It was the second time in a month that I had the pleasure to visit Thessaloniki – this time for an exhibition as well. However, this time things were more tight:
My working hours at the corporate stand were 09.30 to 20.00, leaving no time in the morning and minimum time in the evening.
It was raining all the time. And we’re talking about thunderstorms, not just rain. And this is always a problem when you are on a business trip, carrying around your tech (laptop, smartphone, chargers and cables, powerbanks and all these tech goodies.
Thanks to a valid and detailed weather forecast, I packed my umbrella, raincoat and my GEOX Amphibiox boots. I wouldn’t be the smartest guy around but at least I would be dry – and this is really important during a business trip. Plus, my Riutbag R15.3 is water-resistant enough for casual rain.
I took my medium suitcase with me, so I had to pack smart. Made use of all my packing cubes, decided upon each daily outfit carefully and got some spares as well, just in case for the odd oil stain or the soaked pair of trousers. I didn’t miss a thing during my stay at Thessaloniki.
This combination of bad weather and packed schedule affected my own schedule: This time I didn’t visit my favorite restaurant (Lola), as the heavy rain did not allow me to get outside the exhibition for the lunch break. However, I enjoyed tasty burgers at Pax Burgers (just a couple of blocks away from my hotel) and typical dishes like gyros and kebab at Diagonios). We had some wonderful time and dishes during a corporate dinner at Neon Cafe and a round of relaxing beers at the ARC cafe bar– really close to our hotel.
I came back to Athens exhausted but thankful for these days away from my daily routine.
I have been travelling a lot during the last years. There were periods that I was traveling twice per month, on 3-4 day trips – and I am not working in sales. I eventually developed my own traveling habits, finding my way through unknown airports, cities and hotels, as I tend to carefully plan each trip and even my transportation from any airport to my hotel, from there to the meeting place and back.
Hotels felt like my home away from home. I have stayed in tiny rooms and hotel rooms with a kitchen and sitting room, in old hotels in the city center and brand new ones at the suburbs, with their own external pools, steam bath and golf field. Inspiring, practical rooms and dark ones in God-forsaken hotels. Hotels with huge breakfast buffets and others with a couple of rusks, butter and some jam – always served with a hot cup of coffee – or tea.
In all cases I need to make me feel as comfortable as possible, so that I can easily find my stuff, work when I have to, and relax when I find some time.
Closet
Probably the first thing I do when moving into my hotel room is to unpack and start filling the closet. I like to have all my clothes in hangers and shelves, because (a) they will not wrinkle (as they do in the suitcase) and (b) it’s much harder to find what you need in a packed suitcase.
Jackets go to one side, shirts to the other side, trousers and sweaters carefully folded on the shelves, next to the belts. My shoes go in pairs at the bottom of the closet or under a table in the room (if any).
Almost every hotel room comes with a desk. In most cases, there is a handy power outlet and in some cases an ethernet port for fast and stable internet connection. And this is where my work station will be. I set up mu laptop and mouse, notebook and pencils so that I can start working right away. Chairs are usually an issue, because they are the typical sitting room-style ones, but working time is usually minimum during my stay. If I am lucky, the desk is close to the TV screen and if it”s not locked to the odd hotel TV menu, I can hook my HDMI cable and make use of a much larger screen for working and watching movies late at night.
Gone are the days when internet – basic or fast access – was a premium and we had to pay extra for it. I still recall at least two cases where I had to pay €10 / day (or even more) for accessing the internet through my hotel room – and it’s not about the cost per se (such costs were usually reimbursed – we are talking about business trips), but it was a matter of me seeing internet connectivity as essential (a commodity?) as hot water and a bed during my stay (for which I never have to pay extra).
Nowadays, you can find fast and stable wireless internet connection. Plus, if you happen to have an ethernet socket in the room, you can even create a personal WiFi hotspot for all your wireless devices.
Bathroom
The bathroom tells a lot about the room and the hotel in general. They do not have to be spotless but they have to be clean, and renovated if needed. Nothing looks worse than a cracked, stained bathroom sink, a dripping tap ot a dirty shower curtain.
I love hotel amenities and this is where you’ll find the most – small bottles of shampoos and shower gels, tiny hand soaps – all smelling nicely, shower caps and other handy stuff that fit perfectly in a travelling bag. I find some space for my electric toothbrush (and hopefully a power outlet for charging it) and toothpaste and off we go.
