Adding a travel angle: if you're away and a pipe goes, the person you send to check on the place needs to find that shutoff in seconds. The shared 'HOUSE - EMERGENCY' album has saved a house-sitter of mine from a small leak becoming a insurance claim. Share it wider than you think you need to.

Frequent flyer through YOW here: my long-layover move is the aviation museum. Even people who don't care about planes walk out caring about planes. And it's never crowded, which after an airport is medicine.

frequent flyer take: airplane mode is the best do-not-disturb ever shipped. the plane is just the excuse

The 'wear the heavy shoes, pack the light ones' rule is the single biggest volume saver and people fight it every time. Shoes are where carry-ons go to die. I've watched someone pack three pairs 'just in case' and then wear the same one pair for the entire trip, which they knew they would, in their heart.

The 'just in case' item is always the one that flies home unused. Always. My personal shame item was a laptop I carried through four states and opened once, in an airport, to check in for the flight home.

Had a long layover at YVR last week and came into the city just for the seawall. Twelve days of sun and you all still looked suspicious of it. Deeply relatable city.

The permanent travel charger is elite. Mine has a dedicated cable too, so the home cable never gets kidnapped into the suitcase and left in a hotel. Duplicate the thing, protect the peace.

Booking the longer layover for the food is the frequent flyer version of taking the scenic route. Respect.

I've eaten all four styles within one work quarter, which my doctor calls a warning sign and I call field research. Verdict: whichever one is closest to the airport at the time. But vinegar sauce travels best in memory.

The parkway is the rare road where the journey actually is the destination and not just a thing people stitch on pillows. Pro tip for anyone going: fill the tank before you get on, services on the parkway itself are sparse on purpose.

One add-on from the road: when you cancel, actually confirm the renewal date and screenshot the cancellation, because "I cancelled that" and "that stopped charging me" are unfortunately two different events. I've been billed a month after cancelling more than once and the screenshot is what got the refund.

The 'always pack the shell' rule is the one thing frequent travellers and hikers fully agree on. The layer you leave behind to save space is the exact layer the weather was waiting for. It weighs nothing packed and everything when you need it and don't have it.

Frequent flyer dropping in from the travel room: the pre-funded trip also changes how you travel, not just how you pay. No low-grade guilt hum during the trip itself. You already had permission. That's worth more than the interest you're skipping.

Ha, yes, the only downside of the early flight is the alarm, and the alarm is a one-time cost against a whole day of upside. I've never once landed at noon rested and thought 'I wish I'd taken the evening flight.' The 5am me disagrees, but 5am me doesn't get a vote.

Co-signing the 'fly the ugly hours' point with a caveat from someone who lives in seat 34B: the ugly-hours savings are real, but price in the cost of a wasted arrival day if you land wrecked at 6am. Sometimes the cheap red-eye is genuinely cheaper; sometimes it just moves the cost from your wallet to your first day. Do the math on the whole trip, not just the fare.

The wallet photo is the one people sleep on and then desperately wish they'd done. Seat 34B is my second home and I've watched a guy spend an entire delayed layover trying to remember which cards were in a wallet he left at security. One overhead photo would've been a five-minute phone call instead.

This generalizes way past the gym. My travel version is "I'm not deciding whether to go to the airport early, I'm just putting my shoes on and grabbing the bag by the door." Front-loading the tiny action when you're tired and weak-willed, instead of relying on a big decision later, is the whole trick and it works on everything.