The Travelite® FAQ

In case you hadn’t heard, the Clear Pass system (which I’ve mentioned before) is going bye-bye. If you go to FlyClear.com right now, you see the following message:

Clear Lanes Are No Longer Available.

At 11:00 p.m. PST on June 22, 2009, Clear will cease operations. Clear’s parent company, Verified Identity Pass, Inc. has been unable to negotiate an agreement with its senior creditor to continue operations.

Although some people weren’t comfortable with giving up so much personal data, a lot of frequent flyers liked the ease that the Clear pass provided.

“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 got flagged because I had a bag full of wires and electronics, so after that leg of the trip, I just removed that baggie and put it in the bin next to my toiletry bag, and I had no further problems.]

It’s been three days since my return home, and my body clock is still very off. They say it takes a day to adjust to each hour change, and it feels pretty close. I’ve managed to stay up a bit later each night and not wake up as early in the morning, but still, I was up by 5:00 a.m. today and am not able to snooze anymore.

So now that I’m wide awake, I may as well be productive and finally share with you how I managed to travel with just 13 pounds for my Europe trip.

Oh just a warning: Today’s post is going to be long. Grab a cup of coffee.

Details, details, details

First, the foundation: We were originally planning on traveling with another couple whom we’ve traveled with in the past, with an itinerary that included France, Germany, and Luxembourg. As a return favor for my providing a fair bit of translation and cultural knowledge about Japan on a trip we’d all made to Tokyo Disneyland a few years ago, our guide was going to be the husband of the other couple, who had spent a few years in France.

However in an example of how our current bad economy affects us in direct ways, Alex and I were hit with unexpected news: The wife, who is a small business entrepreneur, was forced to decide between going on vacation with us, and keeping her business afloat.

At that point, we could’ve decided to just scrap the trip altogether, except for one minor thing: I’d already bought Alex and myself nonrefundable tickets on Virgin Atlantic.

Getting over our disappointment at not being able to travel with our friends, Alex and I looked at each other with “Oh my god, what the hell are we going to do now?” drawn on our faces. With zero independent itinerary, zero French/German language skills, zero travel knowledge of the area, we were at a complete loss.

It wasn’t until a few days later that I’d had an idea: Check to see if Rick Steves had any tours that would fit our schedule. We were in luck. There was one tour that fit our schedule exactly: His Best of Rome in 7 Days city tour. [How many people chose to go to a destination because they looked over a list of tours and picked the one that fit their flight schedule?!?] The tour was spendy but since we were completely noobs we felt it was worth the price.

Once our main destination was set, everything else fell into place, with plans to spend a bit of time in London (since we were flying in and out of Heathrow), as well as in Paris for a few days so we could see both the city as well as Disneyland Paris.

If you’ve never seen Rick Steves’ PBS series on traveling through Europe, he is a firm believer in low-key immersion travel. Pack lightly, stay in smaller hotels run by locals, focus more on learning and absorbing the culture in smaller groups rather than being shuttled around like cattle and spending all your stops in tacky gift shops. Rick Steves also happens to be one of my personal heroes because he was the one who originally inspired me to learn to travel lightly. That, combined with the fact that Alex and I would be on all sorts of public transportation with our luggage, meant we were going to avoid check-in luggage at all costs.

Traveling with just my carry-on? No problem! Not even a challenge!

…except there was. It was called “Virgin Atlantic’s unusually small weight restriction for carry-ons.” If you read my previous entries, you know that we had to limit ourselves to no more than 13 pounds (6 kilograms). Most full carry-ons will probably run you at least 20-30 pounds depending on the weight of your bag, so getting our stuff together in the weeks before our trip became almost like a game for us.

We were successful, but not without a lot of adaptation and sacrifice.

My Packing List

I based my initial packing list on the one Rick Steves recommends for women. I provide the original list here, with my notes on how I adjusted it for the trip. Some assumptions I made included October weather in Europe, which ranged from the low-40s to the low-70s. Each item is followed by a description, and any pertinent comments (negatives are in red, positives are in green). Those I did not pack, are crossed out.

