Transcripts

Erik Torkells:
You always want to take the first flight out in the morning if you can. Just think about how many times you're at the airport and the plane's not even there. But the truth is if you take the first flight out, the plane really has the entire night before to get there.

Erik Torkells, Editor of Budget Travel Magazine and author of the book The Smart Traveler's Passport, says zip-lock bags are a traveler's best friend.

My favorite of the zip-lock tips is if you're at a theme park, you always bring a zip-lock because that way when you go on a water ride you can put your wallet or your cell phone or your car keys (because heaven knows everything is electronic these days) into the bag and they're waterproofed. You can get totally wet and not worry about it. I love that tip! Another reader tip: a lot of people when they get to the hotel rooms get a little germ-obsessed, so what this reader does is always brings a zip-lock bag and he puts the TV remote control in it. And that way you can use the TV remote without feeling like you're getting everybody's germs all over your fingers.

Have you ever rented a car on a trip, parked it somewhere and then forgotten what it looked like or where you parked it?

Take a picture of it with your digital camera - and that way when you come back out of wherever you've been, you can just look at your camera and say, "Oh that's right, I parked it in section C-6." You know a lot of us have cell phones that have cameras and those work well for this kind of thing. We've heard from business travelers that say they basically do the same thing with their hotel room number.

Tomorrow more great travel tips - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.