Expand Your World (Luvvie's Travel Essentials)

This week on Professional Troublemaker, I’m re-airing an episode sharing all my travel favorites.

I travel a lot for work and for play. Travel can be fun, but when you do it a lot, it can be taxing on the body and mind. That is why it’s important to travel well, with as many things to minimize your inconvenience and optimize the circumstance.

But after more than a year of sitting in my house with my auntie robe, and after I got the COVID vaccine a few weeks ago and ventured out into the world again – it was strange at first. I realized that I’ve forgotten how to people and how to travel.

So, here in this new month of June, with Memorial Day behind us, we wanted to re-air this bonus episode on my travel faves. As you’ll hear in the episode before the pandemic hit, I used to travel tens of thousands of miles every year, and I definitely had my list of favorites that made travel more seamless. Now that you’re getting yourself vaccinated and getting back out into the world this summer, enjoy this encore of my travel favorites and best travel tips.

Choose One Airline & Stick With ‘Em
When it comes to booking flights, loyalty matters: passengers who use the same airline time and time again can get perks that other fliers can only dream of. Over the last four years, I’ve been loyal to American Airlines, and as an executive platinum member, I can make changes to my flight without paying any fees and get automatically added to the upgrade list when I travel. And in the end, I save more money than passengers who book through Expedia, trying to find a quick deal to make travel less expensive.

Apply For TSA Pre-Check & Global Entry
I remember when I used to walk through the doors of an airport and head directly to my gate, no questions asked. But 9/11 changed all that – airport security became a matter of national security, and now, there are identification stations, metal detectors, and law enforcement officers that you need to get past to board your flight.

That’s why I use TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry to bypass those lines, saving time, money, and energy as I travel from country to country. When you submit an online application and pay the required fee, TSA Pre-Check (for domestic travel) and Global Entry (for international travel) will run a background check to see if you can be declared a low flight risk. Once you are approved, you can speed through security instead of waiting in the slow lanes.

Think About Your Luggage
When you give your suitcase to an airline attendant, you never know what is going to happen – you could get to your destination and find your luggage on a conveyer claim, but you could also find out that your bag (and all of its contents) is nowhere to be found. So if you do need to check your bags, make sure that you bring a change of clothes and any travel essentials in a smaller carry-on, like a purse or a backpack. It’s better to be safe than sorry!