In June 2005 when I came up to the US for the inaugural Collaborative Technologies Conference 2005, it took 40 minutes for my bag to come through at Los Angeles International Airport, and that was after clearing border control. In December 2005, when I came up for some consulting work and the When 2.0 conference, it took 50 minutes.

I vowed to find a better way, and today I did it. I disembarked from my Air New Zealand jet at 1.16pm PST and was at the curbside by 1.21pm. 5 minutes to get from the plane to border control and to then clear customs, and then out to my waiting car.

How’d I do it? Three tips:

• Pack lightly and don’t check in any baggage. Many thanks to Doug at One Bag for his ideas on packing lightly. My bag was 7.6 kg, including 1 kg of gifts for friends here. Based on Doug’s recommendation, I purchased the Red Oxx AirBoss and it is awesome!



• Walk quickly from the plane to border control. Every person you pass represents 1-3 minutes wait time in the lane. I definitely wasn’t the first person off the plane, but I was about the 7th person in line at border control.
• If there’s a choice between an escalator and stairs, take the stairs. People stand still on the escalator and go and the escalator’s speed. I can get down the stairs at my own pace, which is 3-5 times faster.

It may not work every time in the future, but I’m going to follow this as standard operating procedure from here on in.

Update (Aug 6): Well, at least one person is inspired to try this approach. I heard via Skype from one of my friends that he has ordered the Red Oxx bag …

Update (Aug 8): I had longer to walk at Auckland International airport, but still managed to get from plane to curbside in 6 minutes!

Tags: one+bag, redoxx+airboss, traveling+lightly