5 Travel Hacks from a Frequent Traveler

I spend way too much time on planes. In my 3 million plus miles of travel, I have learned a few things about optimizing my travel experience. As a public service, here are some travel pain points and travel hacks that may benefit you:

1. Worn out airline AC sockets: The AC sockets on airlines get worn out with too much use, so your charger will not stay in. You must keep wiggling the charger to keep it connected and it keeps slipping out. The hack - buy a Universal plug adapter and plug in the UK 3-prong adapter into the airline socket. The third prong is less worn out as it is less used, so the adapter stays firmly in place. A plus – my Universal charger 4 USB ports and supports QC3.0 fast charging. This lets me charge my phone, my laptop and my headphones simultaneously from one socket in any hotel in the world.

2. Lousy airline movie selection: Airline movie selections leave a lot to be desired. Plus, I like watching B-grade Bollywood movies on long flights that provide entertainment without taxing my brain cells. Before each long flight, I download movies from Amazon Prime, Netflix and Jio Cinema. To make sure that I can watch my movies conveniently, I use the Moko smartphone stand and my trusty Anker 10,000 mAh battery pack to set my smartphone up and watch my movies. The battery pack also ensures that I don't rely on having airline power available. I have traveled on a 6-hour flight in a 737 that had no power sockets even in First Class. Another advantage of “Bring Your Own Bollywood Movies” (BYOBM) is that I can start watching my movies as soon as I hit my seat, without being interrupted by annoying PA announcements on the In-Flight Entertainment system.

3. Lousy airline headsets: I never travel without my trusty Bose QC35 Bluetooth wireless headsets. No cords and no batteries. I know Bose has a newer model (700 series), but the QC35 headsets fold up nicely and I don't need the fancy Alexa bells and whistles in the new model.

4. Wires and adapters hell: I used to carry my charger, cord, battery pack, headsets etc. in my travel backpack. I would unpack all the stuff and then I would have to remember to pack up all the stuff. Plus, it made my travel backpack messy. The hack - I bought an after-market hard carrying case for my Bose headsets that is bigger than the original case. This allows me to store my phone charger, my cords, my Moko stand and my battery pack along with my headsets. I simply take out my case and I know that I have all the electronics I need for the flight. By the way, buy yourself a two-prong headphone jack adapter for a few dollars as my Bose headsets come with a single prong while airlines have two or three-prong jacks.

5. Missing immigration forms: Airlines are notoriously unreliable suppliers of immigration forms. Just this week, at Hong Kong airport, I was in a long immigration queue. When the man ahead of me got to the immigration agent, he didn't have his form filled out as the airline hadn't given him one. He was instructed to get a form and go back to the end of the queue! The hack - for countries you visit frequently (India, Hong Kong, etc.), grab a few extra immigration forms and stash them in your travel backpack. That way, you will never be stranded without an immigration form. Of course, for US Citizens, I would strongly recommend signing up for Global Entry, which means no more customs forms to be filled and no immigration queues to stand in.

I hope these travel hacks are useful for you. Enjoy and share your own travel hacks!