I like the shower heads of hotel bathrooms but at the same time dislike the plastic curtains that sometimes stick on your body while showering – and even these plastic shower cubicles that appear every now and then. I am a big guy and I tend to hit the sides (or touch the curtain) with my elbows while showering).
Power outlets
Power outlets are never enough. Period. If you have to charge a smartphone, a laptop and other gadgets like a powerbank, Bluetooth headphones/ear pods, a camera etc., you start looking around for more. I have a couple of fast USB chargers with 2 ports so I can charge more than one device at a time – in addition, I try to schedule the charging of different devices at different times. For example, I usually leave my laptop and smartphone charging overnight, so that I have them fully charged in the morning. During the day I can charge less demanding (and important) devices, like mp3 players and Bluetooth headphones
An additional trick is to use a free USB port of the laptop for slow charging a less energy-demanding device. This would not be the case for my fast-charging smartphone at 30W with its 6.000 mAh battery, which would take ages to fully charge from a USB port.
Mini Bar
Most hotels I stay in do have a small fridge but not a mini bar. This is a good thing, because mini bar prices are usually outrageous – but this is the premium you have to pay when you get the munchies late at night and you haven’t stashed anything edible 🙂
This does not apply in my case, as I usually keep some snacks like protein and cereal bars, crackers etc. in my bag, just in case. However, I use the fridge for keeping my water bottle (or a bottle of juice) cold, along with any snacks that need to be preserved (e.g. sandwich or pies).
In some cases, the room is equipped with additional stuff like coffee cups, coffee sachets and teabags, along with a water boiler. A cup of warm coffee is always more than welcome when working from the hotel room and you’re not in the mood for walking around the hotel to get one.
Breakfast
The most important meal of the day, especially when you have a busy day ahead and you never know when the next lunch break will be. I like to wake up early in the morning and be among the first to have breakfast. The earlier it is, the less crowded the breakfast room tends to be so service is faster and available for the odd request like a toast, a special coffee or even an omelet. I appreciate a quiet surrounding when I eat, especially in the morning, so I am willing wo spare some sleeping time in favor of a quiet and quick full breakfast.
A good breakfast can hold me until late in the afternoon (thus skipping lunch), so it saves me precious time and the option to have something quick and probably unhealthy.
At the end of a busy day you find yourself exhausted in a room with limited options to kill your time before you fall asleep. What I do is to carry an external hard disk with me, full of movies. I can either move a couple of them to a USB stick and plug it directly in the USB port of the TV (if this is an option), watch the movie on the TV using my laptop hooked with an HDMI cable to the TV or, in the case none of these works, just use my laptop for watching the movie.
I like to watch the news on the TV while I am working or relaxing at the room, to keep myself updated on what’s happening in the world. In some cases I just switch to a music TV channel for adding some atmosphere to my working environment.
I still recall one time that I was on a business trip and the FIBA Basketball World Cup was taking place. I was glad to have my mornings rather free from obligations (that were taking place in the afternoon), so I had the opportunity to watch most of the Greek basketball team’s games live in my hotel room. It was not the best possible timing but I had a great time combining leisure with work.
Checking available options in the area
A hotel room may be comfortable, quiet and relaxing; however, it’s still a small room with various limitations, so it’s handy to know what options you have nearby for coffee. lunch, dinner, shopping (a 24/7 mini market might prove valuable when you realize late at night that you forgot your toothpaste) etc.
I like to explore my options beforehand if time allows, with a quick desktop research, and validate them when I reach my hotel. For example, I discovered a burger house near my usual hotel at Thessaloniki and it turned out to be one of my favorite spots in the city, for a quick bite and when budget is limited. I also had numerous drinks and beers at a cozy and lively cafe-bar which is just one block away from my hotel. Plus, a 24/7 snack shop almost next to the hotel is always useful when there’s no time for breakfast, for a cup of coffee early in the morning or for a light snack late at night.
It’s always useful to know what’s in walking distance from the hotel and the options I have without having to get a taxi (I don’t like taxis), walk too much (even though I love walking) or use public means of transportation (which may be inconvenient, especially in Greece).
(I apologize in advance for the frequent use of the word luggage in the text below)
I am a pretty frequent flyer and I have been flying various trips, ranging from 1 day to 1 week. I was always an advocate of traveling light, and in order to make my life easier I have spent quite some time in learning how to pack efficiently and making the most out of both my available storage space and the clothes I pack in the end. My typical trip luggage consists of a medium-sized laptop backpack with all electronics, gadgets and valuables loaded and a suitcase (cabin size or larger, depending on the trip).
