It’s said that “travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” Whether you’re journeying to a completely unfamiliar place, a favorite destination, or a place that’s part of your origin story, traveling is the gateway to making memories.
But travel can also be fraught with challenges, be it putting together an affordable travel package, dealing with Transportation Security Administration (TSA) rules, or overcoming unexpected obstacles. At the Daily Dot, we keep our eye on TikTok for the best travel hacks from TikTok creators. Here are some highlights from what they’ve offered so far.
Best travel hacks for getting through security
Though the 9/11 attacks changed airport security forever, the rules and TSA’s enforcement of those rules can get a trip off to a bad start. Several TikTok creators out there have created workarounds to help travelers better navigate security lines.
One offered a hack, claiming it was offered by a TSA worker, to get liquids through the security line. Despite the rule that a traveler can’t bring more than three ounces of any single liquid or gel through airport security, this person claimed that freezing liquids is the move, as they’ll register as solids in the scanner. Someone did point out a potential pitfall, though, saying, “Definitely will forget everything in the freezer & realize when [I’m] in the car to the airport.”
Another offered a hack that involved putting liquids near big items in two separate bags. TSA’s own website notes, “You are allowed to bring a quart-sized bag of liquids, aerosols, gels, creams and pastes in your carry-on bag and through the checkpoint. These are limited to travel-sized containers that are 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less per item. Placing these items in the small bag and separating from your carry-on baggage facilitates the screening process. Pack items that are in containers larger than 3.4 ounces or 100 milliliters in checked baggage.”
If you need two bags, one commenter suggested attributing one to a traveling companion—if you have one who travels light, that is.
Tips for getting deals on flights
One TikToker specializing in travel offers a way to navigate the Southwest Airlines website during their periodic sales to better see where the best deals are. It’s possible to view all destinations from your home airport, and from there, you can see options for getting to cities that could be as low as $29.
Another traveler recommended going to the airport to buy cheaper flights on budget airlines, as opposed to getting them online beforehand. She demonstrated it working for a Spirit Airlines ticket, and other commenters shared their own successes with that method.
One creator warned about using Kiwi to find deals, though, noting a nightmare situation in which she booked a flight through Kiwi, but her boarding pass was marked fraudulent, and she had to pay the airline on the spot for a new ticket. A Kiwi spokesperson claimed, in this case, “The ticketing provider we used to source our customer the best price applied publicly available promotional codes from the airline.”
Tips for finding a place to stay
While some travelers prefer the Airbnb experience to booking hotels, some find the prices and the demands on guests (in the form of “chore lists”) to be too much.
But if you do use Airbnb, one person on TikTok recommends saving the phone numbers of hosts and negotiating rates with them directly, noting that “some people have multiple Airbnb properties and would rather rent to people they know have been good guests in the past.” But at least one travel expert blasted that advice, noting that Airbnb has safeguards that help protect consumers, and bypassing that to work directly with hosts might put you at risk of getting ripped off.
If you want to go the hotel route, one former hotel worker claims that third-party booking sites are “a scam,” and you can use the per-night prices listed on those sites to try to negotiate an even cheaper rate directly with the hotel.
More travel hacks on the Daily Dot
If you’re curious to know more travel hacks, the Daily Dot continues to be on the lookout for those, whether it’s getting Uber to drop you off at a hotel near your airport destination to save money, getting preferential treatment from a flight attendant on a plane, or a novel trick for making sure you know which luggage is yours in the baggage claim carousel.