Counterintuitive travel tips can save your trip.
I love travel advice that goes against conventional wisdom. Going against the grain is, after all, part and parcel of the travel gig… At least, it is if you’re doing it right. Yes, see the sights that are the hallmark of a city or region, but if you’re not making room for the unknown or the counterintuitive, what’s the point of leaving home?
I call this the RendezvousSyndrome, and it comes from the time when I worked in Memphis. Everyone visiting the city went to the Rendezvous, which does have some really good barbecue. Still, if you don’t check out Neely’s Interstate BBQ (it’s on the way to Tunica as you drive south out of the city), you’re missing out on one of the great barbecue joints in this country.
Travel tips are like that. Look for the advice not everyone gives. Those are the tips that can save you money and time on your travels, and they may also open some unexpected doors. I want to give you three counterintuitive travel tips in this post. They might not save you money… then again, they just might. What they will definitely do, though, is give you another way to make your travels just a little easier.
So here are my top three tips.
Look for the restroom row
I learned this little gem when I had to book a seat on a 14 hour flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne. Because our production shoot got a late start, booking the flight for the desired arrival time took priority over a flight with good seating. My cinematographer and I snagged the last two seats on a Qantas flight… the last row of the plane, right next to the restroom, according to the seat legend. I was prepared for the worst flight of my life.
Not so.
Turns out, not only was our row limited to two seats instead of three (no middle seat!), the restroom itself was still almost ten feet away from our row, despite what that seat map indicated. This is because the flight attendant’s galley and jump seats were between us and the restroom. Not only that, since our seats were against the rear bulkhead, we could recline those seats without bothering anyone behind us. I haven’t even mentioned the fact that since we were right next to where the flight attendants hung out, we had open access to Tim Tams whenever we wanted them.
Trust me, load up on Tin Tams. And if you’re flying Qantas, take that supposed “restroom row.” It’s quieter than you would ever expect and it would take an extraordinarily long line to even begin to bother you, especially if you’re in a window seat.
Sunday is the new Tuesday
This used to be travel gospel. Book your flights on a Tuesday. The conventional wisdom says that airline execs meet on Monday to determine which routes could use some promotion to fill the planes, and that this results in sales on Tuesday. This is only partially true. The fact is that today, airlines also plan to post discounted rates for some routes on Sunday afternoons. Airline sites are like any other sites. They put the best content out when there are the most eyeballs out there to view that content. Sunday evenings are when people are home and getting ready for the week. It’s a high traffic time for web traffic.
Do your own research to see this for yourself. Compare prices for leisure travel on Sunday night. You just might pick up a bargain.
Use your credit card for cash advances
This may be themost counterintuitive tip of them all, but it comes with a big warning. Let’s say you find yourself in need of emergency cash while traveling overseas. Just about the worst thing you can do when traveling internationally is to use your debit card to get quick cash in the local currency at a foreign ATM. I’ve written a longer post about this here. However, if you use your credit card for a cash advance, while you will be facing some of the same ATM usage fees, you may also be able to avoid some of the more egregious bank charges that come with using a debit card.
Here’s the thing about using your credit card for a cash advance, though. Interest starts piling up on a daily basis from the minute you get that cash. However, you can pay it off almost immediately.
When we were shooting in New Zealand, we needed a quick $500 for an unexpected production expense, and it had to be cash. I used my Capital One card (no foreign transaction fees) for the advance. The next morning, I called the international customer service number to pay it off. Since the cash advance is filed as a unique transaction, I was able to pay just this balance from my domestic bank account. It resulted in only one day’s worth of interest and we went on our merry way.Using a credit card for quick cash? It violates every rule of using credit cards in day to day life, but in this situation, it was a lifesaver. Or at least a film saver.
What are your counterintuitive travel tips. Post below and join the conversation.
Onwards!
