Keep Calm & Carry-ons

Episode 64 - Keep Calm & Carry-ons

Official transcript: https://www.cheynemusic.com/transcripts

Hosts: Jan, Rob, Dee, & Jim.

Travel Tips, including packing, AirTags, Passports, Global Entry, TSA PreCheck®, USB at airports, RESERVE, CLEAR Plus, and a few things from Rick Steves.

Links:

Making Our Way is hosted through buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com

More information about Deanna & Jim Cheyne is here: https://www.cheynemusic.com

Thanks for listening. Share with your friends. Find this and more at cheynemusic.com/podcast.

Transcript

JIM: You have a flight to Denver out of Tampa Airport at 8:30 tomorrow morning. What time are you going to arrive at the airport? wo hours? 

JAN & ROB: 6:30.

JIM: Two hours?

JAN: Yep. 

ROB: That’s - yeah. 

JIM: What if you were flying to Toronto? Still two hours? 

JAN: I would probably give a little more than two hours if I was going to fly internationally. 

JIM: Why is that? 

JAN: Uh, just more…

ROB: Because she’s Jan.

[Laughter]

JIM (voice-over): Over the years we’ve been making our way. Jan, Rob, Dee, and I have learned a few tricks of the trade in travel. Tips and practices that save us time and spare us stress. So for this episode, we’ve selected a few of these tips to share with you, and we hope you’ll find them helpful.

Of course, we have one friend who will listen to this and shake her head in sadness and say, “Oh, such amateurs!” I’m speaking, of course, of Ellen Jones. If you know Ellen, you know what I mean. She is the priestess of planning, the oracle of organization. Ellen’s purse holds more handy resources than Mary Poppins’ handbag could ever dream of. Ellen, if you’re listening, you are our inspiration. But know this, we hold you in no way responsible for what you’re about to hear.

[Music]

JIM: The the key here is that we shouldn’t be blaming anybody for this.

DEE: Mm-Hmm.

JIM: Okay. But, one time Dee and I were heading down to Argentina for our yearly visits to their camp. So we grab our stuff, get to the airport, ready to go. We’re checking bags in. And Dee’s suitcase isn’t anywhere. I thought you got it, you thought I got it. But the important thing is let’s not point fingers at whose fault this was. Okay?

JAN: Good call. Good call.

JIM: Because that that’s not the point. That’s un- - that’s unchristian of you. No, the real point was, all of your stuff was in that suitcase. I go screaming back to the townhouse. 25 minutes there, 25 minutes back, but I don’t make it on the plane. But I’ve got your suitcase. And so I have to take a later flight, which is like another day and a half, and you’re stuck in Argentina with what? 

DEE: No clothes. 

JIM: With what you showed up in? 

DEE: Yeah, with what I slept in on the plane because it’s an eight hour flight.

ROB: Yeah.

DEE: But do you recall it got better, because then the suitcase was lost. I was in Argentina…

JIM: That’s right, I got there and it didn’t show up.

DEE: …for three days wearing the same clothes. I - it was horrid. 

JIM: So we made a classic novice traveler mistake which could have been solved by doing what, Dee? 

DEE: By not forgetting to take my suitcase.

[Laughter]

JIM: Now here again, I don’t think - I don’t think we should be pointing the finger. 

ROB: That’s important. That’s important. 

JAN: I was gonna say there’s a couple mistakes, but go ahead. 

JIM: Well, since we’ve learned, if -,if you have to check a bag, that if there’s a couple like the two of us…

DEE: Mm-Hmm.

JIM: …we should pack our clothes in both suitcases. 

DEE: Yes. 

JIM: So that if one suitcase does get lost, we both still have something to change into.

DEE: Yes.

JIM: So travel tip number one, anything that you really, really, really need, carry it with you.

DEE: Mm-Hmm. Medication.

JIM: But the other thing is if there are a couple of people traveling, you should pack stuff in each other’s suitcases. 

JAN: It seems like a small thing until you are in Argentina for three days with no change of underwear. Then it’s a big deal.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: In their summer with no air conditioning. 

DEE: Yeah, in their - it was…

ROB: And the lost suitcase. I’m telling you, a carry-on bag and a backpack is all you need. We’ve done it for three weeks.You can get everything you need in there.

DEE: Well that that’s how we mostly travel now.

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: The only time we’ll use a large suitcase now is if we’re in the car traveling.

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: But if it’s an airport - because remember at de Gaulle Airport?

DEE: Mm-Hmm.

JIM: First time we went to Paris, and you know, there are these security things and they’re like turnstiles, but turnstiles people can jump over. So there’s another one that you have which is all the way up, it’s like a comb. 

