5 tips for packing your suitcase and traveling stress-free

When on vacation, traveling is not (by far!) the most relaxing time. Fear of arriving late, heavy suitcases to carry, long queues to scan luggage... irritation is often present. Here are all our tips for relaxing travel.

1- Check the weight and contents of your suitcases

Be careful not to underestimate the weight of your suitcases, as excess weight can be very expensive (when accepted). If you are traveling in pairs and the company accepts checked baggage of 25 kilos, you will not be able to exceed this limit per bag and “compensate” for a heavy suitcase with a lighter one. In other words, you will not be able to check in a piece of baggage weighing 27 kilos, even if the second piece of checked baggage only weighs 5 kilos.

Also be careful, all potentially dangerous liquids and objects must go in your checked baggage which will be checked in before going through customs. If you leave a Swiss army knife or a bottle of shampoo in your cabin baggage or handbag, these items will be confiscated and thrown away.

We advise you to check the weight and contents of your luggage before departure to avoid having to unpack all the bags in the middle of the airport...

Good to know: although liquids are prohibited on the plane, food does not pose a problem. Given the prices of catering at the airport, don't hesitate to take biscuits or other dried fruits that you can keep with you at all times. If you are traveling with a child under three years old, you even have the right to take all the food and drinks you want, you just need to tell the people responsible for checking your baggage that the rice pudding or the strawberry syrup in your bag is for your child.

2- Gather all your electronic items in one place

Baggage checks are becoming more and more frequent and more and more thorough. For a long trip with transit, you will need to have your hand luggage scanned many times. During this check, you will be asked to remove all electronic objects from your bags (phones, chargers, tablets, computers, mp3, headphones, etc.). To make the process easier and avoid having to rummage through all the bags at each treadmill that will be on your route, store all these items in the same bag in an accessible way (in other words, not at the bottom of a bag under the sweaters and food...)

3- Dress accordingly

In addition to checking baggage, passengers are also required to pass through security gates. Before passing through these detectors, you will be asked to remove, if you are wearing them, your belt, your heeled or leather shoes, your jewelry and imposing accessories, as well as any clothing likely to conceal something, I I named jackets, sweaters and scarves. Dress accordingly and preferably choose shoes and clothing that are easy to take off and put on again. Jeans, t-shirt, sneakers remain the best uniforms for flying.

4- Provide a pocket to store passports and boarding passes for the whole family

Another formality inherent to long journeys: checking passports and boarding passes (the famous boarding passes). You will be asked for them at many times in the airport: at baggage check-in, when going through customs, at the checkout of a duty free store if you are buying something, at the entrance to the check-in room. boarding and finally before getting on the plane... all this to be multiplied by the number of planes you will take...

Nothing is more annoying than having to search all the pockets of your clothes and empty your backpack to find the passport that you mechanically put away, forgetting where...

If you are traveling as a family, experience shows that the best way to avoid stress is to store all passports and boarding passes in the same pocket, on the top or front of a bag so you can find them and there easily accessible whenever you need it.

5- Check-in from home

For international flights, companies encourage travelers to check-in or check-in from home. You can always choose to do this at the airport, but by doing so in advance, you will have a better chance of choosing your seats on the plane.

In Asia, the low-cost airline Air Asia does not offer counter check-in. If you have not checked in at home, you will need to do so at automatic kiosks before baggage check-in. In this case, you will need your reservation number to obtain your boarding passes. Remember to have all the references with you.

Do you have any other tips for relaxing travel? Don’t hesitate to share it with other travelers by leaving a comment!