Glad I help with the title inspiration.

@ Everyone, Tim has a really great site that I read every week, and they recently announced an essay contest with a $1,000 grand prize:

http://soulshelter.com

Those are good ideas; thanks for adding them. I try to get to the airport very early as well. And as for “smarter travel,” giving back, and differential tourism in general, I’ll be writing about that more at some point.

Justina’s comments are in the “advanced traveling” category. It is true that in some countries officials will board the plane on stopovers, or instead, you may have to get off the plane (with all your belongings) for inspection. This is rare but it does happen.

Even when there are no officials, the flight crew will often come through the aisles and make sure that all carry-on bags in the overhead bin are identified before taking off for the next stop.

* Do not-not-NOT lock your suitcase when checking it. True, someone from the loading crew may steal some articles of clothing, but the other option is having airport security or the police break the lock and zippers off and tape your suitcase back together. I went to Ecuador with a nice new suitcase, came back with a big wool bag.

* If you have to pack something breakable or valuable, don’t assume it will be OK in your carry-on bag. After we had checked our bags and were waiting in line to board the plane, the crew told everyone the plane was too full and we had to hand over our carry-on stuff to be checked… with no time to make sure breakables were carefully wrapped.

* If you have a short stop-over in another country, be aware that officials may board the plane and search your belongings… and you. Just let them do their job.

A small luxury for me that also lowers stress: take a towncar or limo to the airport for all but the shortest trips. Between parking costs and traffic, it’s not much more expensive and gets the trip started on the right note.

Also, love the comment about differential tourism. Another thought along the same lines: go places to interact or contribute, not just observe.

I have a short list on the “How and Why I Travel” essays (look in the International Travel section”), but in short, I don’t bring that much with me.

As for losing passports, yes, that is one thing I am paranoid about because there are not always nearby embassies in the places I go. I do keep several copies with me, in different parts of my bags, and I am working on getting a duplicate passport which will be helpful for me anyway.

I’d like to know more about what information you make sure to have with you when you’re traveling and how you plan for “in case I lose my passport” type scenarios.