by Susan Foster

This has been and continues to be a very busy travel season for me! I constantly learn from my travel experiences and so have many tips to share with you. Some are reminders of points previously mentioned, but they are ones that I see consistently not being followed by other travelers. It is often the small details that make or break a trip. Read on and take heed so that your trip is the trip of your dreams and not a nightmare.

A Proven Timesaver:

Print boarding passes before leaving for the airport to avoid standing in at least one line. Most airlines allow printing 24 hours in advance, including Southwest Airlines who recently changed from allowing printing of boarding passes at 12:01AM on the day of flight to 24 hours in advance. Now Southwest passengers can get a decent sleep before departing.

TSA Reminder:

When my husband and I (we consider ourselves to be smart packers) have an item confiscated by the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) at airport security, we know others have had the same experience. Here are some recent mistakes:

Problem: Packing a bag for airline "checked luggage" and then deciding to carry on that bag at another point during a trip has caused the loss of 2 pairs of manicure scissors.

Solution: Review the contents before changing how a bag will be transported to save those scissors (or Swiss army knives, or ...) from confiscation.

Problem: Packing for airline "carry-on" but neglecting to clean out a bag that was previously used for a car trip caused the loss of my favorite blunt point sewing scissors (allowable by the TSA but confiscated in Frankfurt, Germany.)

Solution: Completely clean out any bag before packing for the next trip. Items that permanently live in that bag (identification, business cards, swim suit etc) should be in a see-through container and should not include any prohibited items.

Plan Ahead for Credit Card Use When Traveling:

I alert my credit card company when I am planning international travel, and recently learned that I must also alert them in advance of domestic travel. Imagine my chagrin when I could not use my Visa card to charge my new raincoat in Chicago. Visa rejected my purchase because of a small transaction error, and because I had charged in several cities in a very short time. The Fraud Division advised me to always call Visa (or any credit card provider) when I would be charging outside of my normal shopping area as that is a red alert indicator of a stolen card. (CONTINUE...)