollen to an alarming degree. Compression socks are the solution; designed to gently squeeze your ankles and calves, they stimulate better blood circulation, which in turn reduces swelling and lowers the risk of a serious condition called deep-vein thrombosis.
Bob Bacheler, managing director of the medical-transport service Flying Angels recommends compression socks on any flight of four or more hours. The most important consideration, he says, is a good fit—not too tight or too loose. When I wear compression socks, my legs feel fresh rather than achy or tired.
I like Bombas’s colorful Everyday compression socks, which pull up just below the knee and deliver mild compression (15 to 20 mm Hg—a unit used to measure pressure). I tend to get cold on flights, and these thick cotton socks are warmer than others I’ve tried. Levsox compression socks have a snugger fit (20 to 30 mm Hg) but they still don’t feel like they’re strangling my legs, and their extra arch support makes me feel like that part of my foot is getting a massage when I walk in them (and walk you should—the CDC recommends getting up every two to three hours). To reap the biggest benefits, Bacheler recommends staying hydrated, which increases blood circulation throughout your body, enhancing the effectiveness of the socks. —Jen Murphy
Everyday socks $28 at Bombas Levsox $30 at Walmart
😠 The Problem: You want to practice yoga on your trip, but your roll-up mat is too big to bring
💫 The Solution: The foldable Kama Mat
I first saw a Kama mat on a camping trip, when a friend unfolded this origami-style pad and placed it outside her camper van like a welcome mat where visitors were invited to leave their dirty shoes. Folded up, it resembles a large pizza box–size trapezoid, but it pulls apart like you’re undoing a paper crane. Laid out, the mat is big enough for a downward dog. The Kama comes in three sizes: the largest option is seven feet by five feet unfolded, while the smallest looks more like a doormat at four by two feet. I was immediately won over by all the possibilities.
My Kama goes everywhere with me now. It’s a picnic blanket I stash in the back of my car, a beach pad that keeps my feet from getting sandy while I’m taking off my wetsuit after swimming or surfing, and a comfy place for my dog to sleep outdoors near the tent. The mat is half an inch thick, with a similar feel to a cushy sleeping pad, and it’s way more durable than your average yoga mat, thanks to its tough 100 percent Cordura material, a synthetic made entirely from recycled bottles that’s easy to clean. You’ll want to watch the video on how to fold it correctly, unless origami comes naturally to you. They’re not cheap—the smallest size is $98 and the largest $233—but they last and I’ve yet to find something that compares. —M.M.
Tech Hacks
😠 The Problem: You need a long-lasting, reliable power bank that’s allowed on airplanes
💫 The Solution: OtterBox’s Fast Charge
A working phone is indispensable on the road. It stores boarding passes, train passes, and itineraries in TripIt. With eSIMS opening the door to cheap data overseas, I now use my phone in places that were too expensive before, like Azerbaijan. All of this to say: I need a good TSA-approved power bank.
OtterBox’s Fast Charge has kept me going for about two years now. It weighs a pound, is the size of a thin brick tile, and stores a significant 20,000 milliampere-hours that you can tap through two ports, a USB-A and a USB-C. That’s enough oomph to resuscitate a flatlining iPhone 12 Pro at least three times. On river trips, it keeps my inReach satellite device alive for a week.
It charges things quickly, too—3.6 times faster than your standard five-watt transformer, according to OtterBox. I’ve found that juicing my device for just five to ten minutes can push it well out of the red. In airplane mode I can fully charge my phone in about 45 minutes. When paired with OtterBox’s 72-watt wall charger, the Premium Pro Fast Charge, I can power a laptop and phone simultaneously from one outlet. The only bummer? The power bank’s 18 watts can’t bring a laptop back to life. For that I rely on BioLite’s Charge 100 Max, which stores 25,000 milliampere-hours, puts out 100 watts, and is designed with five ports and a wireless charging deck. —T.N.
OtterBox Fast Charge $41 at Amazon Premium Pro Fast Charge $70 at OtterBox BioLite Charge 100 Max $150 at REI
😠 The Problem: Your devices’ countless cords and cables aren’t organized
💫 The Solution: GoTubbs
One of the last things I used to pack, because I hated it so much, were all the cords, adapters, and wall chargers required to travel with my laptop, Kindle, phone, voice recorder, and watch. What a mess and hassle. I’d rather untangle spaghetti.
