How to pack you clothing more efficiently:
Don't fold, but ROLL...
Yes, you heard me right, ROLL your clothing as tight as possible like a swiss roll.
Then you'll have many tightly rolled "swiss roll", then you can start to stuff those "swiss rolls" into your bag.

Why roll and not fold?
Fold will gives you ugly fold mark, wrinkle and etc... also tends to eat up more space in your luggage/bag. Not so space efficient.
If you roll properly... you won't get any ugly fold mark/wrinkles. Also save more space.

Another tip is try to bring a formal wear... at least a long sleeve shirt w/ black slack, or a dress for gal. No batik shirt as batik is only acceptable as formal in this region. Some venue might have certain dress code before allowing you to go in.

Oh well... here's the not so pratical tips... believe or not is up to you lar :

I know these bcos I'm working as a hotelier.


Every single hotel, there will be at least a room which is left vacant at all times. No matter how full the hotel are, they are not to sell that room(s) to any guest.
It was said that special room was "reserved" for those "special visitors".

So, if you plan to stay in some hotel, always book in advance. Try to avoid walk in.
If the receptionist told you there's no more room available, do not insist one anymore or try to bribe them to give you a room. If you do that, most of the time the room you have will be that "special room".

Some other hotel tips:
- Before entering your room, always knock on the door first, even you know the room is vacant.
- After you enter the room, if you felt very cold suddently and have "chicken skin", leave the room quitely immediately and go to reception to request for a room change. Most of the time the receptionist will understand what's happening.
- After you enter the room, immediately switch on all of the lights, and open the curtain to let the sun light in.
- Always leave at least a lamp on while you're sleeping
- If you're staying alone and they have give you a twin bed, try not to sleep with the other bed vacant, try to put your things like luggage on the other bed before you sleep.

This post has been edited by greyshadow: Feb 20 2006, 06:06 PM

dun worry... no offense taken
yeap... most ppl will find those 'tips' rather superstitious...
First I also just cast those 'tips' aside, thinking where got such thing...
But after a few years working as a hotelier and some personal 'encounter', seeing weird things with my own eyes and hearing it first hand from some veteran hotelier and such... If I don't want to believe also cannot

Just a simple pratical advice here... never ever insisted for a room or even bribe the receptionist, if you are already informed the hotel is fully booked. You don't want to know what type of rooms they are giving you...

Try to make sure you're 100% healthy before you go travel. It's one of the worst thing can happen if you fall sick during your travel!
Imagine sleeping alone in the hotel for the whole day while the others are having fun of their life, not to mention $$$ is going down the drain also.

Check with your doctor first if require any vaccination before travel to any country, especially poorer third world country. Hepatitis A & B vaccination is important.

Some country's health system are very much different from ours... where they has a strict control over their drug usage. Pharmacy might not sell you medication without any prescription from the doctor. The clinics also won't give you medication over the counter, and they only gives you a prescription and you'll need to obtain the medication from the pharmacy yourself.

If you're on regular medication, it's best to ask your doctor to write you a prescription just in case you lost your medication, but be warn thou.... some country might not regconise M'sian doctor's prescription

Bring a few "poh cai yun" or even better, Ultra carbon pills, also known as charcoal pills. If you suffer from diarrea or mild food poisoning, a tablet or two of the ultra carbon pill will stop it straight away. It will be sad if you need to hunt around for toilet wherever you go

Always check the weather forecast of your destination before you travel.
A good place to check is at www.weather.com
You can get a 10 day weather forecast from there, then from there you can estimate what to expect from the weather there.
Either you need an extra pack of sunblock, caps or extra raincoat or umbrella.

Always bring a few plastic bags also, those will come in very handy.
Either for water proofing your electronic equipments, garbage, dirty laundry.... etc

Huh? shoe??
mis-quoted maybe?

Well... I didn't say predict accurately right?
I just say can estimate what to expect...
Better to be prepared than sorry, right?

Like last time I had a trip to Korea during summer, which the travel agent claim it hardly rain during that period. But when I check the weather forecast just prior departure... there's a forecast of heavy storm for those past few days... and we did pack extra raincoats and umbrellas, and made extra arrangement for indoor activities just in case.

Err... he quoted my weather tips... that's why I don't understand, while juichuan has a shoe tips just above my post, that's why I tot he mis-quoted

Anyway back to the shoe thingy in the hotel. The oldtimers here advice not to arrange your shoes nicely, especially right in front of the entrance. It's better to scatter it or just flip one of the shoe upside down. Can't remember the exact reason for doing so... something about the spirit will wear you shoes if it's arrange nicely at the entrance... or something like your spirit leaving lar... can't remember
About the one shoe being flip upside down is sort of representing the yin & yang in Pa Kua, thus protecting you

Yo dudes above, carefull with the ganja remarks above leh... don't think it's suitable to promote the use of drugs in this forum...

hahaha... where the hell u heard that?

everyday, tens of thousands of laptops pass thru the US custom, do you really think they've got time to scan every single laptop and HDD?

it takes hours to scan the content of a normal 320Gb HDD, who in world got such free time to scan?

whoever told you that must be pulling your legs la!

me frens and I traveled to US on many occasions, never once they check our laptop

standard size kick scooter?
just fold it up, pack & put in box, check in as normal cargo

there's no way you can hand carry on board
just pack it up nicely and check-in as cargo
no need buy sport equipment as it's consider small