Pack Lighter And Travel Easier With Simple Systems

Destinations get all the attention, but the real difference between a smooth trip and a stressful one is what happens behind the scenes. We talk through the travel logistics that quietly shape everything, from packing strategy to the phone tools that keep you moving when plans change.

We start with the most common travel mistake we see: overpacking. We share how we used to pack for every scenario, why complicated itineraries create clothing chaos, and how we now rely on lightweight luggage, simple layering, and quick-drying clothes to stay comfortable without hauling extra weight. We also get practical about laundry on the road, including why we travel with laundry sheets and how compression bags help us save space, stay organized, and avoid unpacking an entire suitcase for a short stay.

Then we switch to travel apps and digital tools that actually earn their place on your phone. We explain why WhatsApp is essential for communicating with hosts and businesses abroad, how Google Maps or Apple Maps (and even Waze features) make navigation easier, and why Apple AirTags can help you track luggage and find your way back when you get turned around. We cover Google Translate for signs and appliance controls, cashless travel with Apple Wallet or Google Pay, and rideshare and transit apps like Bolt and BiTaksi that remove haggling and reduce the need for cash.

Finally, we tie it together with the habits that prevent small mistakes from becoming big headaches: confirming details early, keeping confirmations accessible, handling time zone changes in your calendar, and building buffer time around check-in and travel days. If you want travel packing tips, the best travel apps, and a realistic approach to long-term travel planning, hit play, subscribe, and leave a quick review so more travelers can find us.

And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at jim@jimsantosbooks.com .

"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" is available on audiobook on Amazon, Audible, and other audiobook outlets!

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"Wherever We May Roam: Finding Your Travel Style" - On Amazon

Transcript

Travel Style Starts Behind Scenes

Jim 0:00

When people think about travel, they usually think about destinations. But what actually makes travel work is everything behind the scenes. Welcome to Wherever We May Roam, the new face of Travels with Jim and Rita. This podcast is about discovering your own travel style to explore the world. I'm Jim Santos, and along with my wife Rita, we've spent more than 16 years traveling. Sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes a whole lot longer. And what we've learned is this there's no right or wrong way to travel. Some people take extended getaways, some roam part-time, some work from the road, and some make travel a full-time lifestyle. This podcast is about helping you figure out what works for you and how to make it happen in the real world. So whether you're planning your next trip or thinking about something bigger, we're glad you're here. Let's get started. Hello out there in Podcast Land and welcome back to Wherever We May Roam. I'm Jim Santos, and together with my wife Rita, we are here to help you find a travel style that works for you. Today we're discussing some important and often overlooked subjects that can have a big impact on your enjoyment of travel. Packing strategies, apps for travel, and managing logistics. Because the truth is that travel itself isn't complicated, but the logistics can be. And if you don't get those right, everything else becomes harder. It's not about having more stuff, it's about having the right stuff and the right systems.

Rita 1:42

Right. I mean what when we first started out, we had a bag that you checked, each of us, and and a backpack.

Jim 1:51

What and how you pack, how you organize your day, and the tools you rely on while you're traveling, they're they're all important. And you you brought up packing. Let's look at that first.

Why Most People Overpack

Jim 2:02

When it comes to packing for a trip, one of the biggest mistakes people make is overpacking.

Rita 2:06

Yes.

Jim 2:07

Yeah. I remember the first time I took my daughter to Hawaii.

Rita 2:10

Oh my gosh. Yes.

Jim 2:11

She packed all kinds of shampoo and conditioners and hairdryers. Yeah, big bottles and ended up paying $100 extra for her suitcase. Overweight. For overweight. Which I let her pay herself is a valuable lesson.

Rita 2:24

Trevor Burrus I mean, we've never overpacked to that extent. But we did use to pack for every possible scenario, which we have learned it's not necessary to do that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 2:37

Yeah, that's what most people tend to do. They they carry too much and use less than they thought they were going to need. And I tell you, one thing that I really hate is when we come back from a trip and there's clothes or things that I didn't wear or or use at all.

Rita 2:49

Aaron Ross Powell I haven't had that happen, though, in a long time.

Jim 2:52

It's been a while because we've say we learned the hard way.

