Here’s a quick top five tip-list of our best travel hacks for aspiring travelers!

Brooke is here to present our Top 5 Travel Hacks/Tips for Travelers Thinking of Joining us! Our entire site is curated and oriented around the concept of making travel easy, fun, and simple to understand, yet necessary for every traveler, whether you’re going on a simple family vacation or embarking on a travel-oriented lifestyle!

1.The Money Saver

My recent trip to Newark, NJ included a hotel stay in a suite which came to only $410 USD over 3 days at an $800 USD per night value! My top tip for finding the best value for hotels is two-fold.

Avoid AirBnBs like the plague. They provide little to no value and have no guest contract; they are simply a homeowner (at best) with a spare room.

Search various sites such as Trivago, TripAdvisor, Leading Hotels of the World, etc., for excellent values but do not book through them. I recommendbooking through the United Airlines app to streamline your airline and hotel experience. And with the Chase credit card options United provides you with, the connected hotel listing through Small Luxury Hotels of the World, you have access to value deals and experiences most could never dream of.

-I stayed at the Renaissance Newark Airport (right by EWR) recently which is not luxury but is still high-end and reasonably exclusive. United often offers members of their MileagePlus program discounts and exclusive perks and MileagePlus is free to join/sign-up for.

2. The ‘Game-Changer’

There are many travel items I could recommend but to be honest? Most are kitschy novelties and unless you’re a travel pro, they will be a waste of money, or at best an underutilized toy/comfort item. One item I will always recommend to all travelers, regardless of experience level, is one nearly all of us have on our person at all times. The cell phone. Hear me out. With this handy tool, you’re taking photos/videos of the airline areas in the airport, the airline’s seat you paid for, the hotel, the room itself or suite itself, the dining area/restaurant, the check-in/check-out counters, etc. This is imperative to keep travel and hospitality companies honest or at least accountable. Companies, like any company, hate bad PR worse than court cases, and no one contributes more to this than a guest who is willing to expose airlines/companies for deceptive/dishonest/greedy or foolish.

3. The “Hidden-Gem” Location or Locale

This is best exemplified through my stay at the Hotel Palace Berlin in Germany. This was not a cheap stay but it was a great value. This seven-day stay was delightful and a fantastic experience; caring staff, courteous front desk, hotel-to-airport and back private transfers; the Hotel Palace Berlin offers a limousine service from BER airport (Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport). The spa is incredible as well. This hotel is all about maximizing value without breaking the bank and without being “cheap” in all senses of the word.

4.Traveling Hack

This one is simple. While packing for any given trip, put a basic dryer sheet (Downy works best though any will do) in your checked luggage. This will guarantee your luggage arrives with fresh clothes and fresh wearables/items. This is a “hack” that nearly everyone can emulate and otherwise replicate as long as they have access to a grocery store.

5.Philosophy: Why I Travel the Way I Do. Your Travel IQ

I believe, regardless of status, everyone has a right to travel. I also believe, as United Airlines’ CEO Scott Kirby does, everyone has a right to travel smarter. This differentiates me from basic travel agents and groups like Delta Airlines whose CEO is incredibly classist and effectively declared war on the poor. American Airlines caters to the masses with next to no “traveler IQ.” The business model in 2025/2026 is best distilled as this: Delta Airlines caters to the wealthy. American caters to the masses who don’t know any better. United caters to the tech savvy and high traveler IQ. That is why I travel the way I do: To show ways to improve your travel IQ and generally travel better.

Things to Remember & Needed Advice!

1. So, you’ve booked your trip, excellent! Now what?

   Well here’s a few things to remember.

   Splurge on your travel!

   Don’t be cheap. Learn that travel, especially value travel, is worth every penny to add true value to your experience. Here’s 3 aspects of value travel that you, as a traveler, should never cheap out on.

   1. Book A private guide

   for a new city or complex ancient historical site or even a given city’s neighborhood. 

   2. Direct flight vs. Nonstop:

   This is a point of confusion for many;a nonstop flight is just as it implies, nonstop from A to B without landing, while a direct flight stays on the same flight number and aircraft but makes at least one stop, letting some passengers off and picking others up without you changing planes, making it longer but potentially cheaper than a true non-stop. Some cities such as Singapore, Dubai, and Doha, have layover excursion packages, which encourage direct flights with a layover so you can stop and see the city before continuing on to your final destination. Remember, all non-stop flights are direct, but not all direct flights are non-stop. Keep this in mind especially when booking your desired fare class. 

