08 Jul. 2019 When holiday season arrives, travel is far from the most relaxing part of the journey. Fear of arriving late, heavy suitcases to carry, long queues to scan luggage... stress is often on the agenda. Here are all our tips for traveling with peace of mind.

1- Check the Weight and Contents of Your Luggage

Be careful not to underestimate the weight of your suitcases, as excess baggage can be very costly (when accepted at all). If you're traveling as a couple and the airline allows checked baggage of 25 kilos, you cannot exceed this limit per bag and "compensate" for one heavy suitcase with another lighter one. In other words, you cannot check a bag weighing 27 kilos, even if the second checked bag weighs only 5 kilos.

Also be aware that all liquids and potentially dangerous items must go in your checked baggage, which will be registered before customs. If you leave a Swiss Army knife or a bottle of shampoo in your carry-on or handbag, these items will be confiscated and discarded.

We recommend checking the weight and contents of your bags before departure to avoid having to unpack everything in the middle of the airport...

Good to know: while liquids are prohibited on planes, food is not a problem. Given airport food prices, don't hesitate to bring biscuits or other dried fruits that you can keep with you at all times. If you're traveling with a child under three years old, you're even allowed to bring all the food and beverages you wish—you just need to inform the baggage inspectors that the rice pudding or strawberry syrup in your bag is for your child.

2- Keep All Your Electronics in One Place

Baggage checks are becoming increasingly frequent and thorough. For a long trip with connections, you'll need to have your carry-on scanned multiple times. During these checks, you'll be asked to remove all electronic items from your bags (phones, chargers, tablets, computers, mp3 players, headphones, etc.). To simplify the process and avoid having to dig through all your bags at every conveyor belt along your route, keep all these items in the same bag in an easily accessible spot (in other words, not at the bottom of a bag under sweaters and food...).

3- Dress Appropriately

Along with baggage verification, passengers must also pass through security gates. Before going through these detectors, you'll be asked to remove, if you're wearing them, your belt, heeled or leather shoes, jewelry and bulky accessories, as well as any clothing that might conceal something—namely jackets, sweaters, and scarves. Dress accordingly and choose clothing and shoes that are easy to remove and put back on. Jeans, t-shirt, and sneakers remains the best airport uniform.

4- Prepare a Pouch to Store Passports and Boarding Passes for the Whole Family

Another formality associated with long trips: passport and boarding pass checks (the famous boardingpass). You'll be asked for them at numerous points in the airport: at baggage check-in, at customs, at the checkout of a duty-free shop if you buy something, at the gate entrance, and finally before boarding the plane... and multiply this by the number of flights you'll take...

Nothing is more stressful than having to search through all your pockets and empty your backpack to find the passport you stuffed away and forgot where you put it...

If you're traveling as a family, experience shows that the best way to avoid stress is to keep all passports and boarding passes in the same pouch, on the top or front of a bag so you can find them and access them easily whenever you need them.

5- Check In From Home

For international flights, airlines encourage travelers to complete online check-in from home. You can always choose to do this at the airport, but by getting ahead of the game, you'll have a better chance of selecting your seats on the plane.

In Asia, the low-cost airline Air Asia doesn't offer counter check-in. If you haven't checked in at home, you'll need to do it at automated kiosks before baggage check-in. In that case, you'll definitely need your booking reference to obtain your boarding passes. Remember to have all your references with you.

Do you have other tips for traveling stress-free? Feel free to share them with other travelers by leaving a comment!

Charlène Nomadays SEO writer from the very beginning at Nomadays, now content manager and head of the communications department, Charlène has accompanied the adventure since its inception with passion and dedication. After living seven years in Asia—from China to Thailand, passing through Mongolia and South Korea—she has made travel a way of being in the world. A lover of words, nature, and meaningful encounters, she strives to convey in her writing a sensitive, committed, and responsible vision of tourism. For her, each article is a bridge between curiosity, respect, and wonder.