The best way to divide and conquer a hotel is to over-tip the bellmen, then pepper them with questions.
In my experience, the bellmen are the eyes and ears of a hotel: they have access to the premium deals and insights that make a hotel run. Furthermore, the average bellman is a male aged 18 to 25; they can suggest the best places in town for partying or point you to their city’s secret dives.
Here’s a way to pack your smallest, but most expensive, items without losing them or space in your suitcase: find a typical pill box and place your precious metals in there. Anything from rings to necklaces will fit.
Typically, pill boxes are about five inches long, one inch wide, and a quarter inch deep — small enough to be stuffed, despite how much is in your suitcase.
As an added bonus, you could line up the jewelry in the respective days you want to wear them. Now you’re ready to go!
Plan on enjoying the cobbled streets of Barcelona? Taking the metro around Paris? Then ditch that wheeled suitcase and pack in an interior frame backpack or a large bag with shoulder straps.
Wheelie-bags are great in the airport or for wheeling from the car up the paved drive to the hotel, but not if you’re exploring less accessible destinations. Their wheels catch in cobblestones and brick, they overturn on sidewalk curbs, and they’re hard to maneuver in tight quarters.
Strap on your backpack and you’re ready to walk to the train station or take the metro.
If you’re a beach bum like me, your vacations are to tropical places. Pictures of sunsets at the beach are pretty, but after a while, one beach looks like the rest. A better souvenir is to take a handful of sand. Once you get home, empty a spice bottle and fill it with the sand. Label it with the beach name and location. Consider making a note of a special memory on the label. After several trips to different beaches, you’ll have a nice spice rack full of sand.
You’ll be surprised to see how each beach differs in their textures and variety of sand; it’s much better than a photo.
Collect all the brochures and printed promotional materials you can find, as well as local traveler’s guides. Most of these are professionally printed on good quality paper stock and feature beautiful photography. Inexpensive postcards make nice accents, as well.
At home, you can cut these up (include words, headlines, and phrases). Use the words and images as scrapbook elements to supplement your own photos. You can also cut out the front of the brochure, or paragraphs of copy with details about the event or attraction you saw. This helps you remember little details.