Travel Mania

They say that humans are the only species who make the same mistake twice (or many times) but to be fair, we also learn from our mistakes. This also applies to traveling so, after years traveling and experiencing different challenges (logistic, linguistic and other sorts), we can call ourselves experienced travelers and we may have also developed rituals that we follow automatically. Here are some of the mistakes I've made when it comes to traveling and how they changed my ways of traveling, some of them might seem common sense to you but I had to learn my lesson:
1. Get a cab at least 15 minutes ahead schedule - Last time we were in Mexico City (where traffic can be crazy) we ordered a cab for a certain time. After 15 minutes waiting I called the taxi company and they said the cab 'had an accident' and it was not coming (so if I hadn't called we would still be there waiting). Fortunately we had family there and they rode us to the airport on time, or apparently on time (more on that later). But since we don't have family or alternative solutions everywhere in the world, we learned that when we need a cab, we have to get it earlier and have different companies' phone numbers and always an alternate way of getting where we want to go.
2. Checking flight status - So we got to the airport on time, only to find out that our plane time had changed and it had left minutes after we arrived to the airport! Imagine the frustration! In our defense, we had booked through an online agency and they were supposed to inform us of the variation (since it was not last minute). But this taught us to check departure times and if the flight is confirmed at least a day before the travel date. And if we can get mobile flight alerts, the better!
3. Always have a change of clothes in my carry on - It has only happened once (and hopefully it won't happen often) that our luggage arrived a couple of days after we did so that time we weren't prepared and ended up having to buy everything: clothes, toothbrush, etc. But from that time on, we always put a change of clothes, pijamas and important stuff in our carry ons, just in case.
4. Having a copy of IDs in Dropbox - This is something we will do in future travels. After recent events regarding cruise incidents, we thought it might be better to have a copy of our passports and other ID forms in Dropbox (a kind of virtual cloud where you can keep docs and access them from any computer with an internet connection), just in case we need them or in case we lose the originals.
5.Use lots of moisturizer in cabin - Let's finish with a beauty tip :) while air traveling, the air in the cabin can dry your skin very much, so imagine how dry it can get after a 10 hour flight! I always take a rich moisturizer in my carry on and apply it constantly to my face. And of course, drinking lots of water both before and during the flight helps.