Exercise to avoid jet lag

The day before a big trip, go overboard on the exercise. Initially, you’ll be energized for hours. The exhaustion will hit your body just at the right time—when the rest of the city, at your travel destination, is going to sleep. The moment you land, get some fresh air for a brief pick-me-up so the effects of the previous day’s workout don’t kick in immediately.

A trick to avoid tangles

To avoid having your necklaces tangle up in a giant ball during your journey, thread the chain through a straw. Bonus: now you have a straw for any canned or bottled beverages you’re not totally sure about the cleanliness of.

Pack dirty shoes in a shower cap

This helps prevent multiple issues such as A) Polished shoes getting scratched by buttons, zippers and other rough items in your luggage. B) Your shoes stinking up the rest of your luggage, and C) Your shoes getting debris on the rest of your luggage.

Contact containers double as cosmetic containers

If you wear contacts, you have a few extra of these lying around. Squeeze thicker liquids like lotions and liquid foundation into these and screw on the cap. These are ideal on-the-go size for touch-ups, especially on long flights.

At security, stay to the left

Some psychological force drives people to gravitate to the lines to the right at TSA. For a quicker trip to your gate, veer left.

Store wine in your high tops

High-top sneakers are the perfect thing for safely storing wine bottles, and keeping them from rolling around during a flight. Just pop one end of the bottle into the top of one shoe, and the other end into the other shoe.

Hide money in an empty chap stick

For super stealth money stashing, roll up your big bills and cram them into an empty chap stick container. No pickpocket would think to grab an item that cost you about 75 cents.

Use a button to pack earrings

Earrings are one of the top lost items on any trip. To keep yours together, stick the needles into the holes of buttons, and fasten the lock on the other side.

Put a dryer sheet in your suitcase

Keep a zip-close bag of a few of these for long trips and pop in a fresh one each time you take a new major form of transportation like a plane, bus or train. These instantly make your clothes smell like you did laundry, instead of making you smell like a tourist.

Put your phone in a cup for insta-speakers

This tip is starting to get around, which is why you seriously need to catch onto it! For rooms that don’t come with iPod or iPhone docks, just stick your phone in a plastic cup to instantly amplify the sound of your tunes.