Friday
Feb062009
February 6, 2009 11 days, 3 countries, 10 pounds with laptop?
The seeds of an expieriment are sprouting in my light travel mind. My wife is leading a group student trip to Switterland, Italy and France in late May/early June. My new sub 3-pound netbook has inspired me to try for an under 10-pound one-bag load WITH computer. I’ll top this off with as much mobile live blogging as Euro wi-fi will allow so OBOW readers can judge if the whole thing is a good or bad idea. What do you think? Which bag? Maybe one of the new undersized carryons by Tom Bihn.
Update on February 10, 2009 by
Frank@OBOW
Frank@OBOW
The trip is now 13 days - I’ll be referring to it in future posts as the 13-3-10 Experiment.
Reader Comments (18)
Have you finished your evaluaiton of the Skytrain vs. the Western Flyer (with pack straps)? To make your weight limit, one of those seems a good first choice of bag. Your trip to the UK with the WF forms a nice baseline, but this is a longer trip, so it will be a fun challenge!
I'm looking forward to the discussion, and thanks for the time it takes to keep us in the loop!
Vic
The Sky Train review is essentially finished. I'll do a short post on the functionality of the WF straps. I did a side-by-side, same-weight comfort test with the ST, eBags Weekender, and Aeronaut.
I'm thinking one of the new Tom Bihn bags will be in the 2-pound range. The ST and WF will be too large for my Euro trip. My clothing should be limited to an extra undershirt or two, extra l/s shirt, and a lightweight pair of extra paints that will only be worn at night or every third or fourth day.
Maybe this bag (from the TB post): "The Compass - a small carry-on bag, like a smaller Western Flyer sans backpack straps"
Whichever bag you take, make sure you take a converter plug that fits in recessed wall plugs or you will have difficulty recharging computer.
I always take my $30 Outdoor Products Essential Carryon when I am restricted to that weight.
I did this with my eeepc in a gym bag for 2 weeks.
Some people would use a backpack, but one of my shoulders hurts.
Well, you could "cheat" your way out of it by putting all your tech gear (netbook, camera, cables, adapters) plus a few accessories like sunglasses into a jacket like the scottevest. Then you can carry just the bag and with eight lbs of net weight for clothes you might even be able to take another lightweight pair of shoes. You will need a jacket anyway for the trip because while it can be warm during this time in those countries it could also be chilly. But usually the late spring is one of the nicest times to visit Europe.
Yes, be sure you have an adapter for the recessed plugs in Switzerland. They usually are not three prong, though some of them are. They are recessed by about half an inch and the recession conforms to the shape of their plugs which are flat and oblong.
If you are traveling with students you probably won't have any formal dress requirements, so I think your project is a small challenge but definitely possible.
Good Luck,
Till
Thanks for the Swiss plug tip - I haven't been there before.
Till - I usually go with one pair of shoes. I always travel in a sport coat with lots of pockets and that will take a couple of pounds off at the gate. A nice coat also cuts down on the "ugly American" thing. One of the requirements of this challenge is that I am still able to look (and smell) good. I'll still get to carry plenty of weight: my near-weightless bag means I can also carry some of my wife's stuff since she always has her hands full. She has to carry medical forms and copies of travel documents for all of the kids at all times.
Till beat me to the punch on my first point. This is exactly what Scottevest gear is made for. Several Scottevest coats have pockets big enough for my Eee PC, but I'm not sure what netbook you prefer. If you want to go that route, I've found that its most comfortable to put a netbook into a rear center-of-the-back pocket (like in the Fleece 4.0). But I don't know if any of Scott's current offerings have a pocket like this.
You are a very courageous traveler to even consider the under 10-lb trip, in my opinion. I like one-bagging, but I'm not that brave!
How do you like the Samsung? I am debating what to do for a trip to France this spring. Every year I go with a smaller computer and am debating what to get next. The NC10 is supposed to have awesome battery life ... true?
I really like my Samsung NC-10. It's virtually as easy to type on as a full-size keyboard and the battery life is impressive. I've never run mine below about 50%, Supposedly it will go about 8 hours with the screen dimmed and the wi-fi turned off. This might be do-able because the screen is quite usable in a not-too-bright room at 50% brightness. I'm guessing with wi-fi and 80% brightness you could go about 5 hours. Six is probably the norm. On an airplane you could probably approach 7 hours easily. I never have to plug mine in except to charge overnight.
Brad, sport coat is probably a good idea for the reason you mention. In addition, Switzerland is a bit more formal and Italy is very chic anyway. You might still want to bring a windbreaker type jacket but those are very lightweight.
I recently found the ideal pair of travel shoes. They are Cole Haan Air Jackson. They are slippers and come in black or very dark brown Nappa leather. The insole is removable but is already really good. The heel has Nike Air technology in it. They look great with a pair of Jeans but are absolutely appropriate even with a formal suit (not a tux, of course). The only downside is the price at $200.