Over the last years I have been witnessing a serious issue with carry-on luggage: I often see obviously oversized suitcases, multiple smaller bags (which in total are of larger size and volume compared to the typical cabin luggage) and people carrying so many bags from the airport’s duty-free shops that it equals to an additional one or even two cabin-sized suitcases. This makes me wonder if carry-on luggage is actually checked at some point and if the related restrictions are applied.
Even though lost luggage is less of a problem, many passengers still don’t trust an airline with their belongings, and they don’t want to pay more for their bags.
At the same time, there is no actual inspection on the luggage that flyers bring on board. The whole process seems to have some “holes”, as anyone who does not pass through the check-in counters (e.g. for printing their boarding passes) can go through the security controls with their multiple bags and/or oversized ones. These checkpoints are mostly concerned with the security aspect of luggage (e.g. prevent flyers from carrying any of the prohibited items) and not as much with the luggage size limitations posed by each airline. Indeed, I have never seen any security officer at these controls pointing out anything related to the number or the size of luggage that each passenger carries on board.
This situation is taken for granted, and in this context, I frequently witness passengers refusing to hand over their 2nd and/or 3rd bag when asked to do so before boarding on a fully-booked flight – they usually claim that they have things inside that they will need during the flight or valuables that they are afraid that might be stolen. The concept of the “laptop bag”, which is allowed as an additional onboard item on top of the cabin luggage, is usually abused by flyers who make use of their over-sized and over-stuffed backpacks and refer to them as the “laptop bag”.
This situation affects all passengers on board and raises three important issues:
Boarding (and leaving the aircraft) becomes painfully slow, and leads to a consequent delay of the flight (and offloading). Everyone needs time to store their luggage in the overhead lockers, pushing and pulling the luggage of others in order to make some room; multiply this by the number of those with oversized cabin luggage and you see the real dimension of the problem;
Passengers who checked in their luggage have a hard time finding space for their (usually smaller) cabin luggage, as most space is already occupied by the oversized and numerous cabin bags of the rest of the passengers. Plus, they feel like jerks, as in the end they realize that they could have also avoided checking in their luggage.
The solution is simple: Airlines need to enforce the rules that they apply regarding cabin luggage. They have their nice metal boxes with the dimensions of allowed luggage so anything that doesn’t fit in there should be taken away and checked in (even without charging for it). Alternatively, flyers with over-sized cabin luggage should pay a fee for getting it onboard. The same should go for those who carry their cabin luggage, a huge laptop bag and other bags with them – not more than one item per passenger with no exceptions – ok, maybe apart from some light duty-free shopping.
Everyone should comply with he regulations and restrictions, no matter if we find them fair or unfair. These are the rules of the game and we should play fair. Why am I saying this? Because I am fed up of seeing passengers misusing the cabin baggage allowance and having to wait for them to store and get their baggage until I get to my seat or get off the plane.
At the same time, I have to admit that checked in baggage fees are currently quite high (especially for non-business travelers) and should be better adjusted to the real cost of the service. For example, having to pay EUR 40-50 for a EUR 90 one-way ticket can hardly make sense. From one hand I understand flyers trying to “cheat” airlines by bringing onboard more than they are allowed to, but I cannot agree on doing this against fellow travelers, making their trip inconvenient.
P.S. I feel I have to mention the great work done in this context by various backpack and luggage designers and manufacturers (mostly individual ones) such as Cabin Max and Riut (their RiutBag X25 is a great example) in making the most out of the maximum allowed carry-on size; their work respects the restrictions posed by the airlines and at the same time benefits the flyers and travelers in general, who want to pack more with less.
A new day – Tuesday – had started and I had a nice feeling about it. I woke up early, had a nice breakfast at the hotel, took a warm shower and check out, heading back to the meeting place. This time the elevator was working. I had already checked in for both my Lufthansa flights from Berlin to Munich and from there to Athens in the previous afternoon, and I was supposed to leave the meeting at about 16.00 to head to the airport and catch my flight.
For some reason I did not have a good cellular signal at the meeting building and at some point after the lunch break, I received a call. It was a colleague of mine, who said that they have been trying to contact me for quite a long time to inform me that my Lufthansa flight was cancelled (WTF!!). The good news was that I was rebooked to a Swiss flight to Zurich and from there to Athens. The bad news was that the Swiss flight was one hour earlier than my Lufthansa one, so I had to rush to the airport – now!
