It’s no secret that I travel a lot — whether it’s for business or pleasure. Not bad for someone who was once petrified of flying at one point in his life. Over the years, I’ve learned how to be a better traveler; learning how to prepare for the flight, getting through security, and figuring out how to make the most of my time while waiting for my plane. Hopefully, what I’m about to share will help you on future trips. Admittedly, my advice is probably geared more towards business travelers or people who don’t have kids. Still, you should be able to learn something from all of this.

This is the first of three posts on practical travel tips.

Choose your bag wisely
The time and money you invest in packing for a flight can mean a world of difference when entering and exiting an airport. If you can avoid having to check in a bag, then I highly recommend doing so. OneBag has some good reasons why it’s good to pack light, so I’m not going to get into those here. That said, I personally don’t believe in the “one bag” philosophy for a number of reasons:

• Some large bags may not fit in the overhead compartment of smaller planes, which means you have to scramble to take out the items you want to keep on the plane — without a convenient way to carry all of those items — while your bag is checked at the gate.
• The large bag may be unwieldy to lug around, especially if you’re going through large airports with multiple terminals and gates.
• The large bag and its contents may be too heavy to carry on, so you’d need to check it anyway.

Airlines usually let you have one carry-on and one smaller personal item without incurring an extra charge, so you might as well take advantage of this while you still can.

Use as much free space in your bag as possible
A great way to maximize your space in one carry-on is to compress your clothes as much as possible. The “space saver” vacuum bags actually do work, and have the added benefit of keeping your clothes together and organized, even during aggressive, random bag searches from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Pack a smaller, collapsible bag just in case
If you intend to bring something back from your destination — or, for that matter, don’t intend to — it’s a good idea to pack an extra bag, in case what you buy may not fit in your carry-on with everything else.

Know what toiletries to pack and how to pack them
Hotels usually have shampoo, conditioner and soap in the bathroom, so it may not be necessary to pack those. Depending on the hotel, you may be able to pick up other stuff, either from the hotel or a gift shop (at a substantial cost, no doubt). However, if you don’t want to take that risk, or if you prefer not to, then it’s pretty easy to bring your own; you just have to remember to transport these things in smaller, transparent containers. The TSA has its 3-1-1 rule for carry-ons, so it’s best to follow that.

Keep up-to-date on TSA guidelines
The rules change from time to time. Blog posts like this can become outdated quickly, so it’s best to refer to the TSA’s travelers’ web site before you go anywhere.

Feel free to share your packing tips and tricks!