Entries from August 1, 2007 - September 1, 2007
Brad
GearDiary.com has an excellent review of a couple of USB-based devices that might allow you to leave several yards of cords and a couple of pounds of tranformers at home. These chargers have available a variety of plugs and connectors so that they’ll charge almost any electronic device on the road - especially if you’re already carrying a computer. There’s a wall adapter as well. Available from syncharger.com
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The oddly named Eee PC, an ultra-tiny, inexpensive notebook computer, may be the light traveler’s dream companion. It will weigh under two pounds and will cost between $199 and $349. The first version is supposed to have a seven-inch screen with a nine-inch version possibly to follow. This simple Linux-based machine has wi-fi capability and a built-in webcam. Information and a definite release date for this mini notebook are hard to come by. We’ll keep our eyes open for more. I’d hate to travel with a notebook weighing more than five pounds. Two pounds is very attractive.
One way to pack lighter is to wear what you might otherwise stuff in a bag. SCOTTEVEST “gear management clothing” allows you to get lots of tech gear out of your bag and into your jacket or vest. They have some interesting stuff. The pants wouldn’t do you much good at the security checkpoint since you have to empty your pockets anyway, but a jacket can be removed and sent through the x-ray machine. Subracting the weight of your phone, iPod, PDA, AC adapters or chargers from your carryon might help you beat some of the tough new carryon weight limits.MEI VOYAGEUR TRAVELPACK: Review summary – Simple, no nonsense carry-on travelpack. Stowable backpack straps make it convertible to shoulder bag use. Super comfortable in backpack mode thanks to waist belt, lumbar pad, and internal stays. A rugged piece of outdoor gear. More pack than luggage – will appeal mostly to backpackers. Handmade in the USA.
RATING: 3 1/2 stars, a One Bag, One World recommended product.
The Voyageur pack by MEI helped start the travelpack craze. Now carryon-size packs and suitcases that sprout backpack straps are common. But while many of these products were inspired by this simple pack, the Voyageur is still very much in a class by itself. It is not for everyone and doesn’t pretend to be. The Voyageur knows what it is – a basic pack that functions as carry-on luggage and is extremely comfortable to carry when worn on the back.
Simplicity embodied
The Voyageur has a standard rectangular shape with dimensions of 22x14x9. It has one main compartment, one small pouch compartment in the main compartment, and one long, flat zippered pocket on the outside of the zippered flap. The flap zips around the two long sides and one end. This allows wide open access to the large main compartment which ends up being about eight inches deep. Nearly everything you carry must go in this main compartment. It has two adjustable hold-down straps for securing folded clothes. The flat 6x9 interior pouch pocket will hold small items, a few toiletries, valuables, or documents that need to be kept secure and dry. It is sewn in at the top end of the bag. The flat 14x19 zippered pocket on the outside will hold a magazine or newspaper or two, tickets, and a few small items. Obviously, this is a simple layout that you aren’t going to get lost in, but it has some limitations.
Packing the pack
The Voyageur is not as easy to pack as many carryons, and its large interior compartment is capacious but not especially efficient. The bag is essentially unstructured except for the internal back frame (see below). This means when you lay it out to pack, the sides tend to collapse. This makes neat, careful packing tough to do. Packing is further complicated by the fact that the thick lumbar padding, stowed straps, and rigid internal stays make the floor of the compartment anything but flat and even. The lump caused by all this stuff is as much as three inches thick and is more pronounced in the center and lower portion of the pack. This pack is probably not for the business traveler or the snappy dresser. It is best-suited for those who roll and stuff their casual or outdoor clothing. The fastidious bundle packer who plots carefully to avoid wrinkles will be disappointed.
The one-big-compartment design is less efficient than a thoughtfully planned multi-compartment design – in the same way that a tool box is more efficient than a tool sack of the same volume. Packing cubes are probably essential if you want to get the most out of the Voyageur. There are many sizes of cubes to choose from and you’d need at least two or three. I used a Tom Bihn large cube which made the space much more manageable. On the plus side, if you’re a stuffer, the external compression straps will really cinch your load tight.
What’s it’s really good at
The Voyageur is a pack. Any pack carries stuff. A really good one puts the load on your back in such a way that the load seems much lighter than it really is. The Voyageur is a really good one. The very things that make the main compartment a pain for packing make this the most comfortably-carried travelpack available. The backpack straps are well-padded, but what really makes the pack work is the waist belt, the well-padded rigid internal stays, and thick lumbar padding. I tested a fully-packed Voyageur against two other convertible carryons and the Voyageur was much better at carrying the load comfortably. If you’re a backpacker and you don’t want to check a larger external frame pack the Voyageur is the clear choice. I’m guessing you could carry it all day and be quite satisfied. The construction seems first rate and the Cordura fabric is backcoated for water resistance. The zippers are beefy and all the strapping is well-sewn. And speaking of strapping, it has an abundance of loops for attaching extras to the backpack rig.
