Traveling to the US? Lock your bags the right way

This week's tip is not about mobile technology, but nonetheless it affects many mobile warriors. Here's my tip:

If you're traveling to the United States, always lock your check-in luggage with a TSA-compliant lock!

If you don't use a TSA-compliant lock, U.S. airport security personnel may break open your locks in order to inspect your checked-in luggage without your consent. Which happened to two of my fellow travelling companions.

So always use a TSA-compliant lock, or better yet, buy a luggage bag with a built-in TSA-compliant lock. To identify a TSA-compliant lock, look out for these logos.

And the TSA system really works. During my last US trip, my TSA-compliant bag was locked when I collected it from baggage claim, yet when I opened it I found a printed note inside saying that my bag had been inspected. It worked like magic.

Next week, I'll switch back to high-tech as I write about my experiences with the Nokia N82 and the Sony Ericsson PC300 HSDPA (3.5G) Data Card. Stay tuned!

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Lee Lup Yuen

Lee Lup Yuen is passionate about mobile phones and PDAs, as he is constantly buying new gadgets and programming them in J2ME, .NET, Symbian and AppForge. He has developed commercial applications with mobile technologies like SMS, MMS, WAP, 3G video streaming and location-based services.