April 12, 2011 The wing of an Air France Airbus A380 taxiing for takeoff at New York’s JFK airport clipped the tail of a Comair CRJ, that had just arrived from Boston, spinning the smaller plane about 45 degrees. No one was hurt but there was damage to both planes
Luckily, someone caught it on video.
(Frank II)
April 11, 2011 Lately, we’ve be spammed by the people who make the Carmazzi 1bag and friends of theirs. Eventually, they contacted us about trying to be professional and asked if we were interested in reviewing the bag. When we tried to respond, every email sent to them was bounced back as undeliverable.
Recently, there has been another person on this board who I knew was associated with the company but he did not mention it so I allowed him to stay. Now, he has finally started to “ask questions” about the bag even though his own blog only talks about the bag. And anywhere the bag is mentioned on other websites, he’s there.
This is underhanded marketing and it makes me wonder just how above board this company is if they have to play these games.
I’m not saying the bag or the company is good or bad, just letting people here know of the situation.
(Frank II)
April 11, 2011
Gadling travel writer Justin Delaney recently had a bucket load of feces dumped on his head in Ecuador as part of a plot to rob him of his camera. It worked.
Realizing that if a seasoned travel writer could become victim to such a “dastardly deed,” why not write an article warning all travelers of the top 10 types of travel theft (and how to be safe.)
(Frank II)
April 11, 2011 
“I want to go to the places where I don’t meet all those tourist people who do their normal stuff,” he says.Is this your idea of a good time? Do you hate the tourist queues? A German named Billy Six (yes) backpacks from one seething cauldron of civil war to another. Maybe his secret is his dress - literally.
Despite his dirty blond hair, beard and blue eyes, Billy tries to blend in. He dresses in the traditional Muslim garb of rural North Africa, the long dress-like jalabiya, and a white skull cap.
He is currently walking and hitchhiking across Africa. He says he lives cheaply, takes the occasional odd job, but mostly relies on the kindness of strangers.
And after running into Billy twice an NPR reporter speaks frankly:
I began to think that Billy Six was either adventurous to the point of recklessness, or a brilliant German intelligence asset, or maybe just mad as a German hatter.
Read more or listen here.
I believe this is his website (in German).
(Brad)
April 8, 2011 Should the government shut down tonight, you can expect that Passport day will be cancelled tomorrow. The State department will only be issuing emergency passports until the government opens for business.
If th shutdown does occur, air traffic controllers will work and TSA will work so it shouldn’t have too much effect on travel. Both are considered essential services and continue no matter what. Sadly, hundreds of thousands of their government employee brethren will not get paid. .
But have no fear, Congress is looking out for themselves. They consider themselves essential employees. Regardless of what happens, they get paid.
(Frank II)
Frank@OBOW
It’s official…..Passport Day has been cancelled due to the possibility of a government shutdown. No new date has been announced.
April 8, 2011 See a rare photo of Brad and Frank II conferring in Paris. From The Sartorialist — a blog that will always remind you that you’ll never look quite as good as the Europeans no matter how hard you try.
(Brad)
April 4, 2011 For any Americans here who have been planning to get a passport but just haven’t gotten around to it, this Saturday, April 9, is Passport Day in the USA.
All regional passport centers and most national acceptance centers will be open to the public. 
If you are a first time applicant, or have lost your passport and are requesting a new one, the rules for birth certificates changed this month.
(Frank II)
April 1, 2011 Harry Shearer, star of Spinal Tap and The Simpson’s fame, has his own take on TSA. (Warning: If you offend easily, this video may not be for you.)
(Frank II)
March 30, 2011 
Lately, we’ve been getting a lot of spammers to this site.
Some are mass produced from overseas and others are manufacturers trying to hide the fact they’re pushing their wares.
We don’t allowing spamming or unsolicited promotion of products.
If you have a product you’d like to let people know about, send either Brad of me information about it and let US mention it. Even better, send us a sample and we’ll review it.
It’s easy to contact us. Just look below the logo on the top of each page and you’ll see links to “email OBOW” and “media requests” and you’ll find ways to contact us.
We want to keep this a safe place where visitors can get unbiased opinions from actual users and not from those with something to gain.
One point…a few times, manufacturers and retailers have come here to answer questions but have properly identified themselves as such. I have no problem with that because they are acting in a professional manner.
