Travel

I'm with you on traveling light. I carry a roller bag 21" x 14" x 7" and a computer bag. The computer bag I use fits under a seat and roller bag fits just about all overheads. Those it doesn't are planes that go short jumps usually < 400 miles and the airlines I use will gate check it for free.

When you absolutely must check a bag, at least bring a carry-on with a day's worth of supplies and clothes. If you bring a number of small things like extra cell phone batteries, cords, snacks like bags of nuts, slim jims, string cheese, jerky and a small writing tablet, consider a travel vest with numerous pockets and/or cargo pants.

I generally prefer to drink water so I pack a thermos and, on the way out the door, I fill it 2/3 with ice. (Even TSA agrees ice is not a liquid.) After security I fill it at a fountain.

I use an unpopular tablet, a Blackberry Playbook. It's small with a 7 inch screen so the battery lasts a long time. I can watch a 2 hour movie and have 75% power left. I've left it on standby and found it still with a charge after almost 2 weeks. A hint for battery life on anything (laptop, tablet, phone...) the brighter the screen, the faster it dies. If you're using it on a plane during daylight, shut the window shade to make a lower brightness comfortable.

I often look at http://www.seatguru.com/ before selecting a seat. I'm a larger guy so I avoid the more narrow seats on flights over an hour. Exit and bulkhead seats sometimes have extra legroom but often the tray tables are in the armrest which makes the seat a narrower. Bulkhead seats also generally have no under-seat storage in front of them so anything you have even as small as a purse needs to go in the overhead.

On full flights depending on the plane you may need to gate check a bag if you end up boarding late. Many airlines board by zones. Zone 1 passengers board first and usually find lots of open bin space. Higher zones like 4 or 5 often have very little space and are forced to gate check. If you don't have a 1st class ticket or elite status in the airline's frequent flyer program, you can still get earlier boarding by paying a few bucks for better seats sometimes called "economy plus" or "economy comfort". Delta offers priority boarding by itself for around $15.

I always checkin from home so that I know where I stand. Paying from checked bags, better seats or other options are usually cheaper if done ahead.

If you travel regularly or often enough from very busy airports, it may be worth it to you to signup for TSA-preCheck.
http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck
The lines are often shorter.

IIRC you're a seasoned traveler so I'm not sure if any of this might be already known to you or useful but I thought I'd mention it.