Entries from June 1, 2007 - July 1, 2007
Brad
“Rolling briefcases are one of those contradictory things,” said a Tumi spokeswoman who didn’t want her name attached to the words she said next. “They are hideous,” she said, adding, “our customers tell us they can’t live without them.” - The New York Times
What a terrific story on rolling briefcases - and by extension, suitcases. This is a must read. Another quote:
“The rolling briefcase,” Mr. Lopata continued, “is a symptom of a much bigger problem. Ever notice that the most efficient people are the ones with the least amount of stuff?
Yes! And, this is very interesting:
The American Medical Association warns that carrying more than 10 percent of your body weight can lead to injury, and the overnight appearance of low back pain led me to weigh my own workbag a few summers ago (back then, it was a satchel slung over one shoulder). It was about 25 pounds.
That’s why you should travel (and pack) very light. I weigh 160 lbs. and 16 pounds is the upper limit of comfort for my shoulder. Maybe there’s something to the 10-percent rule. Could be an excuse to gain some weight though…
Read the entire story here.
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The Washington Post harvests some neat travel tips from an airline website but those contributed by their readers were better still. A sampling:
- Especially for men - carry an (empty) clear ziplock bag in your pocket. When emptying pockets of coins, keys, wallet, cellphones, wrist-watch, rings, etc for the X-ray - dump all into the ziplock bag. Eliminates standing there at other end of the X-ray fishing coins and other small items out of the little provided buckets/bins - just grab your zip-lock bag out of the bucket and off you go. (ed. - I might add, remove your belt before the security checkpoint and stow it in an outer pocket of your carryon or inside your personal bag.)
- Don’t assume that other countries follow the U.S. standard for passenger screening, like carrying liquids 4 oz or smaller (ed. - 3 ounces actually) bottles packaged in ziploc. They chucked mine in the trash in Berlin’s airport, saying they have their own standards for protecting their planes. They also gave every passenger a good frisking, which TSA agents have told me in this country they are politically unable to do…
- Let the people that have the max size allowed carry on bag put their bag in the above bin before you try to squeeze by them in the aisle. If you want to get on the plane before me, get to the airport earlier…My flights are less then an hour, I don’t check bags because once I waited longer for my bag then my entire flight.
OBOW welcomes any and all reader tips. There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.
A 2 ½-hour JetBlue Airways flight bound from Fort Lauderdale to New York on Wednesday turned into a 25-hour odyssey that finally ended Thursday afternoon, as a chain of problems left 150 passengers staggered by the mind-boggling delay.
- The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reports on the flight from (or to) hell.
The one carryon/no personal item luggage rule that has plagued travelers transiting through the United Kingdom may be on the way out, according to The Times of London:
British Airways’ chief executive Willie Walsh believes the one-bag restriction on hand luggage is to be lifted within weeks.
In a speech yesterday morning to BritishAmerican Business Inc, an organisation that encourages trade across the Atlantic, Walsh said that the current limits on baggage are ineffective. “To be effective, security has to be credible. The truth is that the UK’s current one-bag rule is not credible. If it were felt to be a worthwhile security measure, it would be in force here in the US – and in the rest of Europe. It is not.”
“We recognise how irritating it is for people flying from the US, having carried on two items of security-cleared luggage at their home airport, to be told at Heathrow that they must check one item into the hold if they want to catch a connecting flight.”
Wow, a rare outbreak of common sense and reason! This is the biggest news for the carry-on/one-bag traveler since the liquid ban. My fear was that the “no personal item” rule would spread to other countries. Thankfully, this won’t be the case - for now.
Doug Dyment of onebag.com has kindly added OBOW to his travel links page which is not to be missed by the serious traveler. His travel products suppliers page is also excellent.
An airline consultant says that bad service, long delays, and cramped cabins won’t stop passengers from buying air travel on price:
“It doesn’t change the fact that consumers have the attention span of a monkey,” Boyd said. “The next time they go to Fort Lauderdale, they’re going to book whatever seat is the cheapest.”
This story explains what has become obvious to air travelers: Airlines are now profitable because they’re cramming more passengers into fewer planes on tighter schedules. And the “self-loading freight” finds itself all to often in the razor-thin margin of error. Read the Reuters story here.
