10 Items You Should Never Pack in A Checked Bag for International Flights

Items Not to Pack in Your Checked Luggage

There are many items you should avoid packing in your checked bag or luggage. Today I will go over some of the most common items you should avoid.

1. Anything Containing a Lithium-Ion Battery – Laptops, cameras, phone, and Kindles are just a few to mention. Lithium-Ion batteries are prone to cause fire. Should a fire happen in the cargo section on an airplane, it will be much more difficult to put out than in the cabin.

2. Matches, Lighters, & Any Flammable Solids or Liquids

3. Jewelry & Valuable Items – Luggage also gets lost or stolen. Avoid putting something valuable in your luggage that you could easily carry or wear.

4. Credit Cards, Bank Cards, or Cash – Another common mistake many travelers make. These should be carried with you at all times.

5. Strong Alcohol – Alcoholic drinks containing more than 70% or over 140 proof alcohol are not allowed to be checked.

6. Prescription Medications – If you lose your luggage, you will be out of your meds and you don’t want that.

7. Electronics – Laptops, cameras, or anything else. These are expensive and you don’t want to put them in luggage as they could get damaged, lost, or stolen. They also pose a fire hazard as mentioned in #1.

8. Breakable Items – Any items that can break due to luggage handling should not be checked.

9. Food & Drinks – These are not allowed to carry in checked bags.

10. Passport, IDs, Travel Documents – Yes, people do it. Self-explanatory.

There are many other items that are not allowed to be checked. The best advice is to check with the proper transportation security authority from the airport you are flying out of. For example, in the USA or Canada, you should consult the TSA or CATSA website.

If you are flying from other countries, check their transportation security websites. You may be able to contact them via email, phone, or social media if you are not sure about something.

International Travel Tips: Boarding Time and Departure Time

What You Need to Know About Departure Time vs. Boarding Time

If you mix up Departure Time and Boarding Time on your international flight, you may have to pay hefty costs. Today, I will clarify Departure Time and Boarding Time to make your next flight a breeze.

Boarding Time: Boarding Time is actually more important than Departure Time and you should plan your trip accordingly. Boarding Time is when flights start the process to let passengers in. Usually, Boarding Time is 45 minutes before Departure Time. For some flights, Boarding Time can be 1 hour before Departure Time.

You should aim to arrive at the airport at least 2 hours before Boarding Time so you can have a smooth process at the airport and don’t miss your flight.

Departure Time: Departure Time is when the plane leaves the gate. At Departure Time, the boarding process has completed, passengers are seated, and the plane starts to move. If you want to plan your trip by the Departure Time, aim to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours before.

Here are some Pro Tips:

-          You’re required to be at the gate to board at least 15 minutes before your scheduled departure. Some airlines may ask for you to arrive even earlier than 15 minutes.

-          If you miss boarding time, you will miss the flight. Gate agents won’t let you in if you are at the gate past the 15-minutes-earlier timeframe.

-          Personally, I always aim to arrive at the airport 4 hours earlier than my Departure Time. I would rather arrive a little early and hang out in the airport lounge than arrive late and miss the flight.

Video version of this article can be viewed here:
International Boarding Time Departure Time Tips

How to Track a Flight | Best Free App to Track Flights

How to Track Flights on Your Mobile Phone for Free

There are many apps to track flights. Most of them are complicated and free versions are full of advertisements. By far, my best experience tracking a flight has been with an all-in-one travel app called Kayak.

Kayak is a free travel trip app that lets you organize flights, hotels, tour itineraries and more.  This free travel-planning app can also track prices with Price Alerts & many other things. However, one of the best features Kayak offers is to track a flight in real time for free.

If you email your flights, hotels, or any travel confirmations, Kayak organizes and puts them together day by day. It can then follow these itineraries and notify you about hotel or flight check ins, flight changes, gate assignments, gate changes, flight delays, even baggage carousel numbers, and lot more. 