But I’ve been turned on to plastic containers from Humangear called GoTubbs. Each is circular and transparent, with a fantastic, deep-sided lid that I can squeeze open with one hand. Marketing pictures showed them holding snacks and vitamins, but I saw their true calling instantly: here were the perfect containers for my gadgets’ power cords, chargers, batteries. And today I keep these containers in—you guessed it—a packing cube.
For something more purpose-built, Eagle Creek recently redesigned its E-Tools Organizer Pro, which combines sleeves with zippered pockets in a clamshell design. Incase has a Nylon Accessory Organizer ($50) with thoughtful features like elastic rings to hold your wall chargers. Both are great and light-years better than rubber bands or a Ziploc. —T.N.
GoTubbs from $13 at Walmart E-Tools Organizer Pro $40 at Eagle Creek Incase Nylon Accessory Organizer $53 at Amazon
😠 The Problem: You can’t sleep in trains, planes, and automobiles
💫 The Solution: Earphones (or buds) and Background or Sleep Sounds
I can doze off anywhere, even as a six-foot-seven giraffe shoehorned into economy. I just need the right tools to help it happen. For years my sleep kit was little more than a neck pillow, ear plugs, and a free eye mask I scored on an upgrade. But now I use AirPod Pro 2’s and my iPhone for a trick I’m about to recommend that keeps me sleeping soundly on anything that moves.
First, find the feature called Background Sounds that’s embedded in any iPhone running iOS 15 or newer. Android phones have Sleep Sounds. (A quick web search will help you find where, or whether, this feature is located on your phone.) These are basically white-noise machines that provide various pleasing sounds that also mask or absorb any distracting sounds that can make sleep tough.
Once activated, you can choose from eight sounds on an iPhone that range from “bright noise” to “dark noise,” as well as natural tracks like the ocean, rain, a stream, and night. Android users can access three sounds or anything from Spotify. Set up with this soothing tool of modern technology piped into my AirPod and I’m out before takeoff. —T.N.
AirPod Pro 2’s $250 at Best Buy
😠 The Problem: You’re nervous the airlines will lose your checked luggage (it happens!)
💫 The Solution: AirTags
These discrete trackers felt a little creepy to me when they first came out, despite their practical benefits when it came to finding lost keys and bags. But my editors suggested I try them, and I admit to being won over on a recent trip to Africa. I put an AirTag inside a checked bag, launched the Find My app native to iPhones, and watched with glee as it made its way between planes during layovers and eventually to baggage claim. While airlines like United have an app that allows you to track a checked bag each time a handler scans its tag, it isn’t always clear what’s happening. With an AirTag, however, I could see exactly what was going on—and with a weekslong trip ahead of me, that reassurance was very valuable. —T.N.
Website and App Hacks
😠 The Problem: You want to tip your guide after a tour, but you lack local currency or access to an ATM
💫 The Solution: Bepo
If you’ve ever hired a guide, perhaps to help you climb a mountain, ski to a backcountry hut, or paddle down a remote stretch of river, you know it’s common practice to give them a gratuity at the end of your trip. American guides are usually happy to accept a Venmo payment as thanks, but internationally, there hasn’t been an easy way to tip guides without getting cash in their local currency. Which often means you wind up struggling to find an ATM, then carrying around a wad of cash.
But I recently discovered Bepo, started by a travel-loving entrepreneur named Ian Sweeney in 2022 to offer seamless digital tips to service workers and guides. You can transfer funds via credit card, Apple Pay, PayPal, or Venmo (Bepo charges a 1 percent fee on all transactions), and the person you’re tipping can cash out directly into their own Bepo account.
The site is growing 15 percent each month in the U.S. and Canada, and Bepo intends to expand globally in 2025. Best of all, you don’t have to download yet another app; just head to the website, create a free profile, and then scan your guide’s QR code to make a secure payment via whatever method suits you best. Tipping has never been so simple. —Megan Michelson
😠 The Problem: You’ve been camping or road-tripping for days and need a few hours to recharge with hotel amenities
💫 The Solution: A daycation with ResortPass
When you’re traveling, access to a few nice amenities can make all the difference, be it fast Wi-Fi and a comfortable place to check email, a gym and showers, a hot tub to soak in and relax, or laundry facilities. Basically, if you could just check into a hotel for a few hours and use their perks, life would be golden. That’s the idea behind ResortPass, which offers day use to over 1,600 properties across the U.S., Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean for as little as $25. No membership fees are required; instead, just purchase a day pass the day you need it. Properties include everything from urban hotels to far-flung resorts. Some passes come with upgrade options like spa treatments, access to the fitness center, or poolside cabanas and water parks.