Most have now heard the story of the poor mother who was hassled recently over her toddler’s sippy cup at a TSA checkpoint at Washington’s Reagan National Airport. Much was made by the blogosphere of this “incident” but the TSA’s video seems to prove that she was the one who lost it. She does not appear to have been mistreated. This brings up an important point: While many of the airport security measures are ridiculous, the TSA is not always wrong. And their employees are not evil; they are human — which means some are better than others and none of them are perfect. No matter how ridiculous the security procedures are, the fact remains that being polite, patient, and cooperative is the best way to get through. Write your congressman if you don’t like the TSA, but be nice to their employees if at all possible.
The warm weather traveler would do well to consider wool socks for four-season use. Even in the summer mid- to lightweight wool socks provide an excellent combination of durability, blister prevention, natural odor protection, and comfort. This is something most hikers, bikers, and runners already know. The key is wool’s moisture wicking qualities means you feet stay drier, which helps prevent blisters. I did a June trip where I walked about ten times more than normal without a single blister. But aren’t they hot? Not in my experience, but as with all travel clothing you should test your gear before you go — under similar conditions if possible. 
Socks designated as “light hikers” are usually appropriate for summer. I find that about three pairs of wool socks will get me through a trip of any length. And if you like to look snazzy, Smartwool makes some really cool color combinations.
Within in a week I’ll receive two interesting bags for evaluation. One is the elusive MEI Voyageur. This convertible carry-on pack is the Unicorn of the luggage world. Everyone’s heard of it (thanks to onebag.com but most people have never seen one and don’t know where to find it since the company that makes it has a minimal web presence. From Tom Bihn is coming the Aeronaut with a slew of accessories. We’ll check out the hip and shapely ‘Naut in the next three weeks.
On the review front, the folks at Red Oxx have been very kind, reprinting my Air Boss review with these comments:
“Wow! We don’t think we could have written a more complimentary and brutally honest review if we tried. This is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. We’ll certainly take the criticisms to heart and do some “product development.” Thanks again, One Bag, One World has our travel philosophy to a T.”
Actually my criticisms were more like suggestions, and I strive for honesty without the brutality… A side note to the Air Boss review: I hadn’t been off the the airplane 30 seconds at Heathrow before I ran into another guy with an Air Boss. He professed to be very pleased with the Boss. He was only a little weirded out by the fact that I wanted to take his picture.
“The depressing thing is the relentless predictability of it all. The interminable delays at security. The shuffling crowds in search of somewhere to sit as yet another flight is delayed. Worst, when you eventually escape you know the reprieve is only temporary. You will soon be flying back to broken travelators, long queues at immigration and mayhem in baggage reclaim. Welcome to Heathrow.” — The Financial Times commiserates with the legions of the miserable at London’s Heathrow. LHR can certainly be rough but the O’Hare/United combination can be even worse in my experience.
Roger Collis of the IHT has en excellent article which reviews the services of three air travel experts who specialize in trans-Atlantic carriers. For a premium they provide inside information on fares, upgrades, and creature comfort for pond crossers.
There are three great American companies who still make quality bags one at a time. Red Oxx, Tom Bihn, and Tough Traveler are about as different as can be, but for around $200 each of them will sell you a quality hand-made carry-on bag with a real lifetime warranty. And chances are, you could call any of them and have the owner on the phone in a couple of minutes. I’ve reviewed the Red Oxx Air Boss and hope to review Tom Bihn’s Aeronaut and Tough Traveler’s TriZip or BiZip soon. No one design will suit every user, but I’m confident that one of these companies has the bag for you - if you’re serious about light travel.
About the Aeronaut: Some reviews from The Gadgeteer, Imago Metrics, and khemani.com
Doug Dyment of onebag.com loves the Tough Traveler (and suggested improvements which were implemented) and helped design the Air Boss!
A note: All of these bags are at or near maximum legal carryon dimensions (45” combined). This size may actually prove too big for you if you’re an ultra-light traveler. There is a dearth of slightly undersized carryons.
There’s a fair amount of cultural buzz about a New Minimalist approach to art, fashion, design, and lifestyle. The new minimalism may be viewed (and promoted) from a variety of perspectives including spiritual/religious, sustainable/green, pragmatic/functional, artistic/aesthetic. Light travel is surely a minimalist approach. It won’t save your soul - or the earth - but it might save your back, your neighbor’s toes, some money, some time, and some sanity. Let’s call it common sense minimalism.
