The Nifty

Use Digital Planners

Travelling is fun, but the planning most often isn’t (especially if you’re going in big groups). Information regarding your flights, hotels, and all those confirmation emails and check-in details, can also be all over the place and hard to find when you actually need it.

Make use of technology and your mobile phone to help you keep them in order! Google Trips, released late 2016, helps gather and organize all the necessary travel information from Gmail or Inbox – and lets you access it all offline! If you’ve ever ran into situations where frantically tapping on your screen in the hopes that the airport’s wi-fi will load, while trying desperately to access your flight details/e-boarding pass, this app will be your lifesaver.

Google Trips also serves as a tour guide! The app’s “Things to Do” helps plan custom itineraries for those going free-and-easy, or are find themselves with changed plans due to unforeseen circumstances.

Just provide the app with your location, the amount of time you’ll be there for, the kind of activities you’re inclined towards, and you’re good to go! A plan will be generated, which you’re free to amend as you wish.

Other apps you can consider include KAYAK. A word of caution, however, that you should still carry physical back-ups around with you just in case. Better to be safe than sorry!

Put pen to paper

We have digital planners, but we also have physical planners! What we’re referring to are travel journals. Sure, you can take a picture is worth a thousand words, but a physical record enhances the experience. You can keep those ticket stubs and paste them into the journal, or press a flower into its pages.

The entries don’t necessarily have to be detailed, or be about monumental events: they can be something as simple as “today I tripped in the snow, fell flat on my face, and fell sick”, or “met nice locals today while lost in Paris!” As the book fills, you’ll be filled with a sense of accomplishment and amazement – have you really done so much while on vacation? –and it’d become something you can use to reminisce about your explorations. Also, when your friends and family ask “how’s your trip”, you’ll have loads to tell and show them.

The Thrifty

Run some errands

We all know about and might have utilised, the services of AirFrov. If you’re travelling light and have luggage space to spare, why not consider being fulfilling a few requests and earning some money? It might not be a huge sum, but it’s still a pretty good opportunity to earn a little bit of extra cash.

If luggage space is a scarcity and something that you need to guard with your life, an alternative is to offer to help someone do something that’s only achievable where you’re going for a fee. You can do this by posting an ad on marketplaces such as Fiverr and see if anyone is interested.  The best part? It doesn’t have to be something too challenging and you can even do this while in Singapore!

Who knows, you might visit new places or have different experiences while helping fulfil these requests, too, making your travels even more memorable. Don’t forget to send a postcard to yourself, too!

Rent travel necessities

Travelling, I find, is interestingly similar to barbeques. Both require the parties involved to stock up on many items that, after use, either end up being discarded or placed in storerooms, left to collect dust until their next use. Ain’t nobody in tiny SG have space for that clutter.

Or, maybe, that piece of equipment you really want is, quite regretfully, simply too costly. Next time, you think disappointedly, next time. But, what if next time never comes?

Why not, then, make that graduation trip/semester abroad/vacation/trip to Coney Island that little bit more special by renting what you need? Not only does renting help you save the environment, it also means you can use that GoPro to record your adventures or special moments for posterity without worrying about breaking the bank.

Renting platforms such as Leasany can provide for all your travel equipment needs, removing the inconvenience by being a one-stop rental service. From selfie sticks to Polaroid cameras, to mini portable irons (!!), you’ll find what you need all in one place.

Leasany also provides its members with additional perks for services, such as flight booking and insurance, in the form of discounts – so you can save even more and do more during your travels, if you desire.