Our first long-haul transatlantic travel with our young son (7.5 months) and burgeoning adventurer worked out wonderfully thanks to a few basic insights and key learnings.
We traveled from San Francisco to London, Munich, Stockholm, Scania, Copenhagen and back to London in 10 days in windy, rainy but also sunny fall, early winter weather. We had to rely on socialistic (laugh) transportations like bus, trains and flights as we didn’t bring any car seat.
It worked out wonderfully thanks to the great infrastructure across northern Europe. We also decided to only pack what we could transport in and on the stroller (see above image: two small duffel bags and a messenger bag) to keep things simple and light-weight. But we quickly realized we had packed too many clothes and toys. Suppose there is always room for improvements.
Our 5 key insights:
- Do your homework and plan out the logistics of the whole trip in advance to be able to really enjoy the travels and have energy and time to manage the unforeseen. Make sure you have a plan B and plenty of time if things go wrong, from missed connections to tube strikes or your child getting sick (which Oliver did the last few days).
- Flying in the evening or afternoon with plenty of morning, midday play got the little monster tired and he slept 8 out of 10 hrs to London. Try to get the bulkhead seat or the middle seat blocked out for more space. Important that both of you give your kid all your attention when the crying starts to a) stop the crying and b) show your fellow travelers that you are taking their comfort seriously. Nothing infuriates people more than ignorant and careless parents. A preventative measure that works is to introduce you and your child to your passenger by name and personality. Eases the potential friction.
- Stay at convenient located hotels that offer bathtub, breakfast, space for play and easy entry / exit with stroller. Request crib in advance.
- Pack light and rely on hotels, friends or laundromats to wash clothes every 4-5 days. Makes packing, repacking and traveling so much simpler. Check all bags plus stroller to final destination and use only one joint carry-on for the essentials such as food, diapers and in our case our iPads.
- Buy all convenience products locally to save space and time. This includes most of the toiletry which usually can take up a lot of unnecessary space. Bring one light-weight toy and buy more as needed. The world is not as foreign, dangerous or remote as it might seem…
Our trip was fun but very different from previous solo adventures. We discovered new places and people thanks to Oliver. One of them worth mentioning is the Serpentine Kitchen & Bar in Hyde Park - perfect for kids, great modern British food and a beautiful location.
All in all, it was a great pleasure seeing him grow through new experiences, meeting new people and enjoy traveling as much as we do. Watching him smile at people from all over the world and from all walks of life makes you feel good about the future. The little one has no prejudice - yet.
PS. The image shows Arlanda Express, the speedtrain connecting Arlanda Airport with Stockholm. It reached 130mph during our trip.
The travel clothing from Scottevest is pretty cool at a first glance: lots of pockets, iPad compatible and breathable fabric. Then I’m thinking: Do I really need to schlepp around all the things that can fit into these pockets? Like sunglasses, water bottle, SD card, bluetooth headset, camera, pens, car keys et cetera.
In the end of the day I only need two pockets; one for my passport and one for my iPhone case / wallet. It’s the difference between thinking inside the box (how can I fit all my stuff) and outside the box (what do I really need). My favorite solution is the blue blazer as it triples as travel, work and evening jacket.
That said, for anyone that really need to carry around a lot of stuff these clothes are pretty cool. But only as a replacement, not addition.
How I pack for a 5-day work trip to Europe:
- Only one light-weight carry-on with the bare essentials: underwear, shirts, pajamas, fleece, iPhone/iPad, passport, wallet, headphones et cetera
- SIGG box / bottle for home-made goodness and water; perfect to refill at the hotel breakfast buffet as healthy backup food
- Planned layover in London to utilize free showers and breakfast at airport lounges (requires higher mileage status)
- Having the hotel clean my clothes and provide hygiene articles; sandwiches to-go for early flights
- Storing everything digital in the cloud, accessible from iPhone/iPad
There are so many benefits with traveling light-weight: it’s faster, easier and more comfortable. Anything can be bought anywhere these days so why prepare for that rainy day that might never happen. Take a walk on the wild side!
Our market economy’s abundant offering and ample choice forces us to create restrictions not to drown in excess. The idea that choice is a democratic right assumes that everyone is well-informed and educated. People are not.
I’ve embraced simplicity in everything I do since a few years back. If forces me to think before I buy, use or throw away. A few weeks ago - inspired by Minimal Mac - I cleaned up my iPhone home-screen. It was a fantastic experience in defining real need, prioritizing and setting restrictions. Not to speak of de-cluttering life.
I’ve done the same on all our desktop and powerbooks. Above is an image of how the desktop on my Air looks like. No visible hard-drive or files, no cluttered menu bar and no overcrowded dock. It’s Desktop Zero.
Here is a list of desktop applications I use on a daily, weekly and monthly basis:
- Chrome - the best browser ever made. I use the Diigo, Freely, GMail, Facebook and Calendar extensions. Google Docs to store, edit and share any file extension.
- Spotify - cause they rock. The interface is making iTunes look silly.
- Hulu desktop - a fantastic user experience via the Apple remote.
- Skype - for outgoing free calls.
- iTunes and iPhoto - cause I must. Stuck in the Apple ecosystem (no need to have in dock though).
By using Google Docs for any file extension I’m also keeping my desktop clean. Docs is self-organizing so I don’t have to think about what I worked on last. Waking up to Desktop Zero (and Inbox Zero) makes work so much more pleasant. I don’t have to spend time working on old problems that might no longer exist, but focus my best creative hours on creating new value.
The Chrome extensions are a great way of being notified on new emails, invites or posts. Great place to start every morning to check mail, RSS feeds and Facebook posts. The same accessibility should obviously be available on the iPhone when traveling.
PS. The iPad has the potential of becoming the best of the desktop and the iPhone. Or the worst. In a few weeks we’ll see.