Clothing

• 1 pair of walking/comfortable shoes – This was the single, most important decision I was going to make. After reading the “Best Walking Shoes” section for personal recommendations at Rick Steves’ site, I chose a pair of Keen Seattle shoes. Since Keen no longer makes them, I had to do quite a bit of looking around online before finding one. I also took a spare pair of insoles with me, and swapped them out daily to keep my feet feeling less tired. At the end of the trip, I tossed the spare insoles away. These shoes worked out great for my feet, which are wide.
• 1 pair of sandals (weather permitting) – I couldn’t afford a second pair of real shoes, so I took a pair of Pocket Slippers from Magellan’s. They roll up and tuck into a little pouch that weighs just a few ounces. This was a waste of space for our particular trip since I only wore them on my flight to London. But they are keepers for future trips.
• 1 rainproof jacket – I picked up an LL Bean Storm Chaser 3-in-1 jacket, which has an inner fleece that zips out so you can wear it as a fleece jacket. And since the two zip up into one jacket, it was less I had to carry if I wasn’t wearing it. I applied Scotchguard on it to get a little more protection on it, although it should do OK in light showers. This jacket is terrific! Big pockets, zippable pockets, secret inner pockets, and comfortable. Highly recommended.
• 2-4 pairs of shorts/capris/skorts – I assumed it would be too cold to take shorts.
• 2 pairs of pants (one dressy, one casual), 1 belt – I wore one pair of slacks, and packed a second pair. The second pair was a Slinky brand from HSN.com, but it’s very similar to the Travelers line from Chico’s. That means no ironing, easy to wear.
• 1 swimsuit (packed in a plastic bag) – I assumed it would again be too cold.
• 5 1 pairs of socks (cotton blend) – The Keens can be worn with or without socks, so I chose to take just one pair of very thin Smartwool socks that I picked up from REI. Smartwool socks dry fast and don’t smell. I highly recommend them.
• 5 pairs of underwear (silk, lace, or micro-fiber dries quickest) – I took some that were the lighest I could find (if you are comfortable wearing thongs, they save a ton of space)
• 1 extra bra
• 4-6 shirts (long/short-sleeved, various colors) – Assuming it would be cold, I took 3 long-sleeve nylon/polyester shirts, a button shirt, and a layering overshirt. I really wish I packed for warmer weather. My shirts were way too hot in Rome. Lesson: Check the weather right before your departure, and be prepared to adjust your wardrobe at the last minute.
• 1-2 light cardigans for layering – Instead of a cardigan, I used the fleece jacket from the LL Bean 3-in-1. So glad I just used the fleece lining instead.
• 1-2 skirts (wrinkle-resistant) – With colder weather I assumed this wouldn’t work well.
• 2 dresses (optional) – No special dinners, and no space in my bag.
• 1 hat – My jacket had a hood, but I also took a neoprene Headgasket visor from Croakies. I kept the visor in my daybag and used it all the time. It worked out great, especially in those sunny days in Rome!
• Scarves (to wear with clothing or hat) – I took a warmer scarf. This is one of the best things I took, since you can wear it instead of packing it when you fly. The wider ones work as a wrap on your flight, too.
• 2 vests (optional) – Completely unnecessary, and didn’t miss not having them.
• 1 pair of pajamas (or long shirt to get you to the bathroom down the hall if necessary) – No room, no need.

Toiletries/Medicine

• Body soap/puff (washcloth); most European hotels do not supply washcloths –The single best wash cloth I have used all my life is the Salux nylon wash towel from Japan. Anything else makes me feel like I’m not getting clean, so I made sure to take one. It’s better than any scrubber ball because you can scrub your back easily. I also took a large Japanese bathtowel. These things barely take up any room because of their thinness and loose weave. I probably didn’t need the bath towel. I never travel without one! [Fortunately it weighs next to nothing.]
• Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss – I wound up not taking enough toothpaste with me but we made do with the baby containers of toothpaste we got from our Premium Economy amenity kits.
• Shampoo/conditioner – I took 1 ounce of shampoo and 0.5 ounce of Paul Mitchell leave-in conditioner. We augmented the shampoo with hotel shampoo, and it worked out perfectly.
• Brush/comb –I took a folding travel brush, which was small enough to carry in my day bag.
• Lotion –I took a tube of face lotion with SPF, which worked out fine.
• Vaseline (for feet) –Unnecessary; I just made sure I pedicured my feet nicely right before the trip.
• Razor (non-electric)/shaving cream or soap – I didn’t bother (since my leg hairs are almost nonexitent) but for most women it’s probably easier to get a professional wax before a trip. My husband just bought some razors when we got to Rome, and that worked out well. Alex used either soap or shampoo for his shave (after a shower so his skin was moist).
• Sunscreen, insect repellent –See lotion, above.
• Prescription drugs (in original container with your name and your doctor’s name, write down generic name) – I had a small prescription bottle with me that didn’t take up much room.
• First aid kit/moleskin/blister kit – I used a lot of Band-Aids preventively but I purchased them all when we got there.
• Feminine hygiene products –Assumed I could buy them during the trip if I needed.
• Deodorant – We actually didn’t take any. Shaving/trimming underarm hairs does wonders to keep the odor to a minimum. Given how warm it was in Rome, I wish we’d taken some. We used a lot of Febreze instead.
• Nail clippers/file/tweezers –I took a nail file and tweezers, and just made sure our nails were clipped before we left.
• Spare glasses and/or prescription, mini-eyeglass repair kit, or contact lenses and supplies –Neither of us wear glasses anymore, but we did take our sunglasses.
• Hand sanitizer – I didn’t take any, but I wish I had. I couldn’t find any in Rome, either.
• Vitamins –Didn’t take any.
• OTC remedies (whatever works for you): Pepto, decongestants, etc. –Took ibuprofen and acetaminophen; glad we did, since it took the edge off our sore feet at the end of the day.
• Clothesline, sink stopper, soap – These came in handy for washing our clothes in the bathroom.
• Baby powder (dry shampoo for hair) –Didn’t take any.

