Now that we’ve put our feet on terra firma for a while, I had to share with you something that I did this last trip that made my traveling life just a little easier. I’ll get to it in a moment.
 
The holiday season – and I mean holidays in the sun – is just about upon us; for some, the escape to warmer temperatures has already begun. Over the years (especially thanks to listener trips) Rob and I have passed through a lot of airports. So it occurred to me to share with you a few things that we’ve learned over the years.
 
First of all, if you’re at all considering getting a Nexus card, do it. The line is almost always shorter and it helps cut the wait time (as well as the stress) in half when you’re at an airport. Anything that can do that is well worth the money, which is NOT the $139.99 US you may find if you go to a third-party site. It’s $50 for a five-year membership and children under 18 are free. Here’s a good link. 
 
Occasionally, it makes for some awkwardness when you’re traveling with others and they’re not Nexus card holders; you’re tempted to whiz through customs while they’re at the end of a Disney-length lineup. Just keep that in mind!
 
Another tip: when you’re traveling with someone, don’t do His ‘n’ Hers suitcases, no matter how tempting. Put half of your stuff in your partner’s luggage and vice versa. That way, if one of your bags gets lost, you still have some of your belongings until the errant suitcase finds its way back to you. Also, the odds of both of you suffering the trauma of lost luggage are pretty low. Trust me – this is a good one to try to adhere to.
 
Finally – and you probably know the first part of this – wrap and re-wrap and then bag any leak-prone or toxic substances. I finally got smart and after always opening my suitcase to the smell of nail polish remover, I just started buying the pre-soaked remover pads from the drug store.
 
This time, though, when we arrived in Ottawa on Tuesday night, I realized I’d made a real rookie mistake: I packed my suitcase for a car trip instead of a plane trip. As a result, a bottle of clear fast-drying top coat snapped at the neck. Of course, it was full and newly-purchased. Murphy’s Law, right? Fortunately, it was in a zipped sandwich bag and that bag was in another bigger zipped bag. So, except for a white crust of quick drying polish on everything (remedied by an acetone bath when we got settled, thanks to Brooke), no real harm done.
 
But here’s what I came up with for this last trip that I thought you’d love: 
 

 
You know those zippered plastic pouches that sheets or pillow cases sometimes come in? Usually, I hold onto them to save greeting cards or other special mementos that I don’t want to get dog-earred or lost. But this trip, I realized if I gathered all of my toiletries in one place (except for makeup – it gets its own bag, if not suitcase LOL) then with all of our moves from hotel to house to hotel to hotel (yes, there have been a lot of moves) I could just tote that to the bathroom each time. And it’s worked beautifully! I don’t expect it to keep things dry or safe in case of leaks, but it just holds everything a gal needs in one place.
 
So there! Don’t let those precious zippered bags out of your sight. I’m sure you have a million and six uses for them, too – as well as travel tips – and if you want to send them on through my email, I’ll see about putting a future journal together about them. 
 
For now, have a great day and thanks for coming by. I’ll be back with you here tomorrow.