gooselee

Aww...let 'em play a bit more...

Proudelitist

1: Book Early. Prices don't go down closer to departure, they go up.

2: Book your seats. Second nature to FF'ers, but infrequent travelers still mistakenly think there is a logic airlines use when THEY pick your seat.

3: Avoid every line you can. Print BP at home, never check bags, get taxi's at the departures level instead of the arrivals level, board early.

4: Be careful about what you eat and drink, even in your own country. Bring immodium and laxatives.

5: Never trust any strangers that approach you, especially if they want to show you around, take you out for a drink, etc. You pick who you interact with.

6: Photocopy your passport, in case you lose your actual passport.

7: Travel on light days..mid week, later flights.

8: If you can get to a city's smaller airports, use those. Less crowds, easier access etc.

9: Don't fly WN. EVER

10: Remember that whatever you eat on the day of, or the day before, a long flight is what you will be dealing with DURING the flight. Eat light, and safe.

DavidDTW

True for airfares, but not always the case for hotels and rental cars. I usually book something to guarantee I have it, but keep checking right up until departure for a better price. Of course, this is dependent on location and demand. YMMV

ft101

Quite the opposite. Get the airline to carry as much as possible so you don't have to.

oenophilist

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

blitzen

Inconceivable

Finkface

moondog

+1

Proudelitist

But then you have more lines and have to go to bag claim. A big time waster, especially on frequent domestic biz trips.

What's more, in the event of a missed connection or lost bags, you can end up without a change of clothes for a few days. Having it with you all the time makes sudden interruptions easier to deal with.

moondog

I used to be a religious supporter of your school of thought, but about two years ago, I started checking bags every week, and now completely sold that this is a far more civil way to travel:
-my bag hasn't been lost or damaged yet, but if this happens, I'm capable of buying clothes at all of my destinations
-I walk around airports with nothing except for my computer bag, and sometimes I even place it inside of my checked bag (along with my jacket)
-checking my bag takes less than a minute
-on occasion, I have to wait for up to 5 minutes at baggage claim, but in the context of a 3 hour flight plus a 1.5 hour delay, those 5 minutes are rather insignificant
-because overhead bin space is a non issue for me, I can wait in the lounge/concourse until the last possible minute

Silver Fox

Don't ever eat the food in foreign places as you always get sick.

Efrem

Just saw this in a blog about packing as little as possible:

"If it doesn't smell, it's clean."

Not sure that's always true - coffee stains don't smell - but, in general, the blogger has a point.

darthbimmer

I'm not a hardliner either way on the carry-on vs. checked bag debate. I choose whichever is most appropriate for my trip. Here are several counterpoints to what you've written that cause me to avoid checking bags on many trips:

-- Buying clothes at my destination is difficult if it's a foreign country and I don't speak the primary language.
-- Buying clothes at my destination is a frustrating time sink if it's a business trip.
-- Buying specialized clothing (think tailored suits and certain sporting gear) is expensive and time consuming even with language fluency.
-- If I'm traveling between locations frequently after I land, a bag that's delayed by a day may never catch up to me as the airline/shipper fails to deliver it to the proper address on time.
-- While many airports are able to deliver my bag within 5 minutes or less of the time I arrive at baggage claim, certain airports at certain times of day commonly take 20 minutes or more. When traveling on a tight schedule or simply tired, that's frustrating.

enviroian

Wrong thread

celle

Impossible to follow that rule, if you're there for longer than a few hours.

Avoid salads. Don't eat the fruit, unless you can cook it or peel it.