According To Reddit: These Are The Best Travel Hacks We Should Know About

There are some people who travel like pros and have so much wisdom to share. While the rest of us struggle with packing too much (it just seems so important to have several outfit changes a day), these people know how to bring light carry-ons, pack the right snacks, and make any trip feel like a breeze.

Thanks to Reddit, we have access to tons of tips about how to make traveling as convenient, easy, and stress-free as possible. Here are the best travel hacks we should know about, according to people on Reddit.

Ask For An Earlier Flight And You'll Get Perks

For a lot of people, flying is a huge stressor and it feels like it's best to just grin and bear it (or download some good music or podcasts to distract yourself the whole time). Other people enjoy finding flight deals and figuring out how to get the most out of their travel time.

This travel hack comes straight from Reddit and it's really smart: talk to someone who works for the airline at the gate and ask if you can be on an earlier flight. They'll have a waiting list for people who are interested in doing this. This person wrote, "The upside to taking a bump is tremendous; there are typically financial incentives and sometimes upgrades on your next flight. If you have to stay an extra night in your location the airline will put you up in a hotel." They also shared that they've been bumped to an earlier flight that was a direct one, so they didn't have to deal with a layover. Someone responded to this Reddit post and said they once got bumped into business class and even got a voucher for a free round-trip flight.

This sounds awesome because you can save time and get home earlier or start your trip earlier than you thought that you would. And since not everyone knows that you can do this, you'll probably be successful. (And then you'll be the one in your friend group with the clever travel hacks.)

Buy Plane Tickets To Europe Or Outside The U.S. For Thanksgiving

When we think about the craziest, busiest times to be at an airport, we typically think about two major holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas. These are the times when people want to be with their families and people definitely want to fly home.

This travel hack from Reddit is also great: someone shared that they find super cheap plane tickets when they book them for Thanksgiving Day. They said that this works if you're in the U.S. and want to somewhere else. They wrote, "Ticket prices go WAY down if you are leaving the country. Few years ago I wanted to go to Ireland and booked my tickets 2 months in advance. Tickets were around 1,200 dollars every day except thanksgiving which dropped to 550. Have done this every thanksgiving since."

This is a really smart idea since chances are, you've already got some time off work booked if it's Thanksgiving or even Christmas. It would be a good time to go on an epic vacation (if your family doesn't mind you missing Thanksgiving one year, of course).

These Hacks Help Make Your Hotel Feel More Like Home

Then there are the travel hacks that help make you feel like you're at home when you're staying in a hotel for the weekend or the week. Whatever you can do to feel more comfortable will help a lot. According to this post on Reddit, there's a way to make sure that you can sleep in a dark hotel room: "keep a couple of clip devices (binder clips, chip clips, clothespins, etc) in your cosmetic case or Dopp kit. Quite often hotel curtains don't close completely and you can secure them with the clips."

This hack involves the Continental breakfast that is often available at hotels: take the ingredients and enjoy a lovely sandwich. Someone wrote, "If they have bagels or English muffins, you can make breakfast sandwiches. I don't know why this doesn't occur to people in hotels, but nobody ever makes them. But one day I saw my coworker make one and it just seemed too obvious."

The final thing that you can do in a hotel: if you're given the choice to stay in an upgraded room but would have to pay for it, you can say no. This way, you might be granted this upgrade anyway and it won't cost you anything extra at all. Hotels can book too many people in rooms just like airlines can oversell seats.

If you're curious about some useful travel hacks, these ones from Reddit are really helpful. From how to sleep better in a dark hotel room to getting on an earlier flight, these hacks should make your next trip much smoother.

NEXT: 24 Common USA Travel Tips That Are Actually Really Unhelpful