TMOliver

I have several nylon belts with "plastic" buckles which I've worn to travel for years. I've never had to remove one. Having experienced an a/c incident and evac long ago, I wear slip on shoes w/traction soles (and socks, having been oft informed on FT that the airport floor is "Filth Center" - and because on those long night flights an old man's feet grow cold). The latest in a succession of "Travel Jackets" does double duty as a blazer and has "Velcro" pocket flaps which offer at least modest security in the TSA's bins. I generally wear chinos and solid color cotton TShirts (LS or SS, depending on the season), and speaking passable Spanish & Italian, long ago quit worrying about looking like a 'Merkin.

Winter or Summer, equatorial or sub-arctic, don't forget a hat or cap. Back in the 80s/90s, a half dozen "Gimme" caps in your bag were valuable, favors appreciated by the European young, more valuable than 'Merkin cigarettes and Gillette razor blades had been up until the mid60s.

The major factor in choice of wearing apparel? Where the heck you're going and what's the weather going to be like. I'll never forget a direct Translant into Scotland one April day...a bunch of US collegians, many in shorts and TShirts, and many in flip-flops. Well, it was about 28F, light sleet, with the wind out of Spitzbergen via Pentland Forth.

There may be no fools like us old fools, but over time, I've encountered no shortage of young fools adrift on furrin shores. Just don't wear black knee sox with shorts and sandals!

gobluetwo

Even with a plastic belt, it will need to come off if going through a body scanner, from what I've seen.

It depends on the sweater. If it's a light sweater, it can stay on. Anything mid-weight to heavy-weight, IME, they've had to come off when going through a body scanner.

If you've gone through the body scanner and need some additional patdown, you cannot put your shoes back on first. If you are PreCheck and alarm going through the metal detector, you can leave your shoes on. At least, I don't recall ever having taken off my shoes for randoms.


Laptops, unless you are in a dedicated PreCheck line, must come out of your bag into a separate bin, or can be unzipped if you have a checkpoint-friendly bag.