Before you start packing, note the size and weight allowed for check-in and carry-on luggage. If you have multiple legs of your journey, pack for the most restrictive flight, unless you plan to mail items back home half way, or leave your heaviest suitcase with family at your first stopover, and carry on with a lighter bag.
DRESS FOR YOUR DESTINATION
The rule is, dress for your destination. However, you also need to think about your journey to the airport, going through security, and on the plane.
HOT DESTINATIONS
CLOTHES
UK flag. London - hot in summer, cold in winter.
Why dress for your destination? One year I wore heavy knee high boots and a long coat in London. I flew to India.
Indian flag.
India and Asia. Hot countries.
My luggage was delayed 24 hours. So I was left wearing my London clothes for snow in the heat of Delhi.
First, I was far too hot in Delhi. Second I had no spare underclothes. Third, I looked daft and everybody stared at me.
If you are flying to a hot destination, you need a lightweight outfit either in your carry-on luggage or under your warmer second layer.
NOTE SEASONS
Australia has opposite seasons to the UK and Europe.
Flag of tropical Singapore which is hot all year.
Singapore
Singapore is hot all year.In Singapore, you need light single layer clothes for walking to and from the MRT train stations, or waiting in line outdoors for a taxi. You also need a jacket to wear indoors in the air-conditioned taxi, the restaurants and hotels and office meeting rooms.
Japan has four seasons.
Korean flag.
Korea can be cold and snowing in winter. Minus fifteen at a ski resort I visited.
Thermals
I always take one thermal vest and a deerstalker hat which covers ears and a pair of gloves. They are light to pack. Even if you are perspiring in the heat at mid-day, if you take a trip on a boat, ferry or cruise ship at night, the sea breeze can be cold.
Vietnam
Vietnam flag.
Vietnam's weather can change from hot to cold between Xmas and New Year. I arrived in light clothes in Christmas 2018. By Jan 1st 2019 I needed a warm hooded jacket to protect my head and neck from the winds when waiting at bus stops.
LAYERS
However, don't wear too many layers. On a couple of occasions I wore two jackets. This meant lighter packing.
JACKETS
Actually I grabbed the second jacket at the last minute when I opened the front door in London and felt the cold air at dawn. I remembered the dreadful cold draft which hits you as you trundle all your luggage from the place where the taxi to the airport drops you, from the outer building to the inner building.
I had to remove both jackets at security. Undressing all the layers delayed me so I was well behind my husband, who was impatiently waiting.
On the first occasion, I remembered my second jacket and had to go back to collect it.This should have been a warning.
The second time, I went back and my jacket was gone.
PONCHOS AND SLEEVELESS JACKETS
Alternatives are a poncho or sleeveless jacket. Make sure you can wear your shoulder bag or cross-body bag easily under or over the poncho.
A poncho can double up as a warm cover if the airplane is cold.
LIPSTICKS
No Lipsticks Nor Medicines
On one trip I put my liquid medicine and my lipstick in a lovely case in the little plastic bag in a separate container. I lost it. the lost property office was miles away.
When I went online, you had to describe your item. No room for three items, you could only list one.
Luckily I had a second lipstick in the same lovely case. But I never travelled with it again. One solution is to pack a lipstick. On board only carry a lipstick which is almost finished, with just less than one centimeter at the base. Use a lipstick brush to apply it.
Or pack your valuable lipstick. Take a cheap, current colour, and easily replaceable one for the journey.
No Metals
Metals will set off the metal detector which you might need to walk through. This means:
CLOTHES
1 No shoes with metal tips or metal ended laces.
2 No boots nor shoes with metal eyelets for laces.
3 No belts with metal buckles.
4 No all metal belts. Not loose ones threaded through loops on jeans, nor holding up the waist of long dresses so you don't trip. No fixed sewn-on half belts on the back or sides of jackets.
5 No jackets with metal eyelets.
6 No shirts nor blouses with fixed or removable metal collar ends. (Old shirts used to have whalebone strips to keep collars flat. These were replaced by cheaper plastic strips. Then the fashion was fixed tips so the collar lay flat and did not fray. Then metal corners you could clip on became available.)
BAGS
7 No bags with metal chain shoulder straps nor reinforcing triangles where the strap meets the bag, nor stud patterns.
Lightweight bags are less weight on the shoulders as well as keeping within your allowance.
