In anticipation of a handful of trips over the next few months, I’m asking everyone I’m breaking bread with these days for their best travel hacks.
None of us can control the weather or the rising prices of transportation, hotels, and meals away from home, which is why shared travel wisdom comes in handy. Here are 20 Tom-tested ways to make your next trip smoother and more fun — uneventful in all the right ways.
I can’t guarantee a return to simpler times, but these tips are bound to lessen one downside of traveling: stress.
BEFORE YOU GO
Pack your most used/oldest underwear, socks, hats, and other clothing, and leave them behind. You’d be surprised how much space they will free up in your suitcase — room you can fill, if you want, with fresh purchases or souvenirs.
Bring a small gift or two if you think there’s a chance of being invited to someone’s home. A nice set of cocktail napkins takes up minimal space.
Reserve a hotel room for the night ahead of your arrival on overseas trips. That way, you can shower, take a power nap, and actually enjoy your first day abroad. You’ll appreciate doing so when, say, you land in Dublin at 5 a.m., and your lodging is strict about its check-in time. Hate to spend the extra money? The alternative is feeling like a zombie from the start.
In the event you don’t book an extra hotel day, splurge on a food tour or spa treatment to keep you busy until check-in. I’ve had more mouth-watering times in Istanbul, Tokyo, and Lisbon thanks to the personable and savvy guides attached to Culinary Backstreets, which offers small, insider-y food tours in almost 30 cities worldwide.
A highlight on a Culinary Backstreets food tour in Tokyo: A taste of fugu, or pufferfish, that only highly trained chefs are legally allowed to prepare because of a toxin therein.
Slip a pair of your partner’s underwear and maybe a shirt in your carry-on if two of you are traveling; this comes in handy when you’ve checked your bags and one of either of yours gets lost. (This happened to me once on a direct flight from Washington Dulles to Rome.)
ESSENTIAL TOTES
Travel with simple, good-for-you snacks – fuel for when you’re hungry with no time to stop for a bite or no access to a hospitality lounge. Chef-restaurateur Nancy Silverton brings popcorn for her in-flight munch. I always fly with a compact bag of guilt-free, fiber-rich roasted almonds and dried apricots so I can create my own trail mix at 30, 000 feet.
Keep handy a small, clear plastic bag with all those essentials you’re going to need on the road: eye drops, skin cream, chargers, a pen, a notebook, lens wipes — maybe a cologne or perfume tester to revitalize yourself along the way.
Bring a magazine with crossword puzzles or long-form articles for those times when you can’t use electronic devices and want to spend your time wisely while you’re delayed on the tarmac or some such. I never travel without at least one copy of the New Yorker or the Atlantic.
When you’re flying for work or an important event, wear something that allows you to glide into an important meeting or nice restaurant and look presentable. A black turtleneck and gray wool jacket came to my rescue when my flight to Copenhagen was delayed and I had to go directly to Geranium, the Michelin three-star dining destination.
Exercise is essential on long flights in particular. No need to roll out a yoga mat in the galley, as I once witnessed. Try toe-and-heel raises (15 or so reps), foot circles, “marching” in your seat and head tilts, none of which should invade a neighbor’s space.
ALL ABOUT THE FOOD
Wherever you have a good meal, ask your server, bartender or the chef where they would go on their night off. I remember posing that question to a sommelier at a high-end restaurant in Paris I was enjoying, and getting steered to a small jazz club with great, affordable small plates in the same city.
Call a restaurant you’ve never been to but have heard good words about. Your chances of having a memorable meal are strong if the busy-sounding voice on the phone takes time to share a detail or two about what to expect. That’s how I landed at the tucked-away Zur Oberen Flühgasse in Zurich, where I enjoyed one of the best meals of my whole trip – steaming consommé and cream-sauced veal included.
The entrance to the family-run Zur Oberen Flühgasse in Zurich, housed in a 16th-century farmhouse.
Be smart when you’re searching for meals on the road in an unfamiliar place. When asking around, the question should be, “Where would you go if you were leaving town?” not “What’s the best restaurant?” The latter is likely to be someplace fancy. Looking at online reviews? Aim for established local critics vs. influencers and notice the dates of publication. Anything older than a year is questionable. Like milk, restaurant reviews (should) carry expiration dates.
Bypass the restaurant that’s #thisclose to a major tourist attraction. The better options are inevitably a block or so removed. Case in point: the rustic-chic Sorpasso in Rome, a short stroll from Vatican City.
ON THE ROAD (CHEAP) THRILLS
Traveling internationally? Go to the duty-free shop ahead of boarding and sample some face creams or fragrances. You’ll board looking and smelling fresh.