(Lufthansa only informed me by SMS (not via email, which I checked regularly), but I had no signal at the time, so I received it rather late).
I quickly picked up all my stuff and rushed to the bus stop to take the airport bus so quickly that I did not have time to greet my colleagues at the meeting. In the meantime, I was on the phone with my agent, who offered to check me in as well, so that I would save some time – and I was glad she did. She also emailed me the boarding pass, just to be on the safe side.
My last photo before leaving Berlin; yes, it was snowing in the morning.
Thankfully, I arrived to the airport on time and went through the security checks pretty fast. I was one time and the flight of Swiss only had a slight delay so we made it on time in Zurich. However, the flight from Zurich to Athens was also delayed (by about 45 mins) and this only got worse by the fact that Swiss staff at the gate started asking passengers to hand over their oversized of second cabin item. As expected, no one was willing to hand over a luggage that they planned to take on board and this led to a confusion and contributed to the delay of the flight.
As a result of all this mess, I reached Athens more than 1 hour later than I expected, at about 01.45. I was on time in all occasions, but none of the airlines was. I reached home at about 02.30, went to bed at about 03.00. Next morning, I woke up at 06.30 to get to the office as usual 🙂
(Alternative title: A 150 Euro taxi ride to nowhere)
(Alternative title #2: Oh Lufthansa, where art thou?)
I have been traveling all over the world for business for the last 10 years – I even managed to get a Gold status with Aegean Airlines at some point, as a frequent flyer. In these 10 years I only once missed a flight (it was due to long security/passport controls in the U.S. but I was lucky enough to be rebooked to the next flight). I was lucky enough but also did my best to be always on time for my flights.
Last Sunday, I had to fly to Berlin through Frankfurt for business purposes with Lufthansa. I had the option of taking an earlier direct flight to Berlin, but I opted to spend some more time with my family on Sunday, who wouldn’t?
I arrived on time at the Athens airport but the flight was delayed by more than 1 hour (I cannot recall exactly) “due to the plane arriving delayed in Athens”. To make a long story short (and this is a really long story!) we reached Frankfurt airport only to find out that the last flight to Berlin had just taken off on time, leaving the remaining passengers waiting at the airport. A helpful lady at the gate informed me about the good news and the bad news:
The good news were that I would get a hotel voucher, a couple of vouchers for the taxi (from and to the airport) and a 10EUR voucher for a snack, as the hotel kitchen would be closed by the time I reached it. I would also be re-booked on the early morning Lufthansa flight to Berlin – but I would have to be at the airport no later than 06.15.
The bad news: The hotel was about 90 km from the airport (!!), so something about 50 mins by taxi… and this is where all hell breaks loose:
I couldn’t find where to use my snack voucher and wasted precious time (as I realized later on); in the end I found a place, where I got a couple of sandwiches just before it closed for the night.
I went out in the freezing cold (-1 oC) waiting for a taxi – there was no queue, and taxi drivers came out of nowhere, picked up customers randomly and left
I got myself a taxi but the taxi driver hardly spoke English and he did not know where the hotel was; his bloody GPS could not pick up a signal and I was trying to explain to him that since we had stopped under a bridge it would be hard to get a signal. After spending about 15 mins waiting for the GPS, he brought a second one from the trunk and it actually worked.
In the meantime, I tried using my smartphones for the same purpose (actually, the taxi driver insisted on it); however, my Lumia was running out of battery (and later I realized that I had only downloaded the Berlin offline maps before leaving home) while my backup smartphone did not have any offline German maps at all.
On the way to the hotel (Hotel Villa Toskana), the driver explained to me that there were no rooms in Frankfurt due to a large exhibition taking place during these days – lucky me!
I had to be at the airport at 06.15 – the driver told me to get a taxi earlier than 05.00 from the hotel, as there could be heavy Monday traffic later on…
When I finally reached the hotel (remember – a good 95 km drive from the airport), I realized that there were dozens of passengers facing the same issue as me; everyone had a pack of vouchers and they were all directed to the same hotel from the airport…a long queue before I could get my key for the room. At least I managed to book a taxi for 04.30 next morning.
