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At the airport, are you a gate louse or a member of #teamboardlast? Boarding the plane is a contentious, stressful part of any journey, whatever your approach—Nikki Ekstein says it’s the worst part of traveling. This week on the Travel Genius podcast, she and co-host Mark Ellwood talk about the surprising innovations that airports and airlines are trialing to ease that tension. Some ideas, though, are likely to cause even more of a kerfuffle among frequent flyers.

This week’s Travel Genius is Hitha Palepu, a businesswoman who moonlights as a travel guru. Palepu wrote the ultimate guide to squeezing everything into a carry-on, How to Pack, and chronicles her travel hacks on the go via her Instagram feed, with the hashtag #HithaOnTheGo. Unsurprisingly, Palepu has some canny packing ideas. She also shares her thoughts on what to bring to make an extended-stay vacation feel more like home.

But we don’t just want her tips—we want yours. Call the Travel Genius hotline at 646 324-3490 anytime, and leave us a voicemail; we’ll play the best on coming episodes. Otherwise, hit up Nikki and Mark on Twitter or Instagram with your hacks and ideas.

To contact the authors of this story: Nikki Ekstein in New York at nekstein@bloomberg.net, Mark Ellwood in New York at me@mark-ellwood.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Topher Forhecz at tforhecz@bloomberg.net

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