Money and Security

• Moneybelt: Passport, plane ticket, debit card, credit cards, traveler’s checks, railpass, driver’s license (if you’re renting a car) – Rick Steves tours make you sign an agreement saying, among other things, that you will use your moneybelt. This is not only for your peace of mind but also so the tour guide (and their travel office) doesn’t have to deal with the hassles of one of its customers having to deal with the U.S. embassy and banks during the trip. It was the one thing I made sure we followed, and our entire group in Rome did great during the tour, and nobody lost anything to pickpockets. We did have numerous attempts made on us, though!

Other things I took

• Guidebooks – I went to Kinko’s and had them cut the binding out of all our guide books. I then selected the pages and sections we needed, and rebound them into smaller books. This saved quite a bit of weight since we took guidebooks for Rome, Paris, and London. As we were done, we tossed the books.
• Moleskine notebooks – I’m one of those people who uses Moleskine books, so I took a Rome Citybook as well as a sketchbook.
• Drawing and writing utensils – Pencil, pens, small ruler, eraser, and so on… didn’t take up too much space but I wanted the opportunity to do some sketches.
• Various electronics, including an iPod Touch, a Sennheiser noise-cancelling headset, AC adapter. I tried to take items that were as small as possible, and I managed to fit them all into one liter-size Ziploc bag.

Things I wish I’d taken

• Addresses – I ran out of time, and wasn’t able to put together an address booklet of people I wanted to send postcards to. What would have been easiest was to hand write the addresses on a strip of adhesive mailing labels.
• A pair of capri pants –Given how warm it was, I probably should have traded my Slinky slacks for a pair of capris.
• Short-sleeve shirts – I really wish I’d swapped some of my long-sleeve shirts for short-sleeved ones. I was completely prepared for layered clothing for cold weather, not hot.
• More podcasts, books on tape (MP3 format), and albums for the iPod – I wound up mostly playing Bejeweled and Jewel Quest.
• A tiny digital camera – I didn’t take one because Alex was taking his SLR; as it turned out, he mostly took “photographs” whereas I would’ve taken more snapshots of things like our tour group (who were a terrific bunch, by the way).

Items packed for the Europe trip include Ziploc baggies for electronics, for miscellaneous junk (medicine, pens, earplugs, etc.), toiletries, clothes, a very thing Japanese bath towel, and a couple of Platypus brand collapsible water bottles.

What I picked up and brought home

One thing we collect when we travel, are refrigerator magnets of the places we visit. We adhere to a strict guideline (for example, we have to both go together, and we they don’t count if they are souvenirs given to us from friends). Normally, these barely take up any room, but after a while they add a bit of weight. I was prepared to carry them in my jacket pocket for our flight home if necessary.

Refrigerator magnets from some of the places we visited on our trip. Can you guess where all of these magnets may have come from?

One thing I was looking forward to was purchasing Moleskine Volant softcover notebooks—they are currently available only in Europe. I found these in a bookstore in London. Don’t let your eyes deceive you; the larger notebooks in the photo are the small index card sized versions. The smaller ones are slightly larger than credit cards. Each Volant packet includes a pair of notebooks of the same color scheme (one lighter, one darker). If you look carefully, the small green one is by itself; I unwrapped it and started using the lighter green one during the trip!

Moleskine Volants, purchased in London.

These weigh a bit so I was also prepared to just stash them in my coat pocket for my flight home.

Finally, I kept various paper receipts, tickets, and such so I could eventually put together a trip report and remember where I went. These take up almost no space or weight.

Used tickets and other small, flat souvenirs.

How I packed

Ziploc baggies – More than anything, I used a lot of Ziploc baggies. I normally use fabric ditty bags and cosmetic bags and such, but the only non-disposable one I used was my Paula Begoun makeup bag, to hold my toiletries. While the dimensions are approved for air travel, her bag is gussetted, which lets me carry way more stuff than in a Ziploc liter-sized bag. I used Ziplocs to separate clean underwear from used, to hold my electronics, to hold our fridge magnets, and so on. Where I would have used a net fine-washables laundry bag, I used a Ziploc bag. In addition, I went to a local craft store and picked up some smaller resealable baggies (2″x3″ and 4″x6″) for things like holding Band-Aids and Q-tips. Speaking of Q-tips, I normally take the little travel container but I did away with the container to save on weight. Instead, I counted how many Q-tips we were likely to use (1 per person per day, with a few extra thrown in), saving a fraction of an ounce.

Weighing every item, and taking only what I planned to use – I had to make some tough decisions about my wardrobe. In hindsight, I wish I’d gone with two short-sleeve shirts and a long-sleeve instead of three of the latter, but I really didn’t expect weather in the high-70s all week in Rome. That said, I still chose the most lightweight of my shirts; they were even lighter than cotton T-shirts. Every liquid toiletry item was carefully scrutinized. Did I need a full ounce, or could I manage with half an ounce?

Using the smallest version of everything – Instead of large and clunky AC adapters, we took a USB-to-AC adapter that was as small as a film canister. A laptop was out of the question, but the iPod Touch gave us the option to send email in wi-fi hotspots (including a free one in a small part behind the Notre Dame in Paris!).

