A trick for getting toothpaste past airport security?

Name: Budget Travel LLC
Price range: $

By Erik Torkells

October 3, 2012

Is your toothpaste less likely to be detected by TSA screeners if it's Crest? The always entertaining (well, maybe not when he's trying to sell a cruise) David Rowell of The Travel Insider had this to say in his e-newsletter:

I included an email from a reader last week who wrote about never having toothpaste detected in his carry on bag. This caused a flood of other readers to write in and say 'me too' and to list other liquids that they've also repeatedly carried in their carry on bags without declaring, and never getting caught. It also brought an interesting response from someone-who-shall-be-nameless in the industry, who writes:

"Most x-ray systems can NOT pick up toothpaste. Why?…. Because the newer packaging is made of light weight and flexible plastic. The new machines can’t see it.

In days of old, most toothpaste tubes were made with plastic coatings and aluminum. In fact some are still made this way. Colgate is a mixed bag, depending on the product; Crest is best because the smaller tubes are the new packaging. In short, your reader is lucky based on product design changes and most likely the product he selects. To be honest I hate the Crest products, but I carry it on all my business trips. Ahem, with the same result as your readers. Also the ingredients in the toothpaste make a difference as well. Some products are more dense and will always get nailed.

There are other tricks as well with other liquid and gel products…"

[and this is David writing again] Which makes one think there's a different reason why the TSA not only limits the liquids you carry, but demands you take them out of your carry-on and show them separately. Could it be they require you to take them out because, if you don't, they can't see them on the X-ray machine?

[and now it's me again] All I know is that it drives me nuts that toothpaste makers seem to sell toothpaste in everything but a three-ounce container. The so-called travel size barely gets me through a day.

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Family Travel: 3 moms share stories

Here are few amusing excerpts from a new anthology, How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel and Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids. For the record, I am fairly certain that one of our wedding vows included a promise to never fly across the country (any country) with the hypothetical fruit of our union during peak travel times. My husband, Steve, does not remember it this way, but I have a clear recollection of swearing that we would never become two of those poor souls we had so often pitied during our seven years of child-free travel. From the safety of the airport bar we would watch the traveling families barrel past: harried, hurried, and weighed down.… "No way," I remember saying. "We will resist. We will blaze new paths and forge new traditions. We will restrict our travel to balmy months like May and September and we will only fly on Tuesday afternoons. We will not bring everything we own to entertain a five-month-old baby on a ninety-minute flight. We will not distract the busy steward (who is, after all, just there for our safety) with instructions on how to microwave the child's soy milk for exactly 33 seconds at 75 percent power because he only will drink it hot but not too hot.…" Thus spoke the prechild me. Steve and I now have one son, Patrick, and he has spent every major holiday since his birth in 2002 lovingly surrounded by extended family despite the fact that we live at least eight hundred miles from our nearest relatives. How did this happen, you wonder? We schlepped him to them. What about my vow, you ask? "Just tell them," I would hiss at my husband as he picked up the phone to discuss another upcoming holiday with his family. "Just say it. Say we'll see them the following week. Say we'll come the month before. Be strong. Offer a tempting selection of alternate dates. Just..." "Dad!" my husband would say. "So, um, we were thinking about maybe not flying in for Thanksg— Oh. Oh, sure. Of course. Right! Of course! Great! We're looking forward to it! See you then!" Five seconds into the call and his father would clear his throat or something, at which moment my husband would fold like an origami crane. Every. Single. Time. And then there we would be again, buying airline tickets with a seasonal markup best calculated by NASA and realizing that there is a very good reason why people travel by the millions on those busy dates: ancestral guilt. —From Julia Litton's story, "Consider Atlanta." *** Over the span of a four-hour car trip, my husband can sing the so-called "ABCB Spider" song exactly four hundred and eighty-eight times. Figuring it takes twenty-three seconds to sing one round of the Spider, approximately one and a half seconds for a two-year-old to say, "ABCB Spider again?," and four seconds for my husband to sigh, roll his eyes, and resume singing, that works out to four hundred and eighty-eight times over the span of two hundred and forty minutes. I should know. I did the math. I also took the trip.…. To be fair, though, we didn't sing the "ABCB Spider" song the entire way. We also sang the more traditionally known ABC song, both to the original tune and to the snazzy, jazzed-up version made popular by LeapFrog. We sang "I'm a Little Teapot." We sang "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." We sang "Old MacDonald's Farm," complete with a full complement of entities on said farm that neither God nor nature ever intended. "Had a farm E-I-E-I-O again?" the songmistress trills from the backseat, interrupting the train of thought steaming through my mind, full speed ahead toward the academic conference at which I'm going to present on a panel tomorrow. My husband sighs and rolls his eyes, catching mine. "Old MacDonald had a farm," we obediently sing out. "E-I-E-I-O!" I wonder what's going to land on Old MacDonald's farm this time—we've already exhausted all the normal farm animals, zoo animals, and every single animal featured on Baby Noah, including the wombat. (For the record, the wombat makes a ticka-ticka sound, here, there, and everywhere.)…" —From Elrena Evans's story, "Traveling Songs". **** Traveling with a child is like having the common cold. Everyone offers advice. "Bring a stroller" and "Whatever you do, don't use the stroller." "Don't go in December, too hot." "Only go in December; otherwise it is far too cold for children!" Everyone has a tip, even if they have not been to the place you will be traveling, even if they don't have kids themselves. Laos, like most Southeast Asian countries still holds a strong association of war for many Americans. It is not exactly a typical holiday to take with a two-year old in tow. But…we were looking forward to it… We were particularly looking forward to … Luang Prabang, of which our trusty copy of the Lonely Planet said, "the city's mix of gleaming temple roofs, crumbling French provincial architecture and multiethnic inhabitants tends to enthrall even the most jaded travelers."… Luang Prabang is indeed an enchanted place. We were also getting into the traveling groove and started to feel the benefits of traveling together as a family. For one we were up before all the tourists who stayed up late drinking cheap cocktails and falling in and out of love at the hostels. We saw pristine waterfalls at dawn and could imagine ourselves prehistoric and pure without the constant company of camera flashes. Luc was an instant celebrity wherever we went. Everyone from old women to teenage boys came up to pinch his pink cheeks, rub his curly blond hair and offer him sweets and fruit. Through Luc, we were able to connect with people who would otherwise never have given us the time of day….We were part of the universal equation of family, something that transcends the vast gaps of language and culture…" —From Willow King's story, "Laos with Lucien." EXCERPTS COURTESY OF How to Fit a Car Seat on a Camel and Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids (Seal Press; $16) EARLIER ON THE BLOG Hostels that are friendly to families. Ban kids from planes? More than 60 readers weigh in.