Rita 2:55

Aaron Powell We did. And it also depends on, too, if on the trip when you start out, you're going to be doing different climates. Trevor Burrus Right.

Jim 3:03

That can be very complicated. We had a trip where we were first going to Quito for an international living conference, so I had some conference clothes I had to pack, some pair of nice stuff and nice shoes.

Rita 3:12

Yeah, we had some decent clothes.

Jim 3:14

Yeah. And from there we were going to Lima to catch a plane to go hike the Inca Trail.

Rita 3:19

Right.

Jim 3:20

So we had all of our camping stuff too. And then we also went back to Lima to explore Lima a little bit. So we had our general walking around city stuff.

Rita 3:28

Right.

Jim 3:29

So it was a very complicated trip.

Rita 3:31

Then we went to Uruguay.

Jim 3:32

Yeah, we went to Uruguay and we spent a weekend in Argentina.

unknown 3:35

Right.

Rita 3:36

So we we literally had all of our hiking stuff, all of our casual clothes, all of our hiking clothes for three months. We were we were all in our conference clothes. That's right. Our dress clothes. So we had that.

Planning Trips Without Clothing Chaos

Rita 3:52

We were we we vowed never to do that again.

Jim 3:55

Yeah. So that would be the logistic thing. Don't try to plan too many different trips and to where you need too many different types of clothing.

Rita 4:01

Yeah.

Jim 4:02

Now when it comes to packing, one thing that's often overlooked, and Rita finally, I think, feel like you got this right for yourself.

Rita 4:09

I do.

Jim 4:10

Was the most important piece of this is the actual luggage that you are using.

Rita 4:15

Right. I got the lightest weight carry-on that I could man, you know, that I could get that would fit in most airlines with their guidelines, and I travel with four bottoms, usually two pairs of jeans, two pairs of light pants, seven shirts, seven sets of underwear, a fleece, a sweater. That's what's in that carry-on. And then in my personal bag that goes underneath the seat in front of me, I use compression bags and I'll have a raincoat and a coat. Like I I have a Patagonia

Picking Lightweight Luggage And Layers

Rita 4:52

quilted coat that I put in there and a hat and that kind of stuff, all compressed down so that my laptop and my wallet fits in there easily.

Jim 5:04

But getting back to that suitcase that you're talking about, you're calling it your carry-on, but it can actually be checked as well.

Rita 5:09

Aaron Powell Yeah, it could be, but it's tiny enough to fit on the overhead. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 5:13

But it's the biggest bag that you're carrying.

Rita 5:15

That is.

Jim 5:15

And the point is you don't want too much of the weight of your suitcase to be the suitcase itself.

Rita 5:22

No.

Jim 5:22

So you need to find a a nice common ground between something that's going to protect your things but something that's not going to take up 20 percent of the weight.

Rita 5:30

Yeah, that carry-on totally packed in is I think 22 pounds was the last time. Maybe 21, 22 pounds. So if I have to carry it up a flight of stairs, I can. But it's a roller.

Jim 5:42

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: You are at the point to even the heaviest bag. I I have a larger bag because I also carry electronics and things like that that were And my cosmetics. And her cosmetics, which is why her bag is only 22 pounds. But still, our checked bags have been under 40 pounds on our last couple of trips. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 5:59

Well, we only have one check bag.

Jim 6:00

Trevor Burrus Yeah. Or two if it's a smaller airplane. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 6:02

I think the last time it was 32 pounds the check bag.

Jim 6:07

Yeah, I think it's been in the 30s. Yeah.

Rita 6:08

It wasn't much.

Jim 6:10

And part of the reason that we can do that is that we're keeping to a simple style because we generally plan on doing our laundry when we're on longer trips. We don't need to pack as many things. Rita outlined what she's carrying. What we do is we plan on wearing layers.

Rita 6:25

Yes.

Jim 6:26

We don't travel when it's real hot or when it's real cold. So generally, if you have enough layers, you can get by in just about any situation.

Rita 6:32

Aaron Ross Powell Although it was extremely cold in the Giants Causeway in Ireland.

Jim 6:38

Yeah, but we also had We had wool hats. We had wool hats and we had clothing so that it wasn't totally uncomfortable.

