Travel tips

Travel Tip of the Week: If possible, reserve everything in advance. Don't wait until the last minute to buy tickets, especially if it is a very popular destination. You don't want to show up at Buckingham Palace only to find out that every tour is sold out for the next week. Obviously, if they don't sell tickets in advance, then you just have to get there as early as you can. But to see the big sights, it is better to be safe than sorry! Also, contrary to popular belief, tickets aren't always more expensive online.

The Points Guy

The Points Guy is a blog online that provides lots of information on how to save tons of money when traveling. These money-saving techniques involve saving up miles and points, and the blog also provides the latest information on airlines. If points and miles are saved up long enough using the right credit cards, it is possible to travel all over the world first-class on the best airlines for practically no charge! The blog not only focus on Europe, but on all destinations and travels. I posted a link to his blog below.

http://thepointsguy.com/


Past travel tips:
5/20/2014: If possible, try not to check in luggage at baggage checks. Baggage checks tend to take very long, and there is a fairly large chance that your baggage will be lost if you are flying on a stopover flight. Pack lightly, and try to conserve space inside of your suitcase so that you can take a smaller bag. With a smaller bag, it will be easier for you to take it onto the plane with you. Losing baggage is not fun, and normally it is either returned to you in very bad shape or not returned to you at all.
5/13/2014: If you are flying on a long flight, use your miles on the flight (to upgrade classes and such), not on the hotel. It is much better to stay in a mediocre hotel and fly business class on a long flight (more than 5 hours) than to stay at a high quality hotel and fly economy class (bleh). I know this because every year, during the summer, I travel to Poland (my mom's home country) for a few weeks. The first few years that I went, my mom (who is a major points collector) used all of her points on staying in a Hyatt, and we flew economy class on a non-stop flight to Poland. It was awful! The food and bathrooms were terrible, and nobody could sleep. I don't really care about those things on short flights, but on long flights, they really matter to me. Finally, my mom started investing her points on the flights. Save yourself a lot of discomfort on long flights!
5/6/14: While visiting Europe, try to get the most out of it possible. Don't just visit one country! The advantage of traveling in Europe is that all of the countries are so close together, so another beautiful city in another country could only be 50 miles away. You might mot have the opportunity to return to Europe in a while, so while you're there, take advantage of your location. Also, stopover flights provide a great opportunity to see another country while in Europe. Instead of just waiting at the airport for a couple of hours, go sightseeing! Arrange the trip so that you stay in the stopover city for a few days. Don't plan two trips to Europe if you could do just as much in one trip!