ROB: Right. 

JIM: Now you try and get a a full-size suitcase…

DEE: Yeah.

JIM: …through one of those things. Then we learned we just can’t travel with a big suitcase.

DEE: Right.

JIM: So everything is a carry-on and a personal item.

DEE: Mm-Hmm.

JIM: All of our really important stuff, prescriptions, everything, stays with our person…

DEE: Mm-Hmm.

JIM: …all the way through. 

JAN: I’m gonna credit Rick Steves with most of our travel tips because that’s where we learned. But when you travel in one of his tours, that’s all you’re allowed to bring…

ROB: Yeah.

JAN: …is a backpack and a carry-on. But we experimented with it when we went on our Mediterranean cruise with the 4,000 Dobneys that we traveled with. And…

ROB: There’s a lot of Dobneys.

JAN: A lot of Dobneys and a lot of bags. And after we finished the the cruise, we were going on our own to Switzerland, and we had to uh get a train, and we had to change trains. So Rob and I each only had a carry-on and a backpack. But everybody else had large…

ROB: Big suitcases.

JAN: …suitcases. And when you’re having to run up and down to catch a train, that does not work well. So just maneuverability beyond getting lost is a lot easier with less stuff. 

JIM: So, let me check you on this one. This happened to be all my flights this summer. You get there, the flight is full, and sooner or later they’re gonna come on and say, “It’s a full flight, we don’t have room in the overhead bins, would anyone like to check their bag for free?” Would you ever do that?

JAN: If I was on the way home I would. 

ROB: Yeah.

JAN: Yes. 

ROB: Never check…

DEE: Never.

ROB: …your bag.

DEE: Right. 

ROB: Because…

DEE: They’re going to offer it free.

ROB: …they’re going offer it for free anyway. 

DEE: Yeah. 

ROB: Can I say something about packing? 

JAN: That’s what I was just gonna say. There’s a way to talk about this, and how you can actually really do this with only… 

ROB: Jan and I pack very differently. I create a packing list for every trip. And then I can weed out as as we go along. And I I test it. I was fully packed for our trip to Alaska on this cruise. three weeks before we actually left. It was in the suitcase. I took a picture of it and sent it to my family. This is where I -

DEE: Wow!

ROB: - what I’m doing. Three weeks before. And so my clothes are a little wrinkled when I get ‘em out. But that doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers Jan. Jan packs right up to the to the limit. Right? 

JAN: But I’m packing in my head. 

ROB: Well yeah. 

JAN: I’m just saying it’s not like I don’t think about it. I’m thinking about it constantly. I’m obsessing on it. So -

ROB: That’s - the list really helps me…

JAN: Well…

ROB: …because then, you know, I’ve I got, okay, I really don’t need four pairs of pants. I can do with three, okay? Or I don’t need ten t-shirts I can get away with, you know, and and then practicing it ahead of time and then having it all ready to go so I don’t have to worry about it.

DEE:  See, that sounds more like Jan…

JAN: Isn’t that funny?

DEE: …than, yeah, that’s…

ROB: That’s true. 

JAN: Well, but again…

JIM: Yes, that that kind of…

JAN: …it’s in my head. 

ROB:: Well I’ve lived with this woman for 47 years.

DEE: See, that sounds more like Rob. No, Jan making a list and and being Packed three weeks ahead of time sounds like Jan.

JAN: You know…

JIM: The conversation I imagine is Jan saying, “Rob, are you packed yet?” And Rob saying, “We don’t leave for ten minutes. What’s your rush?”

JAN: This is true.

ROB: Well that can happen. 

JAN: Incredibly disciplined in this function. And if you were to go to our computer at home, you could find all his packing list for all trips.

DEE: Oh my goodness!

ROB: I keep them, yeah.

JIM: Betcha that comes from camping.

JAN: Yes.

ROB: It does.

JIM: Because, oh, you’ve done Appalachian Trail stuff.

ROB: Yeah, right.

JIM: You have to have everything with you. And then growing up as kids, we were camping…

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: …and what if you forgot stakes.

ROB: That’s exactly when it started, when we started doing sections of the Appalachian Trail at Spring Break. You needed to l list all of your equipment. Make sure you had everything that you needed, ’cause there’s nowhere to get it once you get on the trail. Yeah. 

