10 Traveling Tips to Make Your Trip Easier

[INTRO MUSIC]

SIGNED: Hey, what’s up?!

So, I’ve been traveling a lot in the past
year and

with every new trip that I take, I end up
learning something that

I should do for future trips to

either get myself more organized or just to
try to make

actually being in the airport and being on
the plane easier.

So I’ve accumulated ten tips and I’m
going to share them with you.

1: Have a carry on pouch.

Something that looks like this with a little
zipper is fine.

Or like a little crossbody bag.

This is what you would want to have to put
your wallet,

boarding pass,

passport, and a pen in.

Now, obviously, you can just take your regular
carry on or your personal item and put your

stuff in there.

But if you’re like me, sometimes you tend
to forget to actually put things where they’re

supposed to in there

and they get misplaced and you might end up
losing your passport or your boarding pass

that way.

I’ve accidentally lost my passport for about
20 minutes that way.

And as I’ve walked around the airports a
couple of times, I’ve seen boarding passes

get left behind by accident.

So it’s just nice to have something small
like this to always hold in your hand or have

out so if you’re going to get something
to eat or if you’re at customs and you need

to get your passports and stuff out, it’s all right
here instead of having to, like, take your

bag off or open up your carry on and, you
know,

fiddle through that.

I carry a carry on that’s kind of like a
small suitcase and a backpack

and opening those just takes too much time.

So it’s just nice to have everything in
one little spot.

2: Pack smart and organized.

It’s easy to just throw everything in a
bag and go, especially if you’re packing

at the last minute -

which, by the way, don’t pack at the last
minute.

I am that person that will actually pack about
a week ahead of time.

Mostly, I pack clothes first like

shirts and stuff.

I have a lot of shirts already, so I can just

put the ones that I know I don’t really
need to wear here and just put those in my

bag so it’s already there.

If you’re going somewhere for only a short
amount of time and you don’t want to unpack

everything and leave it in a room,

it’s nice to make sure everything is organized
so you can just pick something out and when

you’re done, put it back in where it was
before which is

what I like to do when I’m taking small
business trips like VidCon and, uhm,

the public speaking thing that I did.

It’s just nice to have it all still there.

3: Have multiple copies of your boarding passes
in various formats.

So what I mean is have a physical copy of
your boarding pass that you can actually hold,

like, a piece of paper.

Have them mailed to you in your email so it’s
always there online if you need to get back

to it.

And if you can, which you should be able to,
save it or put it in, like, the little -

I don’t know what it’s called, but iPhone
has it.

Excuse me for a second.

I think it might be the Wallet app on this,
but I’m not really sure.

You probably know what I’m talking about
anyway.

But like I said in the previous tip, I’ve
seen people leave their boarding passes behind

and, sometimes, there’s not enough time
to go to the customer service desk and get

them reprinted,

so just have a bunch of them in different
formats and be good.

4: If you don’t already use a credit card,
get a prepaid credit card for emergencies,

just in case.

When I was flying back to Charlotte in November
from Toronto,

I unexpectedly had a third bag.

So, instead of just having my little carry
on and my bookbag and getting, you know, just

ready to go on the plane, I had to check that
bag in.

Now, I had $30 in cash which was enough to
check in -

or to check it -

But they wouldn’t take cash.

United would not take cash and I was kind
of screwed because I didn’t have a credit

card or a prepaid credit card.

They told me to go down to the 7-11 to get
one, but they would only take it [the cash]

if I had $50 because that was the minimum
requirement.

So, I spent about an hour not knowing what
to do because I had nobody to contact,

but thankfully, somebody else who was going
to be on the same flight as me,

or he just happened to be on the same flight
as me, it doesn’t really matter,

but he had a credit card and he took my cash
and then used his credit card to check my

bag which was really, really awesome.

But now I know that, just in case,

because I know I’m going to be bringing
an actual gigantic suitcase to Toronto.

On my next trip, I’m going to have to have
a credit card just in case.

