A travel influencer has revealed her top five travel hacks “no one talks about.”
Grace Cheng shares videos of her luxurious international travels on TikTok and is not afraid to share what she has learnt along the way – including travel hacks and warnings for particular destinations.
“First off, I know a lot of people don’t know this but you can actually take a full bottle of water through security,” she said in a video that has been viewed more than 200,000 times.
“Only if it is frozen because yes, ice is solid and water is liquid so all you’ve got to do is freeze the water before you leave for the airport and before you hit security, just drink whatever has melted.
“And to me personally, I think that’s the biggest hack ever.”
Her second tip was for staying safe in hotel rooms.
Using a subtle tactic, she said you could work out if anyone had entered your room when you weren’t there.
“All you’ve got to do is tape a hair at the bottom of the door frame and when you come back to your room you’ll see if the hair has been broken or not, and then you’ll know if someone has come in or not,” she explained.
The third tip was to select the aisle seat while flying economy and board last, so you can view all the empty seats when boarding.
“In this case you can opt to choose whatever is available and hopefully you’ll get a row all to yourself so you can just lay down the entire flight,” she said.
If you are frequent traveller, Cheng’s fourth tip was to book with the same hotel chain across your travels to get rewarded with upgrades and better customer service.
Finally, she said she had learned to always carry a universal power adaptor.
“When I started traveling this was actually one of my biggest issues,” she said, adding that she had to keep buying different adaptors.
Some TikTok users were thankful for the tips, while others weren’t convinced.
“Or just bring an empty bottle through TSA and use their water refilling stations,” one person wrote, referring to the security screening at US airports.
But a fellow international traveller pointed out: “Not all international airports have refilling stations!”
“If you freeze the water make sure it’s not in your favorite water bottle cause it depends on the TSA officer and they may or not let it through,” another person advised.
Some flight attendants and gate agents warned flyers not to just sit in any seat without asking.
“This is a pet peeve. You can ask if there’s empty seats, you can’t just sit anywhere,” said one.