A lot of people think of minimalism as very modern, but there is little new under the sun. I’m reminded of a certain teacher of some antiquity who was a light travel proponent: “Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two tunics, or sandals, or a staff…”
While we have our can of philosophical wax open, why not muse on ways that light travel skills and strategies can affect our everyday, non-traveling lives? Here goes: It’s just possible that lessons learned (about luggage and layering?) might help us live more simply any time and anywhere with less reliance on things, possessions, stuff. Accumulation is a Western way of life. Traveling light encourages its opposite. We all have security blankets of some type. Some we drag behind us; some we carry on our shoulders. Light travel teaches us to leave them at home. And go somewhere and do something…
Passengers on a Continental flight from Amsterdam to Newark last week experienced every traveler’s worst nightmare. No, not a terrorist with a bomb, but a river of raw sewage flowing through the cabin. “Lavatory overflow” are two words no flier wants to hear.
Said one passenger: “I’ve never felt so offended in all my life. I felt like i had been physically abused and neglected. I was forced to sit next to human excrement for seven hours.”
Flight attendants reportedly advised passengers not to eat or drink too much when they served them in the odorous cabin. Some passengers were given $500 vouchers to make up for the fiasco. Read the entire story here.
Q: Why do able-bodied people need rolling luggage? A: Because their bags are too heavy to carry. Q: Why are their bags to heavy to carry? A: Because their bags have wheels and they rarely have to pick them up!
Rolling luggage is a boon for some: the elderly, the infirm, those with bad backs, people with small children. But it is also a curse — clogging airport corridors, clacking incessantly on tile floors, clomping noisily down stair cases. A person with luggage in tow takes almost twice as much space as a person with a shoulder bag or backpack. How much less crowded would airports be with half as many rolling bags? Wheeled luggage is almost certainly a chief cause of overpacking. The rolling trunks seem weightless until you have to pick them up…or they fall on your head from the compartment above. And, a heavy roller can wreak havoc in an old, cramped hotel when someone would sooner destroy the stairs and woodwork than carry what they packed.
Eschewing wheels is the best encouragement for packing less. And packing less is the ony way to travel light.
Read here about an expert traveler who goes no-wheels.
MARMOT PRECIP RAIN JACKET: Review summary – Great storm protection for the light traveler. High points: Lightweight, ultra-packable, well-ventilated, doesn’t leak, good hood design, good-looking.
RATING: 4 stars, a One Bag, One World recommended product
How to test a raincoat? In my case, a ten-day early summer visit to England and Scotland - from London to Loch Ness - was just the ticket to try out the Marmot Precip. With sometimes torrential rain falling for eight days out of ten the Precip kept me comfortably dry. At under $100 ( you can often find them for around $80 on sale) this jacket falls between the sweaty cheapo rain slickers and more expensive — and often heavier — Gore-tex rain shells. The Precip’s fabric doesn’t breathe quite as well as Gore-tex, but the jacket has Pit Zips (under arm zippered vents) so it’s quite comfortable in warm weather. On colder days, just layer and the Precip will do the rest. Marmot says the Precip is free of the clammy feel often associated with unlined jackets. To be honest, I think it feels quite clammy to bare skin on a wet day, but this is not a problem for me since I wear longsleeves year round.
I can say that it never leaked or soaked through despite steady rain and gale force winds in London. Since the temperatures dipped into the 40’s one day with a strong north wind, it’s a good thing the Precip held strong. One strike against the Precip: their are no interior pockets and the traveler always needs a breast pocket. The styling fits nicely between techie hipster and boring middle-aged, so it works fine for almost anyone. You can jazz it up or down by choosing from the wide variety of colors. Best of all, it weighs almost nothing and packs into a double handful; fits easily in a backpack pocket or messenger bag. I won’t be leaving home without my Precip any time soon. More info from Marmot here. The Precip is available for men, women, and kids. There are Precip pants too.
RED OXX AIR BOSS: Review summary – Simple, adaptable shoulder bag for agile travel. Handmade in the USA, military spec materials & construction. High points: Looks great, three-compartment design, excellent strap, lifetime warranty, made in the USA.
RATING: 5 stars, a One Bag, One World top pick.
