Plan your trip ahead of time for the best results. Here are a few tips that can help.

Any time that you travel abroad, you need to make sure you have certain types of important info with you in case you run into trouble. You should have contact information for your embassy or consulate in your destination locale. If you run into any issues during your travels, these are the people you will need to immediately contact. This will be handy should you have difficulties.

Before packing, make a list. You should start this list at least one week in advance, preferably earlier than that. The list should include all of your necessities for the trip. Even if you put off packing until the last minute, you can look at your list to avoid taking too much, or worse, forgetting something vital.

Be aware of certain food allergies when going to a foreign country in order to avoid bad liaisons. Learn enough about the foreign language to understand if something may be dangerous for you. That way you can ask the waitstaff if their selections have the allergen in their ingredients.

You want to be very careful when catching a taxi in another country when traveling. You have to be certain that the taxi is real. Any idiots can slap a “taxi” sign onto their car and you never know who they might be or where they might end up taking you.

Sign up for a travel price watcher. This is offered by several websites and lets you input your most traveled destinations, and it keeps an eye on them for you. If your hotel price or airfare drops by a certain amount, as you decide, the site alerts you with an email about the change. This strategy can eliminate the need to constantly check for lower prices.

Bring along a door stopper to the hotel. Sometimes, especially when traveling in less developed countries, it is desirable to have a little bit more security in your hotel room at night. Put a doorstop in your door to prevent it from being opened.

Pack some clothespins for your next vacation. You would be amazed at how useful these will turn out to be.

Give a trusted family member or friend access to the itinerary you will be following while you travel. This makes it possible for someone to be familiar with your location all the time. Talk to this person occasionally and tell them that you are okay. When they don’t hear from you, they’ll know there’s an issue.

Always be kind, and tip your bell waiter and housekeeper daily. This will make your stay much more pleasant. For these services, a good tip for housekeeping would be from $2-$5 per day, and $1 per bag of luggage. If you treat the staff well, then they will treat you well.

Make sure that your insurance covers you on vacation. For instance, you may already be covered for cancelled flights that are charged to your credit card. It will be worth it to do this research prior to your trip.

Pack a raincoat that has a soft lining when packing lightly for your extended trip. You just can’t tell how the weather will be too far out. A raincoat can also serve as a windbreaker when the weather is cold, and even a bathrobe for your hotel stay.

Rush Hour

Plan road trips so that you do not get stuck in rush hour traffic. If you are unable to avoid rush hour entirely, use that period for much-needed rest stops. This can be a great time to relax and get a bite to eat, or maybe let the kids out to burn off some energy.

If you are going on a trip, proper planning will make your travel more comfortable. Not only will you feel less anxiety before the trip, but you can rest assured that once you arrive where you’re going you will have a good understanding of what’s going on there.