   3. Eat Local.

   Always, and I mean always, eat the local street food or vendors when in a foreign city. These are often tastier, cheaper, and more authentic than 1-5 star Michelin restaurants. Exceptions, as always, apply.  “Eating the local cuisine teaches you more about the culture and a people than anything else ever could.” - Anthony Bourdain

   4. The Rookie Move that is Costing you Thousands on True Value

   I see this everyday; otherwise intelligent people who use their hard-earned airline miles to comp for hotel stays. Stop this nonsense. Airline miles can indeed be used for hotel stays instead of flights but this is an error and wrong move. Miles transfer to “hotel points” (you can think of this as monopoly money used to book hotel stays) at a very poor rate. The math is complicated so I won’t repeat the equation here. Suffice it to say, you can wipe out over 150,000 air miles on a short stay while the hotel makes you think you received a good deal. Pay in cash and pay later (at check-in) and you end up saving your miles and receiving a great experience in return.

   Don’t travel like a tourist, travel like a citizen of the world. A true traveler.

   
   ~ Brooke In The Air Travel

   Here’s an exclusive Hot (and harsh) Take:

   Hotel vs. Luxury Hotel vs. Airbnb: A Harsh Take

   I have a harsh and often cold take on the Airbnb mentality.

   Hotels are reasonably reliable and still abide by a code of guidance and business ethics. Luxury hotels abide by the same code and often have enhanced services such as a concierge or personal assistant assigned to you upon check-in. All hotels provide amenities, are reasonably respectful of the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on your door, and provide either daily or quasi-weekly (depending on your stay), and all hotels indemnify you upon check-in. 

   Once you sign that paperwork at check-in, you are legally insured and the hotel is responsible for your well-being for the duration of your stay. This is why hotels often have multi-million or billion dollar riders and partly why they cost so much at booking. Airbnb’s have none of these. Oftentimes (90%+) Airbnbs are simply a homeowner (at best) with a spare room or house, or they are renting out their home while they stay in a comfortable hotel. You are often responsible for cleaning the property, have a chore-list, there is no insurance policy at all, no protections, no amenities (although you might get certain amenities if you’re lucky); this is why they are often so cheap, because they offer nothing. Airbnb’s are also responsible for driving up rent prices in select neighborhoods, my own San Francisco is one example. There are additional factors, but the Airbnb Factor is huge.

   ~ A Brooke In The Air Travel hot take.

   SPECIAL BULLETIN!

   In this time of global crisis, Brooke In The Air Travel has made the following statement and article free to read for all. My mission, and to a greater extent, our mission at Brooke In The Air Travel, is to empower women to travel the world safely and confidently. While our team remains intimately aware of global crises (as they can easily impact travel at any given time), my role (and our roles as a team here at BITA Travel) is to provide the practical logistics and security insights that travelers, and especially female travelers desperately need (on the ground, in the air, or at sea). In times of global instability, information is its own form of protection. My personal focus remains on the safety, security, and logistics of the woman traveler. While others analyze (either by choice or preferred necessity) the “why” of a given sociopolitical or geopolitical conflict, I and my company are here to help women navigate the “where next” question and philosophy, and most importantly, the “how to stay safe” question. Because true empowerment for us as women, starts with security, and security equals information and information is power. I’ve done the same at times, especially as a former military analyst for a Washington D.C.-based “thinktank.”
   We collectively put in the research of various destinations, often by request, we then obtain the knowledge of various safety protocols for countless airlines, cruises, trains, hotels, resorts, and cities, so we may then pass that knowledge onto you, the traveler. In these crucial times, being a digital nomad (of sorts) is a profession of choice especially when one cannot get out of the country they are visiting.
   
   This is especially prescient given what is currently happening in March of 2026, with the military operations in Iran having shut down virtually the entire airspace as even major transit hubs have been hit with Iranian Shahed “suicide” drones (unmanned aircraft fitted with explosive warheads which are then flown by remote- or satellite- control into targets often hundreds of miles away).
   
   Brooke In The Air Travel can help you stay safe, informed, confident! Contact us!

   Remember to value yourself!

   Subscribe to our blog for more great tips, hacks, and tricks!