Ten days and several thousand miles have convinced me that the Red Oxx Air Boss lives up to its hype as one of the most functional and well-made carryon bags available. The Air Boss is probably not for everyone since it has no wheels. Then again, it was not designed for everyone, but for the serious one-bag leisure or business traveler who needs a highly functional shoulder bag which adapts to a variety of travel needs.
No wheels, no backpack straps
There are two ways to carry the Air Boss: with your hand or with your shoulder. This is actually the key to its mobility. A shoulder bag is much better for uneven terrain (like cobblestones, gravel parking lots, or dirt paths), and is preferable for stairs, escalators, or subway platforms. Darting through the airport throngs is also a breeze with nothing “in tow”. No wheels also means less weight and more interior room. Convertible bags with backpack straps (Red Oxx is developing one of these - stay tuned) are popular, but a backpack-style bag is a little out of place with my sportcoat, and I find a good shoulder strap to be at least as comfortable as one (or two) backpack straps. And Red Oxx has one of the finest shoulder straps I’ve tried. It’s called “The Claw” for good reason: it will not slip from your shoulder. As an old news photographer I know that a strap that is too wide or too cushy will not stay on the shoulder. A good strap like “The Claw” strikes a balance between “bite” and comfort, and above all, it stays put. The heavy chromed metal strap hardware is overbuilt like the rest of the bag. I’m pretty sure “The Claw” could double as towing strap for an automobile!
Versatile & simple
The Air Boss’s three-compartment design sets it apart from most carryons. The two outer compartments are 2.5 inches wide and the center compartment is 4 inches wide. Zippers for each compartment wrap around three sides of the bag, allowing any of the compartments to be opened fully when the bag is lying flat. This makes it easy to carefully place folded clothes in the compartments without stuffing - which means fewer wrinkles. The two outer compartments have two hold-down straps each. The outer compartments are where most of your clothing would go. I like to put normal clothing on one side and coats, outerwear, or sweaters on the other, so that some days I only have to open one side. With a one-compartment design you basically have to do a complete unpack and repack every day. Not so with the well-designed Air Boss.
The center compartment has no hold-downs. Both walls of the center compartment have light closed-cell foam padding which also serves to stiffen the bag slightly so that it holds its shape when it’s not full. This center compartment is ideal for hair dryers, thick books, larger electronics, shoes, shaving or cosmetic bag, or a laptop computer. Since only the walls are padded and bottom of the bag is not, it’s probably best to put a laptop in a sleeve or slim-line computer case. I used the center compartment for my unpadded briefcase which I use as a day bag while traveling (see photo). The ability to stow a laptop, briefcase, or daypack in this center compartment means the Air Boss is perfect for travel through the United Kingdom where new security regulations allow only one carryon and everything must fit in that one bag.
Most of my suggestions for improvements to the Air Boss involve the inner compartments. Padding the bottom of the center compartment would make it better for carrying a laptop. The hold-downs in the outer compartments are adequate, but having three instead of two would make them work even better. The center compartment might also benefit from hold-down straps on one wall for securing clothing, large printed material, or a laptop.
One of my favorite things about the Boss (which I’ll discuss below) is its simplicity, but I believe I’d prefer that at least one of the outer compartments have a zippered mesh pocket for storing dirty or damp clothes.
Less is more
I have a convertible carryon bag that has so many zippers and pockets that I can never find anything. This is not a problem with the simple Air Boss design. It has the three main compartments mentioned above plus a snapped outer pocket and a narrow vertical zippered pocket (perfect for boarding passes) on one side and a full-width exterior zippered pocket on the other. That’s it: no confusion; no gimmicks. The snapped pocket is ideal for stowing your belt and TSA liquid baggie until you clear security, and of course it’s ideal for newspapers, magazines, or a full-size atlas. The zippered pockets are for stowing things that need to be more secure
Zippers, seams, fabric & monkey fists
Speaking of zippers, Red Oxx uses the best money can buy: YKK #10’s which are reliable and silky smooth. Cheap zippers always fail, sooner or later. These are not cheap zippers. I’m no sewing expert, but even I can tell that this bag is very well put together. The Red Oxx guys got their start as military parachute riggers, and the craftsmanship and attention to detail is obvious in their work. The bag fabric is 1000 weight urethane-coated, Dupont-certified Cordura nylon — the highest grade. Snaps and metal hardware are stainless steel. And I have to mention a small but not insignificant detail – the “monkey’s fist” knots. These are hand-tied in nylon cord to serve as unique, functional zipper pulls, and besides that, they’re just plain cool.
