Maybe you do most of your travels by car, or you’ve just never had the chance to fly before. As much as I’ve flown, I still get little baby butterflies (hmm… caterpillars?) in my stomach right as we take off. I know it’s all physics and engineering, and that it’s safer to fly than it …
Continue reading ‘How to get through airport security smoothly’ »
The Wall Street Journal has a new article out today called “What It Costs An Airline to Fly Your Luggage,” which concludes that it costs the airlines about $15 to carry your check-in luggage for you. However, it’s not until you scroll well into the article that you see a couple of whoppers. First, take …
Continue reading ‘Wall Street Journal article on the cost of taking luggage’ »
Although I keep politics out of the Travelite FAQ, the past year and a half or so has been a truly eye-opening experience for me as America prepares to vote for the next leader. If you are registered but have yet to vote—especially if you’re in a swing state like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida—you should expect …
“Ideally packed!” That’s what a London Gatwick Airport security agent told me when my bag got tagged for a manual inspection. She was completely impressed because she couldn’t believe how efficient and well-organized my carry-on bag was! [If you’ve ever had one of those, you know that they take everything out of your bag. It …
Continue reading ‘The Ultra-Minimalist Packing List: How I Packed for Europe’ »
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and we leave for Europe tomorrow. In the meantime, we went to our local post office this evening to use their Automatic Postal Center machine to weigh our carry-on bags so that we could meet the stringent weight restrictions on Virgin Atlantic. The verdict? My bag: 12 pounds …
Two newspapers recently published articles about packing light. The first, titled “Travel light and elude fees with a well-packed carry-on,” is a standalone list-based article by Chantal Lamers that ran today (July 22, 2008) in the The Orange County Register. The article is based on an interview Chantal had with me, and should serve as …
I previously mentioned some mesh bags and pouches you can use to carry your non-liquid toiletries in your travels. I just returned from a quick run to an office supply store and was reminded of one of the cheapest and most convenient “toiletry kit” pouches around: The pencil pouch. The Pencil Pouch from Staples. You …
A quick note: Earlier today, I sent an e-mail about reactivating this site to the 1000+ readers who’d subscribed to my Yahoo Groups announcement list over the years. I was kind of steeling myself for a bunch of unsubscription requests and negative feedback, but I was pleasantly surprised to receive a number of messages thanking …
Reading today’s blog entry from travel consumer writer Chris Elliott (“The coming dehydration crisis for airline passengers”), I was disconcerted to learn that the new policy US Airways is implementing for charging passengers for soft drinks includes charging them for bottled water (read the press release from the airline). I don’t know about you, but …