Stuffed bras, sneaky fishing jackets and free hotel upgrades: Travel hacks from the Cheap Holiday Expert

Dickenson’s also became known for her hotel upgrade email template, available on her website for others to copy, paste and send.

The template is brief, polite and friendly – and has a pretty high success rate.

“I get messages – maybe two or three – every single day from people saying, ‘Oh my God, it worked. I just turned up, we are in a suite. We’ve got champagne. Thank you so much. I would never ever have asked if you hadn’t had put the suggestion in my head,'” says Dickenson.

Dickenson’s motto is when it comes to any kind of travel upgrade, it’s always worth asking. After all, the worst that will happen is someone says no. For hotels specifically, Dickenson advises doing some digging beforehand and working out to whom you should address your email – that personal touch can really help.

Wonder of travel

While Dickenson enjoys making his followers laugh with his packing hacks, he’s also serious about his commitment to helping people travel for less.

She’s regularly frustrated at the high costs of travel, especially for families, and the fact these costs can become a roadblock to vacations.

“People deserve to get away, to have that moment to relax, to see something new,” Dickenson says. “For children growing up – I think it’s a really important part of learning something new, learning about new cultures.”

Dickenson hopes her tips will help travelers avoid extraneous costs and encourage them to explore the world as much as they can.

“There’s that lovely thing about travel that just reminds you that we are all just humans dotted at different points across the globe, and there’s a lot more that unites us than makes us different,” she says. “I know I’ve got super cheesy here, but truly that is one of the major massive perks that travel has, that it’s able to bring people together in that way.”

CNN