Do yourself a favor and seek out an Asian foot massage. To my mind, there’s no more restorative way to follow up a lunch, dinner or sightseeing, and foot massages are less expensive than full body rubs. I’ve done this all over the world, most recently in Los Angeles, where I can vouch for Royal Thai Massage & Beauty (after lunch at the nearby Soban, source of sublime banchan, in Koreatown).
The vivid banchan at Soban in Los Angeles is best followed by a foot massage nearby.
For Mr. Clean wannabes: Get a head shave on the road. Barber shops offer you a slice of local life. In Istanbul, the joke is that every other man cuts hair for a living – which means the competition is stiff and the process can be dramatic. Nowhere else in the world has a barber given me both a neck and shoulder massage AND used a lighter to trim unwanted hair.
Open yourself up to talking to strangers (within reason). I once sat at a beach bar in Delaware where I just wanted to be with my thoughts. When the woman next to me struck up a conversation, I noticed her purse, made from cork, and complimented her on it. Turns out she was a designer who imported cork from Lisbon and did all sorts of cool things with the material. We ended up becoming email pals, and I now gift friends bottles of wine that I tuck into one of her elegant, custom-made cork totes.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Clean your abode before you leave. There’s nothing like coming home to clean sheets, organization, and maybe a favorite meal in the freezer that just needs a little time in the microwave to say “welcome back.”
When you unpack, immediately restock your toiletries (i.e. travel-size toothpaste, hair products, meds). It will be grab-and-go for your next trip.
Got a great travel tip? Share it with me in the comments. And stay tuned for the next “Next Course,” when I’ll be offering dining recommendations for Nashville.
At Dinner with … Geoff Freeman
"Loyalty matters, and there’s great value with both hotels and airlines," says Geoff Freeman.
A regular feature in which I share a meal with someone I admire.
Geoff Freeman is president and chief executive of the U.S Travel Association, which means he’s paid to think about where people are going, how they’re getting there, and what’s standing in their way. Previously, he headed the Consumer Brands Association and the American Gaming Association. But his travel bonafides go back to when he worked on the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and later helped lead the travel industry’s efforts to create what became the Transportation Security Administration after 9/11.
I recently broke bread with Freeman at the Italian-themed Centrolina in downtown Washington. Here are snippets from our conversation, edited for length and clarity.
Your work is everything travel-related in the States. What are some of your top tips?
I’m always amazed at the number of people who don’t have TSA Pre-Check and opt to stand in long security lines.
My other piece of advice is to get off the beaten path and explore less-common places in the U.S. — east Tennessee or Kansas City. Foreigners who visited the States for the [2026] World Cup did a great job of promoting some of our lesser-known markets.
Let’s talk loyalty. Is it worth it to be loyal to a hotel or air carrier?
Loyalty matters, and there’s great value with both hotels and airlines. I tend to look at things through a lens of who can be most helpful when the sh#* hits the fan. Given our air traffic control challenges and the resulting cancellations and delays, airline loyalty is critically important for a frequent traveler.
What’s been your proudest achievement in the job thus far?
These are fascinating times for the travel industry: Multiple government shutdowns that directly harm air traffic controllers and TSA officers. Enormous spikes in fuel costs due to the war in Iran. Trade wars that have led foreign travelers to respond by avoiding the United States. In a frenetic environment like this, it would be easy for the industry to lash out and/or lose focus. Our proudest achievement is leading the industry to pursue a pragmatic approach that is heavily focused on the areas where we can achieve results. And we’ve achieved results.
Tell me where you spent your summer vacation.
We have a place in Charleston, South Carolina. I love the Lowcountry. It’s quiet and relaxed. My family uses it as an excuse to fly; I drive down [from Virginia] with our dogs.
Favorite airport in the U.S.?
There’s a joke in the industry: “Once you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport.” DCA [Ronald Reagan Washington National] can’t be beat for the convenience factor. At LAS [Harry Reid International in Las Vegas] you can be out of the terminal and at your hotel in 15 minutes. PDX (Portland International Airport) gives you an immediate sense of the Pacific Northwest with pine trees, coffee, and local purveyors. Same with BNA (Nashville International), where you can walk off your plane and hear live music.
Do you bring food onboard, and, if so, what?
I like Asian snack mixes, beef jerky, and peanut M&Ms – food that’s easy to eat. I know I made the right decision when I see people nearby eating sandwiches that spill out on the floor and they get mayonnaise on their fingers.
Aisle or window?
Absolutely no doubt — the aisle seat.