Rita 6:43

Trevor Burrus Right. That's why I take a quilted jacket, a fleece, a wool sweater, et cetera.

Jim 6:49

We also like to make sure that the clothes that you bring are quick drying.

Rita 6:54

Oh, absolutely.

Jim 6:55

I like the versatility of, for instance, I like to take uh hiking pants that you can unzip the legs, take the legs off and wear them as shorts also.

Rita 7:04

Aaron Ross Powell And they're attractive enough that you could go into a nice restaurant or whatever because they're khaki colored or you know basic color.

Jim 7:12

Trevor Burrus Right. And the shirts that I take tend to be they're UV resistant. They can have the sleeves down or you can roll the sleeves up and then button them up so that they stay up. And they also dry very quickly.

Rita 7:23

Aaron Ross Powell And you can have a t-shirt under it if you need. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 7:25

Right. A jacket over top or whatever. So those light layers, quick drying, and also very compressible when you go to pack it. Trevor Burrus, Yeah.

Rita 7:32

And you've got to remember, you're never going to see these people again in your life as long as you're clean and presentable. You know, you're not you don't have to be a fashion plate. You just need to enjoy your

Laundry Sheets And Compression Bags

Rita 7:43

life.

Jim 7:43

Trevor Burrus And also one of our solutions for doing laundry on the road, we we found that when you go into grocery stores in another country, it can be very difficult figuring out what kind of laundry detergent you should buy.

Rita 7:54

Right.

Jim 7:55

Sometimes the photos on them are a little misleading. And sometimes you you might not even be buying laundry detergent and not realize until you get it home you got salad dressing or something. But our solution has been to take laundry sheets with us.

Rita 8:09

Yes.

Jim 8:09

These are just little sheets that you throw one in with the wash, and it's got, I guess, the soap and whatever else on that.

Rita 8:16

And they're uh non-allergenic.

Jim 8:18

Non-allergenic. They don't take up a lot a lot of space. So we can put them in a Ziploc bag and they it weighs hardly anything.

Rita 8:25

Aaron Ross Powell And I have run out of those and the next best thing that I can use is baby detergent, whatever that country uses to do their infant wash, I'll buy that. And that works as well.

Jim 8:41

Aaron Powell Something else that we've been using a lot of lately are compression bags.

Rita 8:46

Oh yeah.

Jim 8:47

These not only give you more space in your bag for some other things that that you can't compress, like uh taking a voltage adapter, for instance, that's always going to take a certain amount of room.

Rita 8:55

Right.

Jim 8:56

But being able to put your clothes into these bags that you can then usually have two different zippers, so they compress one way and then compress the other way. You'd be surprised the amount of space you can save by doing that. And it's also been very convenient if we're just staying in a place for a day or two. You don't have to unpack the whole suitcase. You know, this bag has my shirts, this bag has my underwear, this bag has my socks. So it's it's a lot easier to manage. You're not rifling through stuff. And your clothes actually stay in much better condition because they're protected in these little separate bags.

unknown 9:28

Yeah.

Jim 9:28

What I really recommend too is that you practice packing a few times.

Rita 9:31

Aaron Powell Oh, yeah, we do that.

Jim 9:33

Yeah, don't wait till the last minute. Lay out the things that you definitely need, then some of the things you think you might need. Get your compression bags and see how everything fits, and then weigh it at home, you know, on your bathroom scale.

Rita 9:45

Yes, definitely.

Jim 9:45

And after a while you'll find that you you got an idea of about how much your bag's gonna weigh the more often you do this.

Rita 9:51

Aaron Powell And we absolutely don't even have to worry about our bag being over because we don't buy things in route to like to bring home or whatever. If if we did, we'd just have it shipped home. Aaron Ross Powell Right.

Jim 10:04

We're not big souvenir shoppers.

Rita 10:05

No.

Jim 10:06

Yeah, I think the bottom line is that because you're moving between places and you're going to be on the road for a long time, this is a case where less really is more.

Rita 10:13

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Absolutely. And I find that if you ha if you wear a pair of jeans on your travel day and you have a pair of jeans in your suitcase, even if your other two pair of bottoms are dirty, you can go a week wearing those two pairs of jeans. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 10:28

Right. And our last uh travel tip would probably be if if you have heavier clothes, like jeans or heavier shoes, wear those on your travel days.

