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Travel Tips

Travel Tips FAQ: Answers to Your Most Common Travel Questions

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The most common travel questions cover packing, flights, safety, money, language, jet lag, and insurance. Below, we answer 20+ of them honestly — based on what’s actually worked across our trips, not generic advice you’ve already read a hundred times.

Planning a trip can feel overwhelming, and you’re not alone in that feeling. There are so many little details to track and questions to consider.

“What should I pack?”
“How do I find the best flights?”
“Do I really need travel insurance?”

We get asked common travel questions like these all the time. That’s why we put together this Travel Tips FAQ with clear, honest answers to the most common travel questions we hear from readers, friends, and the family members who text us at 11 PM the night before their flight.

What You’ll Find in This FAQ

  • Pre-trip planning (booking flights, choosing dates, getting documents in order)
  • Packing essentials and carry-on strategies
  • Money, currency, and avoiding fees
  • Staying connected abroad
  • Health, safety, and jet lag

Common Travel Questions: Trip Planning

For international flights, we book 2–8 months in advance for the best prices. Domestic U.S. flights are usually best 1–3 months out. The timing varies based on the destination and how flexible you are with dates.

We like to use flight comparison tools like Google Flights, Skyscanner, or Going. For the best deals, be flexible with your travel dates and consider flying mid-week or during shoulder seasons for the best deals. We also recommend signing up for a flight deal alert service so you can jump when fares drop.

Read our guide on how we book affordable flights every time.

Limit yourself to 2–3 main activities per day. Trying to cram in everything is the fastest way to burn out three days into a trip. Build in buffer time for meals, getting lost, or just sitting at a café and watching the city move. See how we planned our 5-day Paris itinerary with balance.

Bring copies of your passport, any required visas, travel insurance documents (if you have them), and printed or screenshotted reservations. Take photos of your passport’s photo page and keep them on your phone in case the original is lost or stolen.

Visa requirements vary by destination and your passport’s country of issue. Always check your destination country’s official government website for current entry requirements at least 2–3 months before you go because some visas take weeks to process.

Common Travel Questions: Packing

Always include: passport, wallet, phone and charger, any medications, a change of clothes (in case checked bags get lost), travel-size toiletries, and any irreplaceable items. We also pack a refillable water bottle, headphones, and snacks because long flights without snacks are a relationship hazard if not.

Carry-on only saves time, money, and the heartbreak of lost luggage. We’ve done 2½ week trips with just a carry-on and a personal item. The trick is rolling your clothes, packing cubes, and doing laundry mid-trip if you’re staying somewhere with a washer.

A universal power adapter and a portable charger. Hotels almost never have enough outlets, and your phone will die faster than you expect. Don’t waste money buying overpriced charges at the airport.

Tissues and hand sanitizer round out the “wish I’d packed that” list. Having these on hand have saved us more times than we can count.

Common Travel Questions: Money & Currency

Keep a small amount of local currency on hand for tips, taxis, and small vendors. You have a few options:

  • Order currency from your local bank before the trip
  • Use an ATM at your destination (often the best exchange rate, *if* your bank doesn’t charge foreign fees)
  • Plan to use a card for most expenses and only carry cash for backup

If you’re booking tours or activities in advance, confirm whether they take cards because some smaller operators are cash-only.

A travel-friendly credit card with no foreign transaction fees is the best primary payment method abroad because they have better exchange rates, fraud protection, and no need to carry large amounts of cash. Keep some local currency for places that don’t take cards (markets, taxis, small cafés, tips).

Use a credit card with no foreign transaction fees and a debit card from a bank that reimburses ATM fees abroad (We use J.P. Morgan Chase). Always pay in the local currency at point-of-sale! For example if a card reader asks “USD or EUR?”, choose the local currency or you’ll get hit with a worse exchange rate.

Common Travel Questions: Staying Connected

Local SIMs and eSIMs are usually the most affordable option. International plans through your carrier are convenient but can be expensive. If wifi is widely available at your destination, you can also use apps like Signal or WhatsApp to stay in touch with loved ones at little to no cost.

Our favorite eSIM is Airalo – tip when using is to download before you travel.

The apps we use on every trip Google Maps (downloaded for offline use), Viator and GetYourGuide for tours, OpenTable for restaurant reservations, Google Translate, and the airline apps for whoever you’re flying with (United, Icelandair, British Airways, etc.).

Common Travel Questions: Health & Safety

Hydrate constantly, get enough sleep, and pack a small medicine kit with the basics. We keep Tums, ibuprofen, Tylenol, anti-diarrheal, allergy meds, tissues, hand sanitizer and Band-Aids in ours. (This is not medical advice, but a reflection of what we pack in our travel medicine kit.)

It depends on the country! You should always research before you go and when in doubt, drink bottled or filtered water and skip ice in drinks. Hydration is the single most important travel health tip we can give you, so we never leave home without a refillable water bottle.

Adjust your sleep schedule a few days before the trip, stay hydrated on the flight, and get natural sunlight as soon as you arrive. Avoid napping for more than 30 minutes the first day, even if you’re exhausted try to push through to local bedtime if you can.

Read our best tips for surviving long-haul flights.

Stay aware of your surroundings, don’t carry unnecessary valuables, and keep what you do carry in a front pocket or a zippered cross-body bag. Anti-theft bags with locking zippers and slash-proof straps are worth the investment in high-tourist cities.

Read more: Safety Tips for Travelers.

Use the in-room safe for passports, electronics, and large amounts of cash. If there’s no safe, keep valuables in your locked carry-on. AirTags or similar trackers are a low-cost way to keep eyes on your luggage if it’s checked or out of sight.

Learn a few key phrases in the local language like “hello,” “thank you,” “excuse me,” “do you speak English?” goes a long way. Use translation apps like Google Translate (download the offline language pack before you go) and most importantly, be patient and gracious. Most locals appreciate the effort more than perfect grammar.

Common Travel Questions: The Honest Stuff

Unpopular opinion, but not necessarily. Travel insurance is meant to cover trip cancellations, medical emergencies, and lost luggage, but in our experience, claims are harder to actually cash in on than the marketing suggests.

This is a personal choice, and for some travelers it genuinely brings peace of mind. We’ve found we travel smarter by booking with companies that offer flexibility upfront:

  • We use platforms like Viator and GetYourGuide that offer free cancellation and pay-later options, so we’re not tied down or at risk of losing money.
  • We prefer small, family-run tour companies that build flexibility in by default — like Rabbie’s in the UK.
  • A travel-friendly credit card often includes built-in trip protection and rental car coverage that overlaps with what travel insurance offers anyway.

If your trip involves significant non-refundable costs (cruises, multi-stop international flights, expensive tours), insurance might be worth it. For most flexible bookings, you can travel uninsured if you book smart.

Trying to do too much in to little time. The instinct is to maximize every minute of an expensive trip, but the result is exhaustion, missed flights, and looking back at photos of places you don’t actually remember. Pick fewer things and enjoy them. Leave room for the unexpected and some spontaneity because that’s usually where the best stories come from.

Set a daily budget before the trip starts and track it loosely as you go. The biggest budget-killers are usually impulse decisions like surprise tours, overpriced cocktails, last-minute taxis when you’re tired. Build in some flexibility for splurges so you don’t burn out, but knowing your number protects you from the post-trip credit card shock. See our full budget travel guide.

Still Have Questions?

Got a question we haven’t answered? We’ve got you! Send us an email and we’ll do our best to respond within 48 hours.

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