Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Basics of Traveling - luggage

When traveling to any place, there are 2 things to consider.
1. What are you going to pack, given the number of days you are traveling for?
2. What luggage to carry it in?

What you carry is of course dependent on the number of days you are traveling for, the kind of climate at your location, the kind of events you will be attending.
Carry your toiletries and first aid kit with medicines that you commonly use for things like colds and headaches (your particular brand of medication may not be available in other countries)
These things have to be put into your checked in baggage with the new rules and regulations. Don't put them in your hand luggage, you may be forced to dispose of them at the security check point.

Personally, I prefer to travel with a matching luggage set or with a "different" color/print on it. I definitely make sure I (tightly) tie up some brightly colored ribbons on my travel luggage to easily identify my bags when they come in on the baggage carousel.


If you are traveling for business, then you will definitely need to take along a laptop bag and a suit bag. Suit bags are more convenient if you do not want to wear your blazer/suit when traveling.

If you buy a soft case garment bag, then this can fit inside your main suitcase. I prefer this, since with the single hand luggage restriction, I prefer to utilise that for my laptop bag.

As my hand luggage, I like to carry a bag that fits my laptop, important papers and a fresh set of clothes. I have had too many incidents of luggage not arriving with me at my destination and when I have training or presentations in the morning, I don't want to attend them in crumpled clothes of the previous day, nor do I want to go shopping at the last moment and make do with ill fitting clothes.

I also like this to be on wheels, so I'm not lugging the weight on my shoulder through huge airports.
I prefer a slightly sportier one, that can also double as a backpack when I'm traveling on holiday.

I like to carry my laptop so I can transfer pictures and work on them when the details are still fresh in my mind. Also in case of a work emergency, I have all my data accessible.
When sightseeing, the laptop can be locked inside the suitcase and the backpack is used to carry the guidebooks, cameras, cap, sunglasses, water and a light snack.

As a woman, we are also allowed to carry a purse when flying. Make sure you remove your cosmetics from this bag before flying and transfer them to your check in luggage. The purse will have a wallet, passport, a pen (for filling out forms), keys, cell phone, camera and any precious items that you cannot afford to lose if the checked in baggage is lost.

These are some basic pointers to consider when packing for your next trip.

3 comments:

MsTypo said...

You should also warn people to weigh their new luggage in the store before they purchase it. I have a great 4-wheeler that i love but it is 11.5lbs empty which means that it is dead useless on trips where i plan shop.

Kim said...

Oh yes,

That is a really important point. especially now that most airlines have moved from the "x number of pieces" baggage restriction to 1 or 2 pieces each less than 23 kilos (around 50lbs?)

Anonymous said...

Luggage saved my business. If everyone could be as customer focused as you, life would be so much easier. The best on the net!

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