We often get great travel questions from our listeners and our Facebook group members. Today we discuss several that may impact your next airport visit.
Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. He's your travel professor, teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And she's a Disney loving, Maryland mom of three that specializes in family travel.
Whether it's discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.
~~~~~~~
Grab Ryan's free download for planning the ultimate family all-inclusive vacation: https://bit.ly/allinclusivevacationtoptips
Grab Julie's free download for a baby and toddler vacation packing list:
https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist
Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!
Join the travel conversations and the fun in the All Things Travel Show Facebook group!
We often get great travel questions from our listeners and our Facebook group members. Today we discuss several that may impact your next airport visit.
Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. He's your travel professor, teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And she's a Disney loving, Maryland mom of three that specializes in family travel.
Whether it's discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.
~~~~~~~
Grab Ryan's free download for planning the ultimate family all-inclusive vacation: https://bit.ly/allinclusivevacationtoptips
Grab Julie's free download for a baby and toddler vacation packing list:
https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist
Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!
Join the travel conversations and the fun in the All Things Travel Show Facebook group!
Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. We often get great travel questions from our listeners and our Facebook group members. Today we discuss several that may impact your next airport visit. Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. I'm your travel professor, teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And she's a Disney loving, Maryland mom of three that specializes in family travel. Whether it's discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel. Julie, we love hearing questions from listeners, don't we?
Julie:Yes, it tells us a lot about, you know, what they want to hear, what they don't know that we can tell them about.
Ryan:Yeah, absolutely. So every time I send out that little thank you gift I talk about for being mentioned on where in the world does all things travel, I always ask people, if they have any suggestions so oftentimes those will make it into the rotation. I know we've got a couple more that are going to be, down the episode list in a little while, but yeah, I absolutely love hearing from people. So, one of the things that I want to do is, Julie and I are going to talk behind the scenes about what's maybe an easier way or a more straightforward way that you all can share those ideas with us either utilizing the Facebook group or, or something like that because we would really love to do more shows like this, answering the questions that you have. Now, that brings me to a point, Julie. If people aren't members of the Facebook group, Guess what they can't do?
Julie:They can't tell us their questions.
Ryan:they're not seeing the fun pictures that we
Julie:They're not seeing
Ryan:and all sorts of stuff. So hey folks, if you are not part of that group, go to Facebook, go to groups, type in All Things Travel, and you're going to see our logo right there, and I will be the one, I bet, to approve you to be part of the Facebook group.
Julie:Hey, sometimes I approve people.
Ryan:Sometimes you do.
Julie:I approved someone this weekend.
Ryan:Absolutely.
Julie:If you missed it, last week was our 200th episode. And it was really fun. We did something we've never done before. And we shared tips from some of our colleagues, you know, other travel advisors. We asked them questions, and we recorded their answers, and we plugged that into the episode, along with a couple other things. So, if you missed that episode, go back and listen to it.
Ryan:Alright, so today we're going to discuss two questions that have to do with airports, Julie. And I've had this question sitting around for quite a while, and I apologize to him. But this question comes from our longtime listener, Aiden, all the way from Australia. And he's asked about how do you deal with long layovers? My guess is from Australia, he's dealing with some long layovers,
Julie:That's what I was wondering, too.
Ryan:Yeah, absolutely. I came up with a list of things that are suggestions that I think, you could deal with a multi hour, longer layover than normal. And the first is If you have enough time, take a city tour, take your bags and, and, and put them in a locker or have them held somewhere often times there's public transport, there's public transport directly from the airport, a subway or a bus system or something like that. Pop out and see something, you know, get the fresh air. I always say, If I've been someplace, but I've only been to the airport, I haven't really been there. So this might be a good way to check off some of those places that you really want to go.
Julie:And this is really common, like, when you're laying over in a city in Europe, right?
Ryan:Yep.
Julie:You can easily get out of the airport, go walk around, and then make it back in time before you're in flight.
Ryan:Yes.
Julie:The next thing is to sleep and take a nap. And I think this works really well if you're near a hotel that you can get like a day pass for, right? Sometimes you can do that and I
Ryan:Or even just find a place to stretch out versus trying to sleep in an airplane. Sometimes it's not very comfortable to sleep in an airplane, so this, this at least gives you some space, you know I was just at Houston airport a few weeks ago, and they have these awesome kind of loungers that are facing the window, and I could just see hanging out there and getting some sleep, a long layover would be a perfect time to do that.