Affordable Europe: Save on lunch in Italy

Say "basta!" to pasta! Lunchtime in Italy does not always mean the two course pasta (primo) and meat/fish (secondo) meal with several bottles of wine. Leave the feasting to the evening. Economize at lunch instead. My secret weapon? The tramezzino. The tramezzino is the small, triangular, white-bread finger sandwich, akin to a crust-less tea sandwich. These sandwiches accommodate every eater, from vegan to carnivore. They range in price from one euro for a simple cheese sandwich to €4.50 for the more fancy club. Standard tramezzini are tomato and cheese, cheese and ham, and tuna. However, my favorites are bresaola, arugula and Parmesan cheese; crab or chicken salad; or the triple-decker club. Tramezzini can be found at any bar (Italian café for coffee drinks, cigarettes, and lottery tickets) at the counter. Runner-up to the tramezzino is pizza al taglio, pizza by the slice, technically by the weight. Instead of simply picking a slice, you pick the size of slice you want—from demure to glutton, and with different styles, from margherita (simple mozzarella cheese) to potato and rosemary. Pizza al taglio shops should also serve, depending on region, some finger food such as suppli (riceballs with mozzarella cheese in the center), and croquette (potato finger like thing). Like most bars, these shops serve stand-up and take-out—perfect for a park bench picnic. —Erica Firpo, who is blogging from Rome as part of our Affordable Europe series. MORE FROM BUDGET TRAVEL 10 ways to stretch your dollar in Europe this summer.

This Weekend: Last-minute Kentucky Derby plans

The Derby is still do-able, if you're looking for a spontaneous weekend outing. This Saturday more than 100,000 visitors are expected to attend the "running of the roses." It's the most exciting two minutes in sports. But you should plan to show up five hours ahead if you want see anything. You see, seats in the stands are all booked up. But standing-room only tickets will be available at gate 10 of Churchill downs. It's best to arrive by 6a.m. if you want a chance to jockey for position, either along the inside track or by the winner's circle. Tickets are about $40 per person. Starting at 1p.m., there will be a fabulous party along the waterfront, with lots of bands playing all types of music. Hotels in Louisville are pretty much booked solid. But there is still affordable lodging across the Ohio River. Use Hotwire or Priceline and bid on two- and three-star properties for the best chance to save. Can't make it? Visit one of the other 360-odd days of the year that Churchill Downs is open. It's a fun attraction… I highly recommend you take one of the tours of the Churchill Downs facilities. You can see the jockeys' quarters, where jockeys weigh-in on Derby Day. Kids on the tour can step onto the giant metal scale and get weighed themselves. Some tours also take you up to the rarefied viewing areas for the well-to-do. You get to peek at the rooms where high-rollers and celebrity billionaires hang out to watch the race. You'll see the padded leather armchairs where folks smoke cigars and sip mint juleps. Near Millionaire's Row dining room is a 30-foot long model of Churchill Downs with 4,000 handblown glass figurines. Budget Travel tip: Arrive by 6 a.m. to see horses do their morning workouts around the track. Lucky children will have a chance to pat a thoroughbred. If you love horses, you'll also want to head to the Kentucky Horse Park, about an hour-and-a-half drive west of Churchill Downs. The park is a dream come true for horse lovers, with two equine museums and a twice-daily parade of about a dozen breeds. It's also a retirement home of sorts for famous racehorses, such as Cigar, who won nearly $10 million in the mid-1990s. The gift shop has every possible model of toy horse in current production. I've never seen so many little girls squeal in delight as in this shop. The American Girl stores don't even compare. MORE See me talk about my recent four-day road trip through Kentucky on this CNN.com webcast. Read about a four-day road trip through central Kentucky—through its bourbon distilleries, mammoth caves, and historical sites: A Trot in the Country.

Affordable Europe: Bike cities for free (or nearly free)

Free—and nearly free—bike rentals are a great way to save in European cities. I've written about these programs recently: "Rent a Bike in Europe for Nearly Nothing" and "Free Bikes in Spain." At a Swiss press event last week, I found out about even more cities that offer free bike rentals to the public. Both Bern and Zürich now run similar programs at designated locations from May through October. Here's how it works. You can leave your ID and some money (CHF 20) as collateral. Then you pick up your ride—a kid's bike, a scooter, or a skateboard!—for a day's use. You get your ID and money back when you return the bike before closing time (generally 9:30 p.m.). In Bern, the three rental sites are Station Square, and spots along Hirschengraben and Zeughausgasse (for more details, including a map of the three rental spots, click here) In Zürich, the five rental sites are the Globus City shopping center, Oerlikon–Swissôtel hotel, the opera house, Enge station, and the Zürich HB station. (That last spot offers rentals year-round). For more info, click here.

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