Good genes
The Air Boss is the result of collaboration and consultation with onebag.com travel/packing guru Doug Dyment. His insight paired with the Montana-based Red Oxx company’s manufacturing skill and commitment to quality makes this bag unique. Learn more about Red Oxx here. The company website also has a packing diagram (developed by Dyment) just for this bag. This bundle packing plan works. I can attest that my clothing had fewer wrinkles when properly packed in the Air Boss than I’ve gotten with other bags and methods.
Capacious
The Air Boss is slightly under maximum carryon dimensions at 21”x 13”x 9” but it’s hard to imagine a carryon with more capacity. The fact that the Air Boss has no wheels, pull handles, rigid internal frame, or lots of silly compartments means you can stuff a lot in the Air Boss. I use an ultra-light packing list. My load was only about 12-15 pounds worth which means the bag was not nearly full, and, in fact, the Air Boss is a little too large for me. The good news is that it’s perfect for most people who are going to pack twice as many clothes as I do plus a pair of shoes and hair dryer. I’m guessing most travelers will probably pack their Air Boss to 18-25 pounds. Many international carriers now limit carryons to 22 pounds. The Air Boss would be ideal for those trying to stay in that weight range. I’m quite sure though that it’s built well-enough to handle any load you can stuff in it. The soft-side design also means that the Air Boss should fit almost any aircraft overhead luggage compartment. It even fits the tiny Embraer 145 regional jet’s overhead compartments which cause most carryons to be gate-checked and thrown into the baggage hold. In larger jets the Air Boss will fit in the overhead compartments either way – parallel or perpendicular to the aircraft aisle. The Air Boss weighs under four pounds with strap. Some carryon bags weigh 12 pounds or more empty - almost as much as my Air Boss weighed fully packed.
Looks & style
The Air Boss comes in 12 color combinations. The colors are strong and deep – distinctive without being overly bright (except for the yellow which is pretty bright). This is a nice-looking bag which works for corporate or casual types.
Who it’s for
If you can’t carry a bag far and require wheels the Air Boss is not for you. If you’re looking for a bag that will handle almost any travel situation and terrain with aplomb, check out the Air Boss. For reasons stated above it is ideal for the present security situation that carryon travelers face. And its lifetime warranty means it should serve you for years to come - through whatever the future holds for savvy travelers.
Cost
At $225 its price is in line with other top-of-the line shoulder bags and is well below that of many wheeled carryons. It is available direct from redoxx.com
Suggested improvements
Aside from minor changes to the interior compartments which are mentioned above, I believe compression straps to cinch up the bag when it is under-packed would be helpful. These would make the bag more useful to me since I’m not likely to ever fill the Air Boss up. All soft-sided bags are liable to some bulging when over-packed and compression straps would help minimize this too.
PHOTOS - from top - Revolving door in Glasgow hotel doesn’t slow down the Air Boss, Ran into this happy Air Boss user as soon as I stepped off the 777 at Heathrow, “The Claw” shoulder strap, Beautiful detailing and “monkey’s fist” pulls, High-visibility red interior, Snapped pocket is great for TSA liquid baggie, Center compartment swallows my briefcase - beating the UK “no personal item rule”
If you’re a US citizen arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on an international United flight I have just one piece of advice for you: renounce your US citizenship and stay overseas. Or maybe hop a freighter. O’Heck made London Heathrow look like a garden of earthly delights. My experience this week was a train wreck at every stage: bad information, rude and unhelpful staff, long lines, flight delays, inadequate waiting areas and buck passing on a governmental scale. Customs was fine, security was OK, but everything else was bad by any standard. Avoid O’Hare/United if possible.
“Sometimes I see a reflection of myself in a shop window — with my carry-on pack on my back — and wonder if I’m too old to be so footloose and fancy-free. No! Packing light keeps me young when I’m on the road. Less is more. Like a good fisherman who feels the fish better without a lot of flashers and weights, when I travel light I have nothing but pure 100% Europe on my line.” — travel guru Rick Steves
Also - big news from Rick Steves: he’s updated the Convertible Carry-on ($99) and re-introduced an earlier, simpler version - the Back Door Bag - which looks like a real bargain at $79. The Back Door Bag sort of started the whole one bag craze years ago.