Julie:yeah. That's a cool idea.
Ryan:The next suggestion is get some steps in. I always try to walk as much as I can on travel days when I'm flying because I know I'm going to be sitting. And so I've actually had, when I've had longer layovers, I remember one time having a five hour layover in Detroit. I walked every terminal. Just because I wanted some extra steps, put some podcasts in, put my airpods in, and now I just had a carry on. If I had a bigger suitcase that might not be good, but why not get some steps in and burn some calories.
Julie:Well, and a lot of airports actually, like the bigger ones, have a gym that you could go to and shower and the whole thing. If you're not just getting substance, you could get any sort of workout in depending on the airport you're at.
Ryan:I like that. Yep.
Julie:We also have that you could go visit some art galleries and exhibits. Now, Ryan, do we mean outside the airport or inside
Ryan:Actually inside the airport. A lot of airports are installing galleries exhibits all sorts of things, and if that's your cup of tea if that's something that you're interested in Why not? Take the time to see some local culture
Julie:Yeah, I think that's really cool that a lot of airports are becoming more interactive like that. Yeah,
Ryan:to do during your layover. This is a time where it might make sense to upgrade the Wi Fi especially if you're wanting to download stuff or stream things. Sometimes that free airport Wi Fi might not get the job done. If you've got some extra time and you wanna stream things, maybe it's worth a few dollars.
Julie:that's a good idea. That's definitely a good tip. So you know that everywhere throughout the airport there's all those shops and typically they're selling a lot of local items. So it's a really great time to go window shopping. If you don't have enough time to leave the airport and go look for a souvenir, you could probably buy one right at the airport itself.
Ryan:And to go along with local souvenirs, this is a time to try some local foods. Oftentimes you'll get off the plane and depending on where you are, there's a restaurant or a type of food that's associated there. I remember having an awesome Cuban sandwich in the Tampa airport, because of that Cuban cuisine. If I get off in in your area of Baltimore, my guess is I can get a crab cake in the In the airport,
Julie:Yeah, there's traffic there.
Ryan:why not why not use that as a time to Eat some of the local flavor if you will.
Julie:Right, that's a good idea. If you have this chunk of time, you can block some of that off to either make a call to a friend or a family member, catch up about the trip, or take some time to work on a project, whether that's a personal project or a not so fun work project. That
Ryan:I I do this a lot, especially on longer flights and layovers I pass the time by having a specific thing. I want to get done and it's often work wise, but sometimes it's not it's like hey I know i'm gonna have a flight that's this long or I know that I Have a layover and so this is what i'm gonna dedicate this time to
Julie:Yeah, I've definitely done that before and it actually loops right into the next one. And I know this is something you do a lot, especially in a flight home. You'll kind of go through all of your photos and notes or anything that you had from that trip and go through and edit them. In the age of the iPhone, you take one picture, you take 20 at the same time, you can go through and delete a good portion that you don't need.
Ryan:I almost always do that either waiting in the layover or the flight home, just because I know what happens when I get home, all
Julie:not going to.
Ryan:just hang out on my phone and I don't do anything with them. If I have dedicated time where I'm just sitting around, I'm going to go through those photos, I'm going to edit stuff and make trip notes. You come back from your trip and everybody said, Hey, what, you know, how was this trip? And then you want to go again. So do it when it's fresh, right?
Julie:and even better. Tell us about the next one.
Ryan:So the next one's my favorite, right? Because when you're leaving from a trip well, I guess to or from, it
Julie:Either way.
Ryan:you're in travel mode, right? So, why not take that time to plan the next trip?
Julie:That sounds perfect.
Ryan:and look at cruises, sit down and look at all inclusives or something like that and say, okay, we're taking this trip now, but, at this point of next year, we know we want to travel. Why not take that time to get even more excited about traveling?
Julie:If you're planning it on your way home, you're just coming off the trip you just had, so you know what worked and what didn't work. It's really fresh in your mind, did these travel days work? Did this length of time work? All those kinds of logistics.