I only had about 4 hours available for sleep; however, I had to take a shower, eat my snacks, send a couple of urgent emails (e.g. informing the hotel at Berlin for my absence and let them know when I would check in) and re-arrange my stuff in my small wheeled backpack (the issues of traveling packed)
I was so worried that I would not hear the alarm in the morning that I kept checking the clock every 15 mins. In the meantime, I could hear people leaving their rooms so I gave up and woke up at 03.50.
I picked up my phones which I left charging overnight, only to realize that my main phone was not plugged properly, so charging had stopped at about 60% – not good enough for the long day ahead of me.
There was no traffic, no long security queues, no nothing – so I found myself waiting at the gate at about 05.30; 45 mins before expected. On top of that the Lufthansa flight was for once more delayed (something like 30 minutes). This time it was the ground team to blame, as they did not start preparing the plane early enough…enough with pathetic excuses!
At first I thought I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep; however, it was just the interesting decoration of the hotel 🙂
I finally reached Berlin, found my way to the TXL bus and reached my hotel, which was almost next to the meeting place. I paid a visit to make sure that I still had a room (got no response to my email so far) and leave some of my stuff in the room. At the reception, I was informed that they did not receive my email and I should have called them instead to let them know of the situation! Bloody hell…
In the end they found me a room and also allowed me to use their fast WiFi connection at no cost (which I never did, as costs may incur out of nowhere in hotels). Went upstairs, left my stuff (clothes and wash bag) and headed to the meeting place. It took me 10 mins to find the entrance, as Google maps showed the main entrance of the building while the organizers had used a side door instead. Relieved, I entered the building, heading to the 5th floor, where the meeting was taking place (and I was already 1 hour late); lucky me – the elevator was out of order so I had to use the stairs, packed with my (still heavy) wheeled backpack!
I spent so much time at the airports that in the end I felt like Tom Hanks!
My presentation was the last one in the agenda, and by that time I could hardly keep my eyes open – let alone delivering a decent presentation. Supported by several cups of coffee in the meantime, I managed to do a good job (as my friends in the audience told me later). However, I had to decline the offer for drinks and dinner right after the meeting, as I was really exhausted. I just went back to the hotel to get some decent sleep.
A hard day was over; but not the hellish trip… (to be continued)
It has been quite a long time since I last travelled abroad for business purposes. In the meantime, I made quite an extensive research on backpacks that can be used for short trips and I also did my research on how to pack (more) efficiently.
For a recent 2,5 days trip from Athens to Berlin (flying from Athens on Sunday afternoon and getting back home on Tuesday midnight), I decided to skip my typical cabin luggage and I instead opted for a more compact and wheeled backpack. It was a backpack that I “inherited” from my sister – I am still not sure how and when. On top of that, I am not sure about its brand and model, as it seems to be a “Turnip“-branded backpack (Highlander Continental 30), probably meant for company employees or as a gift to customers; who knows? I could not find any information on the Web about it.
Main features
The specific backpack is not the most spacious cabin luggage available on the market, nor a really practical one: It has a main compartment with a padded pocket for laptops and a small, shallow zippered pocket in front of it, suitable for securely storing your wallet, passport/ID or anything valuable but small. In addition, it has three pretty small & shallow (apart from one) external pockets on its front (e.g. for cables, chargers and stationary), along with two side mesh pockets for e.g. a water bottle and an umbrella.
Due to its design, the backpack hardly stands on its own when fully packed, as it tends to lean in the front and fall. Its strong point though are its wheels; it is the only wheeled backpack I have, so I went for it, even though my aging Trust laptop backpack seems to be able to hold much more volume.
Capacity
All in all, I managed to pack my essentials for this business trip, which were:
1. An 11.6-inch tablet with a detachable keyboard
2. A pair of trousers
3. Two shirts, really carefully folded
4. 3 pairs of socks & underwear
5. My pajamas
6. The typical transparent plastic bag with all my liquids (toothpaste, perfume, foot balm, hand sanitizer) as this was a cabin luggage, and my electric toothbrush
7. Packs of gum, medicine, refreshing tissues
8. 2 chargers (for the tablet & the smartphone)
9. 10 x company leaflets of 10 pages each, about 20 pages of A4 sheets with printed material, as well as my thick paper notebook with pens, markers etc.