What’s not so good
This is a five-star pack, but as a suitcase it rates no better than two or three stars – if that. Travelers used to the extra amenities that many carryons provide will be disappointed with the Voyageur. It is also inadequate as a shoulder bag. The supplied shoulder strap has a puny pad, but the biggest problem is that it doesn’t ride comfortably against the body with all the backpack hardware stowed. It’s awkward on the hip and tends bulge. Without the compression straps it looks like the Voyageur could swell beyond carryon size limits.
Its styling is somewhat dated. It looks for all the world like an old-school 80’s pack. (The MEI website says the company pioneered travelpacks in 1973 and I’m guessing the Voyageur design hasn’t changed much since then) This may appeal to you, but a sometimes-business traveler may find it a little too “trail-ready”. Add to this the fact that is holds its shape poorly on the shoulder and you have a less than attractive choice for the spiffy traveler.
Who it’s for
If retro is your thing, you aren’t worried about a few wrinkles, and you’re going to carry it full-time as a backpack then the Voyageur MEI may well be your dream bag. Ditto if you’re a twentysomething who doesn’t mind (or prefers) looking a little scruffy. I believe the Voyageur is a good enough backpack to suffice for the short-term vagabonder. I just don’t think most modern carryon travelers who have widely-varying travel needs will prefer it as their first-choice bag. At $136 it is an excellent value for a USA-made product. It is available online at mei-packs.com.
SPECIFICATIONS:
· 1000 denier Cordura®
· COLORS: Black, Burgundy, Coffee, Hunter Green, Khaki, Navy Blue, Steel Grey
· DIMENSIONS: 14x9x22”; 3.5 LBS
Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic airline has what are probably the most restrictive carryon rules of any carrier flying out of the US:
Passengers departing from US airports are permitted to carry one item of cabin baggage each. Cabin baggage must not exceed a maximum length of 56 cm, width of 36 cm and depth of 23 cm including wheels, handles, side pockets etc. Other bags, such as handbags, may be carried within the single item of cabin baggage. All items will be x-ray screened and must not exceed 6 kilos in weight in Economy and Premium Economy, and 8 kilos in Upper Class. — from virgin-atlantic.com
This essentially the BAA rule (everything in one bag) plus the ridiculous 6kg (that’s 13.2 pounds) restriction. It’s certainly possible to travel with under 13 pounds in one bag — I do — but it’s going to be a real pain for most of us. At least the fares are cheap. I’ll bet Richard Branson’s hair weight more than 6kg.
The Washington Post travel blog has a nice short piece on how ridiculous and old most “travel” clothes look, citing Magellan’s, Travel Smith, and Land’s End as examples. I couldn’t agree more. And what about the Tilley hat? Is anything more ridiculous looking? I love those guys with their multi-pocket travel/photo vests and Tilley lids. Maybe we’ll all be there one day, but I agree that there’s a need for something between old person and hostel-bound hiker fashion. ExOfficio, Royal Robbns, and Columbia are probably the best place to look for a middle ground. You may also find that “regular” clothes work well for travel. I have a normal poly/cotton dress/casual shirt that dries as fast as any tech shirt. Wool and wool-blend stuff is great too.OBOW has picked up lots of new readers in recent weeks so it’s time to for a little re-posting. Here’s our original post on a travel laundry technique we developed - with a little further development tacked on at the end:
Doing laundry on the road is one of the necessities of light, one-bag travel. You don’t need ten changes of underwear for a ten-day trip; you can get by with three. But, you must use synthetics to successfully wash and dry overnight in the hotel room or hostel. Therein lies the problem: Synthetics get stinky fast. One solution is to pay $18-$35 for high-tech underclothing which has fabric with built-in anti-microbial (and, hence, anti-odor) properties.
I have discovered another, cheaper way: Sink wash your garden-variety synthetic (polyester/nylon) undies using my odor-fighting concoction.
Here’s how you do it. Fill the sink about half way with lukewarm water. Mix in a couple of glugs of clear Softsoap antibacterial handsoap and a couple of spritzes of Febreze Anti-Microbial. Handwash the undies, then rinse them out quickly - not too aggressively. Apparently enough of the anti-bacterial and anti-microbial stuff stays in the fabric to make it perform like the $25 hi-tech variety. My $10 Champions now finish a sweaty day as sweetly as my more-expensive Terramar briefs (with Visaendurance wonder fabric). This formula makes the high-tech fabrics work even better. The anti-microbial fabrics are still preferable for backpackers who may have nothing more than a creek to wash in or who want to stick with a green, biodegradable detergent - which my formula isn’t. But, for the cost-conscious light traveler my method may be just the ticket. This method works equally well for briefs or undershirts. I’ve used it on my ExOfficio Air Strip shirt and microfiber pants too.
