My boss wanted to add a helpful tip to the mix. He takes about a foot length of duct tape and sticks it to the inside of his suitcase. He says he can’t count how many times a piece of duct tape came in handy. This was our group lunch question today. Helpful travel tips (our company is travel heavy).
5 Likes
Does that duct tape stick to the lining come off easily and still be sticky?
If you want to take some just roll it onto a pencil. Or an old gift card–bonus: it’ll pack flat.
5 Likes
When my daughter traveled to India she wrapped duct tape around her Nalgene water bottle for emergency repairs.
2 Likes
I actually asked about that. He unzips the lining and sticks it on the hard shell. He says he replaces it every 4th trip so it doesn’t get gummy.
2 Likes
I just shared the gift card idea, and he’s going to start doing that!
1 Like
The place we stayed in Sarlat FR had an almost open concept bathroom. There was a window that looked out over the street with a cotton drapery that was not giving much in the way of concealment. I’d brought along some binder clips and used them to attach a towel to the drapery to block out most of the view.
If I’d brought the forgotten duct tape or painters tape, I would have first taped the curtains to the walls and then attached the towel.
2 Likes
On many packing lists for trips to China to adopt children was duct tape. There were after-pictures of anything and everything duct taped: cameras, ripped backpacks and suitcases, baby strollers, cameras to baby strollers, shoes. I think half the time people were just using the duct tape because they’d lugged it half way around the world and they were going to use it for something.
2 Likes
Late to this, but the Timeshifter app has changed my life; I’ve used it for passing through 8-9 time zones in both directions on three international trips - a change which normally has me wiped out. You input in your flight information, what your normal sleep patterns are, and it maps out what to do and when to do it, for two days in advance and the day(s) of travel, plus the following day.
Exposure to light at specific times (and avoiding light at specific times) is key, and when to do so is not always intuitive.
If I’m home in my pre-trip phase and I’m in an “avoid light” time period, I use the light blocking goggles you get after an eye exam that fit over my regular glasses, close my curtains and keep as many lights off as possible. (On the day of travel I just wear my prescription sunglasses indoors and on the plane so I don’t look totally bonkers.)
As an example of light timing - I just returned from Japan and during our flight home (per our apps travel plan) we were to avoid light, and go straight to sleep with eye masks on as soon as the flight took off. The rest of the plane was having dinner and wide awake but I popped on headphones with some soothing white noise and low music, and set an alarm on my phone to wake up later and put on my eye mask. After serving dinner they dimmed the cabin lights so everyone could sleep the rest of the flight.
After sleeping 4 hours (at 1am Japan time), per the app we woke up, turned on our seat lights, and turned on our phone flashlights and directed them at our faces, and watched movies. It was time to get as much light as possible into our eyeballs! Had a cup of coffee or tea every other hour or so (and kept the flashlights shining up on our faces as the attendants asked us not to raise the window shades).
No jet lag the day after getting home.
Anytime I’ve followed the program I’ve been fine, and I’ve tried a lot of different jet lag remedies over the last many decades (anyone remember the book “The Jet Lag Diet” from the 80s? 
)
You can pay for the app for unlimited travel, or you can do one trip at a time for free (and I’ve done all the trips for free as it’s been about one a year, rather than one after another).
3 Likes
Hertz is offering 3500 points (worth 3 free rentals) if you sign up for their rewards program (free) and rent 3 times - based on the fine print.
1 Like
I have a question, hope it’s ok to post here
We have a flight tomorrow. It’s to an international destination.
I can’t check in, I’m thinking it’s because I need to verify our passports. We haven’t flown this airline internationally with this passport.
But… I really want to pay for my checked bag. It’s American, they charge more to check the bag at the airport. It’s to the Caribbean so it doesn’t include bags. Not even if I have their credit card.
Does anyone know if I can pay for my bag now? And how to do that? I tried chat, the bots were not helpful.
When you have a question, it’s always better to call. They give you an option of either waiting on the line or they can call you back. And they will call you back.
2 Likes
I was not able to pay for my checked bag ahead of time on my international flight. They need to weigh it and check passport.
I could check in because my whole flight (both legs) was on the same carrier (American), however my daughter’s international flight was on British Airways and then American, and she could only check in for the British Airways leg. When she got to the airport, and everything was verified/weighed, they were able to print her boarding passes for both legs of her flight.
2 Likes
If you log on to your AA account on their website and go to your flight details, there should be a section to input your passport. Usually for me a red flag shows up somewhere and when I follow it, I get sent to some kind of “additional information” page that prompts for the passport details. I think I might also get an email about it as well.
Not sure about the checked bags though.
1 Like
I’ll try that.
Maybe I did something wrong when I inputted our global entry into the system.
Thanks
My daughter flew American yesterday and said they ran into the same issue. It might be that American is having technical difficulties.
Thanks so much!
I could check in on my desktop, I needed to enter my passport information. Not sure why I couldn’t do that though the app or on my phone. I’m just glad I was able to on the desktop.
Still can’t figure out how to prepay for the checked bag…
Also the second flight is on a subsidiary of American which might be why I can’t prepay my bags. It should have been a prompt when I checked in but it wasn’t. Got to love all the upsells when I checked in.
Do I want to upgrade to first for only the first leg? If not, would I like to purchase priority boarding?
2 Likes
Glad you got at least part of it figured out! I should’ve mentioned needing to use the website - the app doesn’t have much functionality IME.
2 Likes
I was just put on a medication that has to be kept refrigerated or below 77 degrees F for up to 14 days and injected every 14 days. It only gets dispensed in a twin pack.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to travel with it because I do travel and like to plan ahead. I just found FRIO evaporative pouches that can keep items at or below 77 degrees, which is the correct temp for the med that is out of the fridge. I just ordered one after reading some articles and reviews—simple enough to soak inner pouch in water and try to move beads so they are evenly distributed and then pat dry, insert medication and but the inner pouch into outer pouch. Put the whole thing somewhere it can get ventilation like cupholder of your pack or luggage. Anyway, this saves the hassles of refrigerators and freezers and leaking and mess, etc.
6 Likes
What’s the Fastest Way to the Airport? We Raced in New York, L.A. and Chicago
What we learned from testing an array of ground transportation—even an e-bike—on a busy Friday afternoon
gift link although you may have to register
https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel/airport-race-new-york-chicago-los-angeles-67a2acbf?st=L2Q9Te&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
We used the Mobile Passport Control app on our recent return. We arrived at Miami airport and the MPC line was empty.
5 Likes