Travel Tips to make your vacation stress free

People always want to make their vacations as stress free as possible.  So here are a few travel tips to help you do that on your next vacation.

Always make two copies of the personal information page of your passport.  Keep one at home or leave with someone you can contact anytime – night or day, and keep the other with you – but away from the original.  Lost or stolen US passports bring thousands of dollars on the black market.  A photocopy helps the local U.S. Consulate reissue a new one in 24 hours.  Without a photocopy, it could take weeks.

On the same vein, NEVER let a shop keeper take your passport to a back room for processing. In fact, don’t let anyone take it anywhere that you can’t see it at all times!

Scan a copy of your passport and email it to your self.  You can access your email from anywhere and print it out or send it to the proper authorities via email.

Along with your passport, bring a complete list of all medicines you take (as well as all allergies that you have) along with you. Its easiest to put that information on a 3×5 card with a brief medical history on the back.  When you are sick, you may not be able to communicate (especially in a foreign country where communication is tough even when you are lucid if you are not familiar with the language!) so you will have this card to ‘speak’ for you.

If you think that you might use a credit or debit card in your travels, especially outside of the U.S. (or your home country), it’s a good idea to notify the issuer of the card before you leave so that your purchase or ATM request is not denied. And be sure to make a copy of the credit cards that you take with you so that if anything happens to them, you can notify the issuer immediately with all the information that you need to report it.

Put your phone number and the phone number of someone who is not on the trip with your luggage so that if your luggage is lost on the way to your destination, the airline, tour operator or cruise company can contact someone who can tell them where that luggage should be going.

Be sure to do your research before you go to an unknown country.  Find out about  politics, religion, money and cultural points about the country (or countries) that you will be visiting.  This way you will not be the ‘ugly American’ and will fit in and be respectful to them.  For instance, did you know that in Italy, in order to visit the Vatican and most churches, you must cover your shoulders and knees?  In this day and age of  shorts (both men and women), short skirts and sleeveless tops, you need to know that you must dress conservatively on the days that you plan to visit these places!

If you are going on a cruise, it is unlikely that you would know every port (especially if you are in a different port every day of the cruise!).  Go to the port/shopping talks that they have  or speak directly to the port/shopping person directly. They know the best ways to get around and can give you invaluable advice on everything from shopping to the best time to return to the ship.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to make your next vacation a fun and stress free one.  Have fun and remember that the best vacation always begins with a travel agent.

Is the cost of cruising going up? Book now and avoid the price increase!

I got an email from Carnival Cruise Lines today:

 

If you’re thinking about cruising in June, July or August, now is the time to book and save. Due to record reservation activity, effective March 22nd, Carnival Cruise Lines will increase pricing on all summer 2010 sailings.

 

          So it seems that now that people are taking more cruises, the cruise lines are going to be increasing their prices.  Well at least Carnival is – but you know how it is, if one increases their prices, the others will follow.  Looks like now is the time to book that cruise before the price goes up!

Six Stress Free Tips for packing for your next trip

I think that the worst part of taking a trip is getting ready. Trying to pack for your vacation and not bring everything that you own is very stressful!  So here are six stress free tips for packing for your next trip.

1- Write down what you plan to wear each day.  Look at your day by day itinerary and envision what you will do each day.  This will help you decided what you’d like to wear that day.  Check out the weather on the internet (weather.com is a great site for that!) to help you to decide for that day. 

2- Complete each outfit.  Lay the outfit on the bed, from head to toe.  Lay out your bathing suit, sandals, cover up, hat, beach bag, sunglasses.  Next lay out what you will be wearing that night, and so forth. This is an important step because this is where you will mix and match. As you build your daily outfits, you will notice a basic color scheme and you will realize that you don’t need as many coordinating items like shoes, handbags, hair accessories, etc.

3- Hangers are the secret. Hangers allow you to take your clothes directly from your suit case and hang them in the closet. For a bathing suit, hang the suit, cover up and beach bag all on one hanger.  This is a great way to make sure that you don’t forget anything.