I get this stuff through the carryon screeners by filling two 2-ounce hand sanitizer bottle with the soap and a 2-ounce spray bottle (half-full) with the Febreze. This is enough for ten days or so. I don’t mix it together until it hits the sink.
DISCLAIMER: I cannot guarantee that this method will not harm or shorten the working life of some garments, but I have no reason to believe that the method is detrimental to any fabrics or finishes.
UPDATE: I am more convinced than ever that this is an effective method for washing travel clothing and minimizing your, er, aroma. It also works well in a washing machine using the gentle cycle and an appropriate water level. You’ll have to estimate the amount of soap and Febreze required, but keep in mind it’s not rocket science and it doesn’t take that much soap.
I’ve become aware Win High Performance Sports Detergent which I thought might perform similarly to the Stinkfighter formula. I cannot recommend it. My tests indicated that synthetic clothing was about as smelly after use with Win as with normal detergent. It may do a better job cleaning clothes with heavy embedded odor, but it does not work as well as my formula for the lightpacking traveler. And it’s quite expensive at $6 or $8 for a small bottle. You can find it at sporting goods stores.
Here is yet another way of accomplishing the goal of less smelly clothing recommend by OBOW reader Dan P.:
“I use a similar method. Good to know I am not the only one without $30.00 shorts. However, I do use a different set of ingredients. I use Scent-a-way laundry detergent to wash, then lightly rinse in a sink of water mixed with a cap full of X-O deodorizer. I agree with Brad the method works because the ingredients are not totally removed from the clothing. Scent-a-way is used by bow hunters and is designed to remove human scent and X-O is made for animal use which means both are strong but will not cause skin rashes. The only downside is I have a strong urge to urinate on fire hydrants ;-}.An extra plus is that both ingredients are environmentally friendly.”
I haven’t tested Dan’s formula but it sounds like it would work as well. Let us know what works for you.
A day in the life of hated Heathrow is the subject of this Times of London story. Read it and you’ll never check another bag as long as you live. Some highlights:
The phrase “Heathrow hassle” has entered the lexicon, and commentators have vied to produce the most colourful put-downs – a “really expensive mall with planes”, “customer service reminiscent of the worst days of nationalised British Rail”, scenes “reminiscent of Nairobi slums”. Heathrow has also been described as an airport “bursting at the seams” and “held together by sticking plaster” – and that came from Tony Douglas before he resigned as BAA’s chief executive last month…
In the Terminal 1 reclaim areas we find the pile of 300 bags sitting unattended in a corner. Richard Wazacz, BAA’s 33-year-old head of logistic operations, admits that Heathrow’s baggage-handling record is “unacceptable” but – unsurprisingly – he insists that the airlines are to blame.
Wazacz takes us into a control room lined with screens showing bags whizzing along miles of subterranean conveyor belts before tipping into baggage chutes. He shows us a map of the belts that looks like tangled spaghetti. We visit a thunderous cavern to watch bags descending an extraordinary helter-skelter that takes them 60 metres down into the bowels of Terminal 1, and from there along a mile-long tunnel to Terminal 4. It is a “stone-age” system, he concedes.
AND - this just in: Today at Heathrow EVERY flight was delayed or late!
They’ll be watching your facial expressions and body language. They’re the TSA’s newest semi-secret weapon against possible terrorists and bad guys of all sorts - the Behavior Detection Officers. You may not know them when you see them:
The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant…The strategy is based on a time-tested and successful Israeli model, but in the United States, the scrutiny is much less invasive, Ekman said. American officers receive 16 hours of training — far less than their Israeli counterparts — because U.S. officials want to be less intrusive.
Read the entire story from McClatchy Newspapers.
From the UK comes a new product to help carryon travelers deal with the liquid rule dilemma. The curiously named Ickle Bockles provide a solution for those liquids and gels that you can’t find in the 3oz./100ml trial size or that you want to draw from larger containers. The Ickle Bockle Bank set includes bottles and pots which comply with EU carry-on rules.The set contains 3 x 100ml bottles, 1 x 60ml bottle and 2 x 30ml pots. The bottles have interchangeable tops so you can pump, spritz, flip or pour. The labels on the bottles and pots can be written on so you won’t confuse your shampoo with your mousse. The ‘flight friendly’ Ickle Bockle Bank costs £10.25 and is available to buy from www.icklebockles.co.uk. According to a neuropsychologist Heathrow airport is one of the world’s more stressful spots:
Dr Lewis said: “We have measured people in all kinds of situations from riot policemen confronting a stone throwing mob to racing drivers and sky-divers and these are among the highest peaks in heart rate and blood pressure that we have ever seen. The conditions at Heathrow Airport and the stress levels that passengers are routinely subject to poses a very grave danger to the health of travellers at the airport.”
