Traveling can be stressful, and sometimes super stressful. I may be stating the obvious but recently, as someone who doesn’t stress easily, I found myself in quite a stressed out mode.

I was in Europe when the proposed electronics ban was announced. And yes, I had all my electronics with me. The thought of putting my laptop in my suitcase and checking it, well, it made me feel anxious and panicked. I had just started my trip in Europe and knew that I couldn’t let myself be consumed by worry for the weeks until I would return to the States. So I got myself into action mode and researched and decided how I would handle having to check my laptop on my flight home. Then, no matter how the ban worked out going forward, I’d at least feel prepared.

Here’s what I planned to do. Let me know what you think. I focused on making sure nothing would break or be damaged. Here’s what I thought I’d need:

(A) Some mid-size plastic bags – if I got free plastic laundry bags from hotels, I would save some. Or, I could buy a pack of 45-liter plastic trash bags, which are about the size of 13-gallon kitchen trash bags.

(B) Soft clothes – for protection, I’d use soft clothes, such as T-shirts, PJs, sweat shirts/pants, underwear, socks, dry towels, etc.

Here is how I would pack a laptop in a suitcase:

1. Shut down the laptop, and securely wrap it inside a clean plastic bag. Lightly seal it with scotch tape if I want.

2. If I have t-shirts or sweat shirts/pants, I would put the laptop inside them.

3. If I don’t have large clothing items, I’d spread small soft clothes evenly inside the 2nd plastic bag. Then place the bagged laptop on them, and cover it with more soft clothes on the top. The laptop is now sandwiched by the top and the bottom layers of clothes. Each cloth layer can be about 1-1.5 inches thick or less, because it’s easier to handle when it’s not too bulky.

4. Place the laptop as flat as possible on a soft layer of clothes at the “dead center” of a suitcase. No hard objects, such as an AC adapter, should be stored near the laptop.

5. The spaces between the laptop and the 4 sidewalls of the suitcase need to be filled with additional soft, but firm clothes. I can roll up PJs or towels, or tightly pack underwear inside plastic bags. This will prevent the laptop from touching a side of the suitcase.

6. Place another layer of clothes on top of the bagged laptop before closing the suitcase. I thought about getting a larger, perhaps 21-inch suitcase. If I have lots of clothes, a larger suitcase can be easier to pack. But even my smaller carry-on luggage should be perfectly fine to securely pack a laptop with this method.

7. I didn’t know how accessible it would be for me to buy bubble-packs. If it’s easy to buy and affordable, I can wrap the laptop in bubble-packs (1/2”- 3/4” thick) in all directions. It can be secured with scotch tape or packing tape, and then I can forget all about using the clothes.

8. I do carry a padded laptop pouch, so that would add to the protection as well.

9. Will I lock the suitcase or not? I’m always conflicted about this. Does a locked suitcase draw attention? Some people say LOCK and some say don’t. I will tell you that one of the only times I locked a suitcase was when I went to South Africa. I was told to lock it by the safari tour company. And guess what? It was the only time I’ve ever had a suitcase broken into.

Nothing is simple, but the above methods should protect my computer from being damaged. So how’d I do? Would your plan have been any different? Were you in Europe or abroad during this time and facing these same decisions? Let me know!