For smelling good, I'd take some cologne samples. You know the tiny vials they give you when you buy something at a perfume shop. One or two will be enough for the trip. I also really like my crystal deodorant. Works great, lasts forever, is small and cheap. It helps to keep the pits trimmed short, too.
As undershirts the CD (Champion) brand stuff at Target works great. Super light, very nice to wear, dries overnight (perhaps even faster but I never timed it) and I can wear them for two days in a row even in Texas if I am not doing lawn work or the like. They wash well and keep their form and feel. Cheap, too, or at least kinda.
I have not seen a better bag for this purpose that the Rick Steve's Appenzell Backpack. Add a packing cube or two for better organization (the TB Western Flier cubes fit perfectly).
Don't take more electrical adapters that you need! The Type C plug you need in Switzerland will fit the Type E receptacles you will find in France and Italy, so just take the type C two prong adapter. Make sure you get dual voltage power supplies (most are nowadays) so you don't have to take a transformer as well.
Till - I do like the C9 stuff from Target, been recommending it for years. Non-white pieces often end up on the clearance rack too.
Bill - so the Swiss plug is just a longer version of the standard Euro plug? I'm all dual-voltage. I ditched the ridiculous one-pound transformer thing about four years ago.
Well, I guess there's not much sense in recommending a standard to someone who clearly knows what he's doing. ;)
The standard flat, slightly hexagonal, two-prong Euro plug will fit in Switzerland. The big problem is when you try to use a hair-dryer or things with a Schuko type plug that is round. In Italy, France and Germany these round plugs will fit because the receptacles are either not recessed or they are round, too. The full Schuko and the ordinary, flat plug will both fit in these round receptacles. In Switzerland the sockets are hexagonal AND recessed. So the big round plugs won't fit. The distance between the two holes is the same, however. This means if you have one of the flat single adapter pieces (not one of those super duper big multi-plugs) it should fit without a problem. Otherwise, you can always get just the mains cable for your power transformer in any electronics store for about $5.
What are the stations of the trip going to be?
Till - i'm certainly no know-it-all. I get a lot more from the readers than I give! My wife has the itinerary.... stars in Zurich, then Italy, then south of France, ending in Paris. I may skip the last leg to accompany some of the group on an early flight home. They're truly babes in the woods and you can't send them home without someone to take care of them.
Yeah, I actually saw you had a blog entry on these shirts after I posted. Great minds think alike!
This will be one nice trip. I suppose Italy will be Milan. Torino (Turin) is even nicer though, I find. When you are in Milan and it is still allowed make sure you go on the roof of the cathedral. It's spectacular. Putting Zurich at the first spot has its advantages but it's so darn expensive you can easily spend your entire trip money in one afternoon. Paris is cheap by comparison. If you are going from Zurich to Italy you might come by Lugano. It is one of my favorite cities in the whole world. They call it the Rio de janeiro of Switzerland. A stop there would be great even if just for one night.
Wife carrying papers... I just found by accident a really nice document pouch by a company you can check out here www.intlarrivals.com . It comes in different sizes and colors. Similar to the Eagle Creek pack-it pouches but even more practical because each has three compartments. The biggest one is only 10 dollars. This would be ideal for carrying documents. It is gusseted so it can take about 1.5-2 inches worth of paper.
Brad, The Type C two pin plug is the European equivalent of our two in plugs which can be used in a three hole grounded outlet. The hot and neutral pins on the type C are the same as the pins on the Type E and F plugs which have a grounding feature. Google 'type c plug" "type e plug" and "type f plug" for pictures and lists of countries. My experience is limited, but in Western Europe, not UK, a type C adapter is pretty close to universal. In Belgium last month I noticed that the news stand shops at the train stations all sold adapters, so you can't go too wrong. Happy travels!
Definitely agree with the vest or jacket pocket usage as an extra 'carry-on' facility.
I've done that the past couple of trips and wondered I hadn't thought of it before.
The one pair of shoes thing? I did that last trip, after six days of constantly wearing the same shoes and wearing antibacterial socks that deflect moisture from the feet, I found my shoes felt damp and started to smell. I tried replacing the insoles but eventually hit on the perfect solution when I bought a small tin of cornstarch baby talcum powder (scented baking soda is a good standby too). The cornstarch dried the insides nicely every night and got rid of the odour.
You don't need a whole tin, just fill a small travel tub or bottle, put it in your pocket if needs be.
I like summer-weight wool socks (Smartwool or Wigwam lite hikers). It seems like they promote quick drying, don't just wick like some materials. You can wear them for three days or more with no problem. They handwash easily and dry quickly. Two pairs should last for a long time.