How to Pack for a Business Trip

Follow these simple instructions and you will be a well-organized, efficient road warrior.

Checking your bag, as any frequent flier will tell you, is asking for trouble. Although according to the United States Department of Transportation, the odds are about 1 in 100 that your bag will be lost and carousel waits can be interminable. Unless you have a lot of time to kill at your destination or are packing for more than a week's travel, take a carry-on bag. If you will be working on the airplane, bring a second bag or soft briefcase for your files, laptop, reading materials, and other goodies.

The main carry-on bag is a matter of personal choice. If you have broad shoulders or frequently race through airports to catch planes, the ubiquitous garment bag is good for trips of two or more days. Roller bags relieve the strain from your shoulders and are immensely popular with frequent fliers (take a look at what the flight crew is carrying). Roomy canvas or leather duffels are useful because they can be crushed and jammed into small spaces.

The second bag, which will be stowed under the seat in front you, should contain anything you could want during the flight. Here are some handy things to put in it: cell phone, pens, pen refills, stamps, return address labels, miniature stapler, paper clips of all sizes, and a penlight. Another neat gizmo is a paper cutter with a ceramic nib (available from Levenger, (800) 544-0880, www.levenger.com) for trimming articles out of magazines and newspapers. For personal comfort, foam earplugs are essential, should you wind up next to a screaming infant. You can buy them at any drugstore and they come with a little storage case. If you have even mild allergies, carry antihistamines and decongestants-airplanes can be like flying petri dishes of mold and bacteria. Some travelers also like to bring bottled water and snacks in case they get stuck on the tarmac. And never fly without a flight guide. Thanks to online competition, the cost of these paperback flight schedules is now under $100 per year- well worth it if your flight gets canceled because you can see your other options immediately.

The pros are in two camps on packing: bundling and rolling. Bundling involves carefully wrapping everything into a big ball, with bulky items like shoes or books in the middle. The ball should have durable materials on the inside and the easy-to-wrinkle items on the outside. The idea behind bundling is to immobilize clothing, thus preventing wrinkles. The obvious drawback, however, is that you have take the whole thing apart to unpack and vice-versa. Rolling everything up is highly economical space-wise, if a bit of a chore. Rolling does not work well on pressed garments like dress shirts and trousers; either plan to get out the iron, or get a roomier bag. Plain-old folding works fine for casual clothes, but forget about it for business. Like the man in the movie The Graduate said, the secret is plastics. Save the polyethylene sheets from the dry cleaners and encase all your pressed clothes in them before bundling, rolling, or folding. Some people even go nuts putting their socks in one zip-lock bag and their underwear in another. Don't get obsessed with making lists of what to take. There is nothing wrong with lists, mind you, but for a business trip they are overkill. Instead, mentally dress yourself each day and put the items in the bag as you go. Keep your ancillary items, like toiletries and humidors, in a certain area, fully stocked and ready to go.

Certain clothes are versatile enough to lighten your load. All women know about the little black dress. The equivalent for men is the blue blazer, which can be both dressy and casual depending upon the pants and shoes paired with it. Actor and inveterate traveler George Hamilton has taken the idea to new heights by carrying a dark suit and three sets of buttons that let him wear it as a suit, blazer or dinner jacket, depending upon the occasion. Lightweight travel raincoats are great if you're not sure what kind of weather you'll find at your destination. They fold up into tiny little packages and wrinkles fall out in a hot shower. Best of all, travel raincoats weigh much less than even a small umbrella.

A small roll of duct tape has many travel uses, including fixing a hole in your sock. A Swiss Army knife is great for opening beer bottles in your hotel room and trimming threads off your suit, although you won't be able to put it in your carry-on luggage. If you are going to a conference or carrying many files, be sure to bring a blank overnight express courier's waybill with your firm's account number printed on it. Ship all that superfluous paper back to the office rather than lugging it home. You probably won't work on it on the flight home anyway