Travel Tips for a Butch on the Go

It's tough to be a traveling butch!  Often we don't know what the clothing norms in our destination place will be like until we get there.  I recently participated in the Butch 360 post on traveling, and it inspired me to come up with some quick tips for jet-setting butches.  (By the way, I love Can I Help You Sir.  Check out this post for a terrific insider's view of DADT.)

1. When packing clothes, choose a black or brown color scheme.  This means that you'll only have to pack one pair of dress shoes, one belt, one watch, etc.  Grey and black pants go with a black scheme; brown and khaki go with a brown scheme.  Olive, navy blue, and jeans go with black or brown (though with navy pants, choose dark brown shoes).
2. Pack your dress shoes and wear either tennis shoes (for comfort) or boots (which are heavy and bulky to lug around in a suitcase).
3. If you're bringing ties, roll them up and put them inside your packed shoes.  This way, they won't get wrinkled or smushed.
   
4. Bring a mini lint roller.
5. If I'm traveling with my DGF, I make it very clear to small hotels and B&B's that we are dykes.  I do this by referring to her as my girlfriend and requesting one bed.  This way, I can suss out whether the person on the other end of the line is uncomfortable.  If so, I stay elsewhere.  This also allows me to avoid awkward check-in conversations.  ("Oh--I have you booked in a one-bed room...  but I guess you'll need two, right?")  This precaution is usually unnecessary with large or chain hotels, where no one cares who you are or who you'll be sleeping with.
   
6. In case you haven't flown lately: what passes for a carry-on these days is crazy, a trend I attribute to ridiculous price that most airlines charge to check even one bag.  I recommend packing one large backpack or messenger bag and one medium suitcase.  Unless someone tells you that you can't carry it on, attempt to carry it on.  If it won't fit in the overhead bin, they'll check it for you at no charge!  Just get it past security and you're home free.
   
7. Find out ahead of time whether you'll have access to a washer and dryer (a laundromat doesn't count--too time-consuming).  If so, pack half the number of clothes you otherwise would.
8. I'm a reader whose eyes are bigger than her brain.  Somehow I anticipate devouring a book a day on vacation, and I used to pack accordingly, stunning flight attendants with the weight of my carry-ons.  Now, though, I use a handy formula: One book for every three days of a trip, plus an additional book if a plane flight's involved.  No hardbacks.  And plenty of audiobooks pre-downloaded onto my iPhone.
9. Unless you have an emotional or psychological need to do so, I recommend not binding or packing if you'll be boarding a plane.  If you set off an alarm, you don't want any confusion about who's frisking you.
10. Be prepared for some people to act like jerks on the plane.  I haven't had the kinds of terrible experiences that some people have, but people do look askance at me, particularly if I'm with my DGF.  Occasionally, they are downright rude, which I enjoy exploiting by acting drippingly, sarcastically polite.  (Um, except for one time when a guy said something  rude to my girlfriend--not gender related, just travel-related--and I, uh, loudly called him an asshole.  Don't do that.)
11. Before you go, or as soon as you arrive, find out where the following places are: closest bank, dry cleaner, and coffee shop to your hotel.
12. Packing dress shirts without wrinkling them is close to impossible, and the "hang them in the bathroom and let the steam unwrinkle them" trick never seems to work.  Ways to deal: (1) get your shirts laundered when you arrive; (2) have the dry cleaner box your shirts instead of hanging them.  (I am a recent convert to having shirts laundered.  At $1.45/shirt, it's often worth it.); (3) pack shirts that are actually wrinkle-free, not just wrinkle-free wannabes--I've had good luck with Kenneth Cole, L.L. Bean, and Covington.
    
13. Pee at the airport, before you get on the plane.
14. I consider the following items essential for a carry-on: iPod or iPhone, Power Bars so I won't end up paying $7 for stale Cheetos, hand sanitizer, a bandana (can be used as a napkin, tissue, whatever), headphones, Chapstick, shoe polish, and a notebook and pen.
15. Plan for things to go awry.  Flights will be delayed, trains will be missed, shows will be cancelled, and tidal waves will flood out luaus (true story).  As long as no one is hurt, there is almost always something funny or absurd about travel mishaps--your goal is to find it.

What are *your* go-to travel tips?  What has surprised you the most about traveling as a butch?  What odd situations have come up?