Matt e-mails with further travel advice:
I like your your post on passing your wisdom of travel. I have spend much time in the metal tube as well visiting S.E. Asia at least 3 times a year. As to the point of checking or not to check, I have a penchant to carry on while my girlfriend wishes to check.
Having a life time history of being either a consumer or provider, one thing I would speak to is the carriage of medicine. If you have medicine you use on a daily basis or to have on hand for unexpected situation, i.e. like a doctor's prescription or anti-histamine or inhaler, always have it in your carryon bag.
If it is a considerable sum and you want to pack it in your check luggage I would suggest you have at least 3 days supply at hand for the trip. This way if you are separated from your checked bag you will have some available until your bag can catch up to you. I say 3 days as a WAG because if the airline mishandles it, it may take a day or two for the bag to catch up to you plus an extra day.
Also, if for some reason you do not get on the flight your checked bag will be waiting for you at your destination, that being for domestic travel only. Also keep those prescriptions with you. I have never had a problem with customs when it comes to medicine, but if they get lost, and you are in a place like Bangkok, you can get new prescriptions in country. Also, 7-11, Boot's, and Watson's are popular overseas.
Indeed, while some tips for air travel are universal, there are also some key differences in the best approaches to take when heading abroad. A future travel tips post will be focused solely on some of them.