Rita 10:36

Oh, yes.

Jim 10:37

So they're not taking up the weight in your bag.

Turning A Phone Into A Toolkit

Jim 10:39

Now, was thinking the other day or actually when I was writing the book, it occurred to me that that first trip that we talked about where we went to Italy, we carried printed-out maps, we carried each had a camera, I had a video camera, we had a a guidebook, we had you know Italian-American phrase books, we had all of this stuff with us. And on our most recent trips, we just take a cell phone.

Rita 11:01

That's it.

Jim 11:02

And that not only does all of those features, but it does a lot more. Well, we have our converters and chargers and as far as information and finding out what you're doing. Exactly.

Rita 11:16

It is.

Jim 11:16

Now, there's quite a few that we've become fond of, but I just want to name a few here that I feel like everybody needs to have if you're going to travel. And Rita, I think you'd agree the number one thing is WhatsApp.

Rita 11:28

Oh, definitely. Everybody uses that. All businesses, everybody has a WhatsApp number.

Jim 11:34

Yeah, if you're not familiar with this, it's a service, uh an app you can get on your phone. It allows you to communicate with anyone else in the world who also has WhatsApp. You can't communicate with landlines or things like that, for instance. But anyone else who has a WhatsApp number, you can communicate with them on this absolutely free as long as you can get on the internet. Now, it just uses your phone number and your country code. So it's it's the same number that you're using when you dial out to people. But it's just a messaging app that makes it very easy to not only talk but send text messages. You can also take video or make video calls with it. So it's extremely convenient. And because there's no charge for using it, everyone in all these other countries use it all the time.

Rita 12:17

Aaron Powell Right. And it's it's really essential if you're if you or if you're lodging as an Airbnb or VBRO or whatever, to keep in contact with your host if you have a delay in your flight or or a cancellation or whatever, it you can immediately get in touch with them.

Jim 12:35

Aaron Powell Yeah, we found that people respond to WhatsApp messages faster than they do to text messages.

Rita 12:40

Oh yeah.

Jim 12:41

Then there are all the maps or all the apps now for getting around. Waze is, of course, very popular, especially here in the U.S., but even the Google Maps that comes with your phone or Apple Maps, those are all great for doing navigating in in strange places.

Rita 12:56

Aaron Powell I like the Waze that you can take a picture of where you are on a street corner and it can give you directions with arrows as to where you need to go to your destination.

Jim 13:06

Aaron Powell Yeah, they're great not just for walking, but driving or just finding out where you are in relationship to your hotel, anything like that's been very

Maps AirTags And Translation Wins

Jim 13:16

useful. Apple AirTags have been very useful for us, not only tracking where your luggage is, but what we found is when we're out, you know, wandering around Athens for not sure what direction our hotel is, we can just look on the Find My Phone app and it'll tell us where our suitcase is.

Rita 13:32

Right. Right. Yeah, I mean Jim was in, I always look to him as to be the guide as we're walking around because he's so computer savvy. But he was in a hospital in Riga for several days, and I was on my own and Riga getting back and forth to the hospital, et cetera. And I went to get some groceries for the condo I was staying in and came out a different exit as than when I went in. I got myself totally turned around, and those error tags can save you.

Jim 14:05

Now there, of course, there are also translation tools that you can use now. The uh Google Translate has been very useful. Especially the photo feature. You can point your phone at text and read a translation in your native language. And that's been extremely useful for figuring out the controls on washing and dryers, microwaves, street signs or notices. That's really helped us out, especially in places like Greece or Turkey, where the alphabet's completely different.

Rita 14:33

Trevor Burrus, Jr. The washing machine that we had in one of the units in Athens, it cleaned really well. But if we hadn't used that app, we would have never figured out how to work it.

Jim 14:46

And that translation stuff looks to get even easier as time goes on. The latest version of Apple's AirPods, if you have the latest version of the Apple iOS on your phone, also can do real-time translations over your earbuds. So as someone's speaking to you in another language, you can hear what it is in English in your earbuds. And if they have the same system also, you can actually converse in your own native languages and each understand what the other is saying.

