1. Secure your seat assignment when you book.  If you get to the airport later than you should they can and will bump you.
2. Pack wisely.  Pack what you can roll or carry yourself.  Curbside check-in can now cost up to $20, and airlines are beginning to charge for ALL checked baggage.  Don't waste your luggage space.  If you are traveling with other people, share toiletries and other essentials.  Better yet, on longer trips just shop for what you need when you arrive at your destination.
3. Have a change of clothes, or at least underwear, in your carry on.  If you have a long delay at least you can freshen up.  Ditto if your bags do not arrive when you do.
4. Put your address on the inside of each piece of luggage.  If your needs to be checked at the gate because of overcrowding this may help you get it back if it gets misrouted. 
   
5. If you must use a Sky Cap, tip him appropriately.  I had a Seinfeld experience when I apparently tipped less than I should.  He deliberately put the wrong tag on my bag and I didn't see it for almost 3 days.
6. Send your luggage in advance.  For a fee you can send excess luggage and sports equipment ahead of you.  It will be waiting at your destination and that's one less thing for you schlep through the airport.
7. Program the airline's 800 number into your cell phone.  If your flight is delayed you won't be part of the herd at the ticket counter.  Deal directly with customer service.
8. I your flight is REALLY delayed due to airline issues invoke Rule 240.  They must put you on the next plane, even if it is on another airline, if the delay is non-weather related.
9. Call your credit card company and tell them where you are traveling.  Creditors have a habit of putting a hold on out of town charges if they think there might be fraud involved.  Great idea but it can be both frightening and embarrassing if you are trying to rent a car or check into a hotel.
10. Keep an extra set of keys with you at all times.  The last thing you need is to be locked out of your car or home when you return.  I'm usually tired and running on fumes by the time I get home and locksmiths know they have a captive audience.
    

I was going to try and put a positive spin on my time living in Saudi Arabia.  Now, all I feel is outrage that nothing seems to have changed in the  last 20 years.
 
The reality is women living in Saudi Arabia have no rights.  We were not allowed to drive, we must enter and sit at the back of the bus, if you are in a car with a man who is not your husband you must be in the back seat or possibly be arrested.  Alcohol is prohibited.  You’re supposed to wear the abaya, the traditional black robe, when out in public.  If you are in a hotel or restaurant by yourself you sit in the women’s section, which is separated by a screen.  The bachelors and families sit separately.

After living there a few months I started to rebel, and was always on the verge of getting deported--or worse.  For example, I started bootlegging wine and Jeddah Gin and selling it to the neighbors, to my then husband's dismay.  You could smell it fermenting a block away. 

We lived in an American compound on the outskirts of Riyadh, the capital city.  The main diversions for ex-patriot women were:  gossiping, shopping, attending women’s luncheons and traveling.   The luncheons were hilarious.  Our drivers would drop us off (women had to sit in the back seat) at some luxurious hotel looking like Stepford Wives, all trying to out-dress and out-jewel one another.   We could not be served by male waiters, so the hotel would recruit female waitresses just for those occasions.

My new female friends seemed to enjoy the environment, and had been there many years.  They were either younger than I with children in common, or retirement age and glad to just be housewives.  I was at the beginning of my career, restless, and very independent.  Until I found a job (working under the table since I had no work visa) I was as miserable as could be.
  
Every American holiday was an excuse to host a desert picnic.  Being so far away from home made us extra patriotic.  We'd caravan out into the desert,  kill a goat, build a fire and cook all sorts of interesting food.  I tried finding ways to make camel meat taste good but was never successful. 

It was fun to go shopping at the souqs (flea markets).  You could buy anything there; gold, clothing, food, department store type stuff, spices, etc.   22k gold would pretty much be out in the open.  No one would dare risk stealing it.  My favorite souq was adjacent to Chop Chop Square, where they conducted public beheadings and less severe punishments every Friday.  On one outing during the holy holidays, I was improperly dressed and chastised by the Muttawa (religious police).  They escorted me to Chop Chop Square to witness a guy getting his hand chopped off for stealing.  That was an experience no one needs to see. 

If a Western woman misbehaved they’d call her husband so he could discipline her.  If that didn’t work they’d call the husband’s HR department (a man) so she could be counseled.  I had to have my passport and my husband's contact information with me at all times so it would be easy to contact him, and got a good "talking to" after my Chop Chop Square incident.

When flying into and out of Saudi Arabia the sexes are still segregated on the plane.  Single women, single men, and families all sat apart.  Once I was the only single female in coach so they moved me to first class by myself to keep me away from the men.  That’s what happens when you are in such a restrictive society.  They expect the men to be out of control if given the chance, and they were.

Another interesting in-flight phenomenon: Saudi women would get on the plane in full Muslim garb (robes, veils, etc.)  As soon as they were out of Saudi airspace there would be a mass exodus to the ladies room.  One by one the women come out in tight jeans, full makeup, tight tops, ready for their Western vacations.   I'm sure they were as relieved as I to get out from under the veil for awhile.