Many of us travel every now and then but few of us are capable of lugging our alter and ritual tools with us in our travel bags. It's especially much more difficult to travel by plane with all of this added security that no sharp objects are allowed onboard. How many of us have been in a crammed hotel room with little space and no sense of life within the dreary walls? So what's the alternative? The reality is that we can't take our standard implements with us on the road especially when we need to travel light but we can substitute everything needed. Find yourself a small briefcase that you can carry your tools in. If the case is flat enough you can use this as an alter. If not then take a large enough piece of cloth cut to the dimensions of your alter or what ever size you feel most comfortable with and use this instead.
Take a silk cord long enough that you can use it as a temporary outline for your ritual circle. Most hotels won't allow you turn burn candles so in this case artificial light will have to suffice. Instead of an Athame you can use your index finger. This has always been a substitute for those who have no Athame. Another alternative, if it's at all possible, is that you can use a letter opener as an Athame.
If you need elemental representations, that won't be much of a problem. For fire you can use a book of matches or even a lighter. For water you can use a shot glass. These are small and very light weight. For air you can use a feather. For earth use can use a small stone.
Incense is a more difficult matter to deal with. The rich perfumed scent may disturb your neighbors or hotel personnel. I'd recommend that you prepare an oil with the appropriate scent to be used and rub it on your body so that it soaks into your skin.
If you have a small briefcase you should make sure that it's large enough to carry your ritual clothing. This will often add extra padding to protect your traveling ritual tools from any damage.
Again, if your in a hotel room I've noticed how
thin the walls can be. Speaking your invocations and
incantations can alert anyone within listening distance that there
may be some kind of "freak" behind closed doors. Use your
inner voice if you must. I've found this to be just as
powerful as speaking aloud in most cases. What methods (if any) have you used to perform ritual on the road?