Miller: It’s in the bag
I travel throughout the U.S. and abroad, teaching postgraduate and continuing education. I have always enjoyed teaching, but I have a love-hate relationship with travel, especially since most of my trips are by plane. I hate flying.
I have two reasons for hating flying: the fear of death and the logistics of the process. I don’t know if I will ever overcome the fear, but I have gotten the process under control.
Air travel is a tangled mess of government and airline rules, unwritten rules on travel etiquette, and baggage issues. Initially, the baggage issues bugged me the most.
It took some time for me to realize that how you pack for air travel depends on the equipment you will be using. (Airline lingo, equipment means planes).
Regional planes (puddle jumpers) have tiny overhead compartments and limited floor space. The room increases as plane size increases, but there are still limits. The variances result in the need for multiple bags. No bag is one-size-fits-all in air travel.
Once I understood this, it led to what my wife refers to as an “Obsession with Bags.”
She is referring to the number of suitcases, backpacks and briefcases I own. I think the term obsession is a little extreme. After all, to this point, I have only accumulated enough bags to pack a circus. Obsession lies somewhere beyond this point.
I think of myself as well-equipped, and my purpose here is to offer tips to help everyone else be well-equipped. I’ll be using backpacks for my example.
Let’s say you are looking for a backpack to carry on for a plane trip.
Backpacks are considered personal carry-on items and usually stay with you. They are seldom checked. So, be open to spending extra on this travel companion. Style counts, but the function is more important. Ensure the zippers don’t catch and operate smoothly and that the straps are comfortable and well-attached.
Never spend extra on bags that could be or will be checked. Checked bags get trashed.
It took the destruction of three expensive bags for me to learn this lesson. They were returned broken or with missing parts, handles, zippers and wheels. One had a tire track imprinted across the front of it.
Avoid packs with several compartments arranged front to back or that expand. Yes, these bags hold a lot of stuff, but the problem is that they hold a lot of stuff. You will tend to overpack, making the bag heavy, unlikely to fit in the overhead compartment or under a seat and require a wide turning radius.
Turning radius; everyone is used to moving within a specific amount of space when turning. There may be a more official name for this, but we’ll stick with turning radius. When you carry a large pack, your depth increases front to back. The pack can be a battering ram when you turn. It swings back and forth and into everything.
You must be conscious of this when you walk through the gift shop. “You break it; you buy it.” You must also be aware of this when boarding a plane. I have watched passengers beat other passengers senseless with a backpack. The pack swings into the folks sitting on the aisle as the person with the pack walks by, turning back and forth, looking for overhead space or their seats.
Besides being conscious of your pack’s depth, another solution is to use a pack with plenty of side pockets. Side pockets make a pack wider instead of deeper. Space in overhead bins and under seats is usually limited by height, not width. Deep packs lying on their front or back are often too tall. A wide bag negates this, making the pack more likely to fit.
If you must use a heavy pack, use a pack with a waist strap to unload your back and or a strap between the shoulder straps to keep the pack from slipping off your shoulders.
Thieves use devices that scan through bags, wallets and purses to steal credit and debit card information. Anti-theft backpacks are available with radio frequency identification blocking to prevent this.
Backup battery systems for recharging phones and other electronics are newer options for backpacks and luggage. An extra battery is excellent but be careful. Specific rules apply for traveling with lithium batteries. Make sure your bag/battery is approved.
A standard backpack option, since 9/11, is a compartment that allows you to keep your computer/electronics in your bag as you pass through security. The compartment can keep you from being one of the people you see sprinting through the airport because they left their computer in a bin at security.
Safe travels and send me a postcard!
Dr. Jeff Miller is a doctor of chiropractic at the Missouri Orthopaedic Institute and the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Miller: It’s in the bag