Tom Bihn Convertible Cube/Shoulder Bag – This bag turned into my everyday daypack, and it was awesome beyond words (see one of my earlier posts for a full review). I carried this thing everyday full of stuff, and it never saw any wear or unraveling at all. I routinely packed two soda bottles, notebooks, and various other sundries, and the unstructured form meant I could just toss things in willy nilly and have everything settle in easily. I cannot speak highly enough of this bag as a travel daypack.

The Tom Bihn Convertible Cube/Shoulder Bag.

I used this bag as a packing cube when I flew, stashing a lot of the assorted things in my carry-on bag that would otherwise get loose or scattered around in my bag. It’s where I put my underwear, socks, and other stuff that I put in my Ziploc bags. And once I passed security, I’d move stuff around in my carry-on, moving my toiletry bag and electronics baggie into the packing cube. When I get to my airplane seat, I just remove the packing cube to keep by my feet for easy access, and stow my carry-on in the overhead bin. Easy as pie and a wonderful solution without trying to shove the carry-on by my feet.

Traveling with a partner

One huge benefit to having a travel partner is your ability to share some things during the trip. For me and Alex, that meant sharing toiletries. He actually managed to fly without a toiletry bag at all! Alex is a very low-maintenance traveler anyway, and he just shared things like shampoo with me (or used the hotel supply).

He kept his packing list as short as possible, and did a great job swapping out a lot of his clothes for travel-friendly items. A couple of items that worked particularly well include:

ExOfficio Trip’r line of travel shirts – He picked up a few from REI, but you can buy them directly from Exofficio online as well. The fabric is the typical travel shirt feel, but they make them in checkers and plaids, so you can completely avoid the “Hi, I’m wearing this khaki travel shirt” look altogether. The shirts are adequately vented, the chest pockets have zippers, and best of all, their buttons aren’t sewn on but instead, they are secured on with a little piece of fabric. It’s hard to describe; let’s just say you won’t worry about losing any buttons.

Very attractive ExOfficio Trip’r shirts are available in patterns that don’t make them look like ordinary travel shirts.

He also picked up a few pairs of travel-friendly underwear, which dried really easily on the clotheline.

One item that weighs down a carry-on bag for the guys is their big shoes. So for this trip, he took just the pair he wore on his feet (a pair of nubuck New Balance shoes). He made sure to break it in for a few weeks before the trip.

Alex’s biggest challenge was his camera gear. He has a pretty nice Canon digital SLR that he wanted to use for his trip, but wanted to avoid using camera bags that were too easy to identify (and which also tended to weigh too much). Up until right before the trip, he was planning on taking a Tom Bihn Large Cafe Bag, although we were a bit concerned since the fabric is thin for a camera.

At the last minute, he chose to take my Timbuk2 mini Metro Messenger bag, and that turned out to be a great decision. The biggest reason he changed his mind was that Cafe Bag doesn’t have the ability for you to  remove its shoulder strap; this turned out to be a huge disadvantage. In order to save even more weight, Alex used the luggage strap for his carry-on once we were in Rome, to carry his Timbuk2 bag with—he couldn’t do that with his Cafe Bag. The Timbuk2 is also pretty water resistant, which worked out well on one day in Paris when we met with some foul weather.

For packing purposes, Alex put all his smaller items (underwear, socks, etc. around his camera gear) in the carry-on itself so that the Timbuk2 bag was safely packed in the carry-on.

Timbuk2 Metro Messenger bag. Although this bag isn’t padded, it’s very sturdy, making it an option for carrying camera gear. If you bang up your camera in this bag, though, don’t blame me; do so at your own risk!

We had both planned to use the Outdoor Products Carryon Bag, however we discovered that the bag was actually too big for the items we put together to pack! Instead, I wound up using the discontinued Sierra travelpack from Uphill Down, and Alex used a discontinued travelpack model from MEI in Canada. We could have used the Outdoor Products bag but we both felt that we might be tempted to pack more stuff in it during our trip, so we abstained. I’m sure we’ll use the Outdoor Products bag in future travels where bag size—and not weight—is the limiting factor.

Final thoughts

All in all, the 13-pound weight limit imposed by Virgin Atlantic was an awesome challenge, and we wound up thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to test our packing abilities. For years, I’d become pretty complacent and not being particularly fastidious in my carry-ons since it had gotten to be old hat, so being forced to face a new test kept me on my toes and more excited about the trip than originally expected.

I don’t know that I’d pack that lightly again unless I’m forced to do so. I wouldn’t have minded taking a third pair of pants (or capris or skirt/skort), and maybe a T-shirt. That said, let me tell you—a 13-pound bag is a breeze to carry! I think in the future I may try to keep it down to around 15 pounds or so, just to make it easy for me to carry through the airport.

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 .40 ounces.

Alex’s bag: 11 pounds .20 ounces.

We are both safely within the 13-pound limit. Cross-checking the stuff we are carrying with Rick Steves’ recommended packing list, the only thing we aren’t carrying is our bathing suits.

I must say, I’m quite impressed.

