With many airlines now charging to check bags, in reaction to recent high fuel costs, many travelers are packing lighter, and with fewer bags so that they can carry-on more, and check less.  Following you’ll find some tips and information that may help you decide whether to check or carry-on before you travel.

Chances are, if you’re traveling for a longer period of time you’ll need to check bags anyway.  Carry-on bags are usually limited to two per person, so if you’re traveling with a lot of clothes, shoes and other items, you might have difficulty fitting all of your belongings into so few pieces of luggage.  But for those traveling four to seven days, or less, here are some ways you can minimize the number of bags you have to check.

Roll your clothes.  This actually does two things for you, allows you to fit more and prevents wrinkling (excluding some fabrics, such as linen, which will wrinkle anyway).  This is especially useful during summer vacation trips, as summer clothes are less bulky than winter clothes.  A rolled tee-shirt takes up very little space.

Combine bags.  Instead of taking one carry-on and a purse, or briefcase, try to put your purse or briefcase into a carry-on bag.  Chances are you will be able to fit a few more things into that bag.  Just make sure you pack neatly so that you don’t experience long waits in security.  Messily packed bags are often searched as the x-ray machine images are not clear.

Plan ahead.  Do you really need that third pair of shoes?  Remember, you’ll be wearing a pair while you travel, and maybe you’ll need one more pair, tops.  Need a hair dryer?  Most hotels offer hair dryers and irons, so leave those items home.  Sure, the hotel hair dryer may not be as advanced as yours, but weigh that against the cost of checking a bag.  Is bringing your hairdryer with you for three days worth $25 or even $50 extra?

Before you pack, make certain you check the regulations of carry-on bag size.  Airlines can change their regulations, and might if everyone starts bringing the maximum allowable sized-bags to carry-on.  Just like booking hotels and parking on ParkSleepFly, a little advanced planning can go a long way.

Have you ever booked a room in a hotel that was supposedly superb, only to find your experience quite the opposite?  Perhaps the room holds hidden dirt, or the bed is uncomfortable…or the noise in the city outside of your room is positively unbearable.  As soon as you check out, perhaps sooner, you may be filled with a need for vindication, which is quickly replaced with the undying need to keep anyone you know and care about from enduring the experience you’ve just had.  That need shifts as you think that no one should have to endure that…the protection your review can offer should be offered to all.

If you’d booked with ParkSleepFly, you would be able to review your hotel experience and your rating will be represented on a five star system, revealed on every search for which that hotel appears.  Of course, if you’d booked with ParkSleepFly, you would not have endured the experience you’re now longing to reveal to others.  You would have been able to see that other customers rated the “five star hotel” as a one star establishment, and could direct your attentions to a different accommodation.

Of course, the hotels featured on ParkSleepFly tend to get good reviews from customers who have stayed in their rooms.  However, unlike many other reservation sites, PSF gives customers the option to review their stay, because customer experience, service and satisfaction is paramount.

With so many ways to get to the airport, why would travelers need to drive themselves; why would they need to park?  Let’s look first at some of the alternate options available.  Public transportation, hired cars and carpooling all present alternate ways to get to and from the airport, but driving oneself has unique and positive effects.

Public transportation, such as trains, subways and buses all exist to transport the public about, more efficiently and for less money than other modes of transportation, such as hired cars.  However, the two main issues with traveling via public transportation are inconvenience and timing.  If you’re carrying lots of heavy luggage with you, trains and buses can be difficult; you have to carry everything, probably for a considerable distance, and find a way to fit it beside you or over your head.  Trains don’t have a “check your luggage” feature.  Furthermore, relying on public transportation, particularly buses, can be risky when you’ve a flight to catch.  There are many possibilities for delays that could cost you your next connecting ride to the airport.

Hired cars are often expensive.  While you won’t have to worry much about where to stow your luggage while you ride, or making it to the airport or not, the fact is that the cost of traveling by taxicab or limousine is often too expensive.

Carpooling, or getting a ride from a friend or family member is a good way to save money, but can encounter obvious hassles, such as different flight times, different terminals, traffic delays and personal delays.

Overall, driving yourself will allow you to bypass many unecessary delays and costs, while affording you the convenience of knowing you’ll have space for your luggage.  While you’re parking at the airport, why not enjoy a complimentary shuttle and a hotel room?  Booking your parking on ParkSleepFly will grant you all of those options.

When we travel, timing is more important than in most other activities we undergo.  If we do not wake up in time, we miss our flight.  If we leave the house too late, we miss our flight.  If we miss our first flight, we could miss our connecting flight, and so on and so forth.  When it comes to timing, a missed step or a late journey can snowball into a timing disaster.  No one can avoid all possible and unforeseen delays, but by planning ahead, travelers can impact their timing accuracy.

One of the ways travelers have always prepared early for a trip is to pack ahead of time.  To make sure all laundry and dry cleaning is ready and picked up, make sure the mail is set to be held, in advance, and to book as much of the trip ahead of time as possible.  People don’t typically walk into an airport and hope to purchase a ticket for their ideal flight right then and there, mere hours before the plane takes off.  Most now buy their tickets online.

The same can be said for hotel reservations at their destination.  But what about hotel reservations at the airport?  The best way to be on time for your early morning flight is to wake up mere minutes from the airport.  Instead of enduring what could be a long, frustrating and traffic-filled trip from your home or office to the airport, you could wake up, walk downstairs and board a complimentary shuttle, ride five minutes to your terminal, and arrive before the crowds have even left their homes, if you so choose.

When you travel, timing is everything, so why not reserve your advantage with ParkSleepFly and be certain that you’ll not only get to the airport in time to make your flight, but with time to spare.  Why would you want time to spare?  Wouldn’t that be boring?  If you bring a book with you, or something else to pass your time, you may later be grateful for the spare time.  It may help cushion the unforeseen delays, and if not, can provide some relaxation time before you travel, and that is a rare commodity.

For years, aspirins and other medicines have always claimed their ability to conquer and banish a headache.  Not many of them can claim to prevent a headache without side effects.  What if you could avoid a travel headache altogether?  Prevent it, before it even crosses your mind to allow a headache…without medicine or side effects?

Okay, so we’re not saying don’t bring along your Tylenol.  What if you bump your head on the overhead compartment?  But we’re not talking about the kind of headaches that come from hitting your head; we’re talking about the kind that come from not getting enough sleep.  Thousands of Americans suffer from sleep deprivation, and while many times, that is caused by something perhaps out of our control.  Many times though, we stay up late to catch up on work, wake up early to get a head start, and work through our lunch break so that we don’t fall behind.  We work weekends, and bring a laptop on vacation so we don’t return a desk buried in work.

Every opportunity to safely rest should be snatched up, and ParkSleepFly is ready to provide that opportunity.  By reserving a hotel room for the night before your flight (or the night after), you get the promise of a full night’s sleep.  Lack of sleep contributes not only to headaches, but to lethargy, weight gain, irritability, and in general, a whole slew of conditions that no one wants.

ParkSleepFly knows that you’re busy, and that you have lots of work to do while you travel.  But we want you to be comfortable and happy too.  Treat yourself to a good night’s sleep, because sleeping on a plane, at least in most seats, isn’t as restful as in a hotel room, on a big bed that you can have all to yourself.