Friendly Web Tools Blog

Travel was supposed to become a tiny bit less aggravating. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approved use of carry-on bag designs that allow pass-through of laptops without removing them for X-ray inspection. Plenty of purveyors capitalized on the opportunity for selling new bags, including Belkin, Mobile Edge and Targus, among many others.

The reality of traveling through security checkpoint is different. You still frequently have to remove your laptop from your bag - along with everything else - to prove you’re not a bomb-toting terrorist. And the most troublesome set-back I’ve experienced is cables.

I travel with a huge rats nest of them: laptop cable, mouse with its cable, iPod cable, cell phone charger cable - those are just a few that I can think of right now. The actual pile that amasses before I leave is much larger.

This mass of unruly cables stuffed into my laptop bag is the real red flag, and the reason I’m asked to step aside and pull everything out of my case. Or, at least it was until I decided to wind all the cords up into one pile, stick them into a big zip-topped bag and carry those separately.

The result: security workers picked up my big zip-topped bag, turned it over and waved me through.

Every time I take a trip, I tell myself I will be even more organized. I’m not sure if I’ll ever reach that state of packing nirvana, but here are a few tools that help take the stress off the week before traveling for business:

1. Universal Packing List is a nifty program that lets you specify where you’re going, how long you’ll be gone and what activities you’ll be doing, and it spits back a recommended packing list. I have my own checklist I keep on Protopage that I use for each of my trips, but this helps me think of items I might not.
2. Pick the best seat on the plane with SeatGuru, recently acquired by TripAdvisor. It shows you seat maps, specs for seats with limited recline, reduced legroom, and more.
3. Take a quick look at the TSA’s latest security measures to ensure your gelled shoe inserts aren’t confiscated at the security checkpoint.
4. Pack antibacterial wet wipes. I limit my use of antibacterials so they don’t wash down into our water supply, but I love these moist towelettes for limiting germ-spread on my seatbelt buckle and seat-back tray. Totally Howard Hughes, but worth it.