A few weeks ago I posted my 9 tips of long-haul air travel, it was one of the most read and commented on posts here so far. Recently Jim Orred a wise and oft-travelling friend who I respect alot posted his tips for travel.

The whole list is way different to mine, and he has done a good bit more travelling that I have, I posted a few of the most interesting on the list;

1. Photograph all your plastic loyalty cards! Or put them into either Passbook or Google Wallet on your phone. Why carry a stack of plastic?

I use a german app mobilepocket and 1password for this and now carry just a couple of bank cards in my iPhone case.

Packing: start with the right luggage. It’s like your car and house combined. My current favorite is the Travel-Pro Crew series. And they can be repaired if a handle or wheel breaks. Trust me, quality luggage is worth the high price. Often you can score at least 60% off at department store sales.

I’m a big believer in luggage (as my wife can attest) and it’s way I spent literally years¹ pondering over which carry on bag to buy as you can read here. I had a good friend invest in the whole thule set of luggage. We have ended up with a couple of pieces of north face and samsonite (from TK Maxx) that have been worth every penny. One tip to remember when buying luggage, especially carry-on luggage at outlet-type stores such as TK Maxx, is that as luggage allowances are constantly adjusted, full-price retailers sell the now non-check-in-friendly bags off to bulk outlets.

My best-kept secret, that is truly magic, and only my wife knew about until now: a small container of baby powder… I use it for two things: I dust the insides of my socks…and I douse one other place, where most humans sweat…I’m going to leave it to
your imagination.

This is a good tip, I’ve been using Gold Bond ever since my brother-in-law showed it to me, great for warm climates and sticky plane rides!

Finally, Jim shares a tip, I’d never thought of before which came out of his experience flying from NYC on the original 9/11;

Email a copy of your itinerary to your immediate family members. On the original 9/11, my flight was one of the last to leave NYC just minutes before the first plane hit the twin towers. We were forced down in Traverse City. Cherry capitol of America. But all mobile phone circuits were jammed for hours. I had no way to tell my wife, waiting in Hawaii, that I was OK, and she needlessly worried if I had been a casualty. She had no idea of which flights I was or was not on.

Go check it out for yourself here

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