With the holiday travel season starting, you might find some of these travel tips useful.

One thing many people don't know is that medically necessary devices do not count as “luggage.”  For example, when we needed to bring a C-Pap machine to breathe at night, we had to carry it on the plane to make sure it didn’t get lost or damaged.  That was not included as either a carry-on or as a personal item.  They are also not allowed to charge a luggage charge to ship scooters and wheelchairs.  You can use them to get around in the airport, and then “gate-check” them after riding it down the jetway.

Carrying copies of your prescriptions including for glasses is also a good idea.  If you are carrying prescription drugs out of the country, it is easier to explain them if you have a copy of the actual prescription.  You might be able to get a copy from your pharmacy.  Eyeglass prescriptions are also handy in case you break yours and need to replace them.  It saves trying to find an optometrist.

If you have replacement parts made of metal – pins or rods in bones, older joint replacements – a note from your doctor can get you through security faster.  You will still set off the alarm and they will still wand you, but you can direct them to the appropriate place with the note.

It’s tempting to take new shoes – especially if you’ve bought them for the trip.  Sometimes a bad idea.  But if you do start to develop a blister, covering it with adhesive tape is better than a band-aid.  The band-aid can rub, where the adhesive tape does not – although the adhesive tape can pull the surface off the blister when you remove it...

Before my Peru trip, they recommended that we take, starting a week before the trip, echinacea and goldenseal to prevent infections.  You would continue to take them while you travel.  You also might want to take ginger for stomach issues.  Both can be bought in capsule form – again, take the whole bottle with you so it is clear what you are taking.  Taking pro-biotics before you go should also load up your intestines with “good”/“friendly” bacteria making you more resistant to weird local strains.

If you are sending post cards home:  DON'T LICK THE STAMPS!  I got a major cold after licking the stamps for my Easter Island post cards.  It’s such an easy thing to do automatically that I didn’t think anything of it until a day or so later when I was massively congested.

Speaking of postcards, sometimes I make address labels for the people I want to send cards to.  Saves you having to take your address book and saves writing time.  Plus if you print them they are easier for foreign post offices to read.  (Don’t forget to add your country to the address after the postal code.)

If you are taking electronics and chargers, keep the chargers with the electronics.  No point in having your cell phone in your pocket if your luggage gets lost and the charger is in there.  If you are taking a laptop, offload your pictures from your camera every night.  That way if your camera disappears, you still have the photos to date.  I lost my camera in Naples and had not downloaded any pictures after India.  So lost Egypt, Greece, Suez Canal, and a couple of islands in the Mediterranean.  Sigh.  (So I'll just have to go back...)

If you do get asked questions by officials, answer the question they ask.  Not the question you think they asked or (worse) the question you think they should have asked.  Then stop talking until they ask another question.  Don’t babble.

Don’t take or wear your good jewelry.  You don’t need to impress anyone while you are traveling, least of all thieves and pick-pockets.  Keep enough money in your wallet to be convincing, but don’t keep all your money there.  Keep copies of the information page from your passport in your suitcases and any other places you can think of.  Make a list of telephone numbers for any credit cards you are carrying.  Note that the 800 numbers used in the US may not be the ones you need to copy down if you are traveling abroad.  Most cards have another number that they tell you to call collect if you need to contact them when you are out of the country.  Check expiration dates.  Had friends whose card expired while they were on a trip and they couldn’t use it for the last half of the trip.

Try not to do any on-line banking in wireless environments like McDonalds.  Too easy for the information to be intercepted.

I don’t recommend the Scotvest.  I got one and sent it back.  You look like the Michelin man when it is loaded and it is heavy.  Those models they use to sell it have no fat and probably no bones, either...

Many countries will not allow fresh produce to be brought in – including the US!  So plan your snacks accordingly.  I like Zone bars.  They are a balanced meal in a nutrition bar and won’t spike your blood sugar.  Getting overtired or having low blood sugar makes you less alert and an easier target for thieves and pick-pockets.  Also beware of attention getting displays in airports – like people fighting over a suitcase – it’s mine/no, it’s mine, including yelling, gesticulating, and profanity.  While everyone is looking at the arguers, their companions are circulating at the back of the crowd taking wallets and handbags.

Since you can’t lock your suitcases, you run the risk of zippered cases opening in transit and strewing your belongings along all sorts of conveyors in the bowels of the airports.  Tie wraps like you use to wrap wire bundles are really good for hooking the zippers shut.  The inspectors can easily cut them if they want to search your stuff, but otherwise they should stay in place.  You can get a bag of 3- or 4-inch ones for a couple of bucks at Home Depot.  If you choose to use them:  1) don't snug them so tight that you can’t get scissors into the loop to cut it open.  2) don’t pack your scissors in the bag and then tie-wrap it shut.  (Although if you do that, usually you can get scissors at your hotel once you arrive there.  But you can’t open the bag until you get there.)  Actually, scissors small enough to be placed in your carry-on are probably not strong enough to cut a tie-wrap, but nail clippers are both strong enough and allowed.

Also, although back packs are great for keeping your hands free, they are by definition behind you, giving someone on an escalator to the bowels of the airport plenty of time to sift through your stuff.  If you are carrying anything more important than water, snacks, and your spare jacket in your backpack, you might want to invest in a cheap lightweight lock.  It's not going to deter a determined thief – they’d just use a knife to slit the bag – but it will keep out the casually inquisitive.

Save your ready-to-throw-out toothbrush to take on the trip with you.  You can pack it dry for departure and then throw it away before you return home, so you don’t have to bring a wet toothbrush home with you.  Also, taking undies and socks with holes allows you to jettison stuff along the way.  (Don't worry about what your Mom said about not being caught with holes in your underwear.  If you’re in an accident such that you can’t undress yourself, chances are they’re going to cut your clothes off of you anyway.)