Travel Essentials - Travel Packing Tips and Packing Checklist

Travel Essentials - Travel Packing Tips

Due to increased airport security, many new luggage screening procedures for checked baggage have been put in place. Here's a few packing strategies to help make your next trip as problem-free as possible:

• Have some visible contact information INSIDE each suitcase. This can prove invaluable in the event your luggage's external ID tag and/or flight tag come loose or get damaged.
• Keep all checked bags unlocked; if your bag is selected for random screening, airport personnel may have to break the locks to get inside. Skip the locks to avoid any damage to your luggage and instead use plastic cable ties.
• Do not over-pack your bag. If your luggage gets selected for inspection, airport security screeners may have a difficult time closing your luggage, which can result in damage and extra wrinkles.
• Carry your film with you onboard, as some older screening equipment can damage undeveloped film. It's safest to take film in a protextive film bag packed in your carryon luggage. You can buy special xray proof film bags at most larger camera stores that can store up to a dozen rolls or more of film.
• Use ziplock plastic bags for any items that could leak or possibly break in transit.

Clothes Packing Tips

When packing your suitcase, forget about folding your clothes individually as you would in a dresser. If you do, they will end up wrinkled by the time you reach your destination. Here are a few packing alternatives:

Roll Your Clothes
Experienced travelers swear by this packing method. Rolling works well with jeans, t-shirts, pants, skirts and sports shirts. Lay the item face down, fold back the sleeves and then roll from the bottom up.

Fold Clothes Together
Take two or more garments, for example pants, and lay half of one pair on top of the other. Fold the one on the bottom across the pair on the top. Then take the other and fold it on the top. This packing method gives each pair some cushion where you've folded it so it's less likely to crease or wrinkle in the folds.

Carryon Luggage vs Checked Luggage

If you can get away with only carryon luggage, that's ideal; you'll have less luggage worries - your luggage will be less likely to go mysteriously missing, get damaged on conveyor belts, and won't be as awkward to lug around on your trip.

If you're going on an extended vacation or just can't do without a suitcase of stylish wardrobe options and therefore have to check your luggage, make sure you take off shoulder straps so they don't get caught in luggage conveyor belts.

Identify your luggage in a very obvious way so that it is easy to spot and difficult for someone else to mistake it as theirs. We often use strips of bright yellow tape that we place in strategic parts of the luggage; this helps to quickly identify your luggage from a conveyor belt of near-identical luggage.

Here's a handy travel packing checklist for hassle-free travel.