Rita 15:13

Aaron Ross Powell, you know what I just read today? If you have one earbud in and you hand, I don't know if I'd want to hand somebody else my earbud, but if you handed the other person the earbud, it automatically translates for each one.

Jim 15:27

For each one?

Rita 15:28

That's amazing.

Jim 15:29

That'd be a great feature. We're getting getting closer and closer to uh Universal Translator from Star Trek.

unknown 15:34

Right.

Rita 15:35

Okay.

Jim 15:36

We've talked about using booking platforms also, and they all have their own apps to go on your phone as well. Uh you definitely want to have the one for the one that you're using. For instance, Airbnb, most of your communication, you want to keep that over the app so that they have records of it also. And of course, for booking hotels, you know, we've been stuck a couple of times and had to book a hotel on the fly.

Rita 15:57

Right.

Jim 15:57

Yeah, so it's it's really great to have those apps available on your phone as well. All

Rideshares Transit Apps And Tap Pay

Jim 16:02

the transportation apps, people in the U.S. are probably very familiar with like Uber and Lyft, but don't overlook that other countries may have other ridesharing apps that tend to be cheaper or at least have more people available. For instance, in much of Europe, uh Bolt, B O L T was the preferred carrier. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 16:20

Actually, that was what we used in all of Eastern Europe. Yeah, it's pretty much always Bolt.

Jim 16:26

Mexico has a couple of their own that are specific. In Turkey, we use one called Bittaxi.

unknown 16:31

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 16:32

It's so nice because you you don't have to have any money or pull out your wallet. You've already paid on the app. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 16:39

Yeah, that's the best part. There's no haggling over what you owe me when you get to the end and there's no, oh, I don't have change for that.

Rita 16:46

Yeah, and they're so congenial because they want a tip. So it just works out. The price has already been negotiated. And as if they're nice, you usually give them a tip.

Jim 16:56

Trevor Burrus And there are things, of course, like Flixbus, one of our favorite features for finding bus transportation. Omeo and RailNinja have also been helpful for finding transportation from place to place. Right. You also want to check for metros. Whatever area you're in, check to see what their local public transportation is. Right. Because more and more of them now have apps where you can get maps. Uh you can put in where you are, where you want to go, and it'll tell you exactly how to get there, and even charge the fare for you or tell you how to get a fair ticket to use. So all of these things are important to look at before you uh set out and hit that country. You don't want to be standing on a rainy street corner trying to download an app and configure it.

Rita 17:44

Right. And it makes your life so much easier because you're more relaxed.

Jim 17:47

Trevor Burrus, Jr. Right. Now we've also been finding more and more, especially in Europe, people are not using cash. They're using their phones to pay for just about everything. Uh even parking lots. We found that there there's usually a place where you can just go and use your phone to pay for the parking space.

Rita 18:04

Aaron Ross Powell Actually, when we were in the British Isles, we did not get any pounds of the A.

Jim 18:09

No, we didn't use a single pound. We didn't use any cash at all.

Rita 18:12

No.

Jim 18:12

In uh England, Wales, and Scotland. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 18:14

And that's fine because we want those points.

unknown 18:17

Right.

Rita 18:18

We're fine with that.

Jim 18:19

Yeah, that's Apple Wallet on your iOS phones and Google Pay uh does the same kind of thing. What I really like about that also is that no one sees your credit card numbers.

Rita 18:28

Exactly.

Jim 18:29

You don't have to you don't accidentally forget to pick it up again when you're leaving the restaurant. And also we've been in situations where we had a card canceled because of a fraud alert or something like that. And you're able to get the new one downloaded to your wallet immediately.

Rita 18:43

Aaron Ross Powell Right. Yeah. They mail it back to whatever address you have in the States, your new card, but you're not out of use. Trevor Burrus Right.

Jim 18:52

All of these apps and more are incredibly useful. Don't know how we ever got along without them. But you can't use them at all unless you can get on the data internet. And

eSIMs For Seamless Data Abroad

Jim 19:02

that's why eSIMs are probably our best friend in the world.

Rita 19:05

Trevor Burrus That that is such a beautiful thing. Trevor Burrus Yeah.

