Moving advice

[fireheart]

OK, quick question for anyone who's worked in airports or knows enough about airline security...

Laptops. We each have one, plus 1 iPad (mine).

What is the go for carrying them onboard planes and should I be worried about loss of data?

[Jetfire]

You should be fine. Just have them be accessable. When you go through security, take them out of whatever bags you're carrying and send them throuhg separately.

Tablets you might technically not have to do that, but I usually do that. (When I go through I tend to have a bin for my backpack, a bin for my Tablet + keyboard + 3DS + Kobo + wallet and stuff and a bin for shoes which you shouldn't need. ). Also make sure they are charged enough to power up, but I've never had to actually show that (once I did but I was showing off my ASUS Transformer tablet )

Data loss shouldn't be an issue in any case.

[fireheart]

You should be fine. Just have them be accessable. When you go through security, take them out of whatever bags you're carrying and send them throuhg separately.

Tablets you might technically not have to do that, but I usually do that. (When I go through I tend to have a bin for my backpack, a bin for my Tablet + keyboard + 3DS + Kobo + wallet and stuff and a bin for shoes which you shouldn't need. ). Also make sure they are charged enough to power up, but I've never had to actually show that (once I did but I was showing off my ASUS Transformer tablet )

Data loss shouldn't be an issue in any case.

if the line you're going down is "is there anything illegal on there ie illegal porn*, pirated movies etc." no, there isn't. SO's porn collection is on a 5TB NAS unit, which is being shipped separately.

I will keep the powered up line in mind. I plan on taking both through carryon if I can (SO's flying over before I am) and luckily, one of the airlines has that as an option (you can take your laptop on board as a "personal item" and not have it counted towards your carryon allowance. Others allow it, but they count towards the carryon allowance)

[Seshat]

Data loss shouldn't be an issue, no, but in any move (and heck, all the time!) you should have backups!

In fact, have multiple backups. Hell, leave a backup with your parents.

As for what to back up:
* Everything either of you has personally created.
* Tax records and other financial records.
* Bookmarks lists (if you care about them)
* Password databases (encrypted! And a way to remember the encryption key - stored separately, or stored in your brain)
* Any emails or text message logs you care about.
* Any saved games you care about.
* Any purchased programs you can't easily re-download or re-install.
* Evidence of purchase, for things you can re-download or re-install.
* ANYTHING YOU CREATED PERSONALLY.

And did I say 'anything you created personally'?

[fireheart]

Data loss shouldn't be an issue, no, but in any move (and heck, all the time!) you should have backups!

In fact, have multiple backups. Hell, leave a backup with your parents.

As for what to back up:
* Everything either of you has personally created.
* Tax records and other financial records.
* Bookmarks lists (if you care about them)
* Password databases (encrypted! And a way to remember the encryption key - stored separately, or stored in your brain)
* Any emails or text message logs you care about.
* Any saved games you care about.
* Any purchased programs you can't easily re-download or re-install.
* Evidence of purchase, for things you can re-download or re-install.
* ANYTHING YOU CREATED PERSONALLY.

And did I say 'anything you created personally'?

Passing this to the SO ASAP. Some of this stuff we already have hard copies of (tax records in particular) and some I'm dropping off when I fly over the first time around. (Namely, any hard copies of any documents I don't already have an online copy of.) The only thing that will be a slight issue to me will be my birth certificate, but I've discovered that I can apply for it online and have it mailed over for an extra $10.

I also passed on your carryon list Seshat. I also added a couple of points myself as I've flown before, while he hasn't. Namely to take a pair of headphones because he won't be able to use his phone on the plane period and to wriggle around on the plane. He says he'll sleep. I've told him "TAKE A BOOK DAMMIT"

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

Depending on who you're flying with, they may give you headphones on the plane (or sell them to you for a couple of dollars). Most planes have different plugs to standard headphones.

Laptop needs to come out of its bag when going through security. The iPad can stay in your bag (or holder or case or whatever). [I travelled to the USA two years ago, I took iPad and Kindle, Housemate took laptop. The laptop was a pain in the butt at every airport, but everywhere I checked the iPad and Kindle were fine as they were. We're off to Europe this year, guess who's leaving the lappie at home?] Just make sure the iPad is in airplane mode or off during takeoff and landing. Ditto your phone.

Don't panic if you get pulled over for the 'explosives test' - they just wave a wand over your sleeves, cuffs, bag etc to see if you've been in contact with a list of chemical nasties. It only takes a minute or two.

Don't make any, I mean ANY, jokes about security while in the airport or on the plane. It will not be worth the laugh. Be polite, pleasant and professional (even if you feel like clawing someone's eyes out).

