Travel

Here's a collection of travel tips that I've gathered over time. I originally contributed many of these to the Travel Hacks section of the 43Folders Wiki.

Air Travel

I've travelled by plane a fair bit over the past few years. Some ideas:

I will never fly RyanAir unless there is absolutely no alternative. In most cases, I'd rather not go than go on RyanAir.
EasyJet is only marginally better.
I like BA, KLM and Continental.

Firstly, a little politeness and respect goes a long way. Airport security staff have a pretty thankless task and it doesn't cost much for you to be polite to them and help them do their job.
Don't make jokes about bombs. If you do, and someone doesn't blow your head off, you've been lucky.
Every airport seems to have its own local policy. Some airports want your laptop out, some don't. The Transportation Security Administration in the US seem to want to scan your shoes every time whilst, in Europe, it's usually only done if a pat-down search is required.
Take everything out of your pockets when you first get in line and stash it in a carry-on bag. No more fumbling with change, cell phone, keys, etc at the metal detector.
One thing that seems to be fairly general is that you need to remove your outer jacket. Be nice to the people behind you, and do this before you get to the conveyor belt. If you're wearing a hat, it's best to put it in the x-ray tray since they'll probably ask to see under it anyway.
Most security regimes won't allow you to take open drink containers (e.g. Starbucks cups, Nalgene bottles) through the metal detector.

I'm a huge fan of Samsonite's range of four-wheeled suitcases. I find them much more manoeuvrable in busy airport concourses and lifts.
I don't have a problem checking in luggage. I've had bags delayed, but never lost. Maybe I've been lucky :-)
Remember that the space under the seat in front can hold a lot more than it appears.

Personally, I insist on an aisle seat for flights longer than one hour.
If the plane's not full, don't be afraid to ask for a seat swap
SeatGuru.com is useful, but doesn't have great coverage of European airlines. Check the airline's own fleet web pages, if they have them.
Exit rows are usually great, but try to avoid the row immediately before or after the exit row. I've been on some aircraft where most of the space required for the exit row was created by reducing the legroom of the immediate-neighbour rows (I'm looking at you, KLM, you and your Fokker 100s).

It's sometimes a good idea to take some extra rations on a flight:

Location aside, I rarely see the value obtained by staying in top-tier hotels.
At a conference, there's often a lot of value in staying in the conference hotel: You can sleep later, you have somewhere private to pass time between sessions, people you know will be around in the evenings, etc.

I like to try and put the electronics I don't need for the actual journey into your suitcase. It keeps the weight of the carry-on lower and it looks less suspicious in an x-ray machine.
Buy your power adapters before you go! It's often very difficult to find a foreign-to-local adapter in the local area. Also remember that most "European" socket adapters do not work in Switzerland, despite all claims to the contrary. Look for the ones that have two round prongs, European-style, set into a fitting that looks like an elongated hexagon. These will usually advertise themselves as working both in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe.