Do you need a " Freedom Bag" for your liquids?

Aggressive, abusive behavior— even for the purposes of political protest — isn’t really my style, but it’s worth noting that there are people so hacked off by the Transportation Security Administration that they would put up a site like kiphawleyisanidiot.com (Hawley is the head of the TSA ) where you can learn how to make the “Freedom Bag”, a clear plastic protest against the 3-1-1 security regimen. Incidentally, a New York Times writer was pilloried when he wrote a piece that was construed as supportive of the TSA.

Tenacious Joe on insecurity

“Six years to the day after 9/11, business travelers wrestle with an ugly reality: Our most intractable foe may be the federal bureaucracy we created to keep our airports and airplanes safe.” - the words of no-holds-barred Joe Brancatelli, the pit bull travelers’ advocate. Read his column here. You can read his often-scathing air travel blog here.

Feeling bloated?

Whether real or simply perceived, the vulnerability of checked baggage to loss, delay and pilferage has increased the incidence of carry-on bloat, with business travellers and casual tourists trying to bring as much aboard as possible.

This story from a Canadian newspaper sizes up the luggage situation and warns of tougher enforcement of carryon regulations. 

Adventure travel packing list

Here’s an adventure travel packing list that’s not much different than our own light travel/one-bag list. I tend to leave the doo-dads and emergency stuff up to the individual and I’ve never had need of iodine tablets, but the adventure list is a good one and is available in a downloadable PDF, too. The contents of the list would easily fit in one carryon or pack.

Outgoing FAA chief warns airlines of intervention

“I predict passengers will continue to be fed up with delays, and that’s got to be taken more seriously by our airlines,” Blakey said in a speech before the Aero Club of Washington. Her five-year term as FAA administrator ends Thursday.

“If the airlines don’t address this voluntarily, don’t be surprised when the government steps in,” she said. — USA TODAY

This would of course sound more ominous coming from an incoming official, but it’s good that someone is rattling the airlines’ cages.

The Cranky Flier dubs Blakey as “Captain Obvious” for the above statement. 

3-1-1: Reviewing the rule, good & bad

The NYT has an excellent overview of the 3-1-1 experience.

It mentions a trick I’ve found to be very effective with getting my bagged liquids past arbirtray and rule-ignorant screeners:

‘Not wanting to have her toiletries tossed out, she assembled some generic three-ounce containers and assiduously spent time pasting manufacturers’ labels on them.

“It was a little insane, but still, I couldn’t believe how the labels stuck,” she said. “If you looked closely you could tell the labels weren’t exactly straight and there was missing information. But I thought, like, who’s going to know from a label anyway?”

Nobody. Actually, despite what a few uninformed checkpoint screeners might say, there is no requirement that a container carry a manufacturer’s label.’

Actually, I just refill containers with similarly-colored liquids - like clear hand soap (for laundry) in empty two-ounce hand sanitizer bottles. 

Featherweight carry-on computer

We recently reported on the tiny Eee PC mico mini, but here’s another ultra-portable that’s sure to to be a hit with the light traveler: the Fujitsu U810 which will cost under $1000 and weighs 1.56 pounds. The screen is 5.6” and hard drive is 40GB. This UMPC reportedly has a more usable keyboard that most ultra mobiles. Check out Gear Diary’s preview and a more complete review at brighthand.com.

Real-time, map-based flight tracker

FlightStats Launches Map-Based Flight Tracker
Google® Maps Mash-up Tracks Airline Flights Over North America

PORTLAND, Ore. – September 11, 2007 – Do you know where your loved ones are?
Tracking the location of traveling family members, bosses, and colleagues
just got a lot easier with FlightStats’ introduction of a map-based flight
tracker. All you need to know is what airline they’re using and their
departure or arrival cities to zero in on the precise geographic position
and estimated arrival time of their flight. The new flight tracker combines
the power of Google® Maps with FlightStats’ up-to-the minute flight data to
show you the exact location of the flight over a standard, satellite or
hybrid map of North America.

The interactive Web application refreshes automatically as the flight
progresses. Companion screens show weather information in both the arrival
and departure cities and alert you to any airport delays that might affect
the flight. Flight information displayed below the map includes the
historical on-time arrival rating for the monitored flight, its scheduled
and actual departure time, and its estimated arrival time. Viewers can click
through to get more flight details and set up alerts to deliver updates on
the flight to a mobile phone or PC. To track a flight visit:

http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightTracker/flightTracker.do

Use of the tracker is free and requires no login to track a flight. The
advertising-supported tracker is also available for free syndication on
travel sites, weather sites, blogs and personal web pages. FlightStats
offers other syndicated content such as interactive airport delay maps,
weather applications and flight status/flight alert applications from:

http://www.flightstats.com/go/Syndication/syndication.do

—RELEASE FROM FLIGHTSTATS.COM 

Shoulder relief

I’m in love with the Tom Bihn Absolute Shoulder Strap for bags, but the folks at GearDiary have found another shoulder saver that appears to offer similar benefits - the Skooba Design Superbungee Shoulder Strap (reviewed here) which takes a slightly different, bungeefied approach to lightening your your load. A good strap is the cheapest, best upgrade for most shoulder bags.

New anti-theft device: the shoulder

The pervasiveness and inevitability of luggage theft and pilferage at airports is the subject of a well-done New York Times story. That’s mostly checked luggage mind you. Security rules from recent years requiring that luggage be left unlocked (or TSA-locked) have only added to the problem. Surely this is one more reason not to check a bag. It’s a little harder to steal luggage off someone’s back or shoulder than it is in some cavernous baggage-handling pit. It is noted in the story however that travelers should be careful at security checkpoints where hand inspections occur while travelers may be distracted by things like walk-through metal detectors. Read “No Suitcase is Safe”

Solid solutions to carryon liquid rules

Here’s a story that reviews solid replacements for liquid toiletries. The list includes moisturizers, shampoo, conditioner, makeup, and even toothpaste that come in solid form - meaning they don’t have to ride in the little TSA-required 3-1-1 baggie.

Good news, bad news

Two stories from the weekend are worth reading for the serious air traveler. This New York Times piece reminds us that 70% of US flights are now late but offers some coping stragegies and links to flight intelligence sites. USA Today reports on a new x-ray machine which may speed security checkpoints by necessitating less hand inspection and segregation of devices like laptops from the rest of our carryon luggage. It sounds like this system which we reported on some time ago.

Advice from a fellow traveler

OBOW reader Alain shares a little common sense for travelers. He says not to be surprised - wherever you may be - that that the whims and moods of those you must deal with affect the often-trying process of travel, and adds “My rule number one, no matter how unpleasant the person is, smile, be helpful and enthusiastically cooperative. It may not help all the time but I feel it helps in most cases. And a hello in their language always helps.” Thanks, Alain. We needed that.

Cut the cables, whack the weight

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

Eeek! A tiny travel computer!

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.

Wear your stuff

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

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

Beware the Virgin

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.

When you see the Tilley hat, shoot me!

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.

Heavy luggage not to blame

Please forgive the dearth of posts this week. I’m down in my back, but - rest assured - it’s not the result of heavy luggage. I tray to stay under 15 pounds - on my back or shoulder. This will not, of course, drive me to wheeled luggage which is light only until you have to bend over and lift it. Then it can be very heavy indeed.