JAN: There’s a quick note about limiting your packing and again I’ll go to the Rick Steves website. There are a lot of good tips on there about how to limit what you take. I know people, friends, who would pack new outfits for each day. Everything is new for each day. That is not me. I pack in a certain color combination so that anything I have will go with anything else. And that limits what I need to take. And black is a foundation color, and gray. This is especially true in going to Europe, because black is a good Z”looks dressier sometimes than it is” color. So you can limit what you take by packing things that all go together, and then throwing in a couple of things like scarves to bring make it look different. 

JIM: Rick Steve says a nice thing about this. He says the way to fit into a culture is not so much by what you wear, but by your manners.

JAN: Yeah.

JIM: There’s no way an American can disguise themselves into not being an American. Everyone is gonna know you’re an American tourist no matter what. That’s just - it’s just gonna show. So don’t sweat that, you know?

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: Dress modestly if you’re going into places, like you’re going into a Museum or a…

ROB: Church.

JIM: …a cathedral, mosque, a synagogue, if you’re going to a concert, going out to dinner, dress better than you think you need to, and more modestly than you might at Applebee’s.

DEE: Well, yeah, because when we went to Europe, I guess the most recent time, I dressed nicer than I would if I was just going out around town here. Like I had a hat. I mean I wore shorts, but they were nice dressy shorts with a blouse instead of like a t-shirt and jean shorts. And then when I look back on the pictures from there, I’m going, “Oh, that looks nice.”

JAN: “I look lovely.”

JIM: And in your suitcases, you guys put AirTags, don’t you?

ROB: Ah, AirTags, yes.

JAN: You’ve brought up one of my favorite topics.

JIM: Well then I’ll sit back. Go.

ROB: Where’s my luggage? And you can always know if it’s with you if you’re on a bus, or if you’re in the car, or you left it at the hotel, it tells you that. 

JAN: You give it a name, like mine is called, creatively, Luggage, and I can know if it’s on the plane, if it’s in the hotel, if it’s with Rob and he’s somewhere. But the other thing now on uh airline apps...

ROB: Ah.

JAN: …it usually tells you where you it tracks your luggage for you now…

JIM: Right.

JAN: …on an airline app. So I knew when we got on our flights that the bag had made it onto the flight. 

ROB: Yeah, those are well worth it, because they give you a lot of good information, not just about where your luggage is, but where your next gate…

JIM: Right.

ROB: …will be, what gate you’re gonna come into. And your tickets are right there too on the app. So -

JIM: And always take a photo of the screen just in case where you are doesn’t have a good connection and it’s like, “Oh I know it’s in my email but I can’t get it right now…

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: …’cause it’s just spinning.” Well if you take a picture of it you can use that. But the old old air tag thing I think was like, “Where’s my bag?” The airline says, “We don’t know where it is,” and then you say, “Well, I know where it is.” 

ROB: “I know where it is.” 

JIM: So you were the first to suggest the AirTags for that. Here’s the thing that I didn’t know was true, but it makes perfect sense. You’ve got your phone with you. So you’re sitting down in an airport, you’re low on a charge, what are you gonna do? And they’ve got a USB port right there that you could plug into.

JAN: Ah.

JIM: Never, ever do that because of things that can be put in that and some sort of a - yeah? 

JAN: What you want to do instead of using your USB is carry the outlet itself. So you’re using the electrical outlet. 

JIM: Right. 

JAN: Okay.

JIM: Right. It’s just…

JAN: Just to clarify. 

JIM: …that you don’t want outway for data to go…

JAN: Right.

JIM: …back and forth with your device anywhere that you can avoid it. 

JAN: You know what is kind of cool, too, when you’re traveling in a city that you don’t know and you’ve left your luggage at your hotel. Your AirTag also shows the location of your hotel. So it can just be a fallback to, “Where is this hotel…

ROB: Right.

JAN: …in the middle of this city?”

ROB: Right. 

JIM: I was sixteen years old in Athens and I was trying to buy some gifts on the way back and I thought I would buy, for Uncle Jack, I would buy a Bible in Greek, so that he could always tell his congregation in Flint, “It’s all Greek to me.”

JAN: Oh, jeez.

JIM: This was the whole joke. So, we’re at staying at the YMCA in Athens,  and they told us don’t go out by yourself. So I went out by myself. I talked to our translator. I said, “I need to find a bookstore. And when I get there, I need this.” So he wrote down on a paper what I needed to show the seller. Then I asked someone at the desk, “How do I get to a bookstore?” And they gave me directions of “block, turn, block, turn, block, turn,” and off I went. Went in, showed them the card, got the present. Then I walked out of the shop. 

JAN: Yep.

ROB: Yeah. 

JIM: And I truly did not know which way to turn. Was I coming from here? Where was the sun? All these things that normal people would figure out, I didn’t figure out. I had never felt so alone as being a kid in a foreign city without clue of what I was going to do.

