Grandma’s Best Travel Tips for the Summer

Steve and I just returned from three weeks in France. Our vacation took us to Paris, Toulouse, and Bordeaux by plane, train, and car. Reflecting on our journey, I’ve assembled my best travel tips, whether you’re driving across state lines or flying across international borders.

For more travel tips, including tips for traveling with kids, road trips, and armchair traveling, check out my previous travel blog posts.

NOTE: My product recommendations are my own–they’re not part of an affiliate program so no financial remuneration is involved.

The Vicissitudes of Weather

Weather reports–even a week before your trip–can be completely unreliable. Based on reports a week out, we expected daytime temperatures in the high 60s, but we were caught in a Paris cold spell. Here’s what you might want to pack:

• A dark trench coat (doesn’t show spills or stains) can serve as your airplane “blanket,” as well as your everyday coat that you can wear with jeans, as well as to go out to dinner.
• Folding umbrella. A Davek mini umbrella is pricey, but lightweight, compact, and durable. I have an AirTag on mine to protect my investment.
• Waterproof shoes. My On no-tie waterproof sneakers that I bought for Japan last year served me well in Paris.

Packing Strategies

As we get older, it gets harder to lug around our luggage. It pays to take a minimalist approach and be disciplined.

• Weigh everything you plan to take on a kitchen scale. You might be able to make lighter weight substitutions. Depending on the fabric, jeans can be one of your heaviest clothing items. Pack your lightest pair.
• I use compression packing cubes and label them for tops, bottoms, and underwear/socks,
• I also keep makeup to the minimum going with smaller sized, lighter weight cosmetics. A hanging travel toiletry bag can keep everything organized.
• To ensure I’m not separated from my travel essentials on an airplane, I fill my small, flat purse with my wallet, passport, phone, meds, eyeglasses, jewelry, and my iPad Mini and pack the purse in one of my two carry-ons. Then, if my carry-on can’t fit under the seat and the overhead bins are full, I simply remove my purse before handing the bag over for gate checking.
• To make it easy to find what I need from my backpack, I put everything in a plastic grocery bag first, then put the bag in my backpack. Then I simply lift the grocery bag from the backpack and rummage through.
• A luggage scale is essential to meet the weight requirements of whatever airline you are flying for both carry-on and checked luggage.

• Take fewer clothes and plan to do some washing. I take laundry sheets and tear off what I need for hand washing.
• I packed a few plastic folding travel hangers to hang wet hand-washed clothes to dry.

Airplane Comfort Strategies

A ten- or eleven-hour flight to Paris or Tokyo is a long haul. Here are some ways to make it more comfortable:

• Noise-cancelling headphones. I’ve always avoided over-ear headphones because of the bulk and weight but I finally succumbed and I found the flight more relaxed and comfortable.
• Compression socks. As someone who has hobbled off the plane with swollen feet after a long flight, compression socks solved my problem.
• Large plastic unscented garbage bag. I put this over my carry on that goes under my seat and used the carry on as a footrest.
• Watching a movie, playing games, listening to an audiobook help to pass the time on a flight. But having enough power to last a flight may be a challenge these days as airlines become more restrictive about power banks. Each airline has its own rules. In the latest restriction, your power bank cannot be used to charge devices while on an aircraft going to and from Japan. Here are some tips to keep your devices charged as long as possible when traveling,

Safety Strategies

We have been to France quite a number of times, and protecting againt thieves is a way of life when traveling. We’ve had a wallet and backpack stolen in on two separate trips. Some things to consider:

• A secure handbag. I bought a Travelon Crossbody bag, which is slash-resistant, and has zippers that lock.
• We bought Steve a wrist strap for his phone to prevent a thief from snatching it out of his hand when he’s navigating on the street using Google maps. I have a Bandolier crossbody phone case; but most of the time, I kept my phone in my purse or on a wrist strap.
• A retractable cable lock can be used to tether all your bags together. This is especially useful when you’re traveling by car with bags in the trunk, and are making stops along the way. Steve zip-ties each bag shut, then threads the cable lock through the handles of all the bags, making it cumbersome to steal all the bags at once.

Remember to Bring

To keep from forgetting items you wish you had brought, such as a stain remove pen, put a large plastic storage bin in your closet a few months before your trip and start tossing in things you want to take, as you think of them. Such as:

• Washcloth–often French hotels and vacation rentals don’t provide them.
• Many European hotels have stopped offering conditioner so I took a conditioner bar. and next time, I’ll pack a shampoo bar, too.
• If you color your hair, pack a microfiber towel to keep from staining towels when you wash your hair. These towels take hardly any space or weight.

A Touring Strategy

Getting out early, before other tourists means you can view the sights in peace. Know when the morning rush hour starts and get out ahead of it. For example, in Paris, we walked around the Louvre Museum and Notre Dame Cathedral in the early morning quiet. Then had breakfast at a cafe.

Of course, the sights aren’t opened at that time, so you’d. have to come back again to be admitted. .

Sign up to Get Grandma’s Favorite Recipes–Free

Sign up for my email newsletter using the form below. After I return from vacation, every Wednesday, I’ll give you a new idea for an activity or insight to nurture the little ones in your life. And once you subscribe, I’ll send you a link so you can download your set of quick and easy recipes as my thanks to you.