Some observations on business travel

wundergeist · Jun 6, 2009

I wrote down some observations from 20-plus years of being an accidental tourist. It's mostly relevant to people who travel on business, for short engagements.

Full post here:

http://sitacuisses.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-observations-on-being-accidental.html

My advice regarding bags:

Don't check bags. The site OneBag elaborates on this -- for tourists, mostly. As a business traveller for whom flexibility is important, I find that being able to carry all my stuff, fast and without having to negotiate ramps for wheeled trunks, is a great advantage.

After working through a large collection of rolling carry-ons and hanging garment bags, I've settled on a Victorinox trifold bag. Yes, the tri-fold may harm the suits if you're such a novice at packing that you don't know how to pack a suit for travel. But the small size and light weight, the large open space, and the backpack conversion (for when you have to lug it over miles, oh, say, in Heathrow airport, if you're ever so unlucky as to be forced to fly through it) are worth the small risk.

For some one-day trips, I take only a Brenthaven Urban backpack; its design and all-black look are professional enough to not clash with the clothes, and judicious choice of suit and chinos will allow the suit jacket to work as odd jacket (hung during the flight), while the suit pants & vest and the other clothes take up the rear compartment of the backpack. (Bundle packing is worth learning, if you travel much.)

If you need to get a large bag from place A to place B when you fly from place A to place B, say a lot of A/V equipment in a Pelican case, use a messenger service like UPS or FedEx. This doesn't work well internationally, but is a good alternative domestically.
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My advice regarding travel vests:

Travel vests are lifesavers. I used to wear tactical pants and tactical shirts to fly. This is a bad idea: you spend a lot of time at security emptying and refilling pockets. Two better alternatives are the fanny pack and the travel vest. With either you just put them on the conveyor belt without taking anything out of their pockets. I used to prefer fanny packs (worn in front), but some places have "no bag" rules, and some airlines want to count them as your personal piece of luggage, so travel vests won.

In my experience nothing beats a Scottevest travel vest; its pocket-in-pocket architecture allows me to keep things organized, its structure lets me carry a lot of weight with comfort, and its Personal Area Network is a great way to keep wires out of the way. I have several cargo vests, including two Scottevests, a Columbia, a Trail Designs, and a Paul & Shark, and I'm buying more Scottevests.
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Enjoy,

JCS

pu1869 · Jun 6, 2009

Great post.

I have been traveling internationally since I was about 6 year and my father was a classic Road warrior sales man so I knew many of these tips long before Flying lost it romance.

I just wish that everyone would learn these basic tips and it would make travel and flight much easier for all of us.

DSC · Jun 6, 2009

Yes, I wish people were better-educated also. My favorite thing is when I'm trying to board the plane and there's 30 people just standing there, not moving with a purpose, just sort of casually trying to get their overstuffed, too large bags in the overhead bins. I love that. It's just great...and I get the impression they don't care about anyone but themselves.

Sorry...I just travel efficiently but when so many people don't, I ended up being inconvenienced because of others.

Mike V · Jul 23, 2009

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