Ryan:Now obviously a big travel hack for long layovers is utilizing airport lounges. And I've got some ideas that if the airport lounges are not included in your ticket class, there are a couple ways that you can go about getting access to airport lounges. The first is if you have a credit card that gives you access to different lounges. And that's obviously based on what type and what level of credit card you have. But if you're not sure, it's definitely worth your time if you're taking a long trip to check into that. You can also use airline miles. This is not a great use of your airline miles to be honest, but if it fits, what you have and what you want to do, you can redeem miles instead of flights for the lounges. Oftentimes, if you're active military, you can have access to lounges. And what I've done in the past is I've actually gotten a day pass. So Julie, several years ago We had an unexpected layover at Reagan airport. And so our layover of an hour and a half became a layover of about five hours. And we had three teenagers with us because my daughter had a friend. And we're like, oh goodness, what are we gonna do? And we were coming back from our trip, so we were tired, we were hangry. We're just kind of, you know, this sucks, right? And so we got online and we looked and we found the lounge that was associated with our airline. I don't even remember what we were flying and we went and talked to them. And because the kids were under 18, they were included in our day passes and that saved. So much stress because it's a better location. There's included food. There's included drinks. There's places to charge things There's comfier seats. I was actually able to go and make phone calls and get some work done that day pass was well worth it and you know At most, you're probably going to be spending a hundred bucks for a day pass. But if
Julie:Right, but at that point, it's so worth
Ryan:well, if you think about, somewhere between fifty and a hundred bucks I'm spending for a day pass. But, if you have multiple, multiple hours, and again, we're talking about a longer layover than normal, now you have a more dedicated, nicer place to stay, and you've got food and drinks included that you're not having to
Julie:would have spent at least 50 just on food and drinks, if not
Ryan:I wouldn't do it for every layover obviously But I think if the timing makes sense and if the lounges are at the specific airport Go for it. I think that's a great way to spend a longer layover.
Julie:We keep saying long layover, long layover. What is the minimum amount of time that you would recommend somebody have for a layover?
Ryan:Oh a minimum amount of
Julie:a client's trip, what is the minimum amount of time on a layover you're
Ryan:I really like about 90 minutes anything under 90 minutes makes me makes me a little nervous Because of weather and because of planes you
Julie:and like, even if the airlinus is the one that's obviously offering a, you know, I've seen like, you know, like 30 and 40 minute layovers, it's so hard to make that happen. Especially if you're unfamiliar with
Ryan:Yeah, it's almost impossible.
Julie:Right, it's nearly impossible. So you really have to pay attention to the long layover, but also the super short layovers and make sure that it makes sense for your trip. An airline is going to put that flight out there and they're not going to tag it
Ryan:because they don't. I
Julie:hold on,
Ryan:To them, it fits. There are some times, especially flying Southwest, a lot of times, you're very close because Southwest does cluster their planes quite a bit. You are very close to, but still,
Julie:that until you get off the plane. I really rarely have connecting flights because of where we live and where we travel. We travel to mostly non stop destinations right now with the kids. It's just so much easier. But when we came home from our honeymoon, our flight got delayed and we thought we were going to miss our connection. And of course, my boarding pass had that tag on it where I got searched for like everything, every time. They emptied my bag, turned on all my devices, turned off all my devices, this whole thing. And we were flying Spirit, which I, I would never fly again for multiple reasons, but they were just not very help, not. spirit, but the the TSA workers were not very helpful in getting us through security. And they kept calling final boarding call. And it was so frustrating because we had to run to our plane, but you know, it was the same plane. They knew that we came in late. Like it's the same plane. We had to get off because of going through customs. You don't know how well the communication is going to be when you get in, if that plane is going to tell the next plane. I mean, they did wait for us only because other people on our flight had run ahead and said like they're coming, but just, you know, people are so worried about long layovers, but also be really cautious with short ones.
Ryan:No, that's, that's a really good tip and a really good way to close up this question. So, hey Aiden, I hope that was helpful to think about your next trip when you have a long way over. Well, Julie, I've got one more question that was submitted by a listener. But first I want to talk about where in the world does all things travel? So, Julie, when I went back and looked at places where we have listeners for all things travel places that we have not talked about before, one city that I don't believe that you or I or Shane and I ever highlighted was San Diego, California.
Julie:that sounds awesome.
Ryan:Have you been to San Diego?
Julie:No, but I'd love to.
Ryan:It's going to be a gorgeous place to visit and you know where I want to meet our listener, the world famous San Diego Zoo, right?
Julie:Oh, yes. Perfect.
Ryan:So the San Diego Zoo pioneered cageless exhibits and offer travelers a fun and informative experience. It features over 4, 000 animals, and the park gives you a peek into the wildlife of several ecosystems from deserts to rainforests. You can ride tour buses which cross three quarters of the zoo's areas, and learn about animals from a guide that will help you learn about their natural habitat. You can also hop on the Skyfari gondola lift to see the entire park from above. They actually do this at the Indianapolis Zoo and it is really, really cool.
