Follow the trip, optional

Nothing’s more boring than someone else’s vacation pictures, right? I’ve never been one to write about my own travels unless I’m testing a major product or making illustrative allusions. The Euro trip will be a little different since I’m trying to see how light I can go - with a netbook. If you have any interest in seeing other photos from the trip or want to see what life on a group student tour is like, you’re welcome to follow on the blog I set up for tour participants which will be updated daily with non-OBOW stuff.

Crack - netbook pain

My sharp-eyed son was using my little Samsung yesterday and (curses!) noticed a tiny crack near one of the hinges. The computer has never been compressed or dropped. Suffice it to say I’ll have a report on how well Samsung honors their warranty. I’ll still be taking it on my next trip.

48 hours from departure

Look for updates as I finish packing for my 11-day/12-pound/one-bag-wth-netbook Eurotrip. I hope to live blog the experience so my dear readers can decide if the whole thing is wonderfully instructive or woefully ill-conceived.

Latest on ultralight experiment

My wife’s leading a 13-day group trip to Europe in about four weeks. Back in February it occurred to me that this was the perfect opportunity to push the light travel envelope and establish a minimal benchmark. And my Samsung netbook means I can live blog the whole escapade. Here’s where I am:

• Everything will fit in one very small carry-on bag for the flight, including day bag. This should remove any possibility of gate-checking, even on regional flights.
• The main bag will weigh under three pounds. It may be a Tom Bihn TriStar, Western Flyer, Compass prototype, or maybe even something like the ultra-light Minivan from Tough Traveler. I don’t carry my bags in backpack mode unless I have to;  it’s a little “young” for my taste and I like instant access. Backpacks also look a little silly with the sportcoats I always travel in.
• The day bag, netbook sleeve, computer, and charger will weigh about five pounds.
• My packed clothing and toiletries will weigh three to four pounds.

Do the math and you’ll see I’m at 11-12 pounds.  One of the requirements is that I still look “respectable” with this minimal kit — can’t look like a hobo, vagabond, through hker, or (heaven forbid) a college kid. The pictures won’t lie. More to come.

Update on May 2, 2009 by Frank@OBOW

Here’s an account of a similar excercise. To be honest, on one of our previous trips we had a college kid travel with only his book pack which held only a few scraps of clothing, raincoat, and some personal items- well under 10 pounds (no computer) but he didn’t pass the smell test.

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

The trip is now 13 days - I’ll be referring to it in future posts as the 13-3-10 Experiment.