…but no, no photos for now. Everything’s packed up and I don’t want to open the bags up until we have to.

But it looks like we made it!

Thirteen pounds.

That’s the weight limit for your carry-on bag when you fly Virgin Atlantic.

Forget trying to smoosh everything into your compact carry-on bag, the weight restriction turns “traveling light” into a whole new ballgame.

We’ll be heading to Europe later this year and flying Premium Economy to London Heathrow, and our challenge will be in meeting this weight criteria.

Normally, I can pack light even in my sleep. But this will require me to be pretty consciencious; even for an old hack like me who has no trouble traveling with just one carry-on bag, that 13 pound restriction is a challenge I’ve never had to face.

Trust me, every single item I pack will be chosen carefully both for need and weight. Some things are already completely written out, like a spare pair of shoes.

What a challenge!

Can we do it? Stay tuned!

Based on the blog comments and email I’m getting, there seems to be a lot of questions and concern about the use of bottles in carry-on luggage. Instead of having these hidden in email exchanges or buried in the blog comments I thought I’d revisit this topic again.

Kelle shared this experience:

One thing about using the empty bottles (as opposed to re-purposed ones) is that most of them do not have the volume actually printed on them, either via a sticker label on in the plastic mold. I once had several items well under the 100ml limit confiscated for this reason. The only empty bottles I have found that have the volume in the actual plastic are the Nalgene ones sold at outdoor stores like REI. Unfortunately, I don’t think they have an eyedropper…but maybe we can find an eyedropper lid to fit their bottles?

Nalgene water bottles are great, and even their smaller hard-plastic toiletry bottles can withstand a lot of abuse. I think they have a couple of features worth noting (both pro and con), including:

The hard plastic means you can’t squeeze them to press thick fluid out. So just like those old ketchup commercials that had you tapping the bottles repeatedly, expect a little frustration waiting for the thick conditioner to slowly travel its way down to the mouth.

They tend to have wide mouths, which makes transferring thicker fluids into them really easy. Be careful when you try to pour thinner liquids out, though, because you can easily glop out too much.

A 2-ounce Nalgene bottle (left) and its smaller 1-ounce cousin on the right. [Photos from REI.com]

If you like regular Nalgene bottles for drinking water out of, you will really like the general look and feel of the small toiletry versions.

The Nalgene drop dispenser bottle, however, is a different matter altogether. Take a look:

A Nalgene dropper bottle. [Photo from REI.com]

I’ve played with the dropper bottle, and unlike many others with a snap-top tip, this one actually snaps on pretty snug. That said, it’s still a snap-on, and I do not trust it one bit! I still say the screw-top dropper bottles with the separate dispenser tips are a much better bet. Kelle, for my buck I would still recommend the small eye dropper bottles I reviewed the other week.

Lynnette posted:

I’ve been told that items need to be in their original bottles. That, depending on the TSA, items in these generic bottles will be taken…even if the ounces is clearly marked on the bottle. Have you found this to be true?

This kind of goes with Kelle’s comments about her bottles having been confiscated. Now, it seems to me that there is one unwritten rule with the TSA, and that is:

Not all TSA agents are completely knowledgeable about the intricacies of the administration’s rules.

Some agents will take things literally, some agents will refuse to use common sense, some agents will try to come up with their own interpretation of the rules, and some will plain come up with their own application for the rules. Sucks, I know.

So with Kelle, it sounds like a TSA agent decided that—because her toiletry bottles didn’t have original labels on them showing net weight—the bottles would not be allowed in her carry-on, even though, according to Kelle, it was obvious that the bottles were smaller than 100ml. In Kelle’s case, there isn’t a whole lot you can do, because the TSA agent decided arbitrarily on his own that the bottles must have been larger than 3 ounces. [Had the bottles been 100 milileters, technically, it would not be 3 ounces, but 3.38140 ounces, and there is a very grey area because some TSA agents will allow that slight discrepancy while others will not.]

Lynnette wasn’t sure if the TSA would confiscate bottles simply because they were generic.

I’ve scoured the TSA Web site, and here are the exact words they use:

All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be three ounces or smaller.

Notice how exacting and particular the wording is. And this is the phraseology they use across the board, uniformly. And nowhere in that phrase does it state that liquids must be in their original container.

The thing is, you might run into a TSA agent who has had a bad day, who has irritated hemorrhoids, is itching to pick on a hapless traveler, or otherwise wanting to just impose his authority. The trick here is to use as small a bottle as you can. That means that it’s far better to carry two 1-ounce bottles of the same shampoo, than to carry a single 2-ounce bottle. Using this strategy also lets you toss the first bottle away when you’re done, lightening your load. Even better? Just take one 1-ounce bottle. Don’t bother with the second. Better than that? Consider foregoing altogether and buying shampoo at your destination, or purchase a bar of shampoo from stores like Lush and avoid this altogether.

Personally, I’m now down to using nothing larger than a 1-ounce bottle. For a lot of things like toothpaste, I don’t even take that much with me, remembering that I can always buy more stuff when I get to my destination.