Which brings me to this next one -

5: Bring emergency cash.

This is probably unlikely at an airport, but
some places in general might not take *cards,

or credit card machines might be down, so
if you want to get something to eat or, you know, just

buy something, it’s always good to have
a little bit of cash.

You don’t need a lot of it, just maybe $10-20
depending on how much you actually want to get.

But I was always using just cash during my
Toronto trips,

but now I know it’s just nice to have both
just in case.

6: Get an international phone plan.

This is just in case there’s a delay on
your flight or a cancellation and if you are

being picked up, then you want to contact
them.

Of course, you could do it on Facebook or
something, but not everybody has social media

so you gotta get their attention somehow.

I’m always being picked up; I’ve never
driven myself to the airport and parked my

car there, so if something happens, I can’t
be stranded at the airport.

Not only that, but just in case something
happens while you’re in the other country,

it’s nice to get in touch with people.

7: Keep your devices charged.

This is kind of a given because people are
always trying to get their phones charged

and plugged into the wall,

but it can get very, very crowded in the airports,

so you might not be able to find a spot to
charge your phone.

so just in case,

overnight before your flight, charge everything:

your computer, your phone, your tablet, whatever
you have, charge it.

8: Bring a pen and notebook.

Mostly the pen rather than the notebook depending
on the situation.

If you are flying internationally, bring a
pen for the declaration card when you’re

on the plane,

that way, you don’t have to wait and see
if somebody else has a pen or for the flight attendant.

‘cos if they have a pen, it’s normally
a limited amount.

So just to get it out of the way,

have your pen in your carry on pouch, it’s
easy to get, and you’re done.

And bring a notebook in case there’s some
information that’s being told and you want

to write it down really quick.

I know you can put the information down in
your phone, but sometimes, maybe you feel

like writing it down instead.

And you can always doodle on the plane.

You know, fun stuff.

9: Bring a book or some sort of entertainment.

If you get a delay, it gets boring.

Depending on the delay.

I had a five and a half layover in Philadelphia
which turned into about six or seven hours

of layover which was so boring.

Thankfully, I had work to do, so that kept
me busy, but not everybody has work to do.

Or you don’t want to do work anymore because
ehh.

So bring a book or have games on your iPad
or your phone, whatever.

I have the Sailor Moon version of that Candy
Crush game on my iPad.

So if I’m really, really bored, that’s
usually the game that I go to play because

it really keeps me occupied and I must finish
a game and I must get to the next level when

I play or I am not a happy person.

And last but not least -

10: Get there at least an hour earlier than
they tell you.

If you’re flying internationally, normally,
you have to be there two hours before departure.

Unless you’re flying from Hawaii, then it’s
three hours for some reason, I don’t know.

Now, normally, you can probably get away with
the one hour or the two hours if you’re

flying domestically or internationally, but
sometimes,

it will sneak up on you,

the lines get way too long,

the airport’s understaffed,

and you take forever.

I will have a future video of this if I don’t
post that before this, but the last trip from

Toronto to Charlotte,

I had to wait in customs for two hours even
though I was there two hours before departure.

Which I kind of missed my flight which ended
up being delayed anyway so I didn’t miss it.

You’ll know more later.

I’m someone that loves to be at the airport
about three to four hours before my flight.

Which sounds ridiculous, but I would rather
spend a little more time in the airport doing

nothing than miss my flight and have to go
through the trouble of hoping to have a different

flight and all of that.

Like I said, normally, there isn’t much
of a problem.

I’ve been on, I would say, more than five
trips, I think.

Yeah, more than five trips and I’ve had
not really any problems except for the last

one which was two hours in a customs line
and that was - that - that was very, very

stressful, so.

You don’t want that.

So as of right now, those are the tips that
I can think of and if I end up coming up with

more tips in the future, we’ll make another
video.

But if you have any traveling tips, feel free
to leave them down in the comments because

I am always wanting to make my trips a lot
easier.

[COUGH] SIGNED: Can’t talk.

I’ll see you later. Bye.