My Round-the-World tickets are paper instead of electronic because they have more than 16 segments on them. There is a limit of 16 segments on all e-tickets.

On July 1 of this year, they restricted all RTW tickets to being 16 or less, so I purchased a 20-segment one the day before. I’ll use this one for my travel over the next 6-9 months, so until that’s done I’ll still be on the paper system. It’s not really by choice, but it’s not usually a problem either.

@Travis,

Hold that thought; I’ll come back to it soon.

You’ve mentioned packing light. I browsed through your posts to see if you go into detail about this, but I can’t find anything. Could you please give me an example what one or two people need to pack light?

My wife and I went to Europe, and while I packed kinda light (2 carryon) my wife packed heavy (2 carry on, 2 check). Of course, my wife was not the person to lug this stuff around Europe. I want to avoid this mistake when we take our trip to Hawaii this October. Any tips?

I travel with a few liquids like contact lens solution and toothpaste. I have never used the plastic bag thing– it is a ruse by the TSA. Seriously, in 40+ U.S. and U.S.-departing flights I have only once been asked to take the liquids out of the carry-on. And even then they said, OK, maybe next time you should put them in the bin. I thought that was funny.

They are a bit more strict in the U.K., however.

@CrashSystems,

Not checking bags is definitely the way to go!

@Anca,

Sea-Tac security– for some reason the “expert traveler” line is always closed when I’m there. But I’ve usually had good luck there anyway, and only had to wait a long time (30 minutes) once. Most of the time, it’s done in 5 minutes.

@Ken and @Alex,

Packing lists and environmental impact, those are good questions but require a longer answer. I’m getting on a plane in Vienna right now– hold that thought and I’ll cover both issues in a future essay.

@Matt,

Yep, I am usually pretty psyched to travel!

Given your frequent international travel, I’d love to get your take on the whole environmental impact on flight travel. And/or on this article in Walrus Magazine about the coming end to airtravel for every except the very rich (due to the whole looming oil crisis thing).

Cheers,
Alex

http://walrusmagazine.com/articles/2008.07-travel-grounded-travel-by-air-david-beers/

What’s your packing list? That might make an interesting essay…

I’m a big fan of http://www.onebag.com

I’m assuming he does it just like everyone else: 1 quart-sized bag full of 3oz containers (or he buys items at his destination or after security check), though to let you in on a not-so-secret, the TSA will not care (or can’t see) that some liquids are not in the ziplock bag (I’ve previously forgotten, say, a thing of hand sanitizer in my purse) or that some liquids are slightly above 3oz. They will NOT ignore water bottles (but you can carry them through if they are empty, why does no one understand this?!) or containers clearly larger than 3oz.

@ Chris,

I assume that given your frequent flying out of Sea-Tac you’ve discovered the benefits of skipping the security check closest to the bus stop, and going to the farther one, which not only is less crowded but has a special faster lane for “frequent travelers”. It’s pretty sweet to be able to get through it in 5 minutes.