Don't forget to pack your chargers!!!!! Make sure they're in your carry-on in an easy to access place. Also pack any pocket knives, nail files/clippers, scissors, any aerosol (except medicinal) and anything else pointy and metallic into your checked-in luggage.

Don't wear anything with lots of metal in it - chunky jewellery, belt buckles, stilleto heels. They'll set off the alarm and you'll need to do the 'slow metal strip' and keep trying till you pass. If either of you have metal implants (like from bone fractures) either get a letter/xray from your doctor or tell the security guys - they have a hand held scanner that can localise the source of the alarm.

Re shoes - try to have no metal at all (Aussie security isn't as strong in removing shoes as the TSA, but this varies by airport) and easy-on, easy-off.

Most carriers here have an inflight magazine. It might be good enough reading for a couple of hours but I always have my trusty Kindle (I just turn the wireless off).

[fireheart]

Depending on who you're flying with, they may give you headphones on the plane (or sell them to you for a couple of dollars). Most planes have different plugs to standard headphones.

Hmm...I might check with them before I leave. When I flew Virgin a few years back, my headphones worked fine in the jack they provided. I might grab an adapter just in case (they're fiarly cheap)

Laptop needs to come out of its bag when going through security. The iPad can stay in your bag (or holder or case or whatever). [I travelled to the USA two years ago, I took iPad and Kindle, Housemate took laptop. The laptop was a pain in the butt at every airport, but everywhere I checked the iPad and Kindle were fine as they were. We're off to Europe this year, guess who's leaving the lappie at home?] Just make sure the iPad is in airplane mode or off during takeoff and landing. Ditto your phone.

Does this include the power pack as well? Might get SO to check this one out. Neither of us are particularly comfortable leaving our respective laptops in the checked-in luggage in case it gets lost.

Don't panic if you get pulled over for the 'explosives test' - they just wave a wand over your sleeves, cuffs, bag etc to see if you've been in contact with a list of chemical nasties. It only takes a minute or two.

I'll find it hilarious if I do. Every time my mum's flown since returning from the Gold Coast (she had to fly back to Brisbane later, then to Melbourne for a day, then to-from Sydney for a cruise), she's been tested. NONE of my family have otherwise

Don't make any, I mean ANY, jokes about security while in the airport or on the plane. It will not be worth the laugh. Be polite, pleasant and professional (even if you feel like clawing someone's eyes out).

Don't plan to.

Don't forget to pack your chargers!!!!! Make sure they're in your carry-on in an easy to access place. Also pack any pocket knives, nail files/clippers, scissors, any aerosol (except medicinal) and anything else pointy and metallic into your checked-in luggage.

Pencil sharpeners and pencils? Hmm...I might have an interesting time explaining to security that the "aluminium" in my bag is foil wrapped around sticks of willow charcoal!

Don't wear anything with lots of metal in it - chunky jewellery, belt buckles, stilleto heels. They'll set off the alarm and you'll need to do the 'slow metal strip' and keep trying till you pass. If either of you have metal implants (like from bone fractures) either get a letter/xray from your doctor or tell the security guys - they have a hand held scanner that can localise the source of the alarm.

Neither of us do, but I'll remind him not to wear a belt on the day. The only things that arelikely to trigger off the "metal" from either of us would be our glasses.

Re shoes - try to have no metal at all (Aussie security isn't as strong in removing shoes as the TSA, but this varies by airport) and easy-on, easy-off.

Adelaide and Sydney airports?

Most carriers here have an inflight magazine. It might be good enough reading for a couple of hours but I always have my trusty Kindle (I just turn the wireless off).

I'm coming crazy-prepared with 2 books, my iPad and a little mini "art set" I made myself: basically a set of sketching pencils, some charcoal, 2 erasers, a sharpener (not sure how that'll go in the plane) and a teeny-weeny sketch book.

My So has indicated that he plans to sleep on his flight. I'll be doing 3 flights all up: 2 for work and 1 for good.

[Jetfire]

You probably don't have to take out the laptop's power brick, but I usually did when i carried it. (Now everything is charged with USB cables so I don't care about it any more).

Using (possibly wrong) common sense as a traveler, the reason laptops have to be taken out, IMO, is because they are not solid devices; there is distinct wiring and lumps and stuff in the laptop case that could be confusing within a bag. iPads and tablets are effectively solid devices, so there's nothing strange on the scanner.

Being a tech geek, I have to smirk sometimes when I see my bookbag go through the xray scanner. It usually shows up as a mess of cables since I used to carry chargers, and USB cables and the actual devices with me in my carry on. Never had a problem with it.

As for your art supplies they are probably fine. The Pencil sharpener might be a bit sketchy; you might want to take one you wouldn't mind having to throw out if they get picky about it. Make sure it's one you put the pencil in and twist, and not just a scalpel type.

