The Holidays are a busy time of year with lots of traveling to see our families (or to get away from them!) from Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, make traveling as easy as possible with a few of my travel tips and tricks.

I recently went on a Princess Cruise to the Caribbean and if you are heading to warmer weather or wherever you are off to this Winter, you want to enjoy your trip without worrying about your bags. Since I travel pretty frequently, I feel like I’ve gotten this down to a science! Below are a few tips that have been helpful to me over the years!

PACKING

• Buy all travel size toiletries
  • If you can’t find your favorite product in a travel size, get the small bottles from the drugstore and pour it into the small containers
  • This ensures that if you aren’t checking a bag, you won’t get your goodies taken away from you!
• Put all liquids inside of a ziplock bag
  • If anything spills or explodes, it will in the bag and not your clothes
• I pack in a neutral palette so everything matches, I take all grey, black, nude and white clothes so no matter what I have an endless combination of outfits
• I also pack one pair of nude heels that go with everything so it doesn’t take a lot of room
• I usually always check my bag, because I hate carrying a carry on
• In my tote or travel bag, I include all important documents, phone and computer chargers and any medicine I may need
• When packing swimsuits, put each bikini in a separate plastic baggie. This will help keep the tops and bottoms together and when repacking if they are still damp, it won’t get other clothes wet or bleed colors.
• Wear your bulky or heavy items on the plane to save room in your suitcase
  • example, wear those fabulous riding boots instead of packing them and taking up half the space
• A little black dress is the ultimate piece for travel, don’t try to be trendy on your trips pack the basics!
• Don’t buy chargers when traveling internationally, the front desk of hotels will have converters or adapters for you to borrow

TRAVELING

• Stick with one airlines to get perks
  • I always fly with one airline so that I get enough miles for priority check in, priority security and boarding
  • This saves a TON of time at the airport, you could get bumped up to first class and you can use miles for future travel
• Check in online before and choose your seat before you arrive to the airport
• If you don’t know which seat is best, use Seat Guru to see what seats are the best on the plane, after all you don’t want to sit by a toilet or a broken chair
• My Dad taught me when you are done packing, take out half of the stuff because you probably won’t wear it
  • This has really come in handy especially when shopping on travels because you have room for stuff on the way back
• For the plane, I get really cold so I always wear a coat and wear a scarf that can double as a light blanket so I am comfortable
• Don’t wear makeup on the plane, it can clog your pores in the dry air
  • Bring makeup wipes and remove your makeup before your flight
  • Apply a moisturizer and lip balm to save your skin
• When traveling West to East, I always fly at night so when I arrive I have a full day. I also use this time to sleep so when I get there, I am on their time zone and can avoid jet lag