Cromely

I would not suggest keeping you full itinerary or anything with your home address in or on your checked bag. It just tells people you aren't home. Use your work address, Or just use your name and cell phone number. If your bag gets misplaced, your cell phone number is just as helpful in getting it back as your address.

Besides, if you are at the start of a trip, do you want your bag going back home if it gets delayed?

Cromely.

pueywei

Find a credit card with baggage delay insurance as a benefit and just go on a shopping spree if the bag gets delayed/misplaced.

If I book tickets on that card, I would actually look forward to my bags getting delayed.

beckduer

Brilliant site! I love it. He has several links to others of like packing minds.

I think I spent about 3 hours going over his stuff before my last big trip. It worked though! Considering I usually take a full checked bag for a weekend trip I made vast improvements using his ideas.

nkedel

Match? "Accent color"? Somehow I don't think those matter for geeks like me.

Emma65

If you live alone or if no-one will be house sitting for you while you are away:

NEVER EVER PUT YOUR HOME ADDRESS IN/ON YOUR LUGGAGE TAG!

Thieves canvass the area to see if the house/flat is empty and if it is they strike. Guess where they get the address from. You got it - luggage handlers.

All I do is put a tag with phone numbers and my name. Those numbers are mobile numbers I will have access to while away so they can reach me that way.

If you feel you need to put an address down - make it your office address and let people at the office know you do this.

/E

jessiemax

When choosing your seat on a RJ, keep in mind that there is very limited space under the seat on the single seat side of those with the 1-2 seat configurations. I cannot fit my laptop case under the single seat, but it will fit on the 2 seat side.

pinniped

Never, under any circumstances, allow yourself to become separated from your running shoes. The airline will lose the bag that has them in it, and you will be forced to skip that evening's run, opting instead to go to the hotel lobby bar, drink beer, and watch football.

tjl

Just wear your running shoes. You'll need them to catch your connecting flight when your first segment is delayed so that you need to run to your next segment.

On other topics for a newbie road warrior: avoid booking connections through high risk airports, such as ORD, unless you like missing your connections and wasting several hours (or overnight) at the airport.

MsEverywhere

That's a great idea, and I'll try that for myself. However, it won't help us road warriors whose companies book the flights.

hbyerly

Ditto for medication - carry on only, in original bottle w pharmacy label. For a longer trip (and some restrictive countries) take an extra written prescription or pack extra in checked luggage.

I agree with the other posters about not putting address info inside. A better option for foreign travel is a photocopy of your passport (as in your tip #6, handy in case you lose the original) with an e-mail address written on it. There are very few places in the world these days where you can't get on the Internet for a short time if you need to.

A good tip. If you forget, take a quick picture with your cell phone (if you have this capability). It's a lot easier to show that to a lost baggage agent than to try to describe it.

No advice re the "freedom baggie"?

Lurker1999

I wholeheartedly agree. This goes for any type of specialty shoes really: running, bike, dance. If it's not easily replacable in 5 minutes by walking into your local department store and Target don't check it.

kiwicounter

Carryon all the way! I have to agree with the running shoes suggestion - it's saved my bacon a few times connecting at AKL domestic to another domestic flight.
And NOT having to wait at a baggage carousel after any flight makes flying a lot more enjoyable.

Punki

Originally Posted by pinniped

Hmmmmmmmmmm, did you forget the ?

I will add it for you

MsEverywhere

I am not going to say anything about that !@#$% baggie. I think it's been beat to death in the Safety and Security forum.

Soames

For people who wear glasse ~ bring a second pair in your handluggage. Mine fell off my nose in a crowded market and were within an inch of being crushed. That poor man was shocked when I pushed him away no easy thing to explain and apologize in foreign languages.