10. An external hard disk & a powerbank with their cables
11. A pair of gloves and my wooly cap (Berlin was expected to be chilly, -5 to 5 Celsius during my stay)
There was still some space to fit e.g. my slippers or a small bag, but since the backpack was already heavy enough (about 8 Kg, as weighted at the airport counter), I opted to keep it light. There is also the possibility of having to carry some additional stuff on the trip back home, so this space could prove valuable.
As soon as I reached my hotel room, I removed anything not related to the meeting, so that I would look professional enough 🙂 In any case, it was great being able to walk around without having to carry all this weight on my back & shoulders.
Impressions
What I liked:
Wheels: Grateful for being able to push and pull my luggage instead of having to carry it on my shoulders;
Enough capacity for a two-days business trip; if this was a casual weekend, I could squeeze even more stuff (or have more free space)
Various organizational options – not the best ones for organizing stuff my way, but still I appreciated the pockets available.
The main compartment opens quite wide, so I could easily organize my stuff inside (not exactly 180 degrees, but I could do the work)
Shoulder straps are well-padded and totally invisible when stored in their pocket at the back of the backpack.
The storage pocket of the straps can be used for storing thin items, too; I used this space mostly for storing the leaflets and my notepad.
What I did not like:
Hard to keep the backpack standing straight; it usually tends to lean to the front.
I would like a different layout; e.g. a way to keep things more organized in the main pocket and probably to keep personal items in a different compartment than the work/professional ones. In this trip, I was forced to use bags for separating clothes from other stuff;
It is rather narrow at the top, missing some extra storage space that could be used if needed;
When using the shoulder straps, their storage pocket stays open – which doesn’t look good;
It looks bulky and rather ugly, due to its external pockets which extend.
Conclusions
To sum up, it was a great way to put the weight down to the ground and pull it instead of carrying on my shoulders; at the same time, I would appreciate some more storage and a better organization of the available space. It may be more sporty than I would like so I would not want to be unfair – maybe I was not exactly using it the way it was meant to be used (i.e. not for business trips or for thorough organization of items)
I would definitely use the backpack again in the future, for similar short trips but I would also keep my eye on any alternatives I have.
Packing less is great, but you always have to carry the essentials with you; especially when you spend some time away from home. You need to carefully plan your stay, think about the items that you will definitely need, add some of those that you may need and then start packing. The easiest way is packing more, but this is not really convenient – especially during summer holidays.
During the first part of our summer holidays, I packed my stuff in my compact messenger bag: My 10.1-inch tablet with its charger and the Logitech K480 keyboard, a couple of smartphones with their chargers, HDMI cable for plugging the tablet to the hotel room’s TV (it was the first time the TV was unlocked and the cable proved useful for keeping kids busy watching cartoons), a notepad & pencils, wallet, my sunglasses etc. However, I hardly had the opportunity to use the bulky keyboard and instead I used mostly my smartphones for consuming content (e.g. checking out social media, looking for information on places to visit, GPS navigation etc.) and producing as well (taking and editing photos, updating social media). I also found the bag heavy to carry around.
As a result, during the second part of our holidays, I decided to get rid of some stuff and be even more portable. I challenged myself to fit all my essentials in a really compact mens shoulder bag that was given to me as a gift some time ago but never had the opportunity to use it. It may sound impossible, but this little bag held the following during my holidays:
My Magic Wallet
A pocket notepad and a couple of pens
A pocket book (one of the biographies of Black Sabbath 😃 )
Home keys, car keys and hotel room keys with keyrings
Two smartphones and one charger
My sunglasses in their pouch
A compact flashlight (it always comes handy when away from home)
A nail clipper
Coins
Fresheners & gums
All the receipts collected during the vacations and a couple of folded A4 pages with map of the area and other notes.
It was so compact and light that I could easily carry it around by the pool, the beach and our evening walks – virtually all the time. Of course I did not have my 10.1-inch tablet nor its keyboard with me, but I would hardly have the opportunity to use them anyway, based on my experience and daily schedule. This meant that I stayed a little bit behind with blogging, reviewing the places we visited etc. but this would happen anyway, due to lack of time for that (and not due to the lack of the items themselves).
I recently got myself a Hare Kohu beach shader by Terra Nation, after our cheap beach umbrella broke. I went for a shader, as I liked the fact that our staff would be half-protected while we are swimming and that kids would find it fun to sit under the shade and play (compared to a typical beach umbrella).
