Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
If you're not already a reader of the Joyful, Jubilant Learning community, I just published a post there today on learning by teaching. Click on over and check out everything this community has to offer - there're way more things than just what I wrote. And subscribe to it in your RSS reader if you like what you see!
Now that you have some ideas for packing without wrinkles, how do you keep your things safe en route? I try to avoid checking bags whenever possible, but sometimes checked luggage is inevitable. Here are some tips to help:
Keep 'em dry
This is an easy one - if you are packing liquids inside your luggage (sunscreen, cosmetics, cologne, whatever...) put them inside a sealed plastic bag to keep them from leaking on your clothes. Don't leave a bunch of extra air in the bags, or they could pop open when your plane reaches a high altitude.
Lock it up
When you check luggage in the US, they require that your bags be unlocked these days - which makes me uncomfortable. There is another way - you can use a "TSA Approved" lock, which allow you to lock your bag but still allows the Transportation Safety Administration to gain access to your bags, since a TSA Approved lock has a special keying mechanism that allows TSA officials to open them. My favorite ones are the locks with a search indicator on them. I picked up a few of these at Target and use them all the time - they have a little dot on them that is green when you lock it, but turns red if your back has been searched. You have to know the combination to reset the dot to green, so it enables you to know when they've searched your bag.
They help in a couple of ways: 1) they prevent casual intrusion into your luggage, and 2) they keep your bags from accidentally coming open if your zipper gets snagged on something.
Know what you have
I've had lots of luggage delays, in which I make a connection and my luggage arrives on a later flight, or other such situations. But what if your luggage is truly lost? How do you know what's gone?
Thankfully, I've only had luggage go missing a couple of times, but it does happen. When it does, you'll be well served to have a list of what's in your bag so you can file a claim if it disappears. A simple list on an index card is sufficient, or you can go into more detail -- even taking a picture of the suitcase before you close it up, if you like.
If you must pack anything of significant value, be careful, pack the items well, lock your bag -- and consider alternatives. For example, you may be better off shipping your items to your destination via an insurable shipping method. This will help protect your precious possessions from damage or loss (and the claims process via the airlines is time-consuming and fraught with technicalities designed to keep them from paying you for anything).
Side note: Once, I lost my bag and didn't get it back for 6 days. I was told by one of the baggage claims folks that your odds of finding your luggage decrease significantly after a few days, because the bag numbers get recycled in their systems. For example, on United (the losemakers in that case), they purportedly go through 1 million bags about every 72 hours, after which your bag number is then assigned to someone else's bag.
Be wary of Chicago
I've only had a few luggage losses or significant delays. All of them have involved Chicago O'Hare Airport. I now avoid connecting through Chicago whenever I can, particularly if I have to check luggage. Also, I've experienced a statistically high number of weather delays and missed connections in Chicago.
Incidentally, Chicago is where my bag went missing for 6 days (it got "scanned" coming off the plane in Chicago but never made it to Montreal where I was going). When I got my bag back, several hundred dollars worth of stuff was missing including some trousers from a suit (I still have the jacket), an electric shaver, some new shoes, and some cologne. I had a list of contents and some photos and eventually got a claim paid for the items, but it was not a fun experience.
More to come
I'll have more in the future, including tips to reduce the number of things you pack to increase your chances of being able to use carry-on luggage instead of checking it.
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Enjoy.
Read MoreOk, so you thought I was going to talk about packing, right? That's coming...but first:
This evening, I was spending a few minutes catching up on the blogs to which I subscribe -- which is something I haven't had the cycles to do lately, and it is really good climb back in. One article that grabbed me is Rosa's post on Joyful Jubilant Learning, called "Learning to Talk to Each Other."
You see, Rosa is one of the people that really got me to talk to other people in "blog world" a couple of years ago, and has been a beacon for me for how to get meaningful dialog to happen. Through her blog, appropriately titled "Talking Story," Rosa writes a lot of stuff, and reaches a lot of people. But she also listens, connects dots, and "refactors" things to make them better -- that is her real gift. Some examples I've seen:
The magic happens because Rosa is easy to talk to, and that's because she really listens and shares relevant experiences with people. She gives herself to the conversation in a way that gives you the impression that she's really paying attention, not trying to think about what she's going to say next or what she's going to do after the conversation is over.
Oh - and did I mention that I consider Rosa to be one of my best friends, even though I've never met her face-to-face, and we've only spoken live once? I don't know how she does it, but she has a knack for reaching out to me at just the right time, with something I didn't realize I needed.
One day, I hope to become as good at connecting with people as Rosa.
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Lots of travel these past 10 days - I spent a few days in Prague, came home to Portland for about 12 hours, then spent the long weekend (Memorial Day in the US) in Louisiana. In both Prague and Baton Rouge, I found myself in the midst of many discussions about packing for travel - how to pack without wrinkling your clothes, how to fit everything into a carry-on instead of a checked bag, etc.
Since travel-related posts get a lot of traffic on this site, I thought I'd share some of the tips I've learned or heard from others. I'd also like to hear your packing tips, terrors, and the like.
Packing without wrinkles
It all started back in 2005 with my post about my passion for the Eagle Creek Pack-It Folders. I still use these and they are far better than anything I've seen at helping me look neat and tidy on my many business trips. You can see pictures of how I use them in my post at LifeHack.org.
Verdict: Eagle Creek Pack-It Folders are among my business travel essentials, and I use them for vacation travel as well.
Roll or fold?
In discussions about packing, the question about Rolling clothes usually comes up. I have found Rolling to be inadequate for my professional outerwear. I use rolling only for underwear, casual t-shirts, and things like that. Rolling is also acceptable for things like Boy Scout campouts where your clothes don't need to look crisp and unwrinkled. The main advantages of Rolling is space efficiency and the fact that you don't need any special gear, while the main disadvantage is its tendency to produce very noticeable creases if you don't roll things perfectly.
Verdict: Rolling is good for casual clothing, underwear, undershirts, etc.
Best of both worlds
Mixing these two techniques can be very effective - use the Pack-It Folders for dress shirts and pants (though pants can also be folded and laid flat in the suitcase with little risk of ugly wrinkles), and roll your other clothing so you can tuck the little rolls in around the Pack-It Folders so you don't waste any space.
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Short list of recommendations for packing without wrinkles:
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More packing tips on the way - stay tuned! And please share your own tips.
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