[Updated December 2, 2008]

You will soon be able to keep your laptop in your case when you go through airport security checkpoints. The Transportation Security Administration announced last week that they will begin allowing laptops to be screened through their X-ray machine while they are still in bags. The catch? The bags have to be “checkpoint friendly” and meet specific guidelines. The new rules take effect August 16, and you should be able to start purchasing these bags this month.

According to the TSA (link), the bags need to have a sleeve or flap that folds out, and encases the laptop separately.

Illustrated samples of the types of checkpoint friendly laptop bags that the TSA has approved for use.

Some of the requirements for checkpoint-friendly laptop bags are:

• A designated laptop-only section
• The laptop-only section completely unfolds to lay flat on the X-ray belt
• No metal snaps, zippers or buckles inside, underneath or on top of the laptop-only section
• No pockets on the inside or outside of the laptop-only section
• Nothing packed in the laptop-only section other than the computer itself.

Although the TSA is not endorsing specific manufacturers or models, a few luggage and bag makers have are announcing their products now:

• Incipio’s QuickCheck line of simple sleeve bags – designed for Macbook laptops of all current models.

Incipio’s QuickCheck laptop sleeve.

• The Targus Zip-Thru Corporate Traveler – looks like an archetypal leather laptop case, but zips fully open to split the bag down the middle to lay flat, with the laptop on one side. Retail priced at $99.00.

The Targus Zip-Thru looks like a standard laptop briefcase, but you can zip it flat (right) and run the bag through airport X-ray with the laptop in its separate compartment.

• Skooba Designs Checkthrough – known for some of their neoprene (wetsuit) bags, Skooba has not yet announced a price for their product. Availability is listed as end of summer, and they are not taking pre-orders. You can, however, sign up to be notified of any announcements.

Skooba Designs Checkthrough bag, with the photo on the right showing the laptop portion with clear window.

• Tom Bihn’s Checkpoint Flyer – Seattle-based bag manufacturer Tom Bihn now offers its own checkpoint-friendly, soft-sided briefcase. If you’re a fan of Tom Bihn or if you’re looking for a truly rugged, made-in-America bag, the Checkpoint Flyer is a great new addition to the roster of checkpoint friendly laptop bags. By the way, Tom Bihn is more than user-friendly; the product description is also reader-friendly. Visit the product page for an animated image of how to unfold the bag at the security terminal.

  By the way, the Checkpoint Flyer is much more than just a laptop bag. You can easily use this as your main carry-on if you can pack lightly; it has plenty of room for a weekend’s worth of clothes as well as all your laptop-related stuff.

The Tom Bihn Checkpoint Flyer briefcase.

What’s it all mean?

For one, it means that there are some people at the TSA that actually come up with some good ideas. That’s good to know, because a lot of people have negative impressions of the TSA based on their experience at the airport security checkpoints. Honestly, it’s about time we started moving towards some common sense. Putting your laptop in a checkthrough-friendly bag means less risk for banging up your laptop, a little more security from people just grabbing your laptop as it comes out of the X-ray chute, and less scrambling at the checkpoint when you have to get everything loaded up onto the queue.

I think the initial crop of checkpoint-friendly bags will get picked up by business travelers who do a lot of air travel and who must carry their laptops on their trips. I also anticipate that a whole slew of bag manufacturers will come up with some sort of product that they can say is checkpoint-friendly.

Just remember that the TSA is not taking on the added work of actually certifying any of these bags. All they did was provide requirements that a product must meet in order to have it house a laptop through their X-ray machines.

Unless you already travel with a separate laptop bag, my suggestion is that you don’t replace your regular carry-on just yet. Wait until you can purchase a standalone sleeve-type case, with D-rings that let you carry on your shoulder. It should be compact enough to be snug for your particular laptop, and it should allow you to easily pull it out from your carry-on. It will provide a lot more versatility, as you will still be able to use the carry-on of your choice (to which you tuck the sleeve in).

This is just a short post for anyone who paid their $100 to the TSA to get a Clear registered traveler card that lets you go through an express line at the airport security checkpoint.

A laptop containing uncrypted data for 33,000 customers (of 200,000 applicants) of the program was stolen from a locked office in San Francisco International Airport on July 26, 2008 (link to news article). Whoever took the laptop has a lot of the information you supplied in your application form, including your full name, address, phone number, passport number, and date of birth.

According to the program’s spokesman, the data did not include your credit card information or your social security number.

That’s a big consolation, I’m sure (NOT).

For now, the TSA has suspended new applications for the program (read the TSA press release). The TSA has not said whether it is notifying all of the 33,000 persons whose information was stolen, or whether they will pay to maintain a year-long credit check for affected individuals. That would be asking too much, although I think that’s also pretty fair, considering this sort of thing should have never happened.

What do you do, when you give $100 and all your personal information to a government agency so you can clear security… and then they turn around and let your information get stolen? Besides causing some people to have even less confidence in the TSA (even though the laptop and the program are handled by a contractor), what sort of security risks are these people in now? It’s not too extreme of a stretch to imagine the possibility of these names being used for fraudulent purposes, but what if it winds up causing some people to get on the security watch checklist?