Thanks
(Frank II)
March 29, 2011 Spirit Airlines, the only airline to charge for carry-on bags,is raising its baggage rates.
If you book your luggage less than 24 hours before flight time, there will be an additional $5 charge above the currrent fees, and $10 if booking over the phone. (So, if you try to bring your carry-on aboard, and it doesn’t fit under the seat, you’ll pay $45 at the gate for the privilege of using an overhead locker.)
Checked bag limits have been lowered from 50 to 40 lbs. The extra fee for any bag between 40 and 50 pounds is $25.
March 28, 2011 Thanks to Paul Whitlock for this….
It looks like Thomspon Airways is giving Air New Zealand some fun competition when it comes to safety films:
(Frank II)
March 28, 2011 We’ve all sat through them, or perhaps ignored them. Those boring safety briefings showing what to do in case of emergency. We know we should watch but….
Well, Air New Zealand realized they needed to do something to get passengers interested. Two years ago, they had volunteer employees go through the safety briefing wearing nothing but body paint to look like their uniforms.
And now…..this……
(Frank II)
March 24, 2011 
Athletic clothes maker Under Armour has released “cotton…only better” - Charged Cotton - that promises to wick and dry better than regular cotton. In my search for info on this purported cotton improvement I stumbled across a blog stranger than OBOW - The Undershirt Guy! - see his test results here.
(Brad)
Frank@OBOW
Frank@OBOW
Maria reports that the new UA Charged Cotton fabric does dry faster than regular cotton (though not five times faster - surprise, surprise) and she has pictures to prove it. The UA shirt is on the right. From the darkness of the fabric you can see that the cotton shirt on the left (all cotton, of similar weight and color) is still wet while the UA shirt is largely dry. This is instant research — she heard about it last night, bought it this morning, and tested it today. An OBOW gold star for Maria!
I’ll leave it to Maria to provide further comments below.
(Brad)
March 23, 2011 Last night, I attended a meeting of current and wannabe travel writers. I, of course, took the opportunity to promote this website and wanted to know how many of them were currently one bag travelers.
Not one.
Not one person, some of whom were busy travel writers visiting such out of the way places as the jungles of Southest Asia and Central America, even said they traveled without wheels let alone with just one bag. Oh, some were proud that they used “carry-on” sized wheelies and had a second bag that was ‘slightly” smaller for the rest of their stuff.
Yet they were all intrigued and thought how wonderful it would be to travel so light. Was it possible? Could it be done? Could I teach them how?
Sure I could, but would they really use it? What does it take to be a one bag traveler and is it for everyone?
I gave it some thought and came up with the following:
Being a onebagger is a mindset. It’s the desire to travel with only one carry-on size bag and be willing to make some changes/compromises/sacrifices to reach this goal.
Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. Some people are just not willing to make enough compromises to reach that goal. Nor should they.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t judge how anyone packs. It’s completely personal and everyone must do so in a way that makes them comfortable and happy.
And for many, onebagging it isn’t going to make them happy. Oh, they may like the idea, but the actual implementation is something else.
Even on our own bulletin board, I’ve read many contributors who I can honestly say are nowhere near ready to be onebaggers—and that’s what’s right for them at this time. They may never make it. And that’s fine too.
On the other hand, there may be people who decide to give onebagging a try and absolutely hate it. And you know what, that’s fine too.
But what does it take to be a true onebagger.? To all who have experienced it, why not post what changes you had to make to go from “heavier” way of packing to the onebagging way. For you non-onebaggers, this may be an opportunity for you to truly ask yourself if this form of travel is really for you.
(Frank II)
March 22, 2011 A few days ago, I mentioned I had ordered a small, portable SW radio should I get caught in any natural disaster or military strife where access to information would be vital.
After a few days of research, I chose the Degen DE1125 because it was lightweight and could do so much more than just shortwave radio. And as a minimalist one-bagger, I like things that do double duty. It wasn’t overpriced at $70.
The radio arrived the day after I ordered it. (Thank you Amazon.)
Inside was the radio, ear buds, a small carry bag for, instruction manual, mini-usb cable for charging and USB-capable plug.
The Degen De 1125 is an AM/FM/Shortwave radio with alarm clock, digital voice recorder, 2 GB mp3 player, is backlit, has a 90 minutes sleep timer, is fluent in Esperanto and cooks a mean chili. (Ok, I made up the language fluency.)
