Issue #249: tried-and-true tips for calmer travel ✈️

My name is Natalie Compton, and I’m a travel reporter for the Washington Post’s new travel destination, By The Way. I’m in the thick of covering holiday travel at work, and off the clock I’m planning my own winter adventures. So far that’s looking like Jackson Hole (for work), New York (for family), and the Yucatán (for vacation!!!). 

Despite being a ~travel expert~ I spent the better part of 2021 making many mistakes on the road (forgetting to pack underwear, forgetting to wear socks to the airport, etcetera). I was rusty after my pandemic hiatus but over the course of two cross-country trips, one assignment in Maui, a week in France, and countless slogs along the Northeast Corridor, I’m finally getting the hang of it again. 

If holiday travel is starting to ramp up your stress level, I’m here to help. Below are some travel tips that have helped me lately (besides the most obvious: pack underwear). 

• Stick to one (slightly) organized bag: Traveling with a carry-on only eliminates the hassle of standing in line to check a bag. I use a sturdy duffel bag (no wheels means easier schlepping!), small toiletry bag, and some packing cubes of various sizes to separate delicates and dirty clothes. If you’re a god-tier packer, get compression bags. My purse holds the rest (laptop, makeup). 

• Don’t forget to pack for your wellbeing: To make my travel day more pleasant, I pack items like compression socks, a scarf that doubles as a travel pillow, and an eye mask (also helpful when sleeping in a not-very-dark place, for example, your aunt's living room couch). Bring your favorite durable snacks, like nuts, candy, apples. Avoid bananas at all costs unless you don’t mind them inevitably exploding in your bag and mushing all over your belongings. 

• Do as much as you can before you leave home: Download podcasts, audiobooks, foreign language apps, playlists so they’re available on airplane mode, and the app of your airline/train/bus for quicker access to your ticket. It’s too late to get TSA PreCheck, but you can still get CLEAR in minutes to cut security lines at major airports. (By the way, they have a free 2-month trial.) Lastly, find out if the place you're visiting has reliable Uber/Lyft/public transportation. Don’t wait until you need to leave. You may have to arrange for an old-timey airport shuttle or enlist help from a friend/family member. 

I hope something in there can bring you some calm this holiday season. You’ve likely seen headlines of passenger rage on planes and airline schedule meltdowns—it’s rough right now. For the sake of better vibes (and human decency), we all need to show extra kindness and empathy to our fellow travelers and the people who make travel happen, like flight attendants, bus drivers, gate agents, baristas, Amtrak employees. Happy holidays, and see you on the road! —Natalie
 

• What's making you happy? It's time for another round of our happy list and we can't wait to hear from you again. What's delighting you this holiday season? Is it a cheesy-but-delightful throw pillow? An annual tradition with an old friend? A specific holiday cookie recipe? Let us know!

• Exciting collab alert! We teamed up with our friends at Haus to curate a limited edition aperitif kit for people who want to press pause this holiday season and make the most out of their downtime (that’s you!). Think: a kick of jalapeño, lemon zest, notes of ginger, and warm spices like cinnamon and cloves. Check out the GNI x Haus aperitifs here. 

• Win a bunch of good stuff: There's still time to enter our Holiday Host Care Package giveaway! Send this link to the best host you know so they can win an incredible collection of hosting goodies like fancy olive oil from Brightland and a dutch oven from Great Jones. Plus, LOTS more.

• Oops. 🤦‍♀️ In our most recent newsletter about gifts for the hard-to-shop-for-people in your life, we miscredited the Lady Bird rec. The contributor’s name is Hunter Harris, whose excellent newsletter you should sign up for!

weekly picks

• We’ve embraced a comforting wow-it-gets-so-dark-so-early cocktail hour in my household, and lately I’ve been going for Negronis made with new-to-me Asian gins. Sông Cái dry gin is distilled in Vietnam using 14 hand-foraged ingredients like green turmeric and heirloom pomelo. 135° East is from Japan and made with yuzu and sansho pepper (plus a splash of sake).

• Maskne is my nemesis. An esthetician (and a bunch of flight attendants who wear masks all day) told me to use salicylic acid gels to spot treat problem areas (for me, that’s my entire chin!). It’s been a godsend. 

• Struggling with anxiety, fatigue, or indigestion? Trouble falling or staying asleep? Base's at-home lab testing and app helps you identify hormone or vitamin level imbalances that could be causing you to feel less than your best. They tell you what to test and offer personalized recommendations for nutrition, supplements, and improved daily habits. GNI readers can get 20% off your first purchase with code GNI. Take their quiz to get started. Sponsor

• Normally I wouldn’t read an encyclopedia cover-to-cover, but the (giant) new book Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer's Guide is an exception. It’s full of fascinating food facts I can’t keep to myself, like how thousands of years ago the Irish used to preserve butter by burying it in bogs. People are still stumbling on long-forgotten “bog butter.” The book’s the best. 

• I recently got my first real cold in a long, long while. To rule out covid, I took a BinaxNOW rapid self-test which you can get at most drug stores (depending on where you live, they may be tough to find; I covered the impending test shortage. If that doesn’t work, order Quidel QuickVue online). It’s fast and cheap and I recommend getting one ahead of your holiday travels to keep in your suitcase. 

• Justine Bateman’s book Face: One Square Foot of Skin looks at the societal forces that drive women to fear aging. As someone turning 31 this month, let me tell you, it wrecked me. Bateman’s stories, derived from interviews with 20 women, have challenged everything I’ve believed about Western beauty culture, wrinkles, celebrities, cosmetic procedures, even hair dye. 

• Whenever I need to laugh, I pull up this Clickhole story “5 Times The Animatronic Fox On Splash Mountain Addressed Me By Name And Told Me He Was Going To Marry My Dad.” If this is not your sense of humor, you will think I have lost it. Nonetheless, I laugh out loud every read.  

• PCA SKIN harnesses Hyaluronic Acid (HA), a beloved moisturizing skincare ingredient, in their science-backed skincare line. HA is like a magnet for moisture—it's naturally occurring in your skin and helps hydrate and smooth. Unlike many HA serums that only get to the surface, PCA SKIN's line boosts HA production, making its effects last. Hello, radiant skin! GNI readers can get a free Winter Hydration Kit with a $150 purchase. Use code NIGHT21. Sponsor

• "But this is normal now. Our lives are not on hold. This is it." (The New York Times)

• Love this six-year-old farmer! (The Lily)

• On growing up in a motel, and the ghosts that remain. (Vox)

• Carl the snowplow ❤️. (VT Digger)

• Anyone else get suddenly extremely self-conscious and sweaty when you hear the word "Abercrombie?" Turns out, the Abercrombie of 2021 is not the Abercrombie of the early to mid-2000s. (Washington Post)

• Immediate click: When multilevel marketing met Gen Z. (The Atlantic)

• Attention all spreadsheet nerds: apparently there is such thing as an "Excel TikTok influencer." (The Verge)

• You have our official permission to get rid of all of this stuff. (Apartment Therapy)