Some things just make me shake my head.

The news isn’t particularly relevant for people who can travel without checking any bags, but Delta has just announced that those purchasing coach tickets for domestic flights on or after July 31 or traveling on or after August 5 (so buying your tickets a year in advance won’t help here) will have their fees doubled for their second checked bag, from $25 to $50 one way.

According to Delta, fewer than 20 percent of their passengers fit this bill. Delta is also increasing its handling fee for any special check-ins like surfboards or ski equipment.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I know airlines are scrambling, but come on—do airlines really want to so disenfranchise themselves from the traveling population? I mean, this just goes beyond offensive. I just cannot believe the gall of these companies.

I hope they are at least paying their public relations people well because I’m sure they have a really tough job trying to spin these obscene new policies. One really has to wonder what they think about the ordinary customer.

What if you’re a family with a couple of young ones who are too small to warrant their own seats and are also too small to carry their own bags? Talk about punishing the people who can least afford this—they have no plans to charge first class, business, or elite frequent flyers and are allowing them to check in up to three bags.

More than a few people have been telling me they now just fly Southwest, in part because they are so incensed with these shenanigans these larger carriers are pulling on consumers.

My husband and I are heading to Vegas this month to catch Star Trek: The Experience before it closes (geek alert: thanks go to Wil Wheaton for publicizing about this in his blog) and guess what? We’re flying Southwest.

Those guys didn’t pay me to embed this video but… when I first saw it I thought it was pretty funny. Now it kind of just makes me sad…

Watch the TV commercial from Southwest.

We’re also taking our vacation in Europe later this year, and guess what? We’re flying Virgin Atlantic.

I’m still sitting on more than 150,000 miles on United, and I have zero interest in flying with them, even though my Economy Plus seating option is still valid through the rest of the year.

I’ll tell you what. I’m about ready to just gather up all of my frequent flyer miles and donate them to Operation Hero Miles.

I was going through my morning e-mail and noticed a summer luggage sale announcement from an online bag seller. The e-mail’s subject title said something like, “Save Big for Summer Travel,” enticing me to see what sort of wonderful bargains I could find.

The e-mail listed the seller’s top recommendations for bags for summer travel. All but one were for rolling uprights (and the tenth in that top 10 list were packing cubes and pouches with the seller’s inhouse brand).

The wheels and handlebars of rolling uprights make moving around an airport with them a breeze, but the convenience comes at a stiff price. To me, rolling uprights are the SUVs of the luggage market. You might have a nice ride, but is it really worth paying $5.00 a gallon when you only get 15 miles per gallon?

Let’s take a look at what’s wrong—and outdated—about rolling uprights in today’s travel environment:

• The wheel-and-handle mechanism adds substantial weight to a carryon.
• The wheel-and-handle mechanism sacrifices internal capacity.
• Most rolling uprights don’t come with shoulder straps or even D-rings on the ends on which to snap a shoulder strap to; if you need to quickly walk up the stairs you are in for a real workout.
• The wheel-and-handle mechanism makes rolling uprights almost impossible to stow under a seat.
• The firm shape of most rolling uprights make them almost impossible to squeeze into a crowded overhead bin. No overhead bin space? Wave your precious carryon good-bye as the flight attendant hangs a check-in luggage tag on it.

To get an idea of just how much you are giving up for those wheels, let’s compare two very similar bags: the JanSport Weekaway convertible travelpack, and the JanSport 19″ Upright rolling carryon. Both are part of JanSport’s popular SuperBreak series. They make comparing the formats easy since the two are nearly identical, except that the Weekaway has stowable backpack straps, and the Upright has the wheels and telescoping handle.

If you were to place these two bags side by side, they would almost be identical in size. The main difference you’d notice is that when empty, the Weekaway deflates into almost complete flatness, while the Upright maintains its shape due to its firmer skeletal structure.

The Jansport’s Weekaway convertible travelpack on the left, compared to Jansport’s 19″ Upright model on the right.

JanSport Weekaway travelpack specifications:

• Fabric: 600 Denier Polyester
• Weight: 2 pounds 4 ounces (1.0 kilogram)
• Dimensions: 20″h x 12″w x 8.5″d
• Capacity: 2700 cubic inches (44.2 liters)

JanSport 19″ Upright specifications:

• Fabric: 600 Denier Polyester
• Weight: 6 pounds 1 ounce (2.8 kilograms)
• Dimensions: 19″h x 13″w x 9″d
• Capacity: 1900 cubic inches (31.1 liters)

Take a look at their weight. The Weekaway weighs a tad under two-and-a-half pounds while the Upright weighs over six pounds—yup, the wheel mechanism adds almost four pounds to the Upright. Not all convertible travelpacks are as light as the Weekaway, since most use the heavier Cordura than the lightweight denier polyester of JanSport’s SuperBreak series of bags—but what matters here is the actual weight difference between the two, since the extra weight comes almost completely from the wheel-and-handle mechanism.