The small front speaker is surprising clear, as long as you don’t expect stereophonic sound, but there’s also an earphone jack should you wish to listen in private. Mp3’s are transferred from computer to radio via the included mini-usb cable. The same cable charges the unit from either a computer or the included wall socket. (Note, the power from the wall socket is low and cannot also charge either an ipod touch or a blackberry.)
The unit itself is slightly bigger than an Ipod Touch and Blackberry and weighs 4 oz with battery. The instruction manual wasn’t very clear but after awhile it was easy to figure out. There is a small lag time between the different functions.
I was happy until I tried to receive shortwave. I pulled out the telescoping antenna, switched to one of the six SW bands and did my best to find the king of all shortwave stations—the BBC World Service. Oops, it seems they don’t broadcast on shortwave any longer.
Okay, how about Voice of America? Nope. Radio Canada? Uh uh. Radio Australia? No. Well, only to the South Pacific.
Doesn’t anyone broadcast in English anymore? I found Radio Havana although I don’t know how much good it would do in an emergency. I heard many stations in languages other than English. But nothing, in any language I understand.
So, shortwave seems to be a bust.
And then it got worse. The Degen 1126, the next model, is already out and available on Ebay from China. Completely new design, more memory, a text reader, and everything else from the 1125. It’s also still the same size and weight. The instruction manual on that model, at least for now, is only in Chinese. (My manual was in Chinese and English only whoever did the translation could use a few hours at Berlitz. ).
So, what’s the verdict? Well, I’m going to keep it and take it with me when traveling. I can always use a good radio, it’s nice to have a digital voice recorder to use instead of written journals, I can download a few audiobooks to the mp3 player as a backup to my Ipod Touch, and having an extra alarm clock never hurt when trying to make early flights.
And it’s only 4 oz……
(Frank II)
Frank@OBOW
In my travels, I use a Chargepod multi-charger and Fueltank backup chargers for my smaller electronic devices. Both work with the Degen.
Now if I could only convince radio stations to forget about this “internet” thing and go back to broadcasting on shortwave.
March 19, 2011 Do you find that the ear buds now given on most ipods, mp3 players, or other audio devices keep falling out of your ear? I do. I’m constantly putting my ipod earbuds back in. And they never seemed comfortable.
Then I found Budfits. They easily attach to the ear buds, are pliable, comfortable, and keep the ear buds in my ear. They come in numerous colors. I got mine from Amazon.
(Frank II)
March 19, 2011 I recently started using the Lewis & Clark Lockdown Triple Security Lock.
This TSA compliant lock is lightweight and can serve multiple purposes.
It was originally designed to foil thieves who know how to open locked bags via the zippers then covering up their tracks. To do this, you connect the larger loop through the luggage handles and the smaller loop through the zipper pulls.
Retails for about $12.
In a recent forum posting, someone asked about using locks on an L.L. Bean Quickload. Here’s how I use this cable lock on that bag:
You can also secure bags together or one bag to a fixed object.
The 3-dial combination is resettable.
(Frank II)
March 16, 2011 
John Pistole, head of the TSA, was in front of Congress earlier this week asking for extra funds to buy 275 additional nude-o-scopes.
This just days after admitting it bungled radiation tests on its current machines.
I guess their new selling point will be: Well, it’s still less radiation than you’d get if you were in northern Japan.
(Frank II)
March 16, 2011 The United States Travel Association, a group representing much of the travel industry and whose goal is to promote travel both to and within the U.S., is calling on Congress to make it illegal for airlines to charge for the first checked bag and to request TSA reconsider its “one size fits all” screening process.
In a report commissioned by USTA and written by a panel headed by former Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge and former Congressional Homeland Security Committee member Jim Turner, USTA says by allowing the first checked bag to be free, it will make going through security much quicker for everyone. In addition, it’s asking that a “Trusted Traveler” program, where frequent fliers can volunteer personal information to prove they are not a threat, be implemented. Rather than going through the same security as everyone else, a “Trusted Traveler” would have to go through an explosive detection device but not have to remove shoes, clothes, etc. There would be either a fingerprint or eye check to prove they are who they say they are.
The Air Transport Association, a group represeting the major airlines, came out against this proposal. Not surprised as bag fees have earned the airlines millions of dollars.
(Frank II)