Lewis told that Times of London that his tests showed that passengers’ heart rates often shot to dangerous levels as they endured security checkpoints, congested waiting areas, and rude staff. According to the Times:
This is one more reason to chuck the checked bags. Eliminating the possibilty of lost luggage and the baggage carousel hassle should lower your stress level. But you’d better know the carryon rules and master the new liquid regulations or more trouble - and a higher heart rate - awaits you.
British travelers are hit with a wicked double whammy: they must deal with the strictest carryon rule (one bag plus nothing) and their airports and airlines are some of the worst at handling (and best at losing) luggage. It seems the Brits are turning increasingly to carryon-only - as evidenced by these two stories from UK papers advocating one-bag travel. The Telegraph gives advice on strategy and luggage and a Daily Mail writer says he has finally been driven to go one-bag but bemoans the hated no-personal-item restriction. Bear in mind that the UK allows a slightly larger carryon (22x18x10) than the more typical standard of 45 inches in combined dimensions (often 22z14x9 or thereabouts).
Stephanie Dickison, editor of the knack shares advice on carryons, purses, and briefcases for female travelers:
The excitement about the impending trip, the packing and preparing and then the actual getting on the plane to leave your life behind and go on an adventure that will no doubt change your outlook and mood is overwhelming, but so worth it.
The only problem is travel gear.
If you can’t find suitable luggage that is comfortable and stylish, then it will forever be a problem and detract from your trip.
See her recommendations here. Click on the photo at right to learn more about the Helen Rae luggage she touts.
I’m not a fan of rolling bags for reasons mentioned elsewhere. But, if you must roll this old article from Slate is good for establishing criteria with which to evaluate the accursed conveyances. Some of the models in the article are out of date, but the author’s points are excellent:
“A good bag rolls smoothly on a wide wheelbase, with a sturdy, comfortably situated handle to guide it. A bad bag rocks drunkenly on its wheels, with a hard-to-grip, poorly angled handle. It’s always finding ways to bump into your legs.”
“With a careful eye, you can suss out which bags are well-crafted and which will soon be plagued with sticking zippers and mangled handles.”
His winner is the Tumi Vestry which is no longer produced. If style is important to you and money is no object, check out the $495 (now on sale $369 as of 8-12-07) for 20” Tumi Ducati (right). It’s 20” x 13.75”x 9”, comfortably under maximum legal carry-on dimensisons. I like bags that are a little undersized if they are rigid like this one - less stuffing required to get in the overheard. And you certainly wouldn’t want to scuff up this beauty. This is the bag for beautiful people: If the bag fits, roll it.
Note: Alert OBOW reader Stephen R. points out that while it looks like the tow handle is for right-handers only, the handle actually pivots for comfortable use with either hand.
We’ll have a review in coming weeks of a less-expensive Tough Traveler rolling carryon with removable wheels.
Who needs in-flight movies when a comedian like this want to get on board:
A man was stopped at Cairo’s airport just moments before he boarded a Saudi Arabia-bound plane with carry-on bags filled with live snakes, as well as a few baby crocodiles and chameleons.
Security officials became suspicious of the 22-year-old Saudi man’s bags when the X-ray machine at the departure gate gave odd readings. Police said they opened the bags and found a large number of reptiles, including at least one cobra, squirming to escape. - AP via Washington Post
“Squirming to escape” might well have described his fellow passengers if he had made it on the plane.
If you wanted to wear nothing but made-in-the-USA clothing you’d have a hard time filling up a closet. And you’d go broke paying for it. How about USA-made electronics? Forget it. But luggage is a different matter. The serious traveler can buy high-quality, high-value, handmade luggage that is made right here. Why does it matter? There are several reasons and they have nothing to do with xenophobia or parochialism. If you care about your neighbors and fellow citizens having good jobs, made-in-the USA means something. Ditto if you don’t want to support sweatshops staffed by children, inmates, or overworked/underpaid women. Maybe you want a bag that won’t fall apart. Or maybe you have a complaint and would like to speak to the owner/designer.
OBOW will always support the quality USA luggage companies. We’ll be putting together a page devoted just to them. Please suggest any companies that should be on the list. Here are four good ones to start with: MEI, Red Oxx, Tom Bihn, and Tough Traveler. Another worth checking out might be Bailey Works, though they are more about messenger bags than luggage per se. Tumi and Boyt are US luggage companies on the higher end of the price scale.
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