Julie:That is so cool.
Ryan:that is definitely where I want to meet our listener. Because it's just, it's iconic, right? Everybody knows about the San Diego Zoo.
Julie:Mm hmm.
Ryan:Listener from San Diego, we are so thankful that you're listening all the way from the West Coast. Do us a favor, reach out to me, or Julie, you can do that via email or on the Facebook group, because we would love to give you a nice little thank you gift for being featured on the show today. All right, Julie, so I have one more question from a listener that has to do with airports and, travel. And this is from our good friend Joanne in North Carolina. She's been a longtime listener to All Things Travel. And she asked, what documents do I need for domestic and international travel? And so I broke this down a little bit. Some things are for both and some things are specific to either international or domestic. Obviously, first and foremost, you need an ID, right? If you're traveling domestic, you can use your passport as long as it's not expired, and you can use any sort of government ID, okay? I would also say, always have your travel documents, and I know I sound old school, and I know you You need to have both paper and electronic forms of everything that's going on because the last thing The last thing you want to do is be a dropped phone or a dead battery away From not knowing where you're going what you're doing all that kind of stuff
Julie:I am the same way. I send paper documents to all my clients and I print all my own paper documents. I will tell you, I have never had to use those paper documents.
Ryan:and here's the thing, right? I mean, I always have I
Julie:I need
Ryan:folder where I I carry my travel insurance, where I carry whatever documents for a trip, and you're right, nine times out of ten I haven't touched them, but I know they're there. And the same goes for the boarding pass. I mean, obviously I have my boarding pass on my phone, but, if I check in for Southwest at a kiosk, one of the options is to print a boarding pass. Why wouldn't I? You know, if I'm
Julie:well, I have to print them because my kids are so young. Mia, she's a baby still, so I can't even print hers at home or access it on my phone. So I still need to get the paper. Might as well get everybody's because it's also, When you're managing all those kids, you don't want to then have to manage your phone and pull up the app and slide here, slide there. It's easier to just have the paper tickets in your hand and hand them over. And also the kid thinks it's a fun thing and
Ryan:It is. It's fun. Yeah. So speaking of kids a good segue there So if you are traveling with minors kids do not need their own identification. They can use their parents identification I have had several instance
Julie:Correct.
Ryan:international yet. I'm just talking about domestic So if we're traveling within the United States and and folks that are listening from other countries, we are talking about some US specific rules here with this stuff so they can use their parents identification for theirs Now what if you're traveling with a kid who is not yours? What if you have a friend coming along or a niece or a nephew coming along or a grandchild if you're not the guardian of? Record you do need to have a signed consent form for travel and you should also have a consent form for medical care and really This should be notarized now. I will tell you We've never notarized these when we've traveled but we've always had them and we have had people ask for them to make sure that we have permission and then the last things, is obviously insurance So travel insurance if you're traveling the united states a copy of your medical insurance Your auto insurance because depending on if you're getting a rental car and which company you're using, they may ask for proof of your auto insurance. So just have all that so you're not left looking for something either on your phone that you can't find or you don't have access to it.
Julie:I do want to add one more on to, you know, what you would need traveling with a minor. If your kid is under two, you don't have to buy a seat for them. If you're not buying a seat for them, You want to make sure you have their birth certificate with you to prove that they are under two and don't need a ticket and that I have had them ask me to produce a birth certificate multiple times. Even when they're noticeably under two, like they're a baby, they've still asked me to produce. The birth certificate check with your exact airline. Sometimes they've been okay with me just showing them a picture of the birth certificate from my phone. And sometimes they've asked to actually see the birth certificate.
Ryan:and again, some of this is, this is the rule and sometimes they'll ask and sometimes they won't, so it's better to be prepared and know you have everything. Then get yourself in trouble. So let's talk specifically about international travel Obviously, we've talked time and time again on this show about your passport being six months or more valid after You return there are places that are more relaxed with that than there are other places that are very very strict so Don't mess around with that. If you need a visa for a country that you're visiting, have you ever had to do this, Julie?
Julie:No,
Ryan:The only place I've had to do this is when I traveled to Egypt in 2021. We had to do a visa and that was kind of a stressful, I was traveling in the age of COVID still, so there were, some hoops. It's something you don't want to mess around with. You want to make sure it's taken care of. And then, obviously, any entry requirements specific to that country, you want to make sure you're on top of that. Your travel advisor will help you be on top of that.