While on a long-haul camping trip through the Pacific Northwest with my kids last summer, I bought a day pass to a hotel in Bend, Oregon, just to get access to a swimming pool and a shower. The total price for three of us was, incredibly, just $35. We spent the afternoon living like high-end hotel guests—ordering food and drinks poolside and using fancy shampoos and fluffy towels in the spa—before returning to our campsite that night. —M.M.
😠 The Problem: Taking melatonin or eating a big breakfast upon arrival have failed to cure you of jet lag
💫 The Solution: FlyKitt
The best way to beat jet lag is to not get it at all, but for most travelers who fly, that’s usually not possible. Or is it?
Fount, a human-performance R&D company, purports to have discovered a way to make jet lag “a choice.” To make the right one, you need FlyKitt, a system that will have you wearing blue-light filtering glasses, eating supplements, taking naps, and drinking coffee and electrolytes, all at specific times generated by a free app.
Curious, I ordered one for an upcoming trip from my home in Oregon to South Africa. The pouch, the size of a toiletry bag, included everything I’d need for one round-trip journey. I plugged my flight info into the app, and a rather intense routine was laid out for me: starting with the morning of my first flight, I had to consume more than 20 capsules of things like tart cherry powder, vitamin C, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids over the course of the next 24 hours. I’d take the last pill the day after I arrived in Johannesburg, nine time zones ahead of home.
The results were shocking—and I say that as someone who has tried all kinds of jet-lag remedies. I had one 15-minute spell of grogginess after arriving in Johannesburg. But upon my return to the U.S., I had zero jet lag. It was as if I’d never left. Typically, I’m wrecked for days, both ways.
Others have tried FlyKitt without success. One reviewer for The Points Guy felt silly wearing the light-filtering glasses in public and skipped that part and also didn’t take all of the supplements. However, another reporter, from the Seattle Times, tried it out and had the same results as I did. I worried that consuming 41,667 percent of vitamin B12’s daily value might upset my stomach, but it didn’t—and a doctor later reassured me that this dose isn’t dangerous—so I stuck to the routine. I certainly plan to use FlyKitt again. —T.N.
😠 The Problem: Getting an infection in a remote place, days or miles from medical help
💫 The Solution: Carry amoxicillin
In general, I’ve never needed antibiotics, but there was a time that my kid did, and I didn’t have them. I’m not doing that again. Once, on a three-day float trip down Oregon’s remote John Day River with family and friends, my 11-year-old curled up in the bow and went to sleep for the entire morning. This was worrisome. She loved river trips and typically wanted to spend every minute kayaking.
That afternoon, pain set in. She complained that it felt like an ice pick was chiseling away at her skull below one eye and above her teeth. My wife and I pumped her full of Tylenol and Ibuprofen, but nothing helped. Then her face began to swell.
I’m deeply wary of using any medicine willy-nilly, and I’m no doctor, but I knew she needed antibiotics. Decades before, on a remote island in the Philippines, I’d languished for a week with a ruptured eardrum that was horrifically infected. That could have been avoided with antibiotics. And fortunately for travelers, in many countries, you can walk into a pharmacy, explain your symptoms, and walk out with what you need. But occasionally, we find ourselves seriously sick in remote locations and in need of powerful medicine, like my daughter that day on the river.
We eventually got her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with a tooth abscess. She’d need a root canal, but amoxicillin cut the pain quickly. And that’s why I never travel without it now. For antibiotics in the U.S., you’ll need a doctor’s prescription, so I suggest making an appointment ahead of time if you know you’ll be somewhere remote and are concerned about medical resources in that area and no better recourse. In my experience, it’s worth asking for more than you’ll need to keep stashed in your Dopp kit. —T.N.
