Forget heavy bags; use coat of many pockets

You’ve finally figured out how to fly by leaving the big suitcase at home and saving about $25 a flight per fat bag. For your major stuff, you can now cram it all into a handy wheeled carry-on and be on your happy way.

However, even as you wheel through the airport, there is usually other stuff, like wallets, small handbags, tickets and other take-alongs that make you feel all loaded down. What you can do to relieve that is to wear a coat with lots of pockets in it.

It’s something we’ve been doing for years. We fly wearing lightweight jackets that have four large outside and four deep inside pockets, all with cover flaps that zip or button. The first advantage is that in one pocket, we always have tickets, ID and other items immediately ready to show in a flash.

Also, we pack items in the coat pockets we need in flight or in the terminal: cell phone, wallet, passport, snacks, paperbacks, CD player, pens, pencils, small digital camera and a host of other items. If stashed right, the jackets make everything much easier.

You can probably find an eight-pocket jacket for you that looks neat, but can be a walking suitcase, at your local clothing or big box department store. There are also companies that advertise their coats online, including scottevest.com.