Tips for the absent minded traveller

I admit it, I can be a bit of an airhead. It is not that I am a stupid person, its more that I have inherited a family trait of leaving keys, sunglasses and other such items in extremely random places. So when I travel, I do try and make it a point to come home with the same amount of stuff I left with. So here are some pointers which have I have gleamed after years of embarrassing travel blunders.

1. If parking your car at the airport, write down where the hell you left it. I hope more of you out there can relate to this, you are hurried to get to the airport, you park and run inside with only thoughts of your vacation. Of course this was best documented in the Seinfeld episode with the fish, but believe me...I have been that bewildered girl walking around a giant parking structure with my luggage.

2. Add a gaudy piece of brightly colored ribbon to your bag. Because this is inevitably what happens; you buy some generic luggage at Costco which everyone and their brother owns and then cannot distinguish which bag is yours. I realize it is somewhat nerdy to have yellow ribbon on your bag, but truthfully it beats out inadvertently taking someone's bag and having them chase you down the terminal. This is just embarrassing, and yes, I personally know what it feels like.

3. If traveling internationally, put an extra pair of undies in your carry on. I will try and make this one as PG as I can, but airlines delays are bound to happen and wearing your underwear for multiple days is just really gross.

4. Don't fall asleep on public trains. I was once robbed by a very nice thief on a train from Krakow to Budapest. He was not nice due to the fact that he stole all my money, camera and even my change. However, he did kindly replace my wallet back into my purse with all my necessary credit cards, ID and such. How did someone manage to take my wallet out, steal only pertinent items, then replace it? Well, I fell asleep on a public train......not really my finest moment.