A Great Resource: RealSimple.com

If you have never heard of Real Simple, I suggest you click the link—especially if you travel. My Mom reads the magazine called Real Simple—a magazine that highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly of basically everything. A special issue called Real Simple Travel lists the best places to travel depending on the time of year; it tells you what types of clothes to wear, the best places to eat, where to stay, and endless tips and tricks to make the most of your vacations.

The part of the magazine that caught my attention is a section called: The Travelers Handbook. It features advice from A-Z such as: awesome travel websites, the best way to write a postcard, how to sleep better on an airplane, as well as other mind grenades that should keep you busy.

For instance, do you know when you should hand out tips?

“Anna Post, Emily Post’s great-great-granddaughter and the spokesperson for the Emily Post Institute, shares, well, tips on what to hand out when.

Doorman: $2 for help with bags, $1 for a hailed cab.

Taxi driver: 10 to 15 percent. Add an extra dollar or two if he/she helps with the bags.

Airport porter: Most porters charge $2 for the first bag. If they don’t, you should pay at least that. Add a dollar or two for good service.

Other airport staff (ticket agents, flight attendants): Don’t tip them. It can be tempting to slip an agent a $20 bill in the hopes that you’ll get better treatment out of the deal, but that comes off as smarmy.

Bellhop: $2 for the first bag, $1 a bag after that.

Housekeeping: $2 to $5 a day. Leave this tip daily, as you often have a different person cleaning your room each day. (Leave a note so the housekeeper knows the money is for her.)

Concierge: $5 to $10 every time she helps you with something above and beyond the job description, like scoring hard-to-get tickets to a show. For guidelines on tipping in other countries, click here”