Author Archives: Shelli

About Shelli

Shelli Stein is a health and fitness entrepreneur who travels the world in search of culture, food, and fun! Besides contributing to Travel with Grant, you can find her at Joy in Movement.

a close up of a logo

Updates to your Amazon Prime Membership

Happy Saturday, everyone! Most times, I delete emails that seem to be reminders of what I think I already know, but this one from Amazon caught my attention. Maybe you got this email from Amazon, as well. I have to admit, I had no idea about many of these changes to shopping, delivery, or digital benefits that come with Amazon Prime. So just in case you deleted your reminder email and could benefit from these services or changes to services, I thought I’d post them.

Amazon Prime works well for me, even though after reading this list, I realize I’m not using it nearly enough. I’m curious, which benefits do you find to be most useful?

a screen shot of a email

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a map of europe with black text

Top Travel Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Part 3

I’m declaring this week Travel Mistake Week here at TWG. Sure, it might be way more fun to talk about all the room upgrades we score, the elite status benefits we enjoy, or the deal for flights that DIDN’T get away, but let’s face it, we’ve all made a bunch of mistakes. So let’s air them and have some fun laughing at ourselves and commiserating with each other.

No matter how much we plan or how well we assume we’ll carry out those plans, there’s always a lot that’s not under our control. I started asking around and found that some travel mistakes are more common than others. And some people agree on how best to avoid those mistakes, but not always. Based on my own experience as well as that of many other frequent travelers, here are the mistakes and how to avoid them. There are so many of them I’ve actually made this a 3 part series!  Read Part 1 and Part 2.

Not buying souvenirs right when you see them

I buy souvenirs, and by that I mean chocolate, for people from every place I travel. You’d be surprised how many times I don’t get back to that certain best chocolate bar store or to a certain area of town even though I say I will. So this mistake is easy to make and easy to fix! If you see it now, buy it now.

a group of keychains in different colors

Image source: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/souvenir-buying-guide/index.html

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a map of europe with black text

Top Travel Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Part 2

I’m declaring this week Travel Mistake Week here at TWG. Sure, it might be way more fun to talk about all the room upgrades we score, the elite status benefits we enjoy, or the deal for flights that DIDN’T get away, but let’s face it, we’ve all made a bunch of mistakes. So let’s air them and have some fun laughing at ourselves and commiserating with each other.

Most Common Mistakes

No matter how much we plan or how well we assume we’ll carry out those plans, there’s always a lot that’s not under our control. I started asking around and found that some travel mistakes are more common than others. And some people agree on how best to avoid those mistakes, but not always. Based on my own experience as well as that of many other frequent travelers, here are the mistakes and how to avoid them. There are so many of them I’ve actually made this a 3 part series!  Read Part 1.

Not printing the details

I’m pretty conservative when it comes to printing paper, but there are still times when I do. It’s not that I don’t trust technology. Particularly when traveling alone, I just feel better knowing that I have paper copies of some items.

Spending all your time in transit

I learned this lesson when I took an overnight sleeper train in Europe. It was so great to be able to sleep on the train and then wake up the next day in my next location. It makes good sense not to spend the main parts of the day transiting from one location to the other when you’d rather be out seeing the sites. If it’s possible, traveling early in the day or later in the evening makes more sense. Of course, if the transit trip is part of the experience, then daytime hours can lead to some amazing scenery. It just helps maximize your days when they aren’t filled with being at airports, train stations, or on buses.

a man pushing a girl on a luggage bag

Image source: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/chronicles-amateur-traveler

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a map of europe with black text

Top Travel Mistakes & How to Avoid Them: Part 1

I’m declaring this week Travel Mistake Week here at TWG. Sure, it might be way more fun to talk about all the room upgrades we score, the elite status benefits we enjoy, or the deal for flights that DIDN’T get away, but let’s face it, we’ve all made a bunch of mistakes. So let’s air them and have some fun laughing at ourselves and commiserating with each other.

The Most Common Mistakes

No matter how much we plan or how well we assume we’ll carry out those plans, there’s always a lot that’s not under our control. I started asking around and found that some travel mistakes are more common than others. And some people agree on how best to avoid those mistakes, but not always. Based on my own experience as well as that of many other frequent travelers, here are the mistakes and how to avoid them. There are so many of them I’ve actually made this a 3 part series!

Passport issues

This one surfaced for a friend of mine just last month. Passports have an expiration date, that’s obvious. And in general, they are valid up until the day they expire. But not always and not everywhere. Some destinations require at least 3-6 months remaining on your passport in order to travel. If you need a visa for your trip, these remaining months are essential. It’s good to have a beginning of the year checklist for travel. Or maybe start your checklist on your birthday so it coincides with your passport. In either case, do put checking your passport dates on that travel to-do list.

a close-up of a passport

Image source: https://www.rushmypassport.com/passport-renewal-faq.html

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a close-up of some currency

PSA: Don’t Leave Home Without At Least 2 of These

This “don’t leave home without two of these” story began when I received an email from a friend. It was titled, “Big Request.” Let me start by saying my friend is an experienced traveler and spends six months a year in Mexico, yet still she made a big mistake. Here’s what she wrote:

“I have a big request for you: My Capital One Visa credit card was hacked, so I had to cancel that account. However, that is an important card for me to have in Mexico, because they do not charge a foreign currency exchange fee on purchases. So, they are sending me a new card in the mail, and say it should arrive in 4-6 days. Capital One does everything online and it was difficult to tell them to send it here to Mexico. Please check all mail from Capital One, find the card, and FedEx it to me here in Mexico. I am sorry to burden you with this, but there are levels of bureaucracy involved here that are daunting.”

a man in a suit holding a credit card

Image source: http://sundowntraveler.com/travel/gear/top-3-travel-items-to-keep-in-your-pocket/

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