Over the years I have put well over 1,000,000 miles into traveling around the United States, Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. Through these experiences I have picked up a few travel tips and tricks that I wanted to share.

First things first, pack efficiently. As one of those people who likes to be prepared, I am always faced with a dilemma of limited space in my bag. My rule is that I never want more than what I can carry (or roll).

Use a shirt packing system

If I have time, I have my shirts boxed or folded at the dry cleaners. This is very convenient, but I don’t always have time to get that done. For shirts already on hangers you can use a shirt packing system. There are several brands to choose, I use one made by Eagle Creek that I bought at the Container Store.

Stuff your socks in your shoes

A trick I learned early on was to stuff my socks in my shoes. This saves room, and protects your shoes from getting squashed. Over the years I added using a plastic bag to protect the outside and to keep the bottoms of my shoes from touching my clean cloths. I just recycle the bags from the cleaners you get with boxed shirts.

Use Downy Wrinkle Releaser

Downy makes a great wrinkler releaser, just spray your cloths on a hanger, let it sit for a few hours and all those wrinkles are gone. I tried some other brands, but they did not seem to work as well. Another benefit is a fresh smell, this helps out if you get caught in a situation where you have to wear a shirt more than once (I don’t like it when that happens). Make sure you get a travel size dispenser.

I know seeing is believing, so here is a before and after picture. This only took 30 minutes, I usually pull out the shirts the night before, spray them and they are perfect in the morning.

Before

After

Pack a mobile office

The Container Store sells these great black mesh bags, I use them for all my miscellaneous cords and knickknacks. The pencil case is perfect for a miniature mobile office complete with a mini stapler, tape, pens, stamps and paper clips.

Fogless travel shaving mirror

Cutting yourself shaving while traveling is never fun. I put a stop to this by shaving in the shower with this handy traveler mirror.

Use your mobile phone for convenient scan and faxing

One of the reasons I joined the Realeyes3D team to work on Qipit, was that I recognized the need for an easier way to capture and share written information. I immediately thought how I already used my camera to copy whiteboards, but they were hard to read. I thought of all the times I was in a hotel room or at a convention and needed to send a last minute fax, only to find that either the hotel’s fax machine was broke or they wanted to charge me $5 a page in the business center. All of you road warriors out there will relate to not having the time to submit expense reports while in the office. It is nice to know you can make copies of all those receipts with your camera phone. You can even use Qipit to archive important travel documents , just in case you lose your passport. Qipit certainly makes it easier when traveling the world.

Hope these travel tips help make your travels a little easier, and please share some of your travel tips and secrets.

~ Conrad