Kids Entertainment Hacks
😠 The Problem: You’re road-tripping with the kids and want them to enjoy the scenery without screens
💫 The Solution: Play just the audio of their favorite film
Playing movies on road trips has become a staple in my family. But not watching them—listening to them. When my daughter was really young, this kept her entertained, and my wife and I loved how it stoked her imagination without a screen. The trick was to download a favorite film, like Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda, or. Penguins of Madagascar. Because she’d already seen it a million times, she could picture it entirely by sound: That’s Rico eating the snow globes. That’s the penguins bouncing in the bouncy house. Other forgettable sounds became hysterical, like a chicken clucking after Kevin Hart’s character explodes in Jumanji.
This hack isn’t just for kids. I use it myself on long drives at night when I’m tired of podcasts. A favorite? Interview with a Vampire. The gurgling, slurping sounds; Brad Pitt’s breathiness; and Christian Slater’s nasalness are all so bad it’s incomparably great—maybe even better than watching it on screen. —T.N.
Airline Hacks
😠 The Problem: Your flight is delayed or you have a general complaint about your carrier’s service
💫 The Solution: Pipe up when things go wrong—it often pays off
Over the past year, airfare has shot up 25 percent, but airline reliability has plummeted. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, nearly one quarter of domestic flights were delayed or canceled in the first half of 2024. Only 50 percent of the 63 flights I’ve taken this year left on schedule. What’s your recourse?
First, know your rights: the Department of Transportation posts a customer-service dashboard listing the services or amenities domestic airlines promise clients affected by delays and cancellations. Armed with this information, you can then reach out to a representative of your air carrier and ask for compensation. It’s worth noting that every major U.S. carrier offers meal vouchers for delays of three hours or more (talk to your gate agent). Alaska, JetBlue, and Southwest provide a travel credit or voucher for a delay of more than three hours. Only Alaska, however, promises frequent-flier miles in addition to a travel credit.
Things should improve in the next five years, thanks to a new federal regulation requiring airlines to refund customers, or offer credits that last up to five years, for flight delays greater than three hours for domestic travel and six hours for international trips. Until then, a quick email complaint can go a long way, I’ve found, particularly with United Airlines. It takes less than three minutes to fill out United’s online customer care form and submit a grievance, whether it’s a delay or annoying hiccups like a broken seat that won’t recline or spotty Wi-Fi. Nine times out of ten, I receive some type of compensation; in fact, last year I was awarded close to 20,000 miles, earned nearly $2,500 in I’m-sorry vouchers, and was even refunded the $8 I spent on faulty Wi-Fi. I appreciate this service. It takes some of the sting out of plans gone awry —J.M.
😠 The Problem: You want to travel with your own bicycle but don’t want to pay hundreds to check it
💫 The Solution: Choose an airline that lets your bike fly free
Airlines have mutilated a number of my surfboards, so I’ve never been willing to gamble on flying with my much pricier road bike. I’m far from a pro, and rentals are way better than they used to be; plus, I like to support local bike shops. But I know that serious cyclists suffer separation anxiety—and for you I have intel.
If you don’t want to be charged an oversizeoverweight fee of upward of $200, you need to make sure your rig and its box weigh 50 pounds or less and are smaller than 80 inches. A nice carbon road bike tends to weigh between 17 and 20 pounds. Factor in a light case and remove the front wheel, and you can just make the cut.
But the airline beloved by many cyclists bringing bikes is Southwest. It’s the only domestic airline that grants two free checked bags, regardless of loyalty status. If your bike meets the proper dimensions (62 inches or less and less than 50 pounds), it’s counted as a free checked bag.
It’s also worth considering Delta and United if you have status with those airlines. On Delta, those with Medallion status or Delta Amex cardholders can check a bicycle for free if it meets dimensions (62 linear inches) and it’s the sole piece of checked luggage. On United, status members are granted an extra 20 pounds per checked bag, which can make a difference if you’ve sprung for a hard-shell case to keep your beloved bike free from dings. —J.M.
Tim Neville and Megan Michelson are Outside contributing editors, and Jen Murphy is a longtime Outside correspondent. All spend weeks of the year traveling around the country and abroad and reporting back to us. Neville recently recounted his scary multi-night stay in a dark cave in Oregon, Michelson rounded up the best outdoor festivals, and Murphy wrote about the countless ways to explore Costa Rica.
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