Can Someone PLEASE Make a 3 Oz. Tube of Toothpaste??

Over the past few months (and 50,000+ miles), I've developed a list of must-have travel products, guidelines for getting through security unscathed and techniques for simply making the whole travel nightmare just a little bit more bearable.

Get the right bag. So, I've spent months now trying to figure out the right approach to lugging not only my suitcase, but also my laptop and related work items along with me every week. I decided that I was going to commit the $$ and buy the Coach or Louis Vuitton carry-all so I could fit laptop, files, wallet, reading material, camera, headphones, single one-quart clear pastic bag with toiletries, water bottle etc all into a single bag. But a few weekends ago, Special K and I were heading to the movies when we stopped into a little store we'd never been in and I found what just might be the perfect travel bag. It's not chi-chi in any way, but it's moderately cute and highly functional. And because it was among the post-holiday sale items, it literally cost only about $30 once all the discounts were factored in. You KNOW I love a good deal!

Be Free -- Nike Free! Frankly, this has been one of the biggest challenges of traveling. The thing with going to the gym is that you need runners. And running shoes tend to be big and bulky and take up half of your rollerboard suitcase. Nike to the rescue! Nike makes a line of running shoes called "Free" -- they are very lightweight (meant for running) and have extremely flexible uppers. The whole shoe squishes down flat, now taking up just a tiny corner of my suitcase. And they are infinitely comfortable, too.

Create your own personal theatre in Seat 10D. iPod Nano plus Bose noise-cancelling headphones. Music, video, podcasts, and padded headphones that block out the incessant drone of the airplane engines. And of your chatterbox seatmate in the middle seat.

Abide by the 3-1-1 Rule. Or at least be wily enough to work around it. Have you seen those signs in the airport security areas? It's something like "For carry-on purposes, all liquids and gels must be 3 oz or less, must fit in a single one-quart clear pastic bag and each passenger may only have 1 bag." Since I'd rather carry on my bags whenever possible, I've had to get creative on this one:

First of all, you don't really realize how many items you use in your daily "take on the day" routine until you try to cram them all into a tiny plastic bag. I've done the obvious things like dump shampoo and conditioner into small, travel-sized plastic bottles, but the biggest challenge has always been make-up remover and face cleanser. My preferred brands of each (Clinique and Origins respectively) don't come in travel sizes and I am loathe to check a suitcase just so I can bring a bottle of makeup remover. BUT I have discovered an excellent alternative. Now, I pack Boots' No. 7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes. They cleanse, tone, moisturize AND remove eye make-up. Those Brits are bloody brilliant.

My second beauty/hygiene challenge has been toothpaste. You can certainly buy the tiny travel-sized tubes, but honestly, they're too small to last for anything longer than just 2 - 3 days. So, I started taking the big tubes with me, but only after they were about half-way consumed already. Then I could fold the tube over on itself, still fit it into the one-quart plastic bag and it looks like it's only 3 ounces. I have managed to get through security 5 or 6 times like that, congratulating myself every time on my clever thinking, only to have the power-hungry security agent at the San Jose airport uncover my shady scheme and confiscate my illegal toothpaste last week. Sheesh. (And THEN about 20 minutes later, I heard an announcement in the terminal asking for the person who left his/her toothbrush and toothpaste at security to please come back and claim it. How ironic.)

Defend against the germ-fest swirling around in that tin can. I try to remember to take Airborne before every flight. (Or at least every cross-country flight.) Knock on wood, so far I have not yet caught a cold (or anything else) in my recent travels. I don't know if it's actually the Airborne working or if it's just my mental state of invincibility after I take it. Whatever it is, I'm sticking with it.

Can you "240" me please? I just learned about this trick and have not yet had the opportunity to use it. Apparently, in the days of airline regulation, there used to be a something called "Rule 240" which stated that if your flight was delayed for any reason other than weather, you could invoke Rule 240 and the airline had to put you on the next available flight (on any airline), not their next available flight. Now that the industry is deregulated, this isn't technically a rule anymore, but many airlines will still abide by it if you ask. (It doesn't apply to airlines like JetBlue and Southwest since they weren't part of the original regulated industry back in the day.)

I hope not to have to use it, but next time there's a broken loo on the plane and they delay the flight for 3 hours to fix it, I'll try to 240 my way onto another, competing airline's flight.