- Air Canada has *regular* plugs at every seat on most equipment. The exception is tiny Dash8 planes. No special adapter required.

- You will never, ever regret packing an extra pair or 2 of underwear.

- Consider hand washing in the hotel room sink a shirt or two early in your trip. Having spares means you won’t have to pack an extra shirt.

- These days, worry about the weight of your luggage, not space. Most airlines limit you to about 50 pounds per item. You want to pack so that you are well under that limit so that you can bring back swag from your conference.

- Pack an extra lightweight, foldable bag just in case you need to check another bag. You will probably have to pay for it, but $15-25 for the extra checking is better than price you’ll pay at the airport or the hotel for a new piece of luggage.

- In the US consider mailing books, DVDs, and other media that are heavy and bulky via USPS Media Rate. Very, very inexpensive. http://www.usps.com/prices/media-mail-prices.htm

- If you are an infrequent traveller, leave yourself lots of time to deal with the unexpected. Don’t try to get to the airport 10 minutes before your flight. Plan on being at the airport 2 hours before a flight.

All of this goes in a wheeled carryon bag with a laptop compartment (with toiletries and enough clothes if my luggage decides it doesn’t want to go to PASS.) Some security checkpoints are fine with just removing the laptops, but the ones that aren’t are never nice about it and make me unload everything. Having everthing in bags to quickly break it down to reasonable elements for the travel bins will save you being selected for “special” treatment.