Pinky balls and extra bags

Today I’m packing to head home from a week in Montreal, full of poutine and otherwise un peu worse for wear.

Airport prep always gets my gears turning around what I’m glad to have done and how I wish I’d been smarter. The following nuggets come to mind as my trip winds down:

Before you go:

1. Throw in an extra bag. No matter how frugal a packer I try to be, there are always going to be things I want to buy that demand additional space on the return – especially in a shopping mecca like Montreal. You’ll thank yourself for having thrown in a tote or other extra bag. I started packing this Samsonite foldaway packable duffle many years ago when I came home for Christmas – now it’s a staple item that comes along on every trip.

My trusty foldaway duffle

2. Bring a small ball. The plane from Charlotte to Montreal was microscopic, and I’m 5’8”. Between that and making poor footwear selections my first day (see item 4), my muscles were screaming. At home I’d work out the kinks with my foam roller, but I don’t want to surrender precious suitcase space to bring it with me on the road. Solution, if you’d rather spend money on food and clothes than a massage: Pack a small, medium to hard ball and roll it around on any sore spots. Actual massage balls (the MELT hand and foot treatment kit) work great of course, but a tennis ball or Pinky balls are just as effective.

Your best friend after hours on an airplane

3. Prepare photos of IDs and keep them handy on your phone. On a recent trip to Argentina, using our credit cards required providing a number (some places fudged it as a formality, while those more by-the-book insisted on a passport number). In Montreal, one shoe store wouldn’t run my credit card without a photo ID. In my case I was able to dig up the goods in a recent text to my traveling companion and on Google drive, respectively, but save yourself by getting ahead of this one.

On the ground:

4. Go easy on day 1: Prioritize comfort over cute. Montreal is a stylish place, and I was excited to start my trip – which naturally meant wearing cute, brand-new shoes. I also skimped on sunscreen and didn’t wear a hat the first day.

Don’t be like me. Once you have blisters on your toes or sunburn on the part in your hair, you set yourself back for the things you wanted to do on days 2 and 3. If anything, err on the side of caution at the beginning then ease/style up as you go.

5. Open up your last day: It’s tempting to try and wring every drop out of the end of the trip. But try to avoid pre-planning your last day to death. You may want a chill day of shopping and relaxing, or just to have space to go back to a must-see spot or activity that you weren’t even aware of before you arrived. (And, sadly, you need time to pack.) In my case, I’d planned a walking tour in the middle of the day and it was the hottest day of my trip – I wound up canceling. Je ne regrette rien.

What are your go-to travel hacks? What would you like me to explore further? Shout it out in the comments.