I came... I saw... I Packed
I like to think of the fine art of luggage management to involve three distinct steps: getting everything stuffed in... getting it there in usable condition... and getting it all home again. This usually involves the nature of your luggage, the nature of your possessions, the nature of your baggage handlers, and a bit of dumb luck. It is the clever integration of these sometimes conflicting forces that makes luggage management an art rather than a science.....
So, set up your easel, grab your paint brushes, and lets begin:
Luggage - Luggage comes in two basic types, hard sided and soft sided, and in two basic prices, cheap and expensive. These different types of luggage allow for several basic strategies: You can use a hard sided bag to provide the contents with some extra protection at the cost of being able to stuff some extra things into a bulging soft sided bag. I know people that get extra things into hard sided luggage by sitting on the lid to compress the contents. Heck, I used to do that myself... Have you ever been waiting for your suitcase to appear on the baggage carousel and seen a dismembered hard sided suitcase come around, displaying its contents like two oysters on the half shell? I Have...Enough said. If you use hard sided luggage, put a luggage strap on it to prevent "premature opening" during transit. If you use soft-sided luggage, you can prevent zippers from untended travel by fixing them with either plastic bag "twisties" or with a large paper clip. Avoid using luggage locks because this will cause unnecessary problems at security.
You can purchase very expensive and well made luggage under the assumption that it will be more dependable and durable. or you can get less expensive luggage and just replace it if it is damaged. Please do not be confused here with laughably cheap plastic or cloth bags that are not really luggage at all. I like to buy inexpensive but reasonably made soft sided luggage, such as American Tourister, because it is light but fairly tough. In order to get a bit more stiffness to the bottom side without much additional weight, I just insert a piece of 1/4 inch foam core board (available at craft stores) inside behind the supports for the expendable handle. As most travelers, I find that fitting the size of bag to the volume of my possessions is a major problem. For me, the large bag in my 3 bag set is too big, while the small carry-on bag is too small for my main checked suitcase. So, I use the medium size and then have the enviable problem of putting added things in so that the contents will help support each other during transit. An under filled soft sided suitcase is a very crumpled pathetic creature as it emerges from the cargo hold. I prefer to have my bag slightly overfilled than under filled.
Packing - Have you ever bought a box of cereal that was only half filled with everything compacted into a layer on the bottom because of "some settling during shipping"? Well, that is what is going to happen to your luggage. Although most cereal boxes probably do not experience the pressure change of going from near sea level to 35,000 feet elevation several times. So, plan on it. Put tough but heavy items such as shoes, shavers, batteries, etc. on the bottom of your suitcase and wrap fragile items (such as my bottle of scotch) in clothes to cushion them. Always seal liquids and gels in plastic bags in case they leak, and NEVER put cameras or computers in checked luggage because of blunt force trauma. I once had an expensive (Nikon) camera disabled even though it was packed in its hard case, wrapped in my undershirts, inside a hard-sided suitcase! I guess it must have experienced the equivalent of putting a bucket on your head and having someone hit the bucket with a hammer...
Lost Luggage -" Lost luggage" is actually a misleading term. Luggage is seldom truly lost in the sense that it has been swallowed up by the sky gods and that you will never see it again. Most luggage is not truly "lost", it is misplaced or delayed. This is really a quite common event these days. You can do four things to help yourself out here: (1) See that your items are properly tagged (routed) by the baggage agent when you check them in, (2)on multi-leg trips, check your luggage straight through from point of origin to final destination, (3) provide your contact information both inside and outside your bag. I put a sheet of paper in each bag saying this bag belongs to... (my name, address, phone number and Email address). and (4) have a description of the size, type, and color of your luggage ready for the "lost luggage" people. I carry a picture of my luggage. Please note here that by convention, it is the last airline in your routing that is responsible for your luggage, not the airline that originally accepted the bag at check-in. Now relax.... if your bag is delayed... just live out of your carry on bag until it catches up with you...
Luggage
Management Art Tips...
Personalize your
suitcase. There seems to be only two species of
luggage these days... yours, and those that closely resemble yours but
belong to someone else who is currently wondering if yours is theirs...
So... let's address this problem by making our luggage distinctive. Try
putting stickers or painting something on hard sided luggage.
Soft-sided
luggage can be personalized with fabric paint or colored cloth tape. I
favor large painted flowers, but have recently resorted to just
wrapping the handles with night glow pink flagging tape!
Free luggage tags. Those annoying
"free" self stick address labels that come unsolicited in the mail are
wonderful to identify your luggage. I carry a sheet of them and just
stick one on the little paper airline luggage tags for identification.
I also stick a few directly on the outside of each bag.
If it hangs off your bag,
it will get torn off your bag. Over the years,
I have lost lots of expensive luggage tags and a even a few
handles from my checked luggage. Anything that hangs out or sticks out
WILL take a beating.
Pack small items together
in zippable plastic
bags. I like to do this by function... toiletries in one
bag, office
items in another, spare batteries in another bag, toys and
entertainment
items together. It is much easier to
find a bag of items in your suitcase rather than small individual items
that will most probably be hiding in your dirty underwear or your
spare shoes...If you put things away in their bags after use, it is
unlikely that you will leave them behind at the hotel.
Check your luggage routing.
Your bag and receipt will contain a set of
3-letter airport codes that should correspond to your airplane flights.
For example KOA, SFO takes bags to San Francisco then on to Kona
Hawaii. Look at your luggage tags as you are checking in at the airport
to see that the routing is correct. If you are not familiar with the
codes for your routing, they can be looked up on-line at: http://www.airportcodes.org/. Always check your luggage through to your final destination not
to any intermediate stop. If your routing changes because of a missed
or cancelled flight, your luggage will still travel to its final
destination.
Make sure that your
luggage is not oversize or overweight. Airlines are now
charging BIG surcharges for overweight luggage. Check the rules of the
airline operating your first flight leg. Some airlines are now also
enforcing the "one carry-on item" policy. See http://www.thetravelinsider.info/travelaccessories/airlinecarryonluggageallowances.htm for a listing of airline luggage policies.
Never check items that you can't do without. Do not put any critical items in your checked luggage.This includes medicines, travelers checks, travel documents, spare batteries for hearing aids, and prescription glasses.