4- Don’t overpack. Airlines charge fees based on the weight of your luggage. For instance, don’t stock up on magazines to bring on your vacation, magazines are heavy!  Bring one or two for the flight and put those in your purse to carry on.  (I always carry a large satchel type purse to carry on and put a smaller purse inside for later – the satchel is a good catch-all!)   Or bring a good book! 

5- Pack a smaller suit case inside to use as a carry on for the way home.  You’ll want to bring home items with you and you’ll also have a place for the dirty clothes.

6- Unpack completely as soon as you get to your room or cabin (if you are cruising). Once unpacked, store your luggage.  Try to store your luggage under the bed – I find that under the bed in your suitcase is a great place to store things that you use but don’t want to leave out and don’t have room to put in either the closet or the drawers.  Space is tight, especially on a cruise, so you will need that extra space!

The only thing that I make sure that I have plenty of is underwear.  You can always re-wear a top, pants or skirt but who wants to wash out the undies to re-wear?  You have better things to do with your precious time on your vacation!  

Pack well, and you will enjoy your vacation!

Calling all Southern NJ Brides!

Wow, this month has just flown by!  I have been busy getting ready for the Bridal Show at The Kove in Edgewater Park, NJ, getting brochures ready and checking out all the best places for a honeymoon.  I’m really excited about this show.  One of my sponsors, Karisma Hotels, is sponsoring a 4 day/3 night vacation.  It is good at any of their 6 hotels (El Dorado and Azul Hotels)  in the Rivera Maya, Mexico area.    I will also have some items to give away too.  If you live in the Central/Southern New Jersey area and are getting married, be sure to come to this show.  There will be lots of vendors for you to get information from to help you in planning your wedding.  It begins at 7 pm so grab something to eat after work and then head on down to the show to check it all out.  And don’t forget to enter our contest!  Just look for the Two Sisters Travel booth and let me know that you saw this blog!

Hope to see you there, it is at The Kove caterers, on Route 130 in Edgewater Park NJ.  It is right across Rt 130 from the flea market in Willingboro.   If you can’t make it to that one, come see us at the show at Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood NJ on February 7, 2010.

Happy New Year!

Well, it is a new year and a new decade!  Wow, that 10 years went really fast!

Hopefully your new year will be happy, healthy and prosperous.  This should be a really great year to travel.  The cruise lines are all bringing down their prices to entice more people to cruise.  There are going to be more weddings this year, since people held off last year.  They want to get married and while they may not have the big fancy weddings that they would have had, they are still having the luxurious honeymoons.  A word to everyone getting married, don’t scrimp on your honeymoon.  It is a once in a lifetime trip…do it up and go where you’ve always wanted to go.  There are a lot of bargains out there which are not ‘cheap’ but they certainly are less expensive than they would have been in previous years. 

Another thing that you may want to consider if you are getting married this year is a destination wedding.  At most resorts, they will comp your wedding costs (the actual wedding itself, not the reception) if your wedding party is 10 or more rooms.  While you won’t have the large reception that you may have dreamed of, you will have an exotic wedding with your family and close friends, which may be more memorable than a large wedding!

And be sure to use a travel agent for all your vacation needs, whether it is for your honeymoon, destination wedding, babymoon or just a getaway.  If anything goes wrong, you will be glad that you have that agent to be there for you!  If you don’t have a travel agent, please call Two Sisters Travel at 1-800-614-8514 or email info@twosisterstravel.com and we will be glad to help you with any of your vacation needs.  Be sure to check us out on the web at www.twosisterstravel.com or on Facebook – just click on box on the right.   And if you are in New Jersey and getting married, come visit us at the Elegant Bridal show at The Kove in Edgewater Park on January 19th and at Ron Jaworski’s Valleybrook Country Club in Blackwood on February 7th.

Again, have a very happy new year and hope that it is the best one ever!