A sturdier bag might protect a laptop or by pickpocket proof. A reversible bag gives you more colour options. If one side gets dirty, you can reverse it.
I pack a small bag inside a bigger one.
If I have space in my carry-on bag, I can put my heavier shoulder bag inside it and have a hand free at the airport. The smaller neck bag can carry a passport or ticket or boarding pass.
Another handy item is a neck pocket which can carry your spectacles when you are asleep, or your phone or toothbrush when you hop out to the toilet.
ACCESSORIES
8 No pendants or necklaces with heavy metal chains and heavy metal pendants. (You might find a fine gold choker necklace goes through without a problem.)
9 No metal brooches, rings or bracelets.
10 No hats nor baseball caps with metal shields or symbols on the front, nor buckles at the back.
HIGH HEELED SHOES
Don't wear high heeled shoes for longhaul. Or keep them separate to wear at the far end.
1 During those long walks at airports such as Heathrow and same transit airports in the USA, your feet will ache.
2 Also, if you have to evacuate an aircraft, you have to remove high heeled shoes because they would rip the slide fabric as you hurtle down the slide from the plane to the ground.
Small Items
If you do have to remove small items, try to put them inside something else, such as a zip up pocket or bag, so they don't roll out or get forgotten or take up extra trays.
Keep track of how many items you are collecting. Wear brightly coloured items you can identify and which others will not take by mistake.
If you are asked to step aside to open an item for inspection, try to watch out for your other items. Alternatively, list the number of items you need to collect and ask another member of your family or group to keep an eye out.
Remember that items apparently left behind at security may be whisked away by the staff so that a moment later they have vanished.
Laptops and covers and accessories
You might keep all your accessories together so as not to lose anything and not to have to count, nor to get delayed. However, you might need to remove your laptop from your carry on bag. One solution is to have the laptop already outside the cover. Use the cover to protect one side of the bag.
Use another bag or a light item such as a jumper or neck pillow to cushion the other side of the laptop and its sides. Once you are through the security area, you can place the laptop back in its secure cover for the rest of the journey.
Leftover Wine
When clearing out your fridge, you might give leftovers to a neighbour, send an email to yur family reminding them which foods are about to reach their expiry date.
Leftover wine in the fridge might be used in cooking or for cleaning, or dyeing clothes. You won't be allowed to take it with you in Platy Preserves. You might be allowed to take on board 100 ml. Stock up with a couple or more 100 ml bottles if that is the maximum allowed on your airline.
If two of you are travelling and your spouse does not drink, you might be able to give them a bottle to take some for you.
Food and drink
Don't take on board items which will get you into trouble.
I was told that I could take cut flowers, but not plants with roots and soil, into Singapore.
Check the latest regulations before you fly, in case rules have been tightened or relaxed.
Apples from your home or hotel breakfast table, into the USA.
No fruit and vegetables into Australia.
Meats are banned in some European and Asian destination.
Knives
Also watch out for knives, scissors, needles. If you have a small, padded envelope addressed to yourself, and stamped, you might be able to post back to your home any item that adults or children are found to be carrying at the airport before you check-in.
Some airports simply throw away confiscated items.That multi-function Swiss army knife with the bottle opener, in your backpack, is an expensive and useful item you might not want to lose, especially if it was a birthday present.
Sometimes airports will store them for you to collect on your return. Ask. Allow time for delays over such items.
Once, my husband had accidentally taken as far as security a banned item he could not afford to lose. to retrieve his carry-on luggage and retreat back to the check in desk. This took half an hour, because they needed a member of staff who was not busy checking in passengers. She had to go to the office on the other side of the terminal to collect a form and bring it back. The form had to be filled in. Then through passport checks and security again.
Don't swear at security or you might get locked up. Not advisable!
My best journey was travelling light with only a carry-on bag.
Happy travelling.
Useful Websites
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/travel-info/baggage/baggage-allowance/
https://www.skyscanner.net/news/tips/7-ways-to-beat-ryanair-cabin-baggage-rules
https://topjourneymag.com/15-things-you-should-never-wear-during-a-flight
https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/travel-info/baggage/baggage-restrictions/
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
.jpg)