Julie:They're usually very simple, you
Ryan:yeah, yeah, yeah,
Julie:something out online sometimes they'll have them on the flight for you, it's usually very simple, and it's usually not, you know, oh, you forgot to do it, they're not going to let me in, no, it'll just take you longer to get through the airport because they'll have you fill it out there
Ryan:here's one tip that I would have, because I, I have seen people make these comments. When you come back in the United States and you have global entry, you don't have to fill out these forms. You going to another country, they don't care that you have global entry
Julie:Correct. Yes.
Ryan:the, I have had people in a com, in a non-US country, say, but I have global entry. I don't have to fill this out. And dude, you're in another country.
Julie:Right, that's a U. S. thing. Exactly.
Ryan:yes, it, it is a US State Department thing. It's not a worldwide thing. Health information. People are more concerned about that know if you have to fill that out and if you need to bring any documentation with you
Julie:And then I
Ryan:then travel,
Julie:think things like, if that country requires you to get a certain shot or vaccine before you travel, right, you're going to need proof of that.
Ryan:Correct. And hey, if you are unsure about all of this go to the State Department For the United States go online and check travel requirements and they'll have all this outlined Another thing to think about with traveling with minors. And again, this is sometimes it it won't be an issue. Sometimes it may you technically. cannot travel internationally with a minor if one of the parents is not present and you don't have a signed consent form for that child to travel. I know that sounds a little strange, but, but you do need to make sure that you know the rules for the airline and the country that you're visiting because they do take that kind of stuff seriously, honestly, because of human trafficking. They want to make sure that minors are well taken care of. And also too, folks, cruise ships are the same way. I've been on cruises before where kids cannot get off with their parent because they were assigned to the other parent you just want to be careful with that kind of stuff.
Julie:You would hate for that to happen, right? You get all the way there and
Ryan:Yes, and my guess is you couldn't get all the way there, but, yeah, it's just something to, to keep in mind if you are the Guardian and how that all plays out. And then lastly, obviously, we want to have copies of our insurance, we want to have copies of our travel docs, just like previously, because we want to make sure that we have all that. The last thing you want to do is if you're traveling internationally is go to an airport that maybe you're not familiar with, a language that you're not necessarily familiar with, and then you have to figure out where you're going, what the address is, what the phone number is so Julie, one thing to, so one last question with this is, where do you keep these documents when you travel? Is there, is there a specific place or a recommendation with that?
Julie:Yeah, well, me personally, I have the same folder I've used for years
Ryan:Me too. I have the same folder and it's just kind of a psychological thing, right? Everything goes in that folder and the folder goes in the same place in my backpack.
Julie:that, and then other stuff I keep, like, I have a passport book that fits up to six passports, so that works really well for my family and, you know, we just put everything in there. That's where I would also keep their birth certificates or anything else that I need in there.
Ryan:I, I have a passport book too that I really like that actually I think we're going to share in a few weeks.
Julie:Yes, I'm excited for that episode about all the travel gear because we're going to have some really great recommendations.
Ryan:Yeah, so the, passport book that I have, it fits my passport obviously, but then it's also got several slots. I've got my travel advisor professional card in there in case I need to use that. I've got my global entry card in there. I've got some business cards and, but it also has a pen. As you're filling out those paperwork, I don't have to find a pen. I've got one. I really, I really, really like it. My drink tickets go in there. So, you know, all that stuff.
Julie:I love that.
Ryan:as we wrap up, Julie, I'm interested. What's the biggest takeaway or tip that you learned today as we talked about either long layovers or documentation for travel?
Julie:So I'm pretty picky about documentation so I'm pretty set on that but I really loved getting all the ideas of what to do for a long layover because that's something I'm going to have to think about coming up on some of my next few trips.
Ryan:Well, you will have to let us know which tips you use and how that worked out.
Julie:Oh, obviously. And what else are we
Ryan:to do the.
Julie:Alright, you want to plan a trip to an amazing destination but don't know how to get started? As your travel advisor, we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your vacation and take the stress of planning away so you can focus on the fun and creating memories. You can reach out to us at Julie at CreatingMagicVacations. com.
Ryan:Or Ryan at CreatingMagicVacations. com. We look forward to talking to you next week on All Things Travel when we talk to our friends Len and Dawn about their recent experience traveling to Japan as a family.