Finally, compare their capacity. The Weekaway can carry 2700 cubic inches, while the Upright can only carry 1900. The 800-cubic-inch difference is specifically due to the wheel and handle mechanism:

The convenience of wheeled luggage is costing you a third of your carryon space. This difference is startling.

There’s a reason automobile dealerships are having difficulty selling their behemoth SUVs this year. A lot of people have wisened up to the need to be more economical, choosing instead to go with a lighter vehicle that sips gas.

If you are traveling by air this year and you are trying to pare down what you pack and figuring out what to leave at home, take a moment to consider what you’re going to pack your stuff in. Unless you have physical limitations such as a bad back that makes wearing backpack-type straps uncomfortable, consider leaving your rolling uprights at home and dust off that old convertible travelpack you bought 10 years ago.

A few years ago, I flew coach on United from San Francisco to Singapore. The flight is over 8,000 miles one way and takes over 18 hours (I had a stopover in Hong Kong).

It had been a long time since I flew such a long flight in coach, and it was one of the most miserable experiences I ever had traveling. To make matters worse, because it was a very full flight and I booked relatively late, I got stuck in a middle seat.

As it turned out, the man sitting in front of me liked to recline. For pretty much the whole trip (even during meal service). Every time he chose to recline his seat, he never bothered to check behind his seat, and would slam his chair back… right into my forehead. Worst of all, there was so little room from the end of my seat to the back of his, that once he would recline his seat, there was no way for me to get to my carry-on by my feet without putting my head in my seatmates’ laps (both strangers, by the way). My only salvation came on my right side—the elderly woman weighed barely 100 pounds and she was traveling with her equally elderly husband, who weighed about the same. They clung to each other for most of the flight and would get up to take breaks and use the restrooms at the same time, which meant I had elbow room on my right, as well as clear access to the aisle and to my bag. Unfortunately they had very large bladders and they only got up about every 4 hours.

Choosing a good seat can be its own science, and one Web site you should bookmark to make the task easier for you is SeatGuru.com.

Seatguru.com, founded in 2001 as a way to share information about airline seats.

SeatGuru is ingenious in its simplicity and practical application. It lists all major air carriers, and you can scroll down to find the various aircraft models they use. Select the particular aircraft your flight will likely be on, and voila—You see a seating diagram!

A sample seating diagram from SeatGuru.com.

Of particular interest for those who are traveling with just their carry-on is that SeatGuru tells you if there is no overhead bin or underseat space for your bag.

The site offers much more information, however. For example, what exactly is “seat pitch,” how does it differ from legroom, and why is it important for you? Why would a bulkhead seat work for some (more legroom) and not for others (no underseat storage space)? The site even helps you find out how to figure out what aircraft you are likely going to be flying for your flight.

Even if you use an online reservation system to book your flights, don’t just rely on the seating diagram the system offers you when you select your seat. Open a second browser window and find out exactly what you are signing up for.

Here are just a couple of things I consider when selecting a seat:

• An aisle seat doesn’t always work for me if I plan to stow my main carry-on under the seat in front of me, since there is an intrusive reinforcement bar that sticks down some inches in from the aisle, effectively narrowing the unblocked space I have by about 4 or 5 inches. If I choose an aisle seat, I have to be prepared to stick my carry-on in the overhead bin.
• Bulkhead seats are nice for the long-legged, but don’t really work if it’s important for you to stake out the overhead bin space for your carry-on. You will have to intrude into someone else’s overhead space (although at this time, airlines do not reserve that space for the seats below).

If you manage to pack absolutely everything into your carry-on bag but you still plan on accessing some of your belongings during the trip, you need to make yourself a little ditty bag to hold those items. Sometimes it’s as easy as using a one-gallon Ziploc resealable bag, although you can use any other lightweight bag. Pack whatever you might want to use during your flight, such as:

• Reading material, puzzle books, magazines
• Reading glasses
• Some snacks
• Ear plugs
• Eye mask
• Travel journal/diary
• Writing instrument
• Personal headset (and MP3 player like an iPod)
• Inflatable neck pillow

In addition, you might want to bring out your toiletry bag so that you can access your lotion, eye drops, and so on. The idea is to minimize your need for reaching up and dragging your carry-on bag, since you might not be in a good position to do so. If you keep all of your in-flight needs in one place, you can quickly slip it out as you are getting settled in your seat. You will likely be able to just put this in the seatback pocket in front of you (especially if it’s a plastic baggie, as it will slide around and possibly out of your reach).

The idea is to try to make your small environment as comfortable as possible, especially for a longer flight. Instead of listening to the same music loop over and over again, consider downloading a bunch of podcasts (I personally love the tales from NPR’s This American Life, and those shows are all an hour long), or listening to an unabridged book on CD (you could even download one from sites like Audible.com, or copy it into your MP3 player so you don’t have to lug a portable CD player around).

Had I had such a small seat pack with me on that flight to Singapore (instead of stashing everything in that unreachable bag by my feet), I wouldn’t have been so miserable for most of that flight.

I wound up having to take another business trip to Singapore the following year. For that trip, I made sure to get a seat in their (slightly more) roomier Economy Plus seat (with an added 3 inches of pitch! Woot…).