Over the years we’ve travelled fairly extensive for both business and pleasure. Our jobs, especially CMac’s, take us all over the world. Business travel can wear on you but it does allow us to hone our travel skills and scout different cities and countries for vacations. Between our business and vacation travel we’ve picked up some tips and tricks that work for us. We’ve tried to capture some of those tips and tricks in the content on this page.
Itinerary Building
We’ve got a good partnership when it comes to itinerary planning and booking. GMac will create itineraries with options for travel, accommodations and activities and CMac will book once we refine the itinerary. We like to have an idea of where we’re going and where we will stay at each step of the journey but try to keep our schedule in a location reasonably flexible. We prefer to take our time in a location and hit some tourist sites but often we just enjoy experience the culture and people.
When building an itinerary we like to rough out a schedule which includes dates, travel (when needed), accommodations and activities. Often we’ll have a couple of draft itineraries when travelling somewhere so we can debate what we want. There is nothing complex about the itineraries and they’re drafted in a spreadsheet program – right now we’re using Google Sheets which works well for us.
For the initial research we use a range of travel sites, but most notably Tripadvisor and Google a lot in our planning. We try to identify interesting places and activities as well as accommodations. On Tripadvisor and other sites we prefer to sort by ‘Traveller Ranked’ since it gives you the best view of what other travellers think. We’ll take the rankings roughly at face value but always double check using a couple of techniques:
The Curve – As far as we can tell Tripadvisor and other sites use a combination of the number of reviews and the distribution of those reviews. For obvious reasons the ratio of reviews impacts rating with higher numbers of top reviews being associated with top rated hotels and restaurants. However, newer entries or smaller hotels can be lower ranked because the total number of reviews is lower. We’ve found some great spots for both accommodations and eating further down the lists because they weren’t as well known.
The Worst Reviews – We also sort traveller reviews to see if there is a theme in the worst reviews. There are very few places that don’t have poor reviews. You can’t make everyone happy all the time. With the best places the worst reviews don’t have a consistent theme which is a good sign. As you get further down the rankings you’ll start to see themes in the ‘worst’ reviews which helps us understand what we’re getting into if we can’t get into one of the top ranked places.
The techniques used in building an itinerary are similar to what we use when we’re in location and trying to find something to eat. Tripadvisor and Google are good for restaurants and depending on where you are Yelp can also be helpful.
Another key question when planning is when to use a tour company and when to go it by yourself. There are some activities and tours that are great and sometimes mandatory, for example food tours or the Inca Trail. We’ve found through experience that we like to have control over the ‘macro’ elements of our trip – specifically the travel, accommodations and food. However, we do like using tour companies for select activities such as food tours (we recommend these in almost every place we go) and specific excursions.
Once we’ve got our plan we try to book. We try to find the best deal but also try to balance paying in advance which gets you lower rates and keeping our itinerary flexible. Flexible itineraries are the best as long as the premium isn’t significant and if you have time to make adjustments. With our work commitments it’s hard to have full flexibility on timing since we have to be back home and at work at a specific time.
Due to our business travel we often have both airline and hotel point options when booking. We’re Marriott Rewards Members and for transparency we don’t have any sponsorship from Marriott. It’s just a program that works well for us in our business travel. If you’re travelling a lot join a hotel rewards program and when possible stay in that chain of hotels. We find that when you’re in big cities and well known locations (i.e. London) we’ll use Marriott properties and points if it makes sense. In smaller or more touristy destinations we like to target boutique hotels. Similarly for airline travel, make sure you join a rewards program so that you can accumulate miles. We’re with Star Alliance since we fly a lot with Air Canada. We can’t compare Air Canada’s program with others since we really haven’t used other point programs. Star Alliance has also been good for us but CMac has some pretty good status so that helps. We’d also recommend a travel rewards credit card and we’ve had a few different ones, there are better sources for picking a card than us though so we’ll leave that to others.
What to Pack
Let’s just say that GMac and CMac have different philosophies on packing. GMac takes more of a scientific approach and tries to go for maximum efficiency with his packing while CMac goes more by feel and maximum versatility in her packing. We’re not saying one is better than other so you can choose what style you prefer.
Although we’ll outline two different packing strategies we are aligned on luggage. For business trips and some personal trips we go with roller bags and due to the amount we travel we prefer a durable well made bag. We’re currently using mostly Tumi luggage and have a range of bags from them. They’re on the expensive side but we’ve put them through a beating and they have held up well. We’ve found cheaper bags don’t last so we prefer to spend more on good luggage. For transparency we are not sponsored by Tumi and can only speak of our experience with the bags, not our experience relative to other brands in this category. If your trip has one destination or you’re mostly moving between cities and hotels we’d recommend roller bags.
Once your itinerary starts to include places and locations that are off the beaten path or you’re heading outside of cities or you’re in countries without as much modern infrastructure we take backpacks. They’re just easier to handle if you’re going to be walking or hiking, especially if you’ll be on dirt roads or tracks. We use a range of backpacks from Osprey.
Whether you’re travelling with roller bags or backpacks it is important to bring a day pack. For work it’s our laptop bags and when travelling with backpacks we bring some day packs.
GMac’s Packing Strategy
GMac goes for maximum efficiency when packing and tries to make sure every clothing item that goes in the suitcase or backpack is versatile and will likely be used on trip. To maximize efficiency and versatility certain fabric and brands are preferred. These include:
Wool Shirts and Socks – Wool is extremely versatile fabric and naturally resists bacteria growth that is associated with body odour. In addition wool natural keeps you cool or warm depending on air temperature. Both of those traits are beneficial when trying to maximize the versatility of your packing. Wool shirts as an example will get dirty with dirt but will generally not carry smells. There are a couple of brands out there that make wool shirts and socks. However, GMac has settled on Icebreaker and owns a selection of short and full length shirts and sweaters as well as socks. Although we have socks from a number of other manufacturers the shirts and sweaters are all from Icebreaker.
Versatile and Stretchy Shorts, Pants and Shirts – Modern fabrics have changed the game for GMac for travel pants and shirts. This applies to both business and leisure travel. There are a number of companies that offer pants that are suitable for dress occasions but can be equally at home on a hike. GMac has settled on lululemon pants, specifically the ABC and Commission pants. These pants look like dress pants but with the stretch fabric they can double as hiking or travel pants. Similarly look for similar characteristics in a dress shirt if you’re planning for nice dinners. GMac has ‘stretchy’ dress shirts from both lululemon and UNTUCKit which can be used for dress occasions as well as another layer for activities.
Now that we’ve got the materials GMac likes down here is the list of items that we take for a roughly a 2 week trip assuming you’re not doing laundry on the trip. For anything longer than 2 weeks we bring roughly the same items and assume we’ll need to do laundry.
- 4 Icebreaker t-shirts (3 no collar and one with a collar)
- 2 light Icebreaker long sleeve shirts
- 1 long sleeve dress shirt (ideally with some strecth)
- 1 heavy Icebreaker sweater
- 3 Pairs of Shorts – GMac goes with a selection from lululemon because they’re made with athletic material and can be both dressy and comfortable
- 1 bathing suit
- Exercise clothes – Shorts and T-shirt for most trips(Optional)
- 1 pair of jeans
- 1 pair of travel pants, stretch athletic fabric. 2 pairs if hiking.
- 1 belt
- 10-14 pairs of underwear
- 6-8 pairs of wool socks
- 1 Rain shell (Add insulating jacket for colder weather)
- 1 hat – prefer Tilley hats because they provide great protection and are versatile
- 1 pair of sunglasses
- 1 pair of lightweight gloves
- Flip flops
- Hiking shoes or running shoes depending on itinerary
- Light pull on shoes that can be used for a nice night out
- 1 lightweight towel
- 1 Buff – just a versatile piece of clothing
- Toiletries
- Toothbrush
- Dental Floss
- Toothpaste
- Hairbrush/Comb
- Moisturizer
- Hair gel
- Contacts and contact solution
- Shampoo and conditioner
CMac’s Packing List
CMac is more free flowing with her packing strategy. Her main parameter is the size of her suitcase/backpack and how much space is available in other suitcases. It’s a little chaotic for GMac but it seems to work on the most part. Although most trips CMac has a surplus of unused clothes and some clothes that are used a lot.
General Packing Items
In addition to the clothing items above here are general items that we also bring with us while travelling.
- Laptop and Charger
- Phone Tripod
- Waterproof case for phones (Get one that allows you to take photos underwater)
- Chargers, adapters and charging cables
- Headlamps
- Hand sanitizer
- Wet wipes
- Deck of cards
- Rain ponchos – if hiking
- Matches
Finally we also bring a well stocked medical kit with the following items.
- Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
- Ibuprofen
- Acetaminophen Cold and Sinus
- Loperamide (Imodium)
- Gravol
- Benadryl (For Allergic reactions)
- Afterbite
- Aloe (For Sunburns)
- Sunscreen
- Anti-malaria medication depending on destination
Travel Tip Learnings
We also have built up a list of our travel dos and don’ts based on what has worked for us in the past. These dos or don’ts are specific to our travel style but we hope you find them useful.
- Don’t do a fully arranged trip. Create your own itinerary and use tours when needed.
- Do local food tours.
- If you’re at elevation bring layers, it can be cold.
- Check out tipping customers, especially for tours before you go.
- Bring a deck of cards.
- Accommodations matter – we can get dirty during the day but we like a nice hotel
- Bring two credit cards from different issuers
- Spend at most three days in a city, two is usually enough
- Book key parts of a trip in advice but leave some flexibility to adjust. Do book as many flexible accommodations (good cancellation policies) as budget allows.
- Try to spend 2 to 3 days minimum in locations outside of cities. It allows you to explore in a more relaxed way.
- Fly through airports that check through your bags when flying internationally
- Try to avoid eating at restaurants with pictures of food