If you only want to follow a flight without sending your trip confirmations, you have the ability to add it on the app to follow that flight. You can even see real-time flight progress on a map and all other flight information as mentioned above.

You can add one or several flights to track – all for free. Adding a flight is very simple. You can search and add by detecting location, by adding flight information, or by searching for any specific airports.

It surprised me that Kayak is full of so many features that other apps would charge a premium fee for and still doesn’t ask for money or show ads.

I have a video showing how to add a flight to track step-by-step. Visit the link below:

How to Track a Flight

Why Money Belts Are Outdated & You Should Stop Using Them Immediately

Why Money Belts Don’t Work & What to Use Instead

Should you still use money belts today? To answer this question, let’s first look at why there was a need for a money belt in the first place. Many decades ago, there were no ATM machines, credit cards, bank cards, electronic payment apps on phones … basically none of these existed. The only means of paying for hotels, goods and services were cash and travellers’ cheques (yes, those).

So, there was a need to hide large amounts of cash and TCs and the money belt came to rescue. Fast forward to today, travellers no longer need to carry large amounts of cash and TCs. You don’t pay your hotels or plane/train fares with cash anymore. Everything now is credit cards, cash, or phone app payments. Money belts have become outdated and a thing of the past. Yes, there are some who will hold onto them and will use them forever. But this is always the case as some of us simply hold on to the past, won’t upgrade and accept the change.

There are also several disadvantages in using money belts:

Money Belts Are Old School & Ridiculous.

Money Belts are the opposite of inconspicuous.

Money Belts Are Sweaty & Dirty.

Money Belts Advertise You Have Cash & Make You a Target for Theft or Robbery.

Money Belts Immediately Mark You Out as A Tourist—And Not a Particularly Savvy One. You Have to Expose All of Your Cash Just to Get a Little.

Money Belts Are an Insult to The Country You Are Visiting (I Don’t Trust Anyone Here).

What to Use Instead of Money Belts

Diversification is the key. I don’t recommend putting all your money, cards, and valuables in something like a money belt. Put your money, cards, and valuables in separate places such as in your back pack, personal item bag, sling bag, fanny pack, small cross body bag, or a day pack.

Do not carry all your money when go out for your day trip. Leave some money and one credit card in the hotel (possibly in the hotel safe box), some money and another credit card you will be using in your day pack bag or any bag you are using for the day.

Better yet, keep some cash in your front pocket to pay for any expenses for that day. This amount should be little enough that even if you lose it you are in no trouble, as you have backup money in the other bag. Replenish your daily expenses money when you return to your hotel or as needed.

To make this article short, I didn’t elaborate on some of the disadvantages mentioned above. However, watch this video here to see the details:

Do Not Wear Sling Bags at The Airline Check-In Counter

How to Wear a Sling Bag to Save Baggage Fees

 Every inch of space counts, especially with what the airlines are charging for extra bag fees these days. In this article, I will give you a tip that not many know about sling bags.

Sling bags should be a must-have travel accessory when you travel. They can keep your passport, phone, charger, ear buds, and other accessories close to you throughout the flight. This also gives you the opportunity to carry some extra items to create more space in your carry on or personal item bags.

In general, airlines won’t count a sling bag as a personal item. However, if you wear a sling bad across your shoulder, some airline employees may count it as a personal item.

This is not a problem at all if you have only one carry on and a sling bag. For those carrying a personal item, a carry on, and a sling bag, this may cause a problem. The airline staff may ask you to check one bag or pay extra fees.

One simple way to avoid this is to wear your sling bag as a hip bag or as a waist money bag before going to the airline counter. A waist bag counts as part of personal attire and will be exempt from your baggage limit.

I travel with only one carry on and have traveled 100s of times wearing a sling big as a cross body shoulder bag and had no issues. The only time my sling bag counted as a personal item was in 2023 when I was on my way to the Philippines with EVA AIR. It didn’t matter for me, as I had only one other bag.

So next time you travel, depending how many bags you are carrying, be mindful about how you wear your sling bag at the airport.