Jim 19:07

If you are familiar with this to get on the phone system in another country unless you paid for a very expensive plan that allowed for international roaming, the accepted method was there would be a kiosk in the airport where you could buy a SIM card, take the one out of your phone and put in that SIM card.

Rita 19:24

Trevor Burrus And then don't lose yours.

Jim 19:25

Trevor Burrus, Yeah, don't use yours, and it's a tiny little thing about the size of your thumbnail. And one of the problems with that is yes, you can get on the internet now in this country and you have a phone number in this country, but it's not your phone number. So now your phone can't be used to uh contact people in the US, for instance, uh very easily. Your WhatsApp number has now changed. So it's just kind of a hassle uh switching back and forth between those and getting a different SIM for each country.

Rita 19:52

Aaron Ross Powell But with eSIMs, that that negates all of that. Aaron Ross Powell Right.

Jim 19:56

The E stands for embedded. Newer cell phones now have the feature that they can accept ESIMS. Go to a website and there's a list of them in the book that you can check out. But basically you can download an eSIM on your phone before you even leave, you activate it, and then you turn it on when you get to the area. And they're not just for a country, you can get one for an entire region. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 20:17

Ours was 39 countries.

Jim 20:19

Yeah, we had 39 countries.

Rita 20:21

For $30 a month.

Jim 20:22

For $30 a month.

Rita 20:23

Yeah.

Jim 20:23

And I think maybe once or twice we had to top it up a little bit before the month was over. But for the most part, that was plenty of data for anything we needed. And I say it was absolutely seamless. You know, you'd you'd land at an airport and turn on your phone and you'd be on the network. Getting text messages from the U.S. because your phone number is still the same. You're just on the data network. We could use WhatsApp and have the same number. Traveling by bus or by train is just you have internet access all the way.

Rita 20:54

All the way.

Jim 20:55

Yeah. So keep in mind though that all these tools should reduce the the friction, not add to complexity. So you want to get the apps that you know you're going to need and use those, but keep in mind you don't have to have every bell and whistle uh downloaded.

Rita 21:08

Trevor Burrus No. Just it because the more you have, the more confusing it could be. And the most simplistic way to travel is the best. Aaron Ross Powell Yeah.

Jim 21:17

If you're constantly switching between apps, then you probably have too many.

Rita 21:20

Yeah.

Jim 21:23

So let's talk a little

Logistics Habits That Prevent Headaches

Jim 21:24

bit about logistics too, because this is where everything really comes together. What we mean by that are the daily things that shape your experience, like how you're going to get from place to place, checking in and out of accommodations, you know, who you have to contact, uh managing your schedule, just generally staying organized for your trip, especially if it's a long and complicated trip. Because even small inefficiencies can add up. For instance, then in Lagoche, we went to Portugal. We were going to use flix bots to get from Lagos to Seville. We'd arrive in the afternoon, we'd have plenty of time. We were right next to a grocery store in Seville, so we'd be able to check in and get our bearings. All perfectly wonderful. Except I misread what was the information on the Flixbus as for where the bus station was.

Rita 22:09

Exactly.

Jim 22:10

I thought it was a bus station that was a few miles out of town in another town that was also called La Gauche.

Rita 22:17

It was called Farpa, wasn't it?

Jim 22:18

It was the La Gauche section of another town.

Rita 22:21

Oh, okay.

Jim 22:21

But anyway, it was just a little tiny miscommunication, but we hurried up and took an Uber out, or a bolt, rather, to go bolt out to this new location, found the bus stop, and there's absolutely nobody there. We sat there for maybe a half hour before we realized I had screwed up completely. So we were able to get back to the Rio de Gauche, find a bus ticket to get us to Seville later that day. But we had to waste a few hours there in town and had a nice lunch. Yeah, we had nice lunch, but by the time we arrived in Seville, the grocery store had closed already. So, you know, it's just a little inconvenience and all just because I didn't look closely enough at one of those pieces of information.

Rita 23:00

Aaron Powell But you know, of all the years that we've been traveling, we've only one time we missed a train from Venice to Florence. Yeah, you know, and we just hung out there and had our lunch and got the next train. You know, you just can't focus on little boo-boos because it's all good. You'll eventually get there.