The specific shader is easy to setup, provides plenty of space, is said to be of high quality and is lightweight. What more could I ask? I purchased one and spent some time at home, opening and closing it and I was amazed by its simplicity. Its material was thinner than I expected (more or less like a rain umbrella) so I don’t expect it to last for a long time; however, it may make up for it thanks to the fun of using it.
Today I had the opportunity to test it under real conditions, at a remote beach we visited during our summer holidays. It was really windy though, and the wind’s direction was opposite to the sun’s one, so the shader had to face the wind like the sails of a boat if we wanted to get some shade…
I needed some help from my wife to open it; in fact, she needed to make sure that it will not fly with the wind when opened! After that, I used five of the pegs provided with the shader and had both windows opened, in order to allow the wind’s flow, and put all our stuff inside. Using one of the available cords with an additional peg did not improve things. We soon realized that the shader would not stay at its position unless an adult sat inside, so we had to swim in turns! In the end, we got so frustrated by the wind that we had to pack our things and go. I closed the shader by myself and it was easier than I expected, taking into consideration the strong wind.
Despite that, my first impressions from Hare Kohu were positive:
It was easy to set up, even under windy conditions;
It gave us plenty of space and shade for three persons – even 4, if squeezed;
Our stuff were protected (at least partially);
We appreciated the roof pockets, which allowed the easy storage of our e.g. sunglasses and smartphones, among others.
The shader was easy to carry around (thanks to its practical carry bag) and lightweight, equal to a beach umbrella (but more compact).
On the other hand, it was obvious that strong wind was an issue and I would also appreciate a slightly thicker material (the current one looks prone to tearing at some point soon, even when packed with all these parts of the shader’s skeleton pressing the fabric).
Overall, I find it a nice investment and I can only hope that it will be a durable one.
I recently made a 3-days business trip to Ireland for a 2-day Conference. Due to a relatively recent operation I had, I decided to travel light, carrying only my backpack and a cabin-sized suitcase with only the basics. But this is a trip where things went wrong…
During the flight to Dublin, I managed to stain my shirt (one of the three I had with me) with olive olive during the in-flight lunch. I tried to remove it with wet towels, hand refreshers and lots of soap and rinsing with water but didn’t succeed.
I reached the hotel after about a long trip of 12 hours from Athens. As a result, I missed the interesting guided tour to the Kilkenny Castle, the Welcome Reception (drinks included) as well as a couple of interesting speeches.
When I reached the hotel and started unpacking, I realized that the small dispenser with my dry-skin lotion was broken in the suitcase and left some stains on my second shirt – two shirts off before even the start of the Conference!
My third shirt, which I had picked up from the dry cleaners just before the trip had some small coffee stains which had not been properly (and entirely) removed) – I only wish I had noticed that when I picked it up…
The hotel had a maze-like arrangement (rather complex for newcomers) and some irregularities (e.g. Reception was on top of the 1st and 2nd floor!) so I got lost while heading to the reception. This resulted in me getting out of the building through an one-way security door (not opening from the outside) and I found myself in chilling cold, wearing only a shirt and having just left the steaming shower. That was a shock for me, but fortunately I didn’t catch a cold. No doors opened from outside, so I had to walk in the woods surrounding the hotel until I reached its main entrance.
I left my smartphone to charge overnight using an EU to UK adapter but forgot that the UK power outlets have a small on-off switch. When I woke up in the morning, the smartphone’s battery was almost drained. It was a good thing I had my second device almost fully charged.
On the way back to Athens, my flight from Dublin to London was delayed by more than 1 hour, so I was not sure if I will be able to catch my connecting flight to Athens. I tried to reach both Aer Lingus and British Airways through their social media (FB pages and Twitter) but I got no response. On top of that, power outlets in Dublin airport were out of order and I was running out of battery. Thank God for the free WiFi.
When we landed in London, nobody knew if we had sufficient time to catch our flight to Athens. I was rushing so much that I missed the signs leading to the bus connecting Heathrow Terminal 2 with Terminal 5 and I had to walk much longer to catch the train. I was in a real shock.
Fortunately our flight from London to Athens was also delayed, so I found myself boarding later on. Unfortunately It was delayed so much (more than 2 hours, if I recall well), that we reached Athens early morning (about 05.30) instead of 02.30.
British Airways has turned into a low-cost airline and I was not aware of that. Instead of free beverages during the flight, we were handed a Marks & Spencer menu list and we had to pay for virtually anything that we needed – even for coffee and water. I feel sorry that I had opted for the BA flight instead of e.g. an Aegean one.
