With Halloween behind us, preparations for the holidays have commenced. Make sure you're ready for traveling this holiday season with these 7 travel hacks!

1. Christmas in the Galapagos: Booking the Galapagos over Christmas can be tough but if you book in advance and agree to be flexible with your travel dates the chances of confirmation are greater. Avanti has added several new ships to our fleet of offered vessels to aid in the confirmation process as well! 
   
   
2. Christmas Markets: From London to Croatia Christmas Markets are a family favorite during the holiday season and not to be missed!  Each country has its own unique spin on the centuries old tradition. This is the perfect opportunity to support small local business while getting handmade crafts and trinkets to bring back home.
   
   
3. Wrapped Gifts and TSA: Pack your wrapping paper separately and don’t waste money on fancy wrapping prior to your flight! Yes, fancy wrapping is half the fun but the TSA has the ability to open wrapped gifts. Pack your gift wrap separately and wrap it once you are back in the states. Additionally remember that Vacuum-packed items can trigger alarms so make sure that those types of items are easily accessible and clearly labeled. Finally – make sure to double check TSA requirements – things like Camembert Cheese are not allowed on flights because of their ability to turn into a liquid.
   
   
4. Flying on a long haul over the holidays can stress out the best of us. Taking a few items for a little TLC on your flight can make a huge difference. Breathing the recycled air on a long haul flight can compromise your immune system having something like Emergen-C and combining it with a B-12 Vitamin can help you kick the jet lag quickly and arrive refreshed. Speaking of refreshed, a long haul flight is the perfect time to get in a quick facial – bringing along wash-less face masks is the perfect way to give your skin a pick me up before hitting the baggage claim. Finally, traveling can take a toll on your circulation, compression socks are a great addition to your travel bag – they steadily squeeze your legs and feet helping the veins and leg muscles move your blood more efficiently. Compression socks decrease swelling that can occur due to low circulation on long haul flights and also help prevent DVT(Deep Vein Thrombosis).
   
   
5. Packing hacks – So, you’ve traveled your heart out and bought enough stuff to fill an additional suitcase but with some smart packing techniques you can keep the space in your luggage and avoid buying that extra bag. Roll your clothes instead of folding them and store them in ziplock bags so that you can remove the air in between the clothes. Add a dryer sheet to the insides of your shoes and then use them to pack things in.
   
   
6. Google translate- Stuck in Tokyo on Christmas and can’t read your dinner menu? Most smart phones these days have apps like google translate that can translate real time speech to text so you can communicate with people on the spot while also utilizing your smart phones camera to translate text. This can make you feel more in control of a foreign world.
   
   
7. Last but not least – Bring your good spirit to the world! There is always something to be said for grace and patience when traveling during the holidays. Just remember, everyone has to get to where they are going so having a good attitude can change an entire experience!

Happy travels!