Jim 23:20

Aaron Ross Powell But you can minimize those boo-boos by a kind of a few simple habits. Always a good idea to confirm your details ahead of time. Don't wait till flight day to make sure that your flight is still scheduled. We've run into that a couple times where we've checked for a flight and found out, oh, it's been canceled. Yeah.

unknown 23:37

Right.

Jim 23:38

Keep important information accessible. What I do normally is I print out a page for each destination or travel step and keep it in a manila folder in my backpack. But I also have that information saved on my phone. If there's confirmation emails or something involved, I have a travel folder that I save them all to so I know exactly where they are and can pull them up as needed. I also like to put things in the calendar on the phone, so I also have the information available there. But when you're doing that, beware of time changes. If you're sitting in the US putting in your travel times for Lithuania or Latvia, when you get to Lithuania and Latvia, it's going to adjust the time wherever you were in the U.S. So when you enter it, you want to make sure that you put what time zone that particular event is in. And also we've mentioned plenty of times, don't overschedule your day and give yourself some buffer time. When you're planning travel, one thing that usually comes up is say you're going to Europe from the U.S., you generally are going to have an overnight flight and you'll arrive at like six, seven, eight in the morning. Most of the time, though, you can't check into your new place until two, three, four in the afternoon.

Rita 24:49

Aaron Ross Powell And you're exhausted. We normally don't schedule anything on a travel day.

Jim 24:54

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah, especially if you're crossing an ocean or a continent like that.

Rita 24:58

Aaron Ross Powell We just try to get our luggage held at wherever we're going to be staying, and we just do our own little walkabout. Trevor Burrus Right.

Jim 25:06

And you try to arrange that in advance so that you're not just trying to figure it out once you get there and you're tired. This is also something important to remember when you're using the ground transportation, going from city to city. There's no point in getting an early bus out if you can't check in when you get there. You know, you generally have to check out before 11 or so and can't check in until after two or so. So we try to schedule it and the travel time so that we're not homeless for a period of time there.

Rita 25:33

Right. Because we want to get rid of the luggage as soon as possible. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Jim 25:37

Right. And we want to have time to settle in, get our supplies, and look around, that kind of thing.

Rita 25:41

Trevor Burrus And if you're not frazzled and rushing, you could like when we landed at Heathrow, we used the tube to get downtown London because it was like $14 and something like that for the two of us.

Jim 26:04

Right. And in that particular situation, there were two tube stations at Heathrow Airport. One of them was a direct tube that was a little cheaper and a lot faster that took you directly to, I think it was Paddington Station.

Rita 26:18

Right.

Jim 26:18

And then we'd have to from there transfer to another tube to get to where our hotel was. But when we looked the other tube station, the Elizabeth line, went directly to where our hotel was, like a block and a half away from our hotel. It was going to take longer, and I think it was like $2 more.

Rita 26:35

We were fine.

Jim 26:36

But we were fine with that. We could sit comfortably and make it all the way there. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Rita 26:39

Because some of those metros have escalators to bring you up and some don't. So we were totally happy with the one that took us the most direct.

Jim 26:50

Yeah, we only had to get our bags on the train once and off the train once. That's it. And then we were fine.

Final Takeaways And Next Steps

Jim 26:56

So remember, you don't need to be perfectly organized, but you do need to be intentional about it because the small things are what makes travel feel easy or difficult. And if you want the practical, realistic approach to travel, that's exactly why we've published Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style. Now the final episode of this 10-part series will step back and look at the bigger picture, what long-term travel really gives you, and what it doesn't. If you've been thinking about traveling longer or just traveling better, we hope this episode gave you a few more ideas. Remember, there's no right or wrong way to explore the world. Only the way that works for you. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow the podcast, and if you have a moment, leave a quick review. It really helps more people find us. And if you want to go deeper, you can check out my book, Wherever We May Roam, Finding Your Travel Style, where I walk through all of this in more detail. You can search for it on Amazon in Kindle, Paperback, and Audiobook, or just use the link on our podcast page. If you have any questions, a topic you would like discussed, or would like to be on our show, email us at Jim at Jim Santosbooks.com. Thanks for listening, and as always, safe travels wherever you may roam.