By Ryan Lile of The Savvy Traveler.

Picture this: You arrive at the airport an hour before your international flight.  Boarding pass in hand, you glide through an expedited security line, leaving the hassle behind with enough spare time to pop into the airline lounge for a quick drink. 

Since you’re in international business class, you can board early or late without worrying about having to fight fellow travelers for space in the overhead bin.  As you settle into your seat for the 14-hour flight to Hong Kong, an attendant offers you the drink of your choice.  After reaching cruising altitude, you watch a tv show on the video-on-demand system while dining, and then recline your seat to a flat bed for a proper night of sleep on the way to Asia.

This doesn’t sound like your typical travel experience, does it?  Sadly, the travel experience has diminished in quality considerably since the airline bankruptcies of the last decade.  While much of our travel feels like the opposite of what is described above, there is plenty we can do to help ourselves reach those fabled shores of travel nirvana.