[wolfie]

This is probably overkill for a single flight, but for anyone who regularly uses pencils (where a mechanical pencil wouldn't be an adequate substitute) on board planes, buying one of the standard wall-mount school pencil sharpeners (but using it hand-held) would be a good idea. Why? Instead of a blade, these sharpeners use a couple of rotary files. For a single flight? A paint stir stick with coarse (80 grit or so) sandpaper glued to one side and medium (120 grit or so) glued to the other would be a reasonable "backup" in case your sharpener is confiscated.

Depending on who you're flying with, they may give you headphones on the plane (or sell them to you for a couple of dollars). Most planes have different plugs to standard headphones.

My understanding is that planes now have standard 1/8" stereo headphone jacks (easiest way to deal with multiple audio programs), but back in the '60s and '70s (only audio was soundtrack to the movie) they had "stethescope" type headphones (tubing leading to a pair of "nipples" that would plug into a sound passage in the seat). The way the planes were rigged had one speaker serving multiple rows of seats via "speaking tubes". I've heard (FOAF) that someone took advantage of that to play a practical joke - it was a night flight, the lights were off due to the movie, so nobody could easily see what was going on in the cabin. They took off their headphones, and at a quiet spot in the movie soundtrack shouted the "F-bomb" into the earpiece. The speaking tubes carried it to the headphone jacks on half the plane.

[Seshat]

Carry medication in pharmacist-labelled containers, and in a ziplock bag or other transparent bag, either at the top of your carry-on, or at the top of your checked luggage.

I've never had a problem with my meds, but that might be because I do just that. Everything's either in the original packaging, in pharmacy-labelled bottles with the dosage instructions and stuff, or in 'webster packs' packaged by the pharmacist.

Similarly, anything that might be on the 'iffy' list, whether for security or for quarantine (probably no quarantine within aussieland), can go into clear plastic bags.

I just pull the bag out and ask when passing through security or quarantine.

[fireheart]

Eep.

So I'm flying in 2 1/2 weeks. I'm going with Jetstar.

[Seshat]

You'll be fine.

Put brightly coloured stickers or luggage tags or something on your luggage: especially if it's a 'standard black' sort of piece of modern luggage.

I caught a guy walking off with my mother's luggage once: totally innocently. I asked him to check the luggage tag, and he was incredibly apologetic. When he found his, it was the exact same make and model (I watched while we waited for Mum's second piece of luggage).

Bright, personal-type stickers, luggage tags, anything that makes your luggage look different from Everyone Else's makes a huge difference.

For this reason, Bast and I have bright red/bright purple luggage.

[wolfie]

YI caught a guy walking off with my mother's luggage once: totally innocently. I asked him to check the luggage tag, and he was incredibly apologetic. When he found his, it was the exact same make and model (I watched while we waited for Mum's second piece of luggage).

Anyone remember the old Peter Ustinov TV commercial for American Express?

(Encounter in a train station, he and another person wind up dropping their hand luggage. He gets on a train, and as it's pulling out he opens the case.)
"This isn't my briefcase."
(pulls out a pair of underpants)
"These aren't even my briefs!"

[fireheart]

You'll be fine.

Put brightly coloured stickers or luggage tags or something on your luggage: especially if it's a 'standard black' sort of piece of modern luggage.

I'm taking a carry-on only as it's a same-day flight and my partner and I doubt that he'll have a place by then.

[LesserSouthernFroglet]

I seem to recall Adelaide used to be one of the 'easy' airports re shoes. Mind you, that was a good 4 or 5 years ago - I used to fly there once a year but haven't recently.

Sydney is so big and varied, I imagine it depends on airline and terminal.

Re the headphones - most of the supplied headphones here have two 1/8" jacks. Regular headphones do work, so I wonder what the extra plug does? Stereo?? Nah, couldn't be.

Pencils should be OK, sharpener maybe not.

The battery should be OK still in the laptop unless they ask you to remove it for some reason. Definitely don't check them in! (I usually end up sitting in the plane on the tarmac watching them load the luggage. It can be interesting...) If you don't have to take it for work though, I'd leave it at home for the short trip. Not so bad ADL to SYD but Hobart-Sydney-LA-LV and return, it gets very old, very quickly (particularly as Housemate is disabled, so Froggie had to do the laptop duties...)

Oh, and allow yourself plenty of time at the airport before you board. Boarding is usually 30 minutes prior to 'flight' time (ie departure), it can take an hour or more to get through security, and particularly at Sydney airport, it's a very, very long walk to your departure terminal. Oh, and the shopping... got to mention the shopping. Everyone leaving Sydney apparently MUST return home with a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. Don't like donuts myself, but it seems everybody else on the flight has a box of them.