Traveling With Toys
(Author may be Midori--If anyone knows, I'd love to properly attribute it and get permission to use it.)

1) Ship your pervie toys. They WILL cause major delays in the airport screening lines. Don't put them in your checked luggage (if you value them) and don't put them in your carry-on luggage; ship them instead. Use a major shipper that tracks packages, preferably an overnight shipper. Have them shipped to a friend in town or the hotel you'll be staying at. You'll be glad you did.

2) Don't lock your baggage! But don't leave it unprotected either. The Transportation Security Administration has a website at http://www.tsa.gov/ and they have very good information there about what you should pack and what you can't bring. They can open some locks and re-lock them but if they can't open your lock, they'll just cut it off. TSA does seem to be trustworthy - unlike random other people in the airports who have access to your luggage. Here's what I do: I fasten my suitcase closed with a cable tie (what some know as a zip tie: http://www.cabletiesplus.com/). If *anyone* cuts it off, I know about it. No surprises for me. But I haven't made it hard on TSA, and zip-ties are cheap. And TSA folks almost always re-fasten my suitcase with a special zip-tie of their own, so I know exactly who was there. (Note: a nail clipper will cut thru a zip-tie, and they're okay to take in carry-on luggage.)

Note from Domina:  My toy bag was searched on my way to Thunder in the Mountains this year (2010).  It was in my checked luggage.  TSA leaves a note when they search something.   I recommend not taking anything that you love so much that you can't bear to lose it.  While the majority of TSA employees are probably honest, that doesn't mean that something just might accidentally vanish.  Just a thought.

A friend of mine has a special set of toys for traveling.  All of them are copies of other toys he has.