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: So, I couldn’t have used an AirTag. It was 1972. 

JAN: Using Google Maps, also downloading maps. I just did this to experiment. We’re going to Prague in the fall, and I wanted to see how the map would work with using public transportation. So I put in two points in Prague that we want - we’ll probably go between. I could include in the map, in the route, using public transportation. I could see then uh the walking path, but also if I wanted to take the metro or a bus, it would map that route, tell me where to make those changes all right in my Google Maps. I didn’t need a special app for that and it’s a very useful tool when you want to save time in getting between places. 

ROB: Yeah. 

JIM: Here are a couple tips that go well with that. Delays at airports cascade through the day. If you have a choice between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. I would take the 7 a.m. flight. When we came back from Newfoundland, our flight was at 5 a.m. So we were at the airport just a little after 3, because a delayed flight at an airport will start to domino through the day, and so later flights are more likely to be affected by travel delays from whatever it is that’s going on. Another thing, check about which airlines use your airport as a hub…

ROB: Yeah.

JIM: …because they pay extra to get priority for takeoffs.

ROB: Oh.

JIM: So if you’re in Atlanta, Delta’s the airline to use because they are invested in making sure their flights are on time. And so the airport prioritizes them when they line up the planes to take off, and you’re more likely to be on time with a hub-based airline.

ROB: Mm-Hmm.

JAN: Well, and the other thing about that, Jim, is if - Atlanta, Delta - if you’re going to a hub, you also have more flexibility if something goes wrong.

JIM: Mm-Hmm.

JAN: You’re going to have more options to get out of there. So -

ROB: Right.

JIM: As we did when we missed the flight connection in Toronto because of the security line.

DEE: After that, you found out there was something we could have done to get through that line faster.

JIM: There are lots of things. The the one I found is what’s called RESERVE, that some airports allow you to call ahead, book ahead, maybe seven days ahead or something to get a like 15-minute window where if you show up at security, they will have already emailed you a QR code, you can show it at security, they take you to the front of the security line. 

JAN: I didn’t know that. 

JIM: Yeah, and that’s not every airport, but it is a free service. Here are the different stages. One is the security line. Then the second thing is going through security itself. And then the other thing for international is customs and immigration.

ROB: Right.

JIM: So you guys use a service…

ROB: Yep.

JIM: …for dealing with one of those that’s called Global Entry. Is that right? 

JAN: Global entry, yes. 

JIM: What does that deal with? Does that deal with the immigration part? Is it security lines? 

JAN: It’s immigration coming back into the United States. So global entry costs $120 right now. It’s the current cost. And it’s a five-year clearance. So you want to compare that, say, to TSA PreCheck®, which is a $76. Okay. We knew that in retirement we were likely to fly internationally once a year. We had hoped to be able to do that. So for us, global entry was worth both the expense and the logistics of getting cleared for it.

ROB: Convenience.

JAN: Well, yeah, but you have to go through some steps to be clear through Global Entry that you don’t do for anything else.

ROB: Right.

JAN: You’re a trusted traveler. 

ROB: Right. 

JAN: And that requires a fill out of your form, background check, and an in person interview.

ROB: Right.

JAN: That was the hardest part to arrange, but it as it turned out it wasn’t that hard. 

ROB: And they interviewed both of us at the same time. It was pretty simple, really, once we got to that point. And let me tell you, you see those huge lines at immigration and you look off to the right and there’s this sign that says, you know, global entry, pre-check. And you go there, you stand in front of a camera. They take your picture. “Okay, you’re good,” and… 

JAN: And it gives you TSA PreCheck® along with global entries, so that when you’re checking into a flight, you’re also a trusted traveler, and you don’t have to go through all that people have to go through to get through security to make your flight, but it’s really helpful on the backside coming home. 

JIM: So the Global Entry is a customs/immigration program. TSA PreCheck®, that’s when you’re going through security, and it’s domestic, right?

JAN: Mm-Hmm.

ROB: Right.

JIM: So if you’re going through security to fly to Newfoundland, the TSA PreCheck® works on this end. 

JAN: Yes. 

JIM: But if I’m in St. John’s flying back, the TSA is not functioning there. It’s the US program. So coming back in, the TSA PreCheck® doesn’t work, right? 

JAN: Here’s the funny thing. It did when we were in Vancouver. 

ROB: Yeah. 

JAN: And I don’t know why. But when we got off our cruise ship in Vancouver and we were making a connection to Denver to fly back from Alaska, the TSA PreCheck®, because I think by virtue of an agreement between the United States and Canada, they recognized that, and allowed us to go with the TSA. 

DEE: That makes sense…

ROB: Was it -

DEE: …because there’s so much travel between the two…

JAN: Right.

ROB: Oh, yeah.

DEE: …countries. 

ROB: Was it Global - was a Global Entry…

JAN: It was TSA PreCheck®…

ROB: Or was it TSA PreCheck®?

JAN: …but it came with the Global Entry.

ROB: Yeah, okay. 

DEE: Or you could have a wonderful niece that flies regularly every two weeks who gives you a pass to be able to use the lounges in all of the airports and and get all the nice perks.

ROB: That’s nice. 

JIM: There are other programs, too, that are under a trusted traveler program. There’s one for Canada. If you’re back and forth with Canada a lot, it’s called a NEXUS. If your travels are mostly US-Mexico, they have one called SENTRI. And then there’s another program called CLEAR, but this is not a government program, it’s not one of their trusted programs, but it it’s called CLEAR+, and a lot of airports do it, that if you have a certain CLEAR+ membership, show that and you bypass the security line. You still go through the security screening. The thing is this is pricey and it’s for certain people. It’s like $209 a year. You get this. But it also works at stadium events. So if you’re a season ticket holder, you know, for your basketball team, your football whatever, uh baseball team, and you’re going through security again and again and again, and you have to wait through these lines because everyone’s arriving at the same time, that you could just bypass that whole thing for that program. Certain airports use it, and there’s an agent there. So you go and you say, “Here’s my program,” and they escort you to the front of the line. You still have to go through the security screening. And you still have to go through customs, but you don’t have to stand in that line with all the riffraff. Yeah. 

JAN: About trusted traveler programs. Two things. First of all, this is through the Department of Homeland Security. So if you want to find the Trusted Traveler program, it is at the Department of Homeland Security dot gov website. [dhs.gov] The other thing is, all of these programs work best if you know your current or projected travel plans, or the way you like to travel. The NEXUS and the Mexican one, SENTRI - both of those help you if you’re driving between countries. Global Entry doesn’t help you with that. Because all of these things have a financial, you know, liability, it - like when we had decided to get Global Entry, we did that based on our travel style. So it may not be necessary for people if you’re only traveling domestically.

ROB: Right. 

JIM: And they have one for commercial drive truck drivers, which makes sense. 

JAN: Yep. 

JIM: Fifty bucks for five years. Well that’s the way to travel, just get a truck. 

JAN: Um, one other thing about this is some credit cards will pay the fee for your Global Entry or for your TSA PreCheck®. So check with your credit card company to see. I think, um -

JIM: I think American Express does. Yeah.

JAN: That’s it. That’s what I was trying to remember - does that.

JIM: Another uh just a quick travel tip, if you’re going to -  let’s just pick a spot, say Newfoundland - and let’s say you’re going there on June 8th for a couple of weeks. You don’t want to wait until April to check your passport to find out if it’s expiring because, “Hey, this expires on,” yes, “June 8th, 2025.” Uh and so I had to go through an enormous process. I was a week late get into Newfoundland, but I had to do an expedited thing, and then they just came back and said, “There’s something wrong with your application. You have to make the correction,” and they’re sending it by mail. Dee had this bizarre suggestion. “Let’s write our congressman.” She did. So I did. Yeah. His name is Gus Bilirakis. I wouldn’t vote for him, but I contacted his office, and they were immediate with a response of help. There was a gentleman at the office here in Pasco, James Grennell, who was my caseworker. They were able to get me an interview in Miami when that interview was supposed to take a long time. Said, be there on this day, and I was. And for whatever other political things, when one of his constituents said, “Can you help me with this?” - and it was my mistake. And they just did it. They paid attention. So when I was at Miami, it all worked out fine. When we got back from Newfoundland, I went over to their office and I wrote the congressperson, Gus. And I said, “You would not take care of a small case like mine, but your people did. And here are the people that did it for you. Here are the people that you have in this office that helped me out. And this is how it worked out. So thank - “ and then I also wrote the man who helped me…

[Music begins]

…and thanked him for that.

JIM (voice-over): Rick Steves once saw a long line of tired tourists waiting to buy a ticket to get into the Colosseum in Rome. And he thought, “These people all have one thing in common. None of them owns Rick Steves’ guidebook to Rome.” Rick Steves is preeminent among travel gurus, but we hope that today’s offering about Global Entry and Google Maps, checked bags and AirTags might supplement his sage advice as you make your own plans for Making Your Way.

Until next time.