However, it is worth bearing in mind that thieves are very aware that of all the types of luggage to be most likely to contain items worth stealing, it is this same carryon hand luggage. Wallets, purses, tickets, passports and other small expensive items are usually the ones to be found in this type of luggage.

It is well worth knowing not only the sorts of techniques thieves use to acquire either your bag or the items in it, but also methods you can use to guard against such theft.

The most obvious method of stealing a bag is to remove the entire bag from your possession. This can only be possible if your attention is distracted, and you are not physically holding the bag. This seems an unlikely situation to find yourself in, and yet remarkably, is all too common.

Sliding your bag under your chair while you sit down on the chair may seem reasonably secure, perhaps allowing you the opportunity to enjoy watching the hustle and bustle of other tired tourists, or watching the departure board. But this also allows any would-be thief the opportunity to slide your bag backwards under your seat and calmly walk off with it unnoticed.

Perhaps you have wisely thought ahead and considered such a possibility, and lifted your chair, sliding the handle of your bag under the leg, to prevent someone from sliding your bag away. However, in truth, this does very little to stop all but the most casual of thieves who will simply use scissors or a knife to cut the strap that is hooked under you chair leg, and then remove the bag jut as easily.

There are manufacturers who produce bags with slash proof handles. Although not entirely cut proof, because the handles have woven into them a metal mesh, they do prove far more durable and much harder to cut through without it being extremely obvious what you are doing. A bag that has these handles could be looped under chair leg and be considered reasonably secure.

Of course, would be thieves have a number of other tricks up their slips, especially focusing on sagging zips. Clearly a zip is very easy to undo, relatively unnoticed, and if the bag is over your shoulder in a crowd, it is easy to slide the zip open and remove the contents. Perhaps, again, you have thought ahead to this eventuality and bought a small padlock which will loop through the zip hasp and lock it at the closed end. There are ways, however, of undoing any zip from the opposite end to the hasp.

Where the zip joins the material there will be a weak spot, and poking a ball point pen or other sharp object between the teeth of the zip will pop it open, and allow the whole zip to pop open its full length, allowing easy extraction of the items with no regard to the lock.

Again, manufacturers have addressed this problem, and today it is possible to purchase bags which have zips built in such a way as to prevent this method of forcing open a zip. It is true that these bags are more expensive, but the peace of mind they bring would be considered worth every penny should you have been unfortunate enough to have experienced a theft yourself.

Luggage comes in all sizes and shapes, with materials today which sound more like the types of material used to build spaceships, rather than a case to transport your underwear to a hotel for the weekend. Most of us have a collection of bags and cases which we have acquired over the years – possibly each was purposely bought for a particular type of trip. Some people have decided to purchase a complete set of matching luggage, but one thing that we all have to decide, is which one to use for a particular trip?

It is a common dilemma – because deep down we all know what will happen. We’ll either choose a bag which is rather too small, and cram in thousands of items, all of which become crumpled and worn, and almost inevitably, unreachable without unpacking the entire contents. The alternative is to use a bag which is really far too big. Feeling delighted with ourselves, we see all the extra room we have after packing the essentials, and enjoy wandering through our home looking for any other items which we can squeeze into the extra pockets and spaces we still have left. Interestingly, it is often the case that we entirely forget this part of the packing process once we are trying to haul the enormous case around with us, wishing it had wheels, or we had our own chauffer, or that we had used the smaller bag instead. Or maybe just stayed home.

One of the most important aspects to consider first of all is whether we will be using any kind of transport which will restrict the amount we can take. The obvious example is, of course, the plane. If traveling by plane we will all face a limit to the weight we can take. This will vary depending on the airline you are using, and whether you are travelling first class, standard, or in the luggage hold yourself. If, instead, you are using trains, coaches, buses or taxis then this will vary, but above all, it is the practical side of things you will need to consider. When getting onto, or off a train, there is often a step, and sometimes a gap, to cross. How will you manage to get a huge case into the compartment?

Naturally, the greatest freedom is to be found if you have the luxury of packing your bags into your own car, although again it is worth considering the practicalities. For example, one huge case packed in a car means that you have to be very careful about packing it – almost certainly you will need a number of items from it sooner, and do you really want to be unpacking it by the roadside, or in a car park, looking for the one item you accidentally packed first?

Generally, packing more than one bag, and keeping the size and weight down for each one will give you the greatest flexibility. Even better is if you can use a type of luggage system which will allow the bags to join together. An example of this are the very popular trolley bags, which have a long handle which rises up from the back of the case, and either one or two other bags can be slid down over this handle, so that they all keep together as one unit, yet can be separated when needed. These are increasingly popular with travelers, and today many laptop cases have a built in sleeve which allows them to be slid over a trolley case handle too. This also helps to increase security.

At the end of the day, the more time you spend planning your journey, transport method and realistic ease of carting bags about, the more practical your choices will be about the type of bag, and its size, that you will use.

You arrive successfully at the end of a long flight only to discover that the luggage you innocently believed was on the plane is now several thousand miles away and on a different continent. Sadly this is not an entirely uncommon experience, but one which will sort the well planned traveler from the naive one.

Another example is that you arrive at the airport after a long journey to discover that due to whatever conditions, all flights have been canceled and you are looking at spending most of the night sitting in the departure lounge. Again, this is a challenge that many travelers frequently face each year.

