Help make your international travel less stressful in the airport by attending to these tips before you leave the house:
- Go through your purse and take only what you need to bring to the area you are going to. Check your makeup bag and leave at home what you can. Take out anything that could be confiscated at the airport like nail clippers, perfume bottles, ect. The less you bring with you, the less you need to worry about on your trip and the lighter your purse will be.
- Try purchasing a passport wallet that will hold your boarding pass, passport and credit cards neatly and all together. You will be asked to produce these at several points throughout the flight, so it is so much easier if they are easy to get to and organized. If you do not have one of these convenient wallets, try to keep them all together in one specific place where you are sure they are all together.
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- Make sure that you have small bills in your wallet to tip the baggage carriers.
- Pack a few pens in your purse so that you can fill out the custom forms handed out on the airplane. The airlines do not provide you with the pen, only the forms.
- Pack a healthy snack that is easy to put in your purse and won’t be confiscated like chocolate dusted almonds.
- Charge your cell phone the day before, and then that night, pack your cell phone and the charger in your purse.
- Line your clothes out the night before. Make sure you layer and bring a sweater for the airline. No matter what time of year it is, the AC on the airlines can actually be chilly. Also, make sure the shoes you wear slide on and off easily through security.
- Limit the amount of jewelry you wear and bring with you. Belt buckles and wrist watches set off security alarms. Try to leave your valuable jewelry at home, costume jewelry is fun to wear and if it’s lost or stolen, you won’t be heart broken.
- Help simplify the check in process at the airport by making sure your bags already have ID tags on them before you leave the house. You can purchase identification tags at Office Max that once you fill them in, will stay on your bags until you take them off. If you haven’t purchased permanent identification tags for your suitcases, a couple of airlines have introduced self baggage tagging to speed up the whole check in process.
- Find your gate and check the time before stopping off to buy your cup of coffee, bottle of water or last minute souvenirs.
