* We’re sending lots of love to everyone in Boston (our cousins were at the marathon but are thankfully safe).
Until last fall we wouldn’t have called ourselves frequent travelers. We used to fly only rarely — our honeymoon to Alaska in 2007 and a family trip to Hawaii in 2012 were a few of the only flights we took. Then our book tour changed everything: we took 29 flights in four months. We’re not claiming to be travel experts, but we picked up a lot of practical tips about flying and staying in hotels along the way. Here are the best ones.
#1. If the airline gate-checks bags, board toward the end. On smaller planes with gate-checked luggage that gets stowed under the aircraft, the last bags loaded are often the first unloaded. If you have a tight connection or dislike waiting at baggage claim, avoid boarding first. Try to board later in the process (but not so late you risk missing the flight). If you gate-check and only carry small personal items that fit under the seat, you’ll be fine even if overhead bins fill while you wait.
#2. Arriving before hotel check-in? Call ahead. Many of our flights landed hours before the typical 3 pm check-in. Rather than kill time, we learned to call the hotel before the flight to request early check-in, then call again after landing to confirm. This worked almost every time — only once did we arrive and find nothing available. A quick phone call can save you a lot of waiting.
#3. Be pleasant to the front desk staff. Hotel employees deal with difficult guests daily, so being friendly and polite can go a long way. A smile and a kind word sometimes earned us small perks like unexpected room upgrades. It’s simple and effective.
#4. If you can’t reserve seats together, choose adjacent seats in different rows. When the publisher booked our flights last minute, we sometimes ended up in seats that weren’t next to each other. If an agent can’t help, pick an aisle seat in one row and a window seat in a nearby row. Board early enough to politely ask the person you hope to swap with if they’ll move one row — often they’ll agree. It’s not guaranteed, but it’s worth trying.
#5. Pack light and carry on whenever possible. On all 29 flights we never lost a bag because we carried on each time. I kept a purse with essentials (camera, phones, tickets, snacks, itinerary), John carried a backpack with books and his computer, plus one carry-on rolling suitcase for clothes. For nearly weeklong trips we managed with a few wardrobe staples, one extra pair of shoes each, and basic necessities. When traveling with a child we add one more rolling suitcase for kid items, but because each person is allowed a suitcase and a carry-on, we still avoided checked baggage.
To pack light, choose versatile clothing that mixes and matches — no pieces that only work with a single outfit. A few pairs of jeans, multiple tops that coordinate, one pair of extra shoes, and underwear covered our needs. For kids, add the essentials they’ll need for comfort and sleep.
#6. Keep toiletries in an easy-to-reach plastic bag for security. Many airports require you to remove liquids for screening. Stashing your liquid toiletries in a clear plastic bag in an outer pocket or the front of your carry-on makes the security line faster and less stressful than digging through your suitcase.
And yes — airport security will always confiscate oddly large or fancy beverages if you try to bring them through.
#7. Create a single travel document with all key details. Print one sheet that lists hotel addresses, confirmation numbers, flight numbers, and check-in or departure times. Keep it handy in your bag and share a copy with a trusted family member so someone else knows your plans in case of an emergency.
#8. Check your flight the night before, print tickets at home, and confirm hotel reservations. Do a quick check the evening before to verify your flight status and, if possible, print boarding passes at home to save time. Also double-check hotel reservations — early in our tour we arrived to find our booking was for the following night, which cost us valuable time while it was corrected.
#9. Everything takes longer than you think. Build extra time into your schedule for deplaning, cabs, checking in, and unexpected delays. Early on we tried to cram too much into travel days and paid the price — late-night work, poor rest, and rushed events. Adding buffer time reduced stress and kept us functioning for back-to-back signings and appearances.
#10. Hotel TV can be disappointing — bring your own entertainment. After weeks on the road, we missed simple home comforts like our favorite shows. A free trial of a streaming service on a laptop made hotels feel more comfortable and helped us unwind after busy days instead of watching whatever the channel guide offered.
Those are ten practical tips that made our travel easier, more comfortable, and less stressful. Do you have other travel tricks to share? We’d love to hear them — travel brain is real, and we’re always learning.
Psst — we also wrote a post about toddler travel if that’s relevant for your plans.