The delayed flights along with the lack of proper sleep during the previous days, resulted in me sleeping abnormal times during the weekend, as I was really exhausted.
That’s the kind of stuff that you hate when traveling – especially for business purposes. No matter how well you prepare, things can easily go wrong. It’s a good thing that they’re not typical to most of my business trips, but some times, shot happens!
I used to travel a lot for business purposes. And I mean a lot. And by traveling, I mostly refer to flying; I have used most of the airlines operating in EU (save the low cost ones) and have been through various hard circumstances during my trips; lost luggage, missed flights, traveled sick and unprepared for meetings etc.
One of the issues when traveling (especially when flying) is proper packing; it’s always nice to travel with only the minimum but you always need to ensure that everything needed will be packed and travel with you, being available when needed. Packing efficiently and light is crucial when flying with low cost airlines (or when the cost of checked luggage is not included so only hand/cabin luggage is an option), where every centimeter of the luggage and every gram counts.
So what are the most essential items that need to be included when packing and what could be avoided in order to save space?
Gadgets: Since I am referring to business trips, a laptop, charger and all peripherals are essential. So apart from my laptop I usually need to take with me a mouse (to work more efficiently), headphones with mic (when Skype calls need to take place during the trip), my external hard disk (which hosts my >21GB email inbox, working files and movies if time allows). I also take a paper notepad and pens with me (to keep notes when using a laptop is not an option), a couple of USB flash disks for sharing files and my mirrorless Olympus E-PM1 camera with a spare battery and its charger. I also take my Philips MP3 player with me, which doubles as a USB flash drive if needed. During my last trips I replaced my 17- or 15-inch laptops with my 10.1-inch WinTab(a Windows tablet with a detachable keyboard); this allowed me to save space and weight while at the same time I managed to work really efficiently – even during the flight. It only takes a couple of cables (a microHDMI to HDMI for projecting to larger screens like hotel room TVs and a microUSB to USB one for making use of all tablet’s extension ports) to make up for the tablet’s limitations. In addition, if space and weight is an issue, I opt to leave my camera behind and use my Nokia Lumia 735 smartphone for taking photos; it never lets me down with its wide-angle Zeiss lens and 6,7MP sensor.
Clothes: This is what takes the most of space and weight of a luggage. Depending on the length and type of the trip, a different number of outfits are needed. As a rule of thumb, at least one extra pair of trousers is needed (accidents happen), a couple of shirts and a smart combination between them (i.e. make sure that most of them match).Pyjamas, slippers, underwear (1 set per day plus one extra) and a casual outfit (e.g. jeans and a hoodie) are handy for free time/walks during trips with spare time included. An extra pair of shoes never hurt by the way, if space is not an issue. otherwise a comfortable pair will do the work for all days. In order to save space, I tend to wear jackets and suit (if needed) during the trip (it saves on wrinkles, too!) and leave all light clothes in the luggage.
Toiletries: This is also tricky, especially in the case of cabin luggage only. In this case, all liquids need to be in <100mL containers, so I have to spare my Detol disinfectant spray (replaced by a small bottle of disinfectant) and my deodorant spray (replaced by a roll-on). Toothbrush & toothpaste, shower gel and shampoo come anyway in small containers; the latter are usually available in hotel rooms anyway but I take them with me just in case. A bottle of perfume is always needed and a nail clipper can always come handy.
Other stuff: One of the things that I carry with me during business trips is a folder with printed material; this includes e.g. the agenda of the meeting/workshop/conference, related material that I need to go through during the trip, a notepad for taking notes, a map of the city I am visiting or the directions from the airport to the hotel, boarding passes and hotel vouchers etc. In some cases I need to carry a poster with me and since I want to have my hands free while traveling, I try to squeeze the poster box inside the luggage. Last but not least, I usually feel nice when using my own towels so I get a couple of them with me if space allows. Last but not least, I like to take my Klean Kanteen insulated water bottle with me; this allows me to keep hydrated throughout the trip days and avoid disposable plastic water bottles.
A photo posted by Vassilis (@vprot) on Sep 3, 2014 at 11:55am PDT
It is obvious that depending on the length and type of the trip (some trips are more formal than others), I try different combinations of stuff that I carry with me and the option of a checked luggage expands possibilities. In any case, I always try the pack the least I can so that I carry the least with me – traveling light is convenient!
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