A third example: you arrive to check in your luggage and are astonished to discover that it is overweight, and you are not allowed to take such a vast quantity of items onto the plane.

Finally, a fourth example of a common emergency which many people face. You have carefully planned all your essential cosmetics and medications, only to discover at your arrival at the airport that their security requirements are not what you had expected, and you are not allowed to take a significant portion of what you consider to be your essential cosmetics with you.

These four situations are faced by many people and are the four most common emergency situations. Having some idea of how to deal with these situations in advance of their occurrence will help not only to provide you with peace of mind, but will also help to make sure that should you be unfortunate enough to find yourself in one of these situations, you will be best able to deal with it.

In the case of lost or delayed luggage, the best thing to do, as far as your own survival is concerned, is to think in advance what you would do if your suitcase did not rejoin you. Dividing essential items between your suitcase and your carryon bag is the wisest way to guard against such an eventuality. Should you have packed all of your clothes into your suitcase, if it were to go missing, unless you were planning on checking in to a nudist camp on your holiday, you would find yourself in a little difficulty. With some underwear and at least one change of clothes in your carryon bag you will at least be able to cope for a day or two, which will either provide the airline time to forward your baggage to you, or for you to visit somewhere to purchase some replacements.

So, how can you plan effectively for a situation where you arrive at the airport and find yourself facing hours of delay? A simple plan is, of course, to have something with you that will help to pass the time, such as a book. But if you find yourself looking at many hours when perhaps you ought to be sleeping, this can be far more difficult.

It isn’t reasonable to expect you to pack a dressing gown, pillow and sleeping bag. But it is possible to improvise. A blanket is always a good idea to take with you since it is not always possible to know in advance how good the bedding will be, how warm the room will be, or even how to operate the heating or air conditioning in the room. As long as your blanket is both warm and easily compressible, such as a camping blanket, and that this is packed in your carryon luggage, you can then use the coat or jacket you were wearing as a pillow, and use the blanket to keep yourself warm. A word of warning however, if you do intend on sleeping, make sure you take turns with other people in your party, so that there is at least one person able to keep a careful eye on the luggage.

As for excess baggage weight and security restrictions on liquids, the best advice is always, planning. All airlines will be able to provide up to date information regarding their requirements, and the best advice is to locate this information, and apply it carefully. The only alternative is to plan to discard items from your case, which is unlikely to be your preferred choice.

Unfortunately it is a statistical fact that every year thousand of bags do go missing. This can be for a wide variety of reasons. Certainly it is true that some bags seem to go missing during the baggage handling process that goes on behind the mysterious conveyer belt flaps. It is also a sad fact that some luggage is stolen, and in today’s climate of increased security, the theft of luggage poses particular risks. Clearly the loss of your case with your own identifiable documents in it is especially dangerous to both yourself and potentially a considerable number of other people.

So, what is the best solution to the problem of you finding your luggage has gone missing? This, of course, depends on the exact circumstances, but let us takes two examples.

The first is that you find yourself at the end of your holiday, waiting gloomily for your luggage to materialize on the carousel at the airport. It always seems to be the case, no matter who you are, that of all the cases that come out onto the carousel, yours will be guaranteed to be the last. It almost seems to be the case that as a practical joke, the baggage handlers throw half a dozen bags onto the belt that don’t actually belong to anyone who was on that flight, and then wait for twenty minutes before putting on the bags that do. Assuming that your bag has been lost is tempting, when in fact it has only been delayed.

Certainly, showing a little patience before rushing up to the help desk in blind panic can result in slightly reduced blood pressure all round. Of course, once the baggage has appeared, and it seems fairly likely that your luggage is not there, then it is important to go to the helpdesk for the airline that you traveled with, and report the situation to them. They will then be able to investigate whether it is still on its way, or whether perhaps it is on a separate flight. In some cases, baggage does go onto the incorrect flight, in which case it has to be rerouted and forwarded to you. Possibly, it simply didn’t fit onto the plane and has been put on to the next flight, in which case, again, it will be forwarded to you. In either case you should be compensated for the inconvenience and delay.

If it has, in fact, gone completely missing, then it is at that point that it is very important that you have retained the ticket stub for that particular piece of luggage. The fact that you were given this before the arduous journey can mean in some cases that these have gone missing, but they are critical proof of your ownership of the bag, and of the airline’s responsibility. Assuming that you can provide these, then a proper investigation can be carried out.

The other situation to consider is one where you are at the airport, and whilst you are waiting, possibly as your attention was distracted by the departure board, your bag was removed from your possession. At this point, as soon as you realize this, you must report the matter to security. If no security is obvious, then the airline helpdesk will do, but more often that not, in most airlines, the presence of security guards or even airline police will be more than obvious. Providing them with a description of the bag, and the location where it was last seen will assist them in rapidly scanning the area and using CCTV footage to identify the occasion of the theft.

As long as the theft is reported quickly, in many instances, it does prove possible to apprehend the culprit and reunite the baggage with the forlorn traveller. It is always helpful to make sure that not only is your name, location and address written on the luggage label on the outside of the bag, but as these can easily be pulled off, having duplicate information on a label inside the bag can prove a very effective means of having the bag reunited with its owner much quicker than it would be if the only way of identifying the owner of the bag is in matching their underwear.