by JQ Adams

Created on: April 12, 2009

Brave or crazy? Not sure which one you might classify my decision to travel just days before Christmas, but it is an exercise to say the least to put some trusted travel advice to the test. A client invitation to attend their year-end meeting and holiday party arrived and falling to the temptation to take advantage of an opportunity for good face time and further relationship building, I went to my travel agent's Web site (

www.tltravels.com and clicked on its partner sites to research airfare pricing.

CheapTickets has always been a personal favorite and the site did not disappoint this time. With just a week's notice I was able to score a non-stop flight from Ft. Myers, Florida to Washington, DC for just over $150. I had to do a double-take. Then I researched a few car rental options and it turned out by staying two nights, the slight fare increase on the USAirways class flight, my total package price was less due to a special car rental offer by Budget.

Despite a great flight and car rental price, I realized that extra charges could be lurking resulting in a bigger expense than what appeared on the surface. I wanted to ensure that I could avoid the baggage fees, so I packed with precision resulting in one carry on luggage item, along with my personal item. Since I typically check my bags, I do not often worry about TSA's 3-1-1 rules as most of my liquids are in checked luggage. But this trip was different and I had to inspect each toiletry to ensure it was under the 3 oz. limit. To my surprise, a few of my "travel size" products were 3.2 oz. or larger which would not be permitted to be brought onboard in my carry on bag.

To my rescue, I previously discovered the Clear Bag System product which is a quart size, stylish, airport approved clear bag with ready to go 3 oz. and under containers for shampoo, condition, body lotion and more, complete with labels. This bag had ample room for extra liquid items such as anti bacterial liquid soap, lip gloss and my "can't live without" hair serum!

One twist to my packing is that I came bearing gifts for the client and for the friend who was my gracious host. My husband declared that there would be no way that I could manage to pack all of the gifts plus the minimum five pairs of shoes that accompany me on my journey. I took his challenge and did sacrifice my shoes for convenience and successfully packed all "necessary" items for the trip.

The key for me to be able to get by with just my carry on and personal item is a large

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