Focus on the journey. What kind of traveling do you do? If you are a business or leisure traveler staying in hotels, exploring cities and changing clothes often, you will want a different kind of luggage than an adventure traveler who needs to carry his supplies on his back. Make sure the luggage you choose is suited to the trip at hand.
Check with travel carriers to discern what is an appropriate size. Ask your most frequently flown airline about their size restrictions if you travel by air. If most of your trips involve just you and a car, measure the height of your trunk so that you don't get any luggage that is too big for it.
Try out the bag. If it is a backpack, make sure it fits and is comfortable with a good deal of weight inside. If it is a rolling bag, make sure it rolls smoothly by testing it out across a floor. If it has small pockets, open them to see how much room is inside. Unzip and zip the zipper to check its durability. Leave no feature unexplored before you buy. If anything seems cheap or wobbly, now is the time to know about it.
Seek out a personal touch. If you buy a bright-colored piece of luggage or one with a unique design, it will be easier to pick it out from the crowd. Pay attention to the details of your luggage and try to find a piece of luggage that displays something unique.
Outfit your bag with identification. You should always fill out a tag with your name, address and phone number to place on your bag, but in addition, attach a special ribbon, colored baggage tag or clip-on stuffed animal to your bag for identification purposes.
Stand on the side of the baggage conveyor belt that is farthest away from where the bags originate. It may be tempting to be the first person to see each bag come up and onto the carousel, but if you stand farther away, many of the bags will already have been claimed by the time they come to you, giving you less luggage to sort through when trying to find yours.
Check the name and address tag once you pull a bag off the carousel. If you have neglected to put your name and address on your luggage, check the baggage identification tag that the airline uses to identify your luggage. You will find the matching stub attached to the back of your ticket or ticket booklet.
