How do you travel for 10 hours and set off the plane looking fabulous? Where can you find glamorous, but cheap hotels in a foreign city? How can you see all there is to see in just 3 days? How can you enjoy the local cuisine without adding 10 pounds to your frame? And how do you avoid the dreadful illnesses that try to get you when you travel and keep you in the hotel room and not on the street? All these questions and more will be answered as I, your travel guru, reveal my vacation secrets.

Sitting for 10 hours straight will not only make your hair look funky and your clothes look dreadful, but your legs don’t want to listen to your brain. My vacation secrets regarding the traveling part of travel include the following: bring a small hairbrush on the plane with you and a small bottle of leave-in conditioner. About 30 minutes prior to landing, go to the bathroom, brush out your mane and apply a little leave in conditioner. Your hair will revive itself from the dry, pressurized air and a simple comb through will keep strands neat and shiny. As per your clothing, fly comfortably, but try to avoid the dreaded sweat suit. Nothing says frump like arriving in Paris in black yoga pants and a oversized t-shirt. Try layering, you will be warm on the plane and you can change when you land. Avoid clothes that wrinkle easily and keep it simple. One of my top vacation secrets for sleepy legs on a plane, make sure to walk around! Catwalk the aisle if you have to, keep the blood flowing, and you will continue glowing!

Nothing feels worse than getting off a long flight and walking into a gross hotel. My vacation secrets for hotel shopping? Go online and read user reviews, go to travel forums and ask questions. While it may seem like agonizing Internet work now, you will be happy when you arrive at your in-budget retreat. 

Trying to see an entire city in just a few days is exhausting. Not only are you rushing from place to place, you are tired, hot and brain dead by the end of the tour days, good luck going out past 10 p.m.! I have many vacation secrets for touring. Make an itinerary before the trip. Buy a map of the city and figure out what sights are near each other that you want to see, and choose a section of the city for each day on tour. Also, decide how you want to get around, taxi, bus, rental car, etc. Knowing beforehand how you are getting around will help make actually getting there much easier.

Yum, nothing says vacation like splurging on the local cuisine. But be careful, just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean you can have pastas three times a day. Some vacation secrets to help you stay slim: skip that taxi ride and walk instead! You will get a great feel for the city and work off all those extra calories. And since you are on vacation, go dancing at night, do a bike ride around the city; my vacation secrets for keeping the pounds off encourage you to have fun!

Getting sick seems almost a given when you travel, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. My vacation secrets for staying healthy include drinking bottled water, emphasis on the word bottled, carrying around hand sanitizer (wash your hands constantly if not more!), watching what you eat (make sure meat is cooked thoroughly) and keeping covered (if you are in a warm place). Sunstroke and heat poisoning are worse than you might imagine, and very easy to get.

Hope these vacation secrets help! Remember stay safe, have fun and take lots of pictures. If nothing more, take those vacation secrets to heart!