Travel Planning (Still) Sucks
I love to travel and I love to plan travels. Especially the often overseen logistics that will ensure a seamless, joyful and on-budget experience. Right now I’m planning for my fall trip to Europe; a few days in London, Cambridge, Dorset, Zürich, Lausanne, Geneva, Paris, Copenhagen, Karlskrona and London. 9 days, 9 cities - easy.
The decision between taking a flight from Zürich to Paris or choosing the slower train for a more vivid experience is a delicate one. Flight ensures speed but trains emotions and an uninterrupted work experience. Then there is price: my train to Paris ended up being 1/3 of the price of the flight and I’ll arrive right smack in the city. Then there is access to real food…
But there is no formula. It’s all based on experience, gut-feel and hunches. There must be time to smell the roses as well as quickly getting from A to B. Early mornings are justified in some cases, in others not. Sleep-ins matters as well as early starts.
But booking engines and mapping services have a long way to go to become really valuable and efficient tools in planning travels. Sometime I’d want the most cost-effective options and sometimes the most adventurous. I want alternatives and options, transparent and authentic.
What about a services where I could share my core itinerary and let my social graph collaboratively design the experience? Maybe even connect it with relevant data?
Mind Over Matter
I’ve realized over the years that I live in my brain. Once in a while I come out to play but as soon as I get bored I return to this safe haven of crazy ideas and foreign dreams. How could I say no to a place where everything could happen at anytime, where nothing is impossible and where your ideas always wins.
It’s not that I dislike the real world, it’s pretty freekin’ fantastic if you ask me. And I should know, having traveled across all continents and 80+ countries for work and leisure during the past 30+ years.
No, it’s about survival and sanity. We all have different way to stay sane in this ding-ding-dong-dong world. Some people find safety in other people, sports or material things. I enjoy a glas of red wine, a good book and letting the mind wander off to new places.
I remember back in elementary school when my grades floundered. My parents were called to school for a parent-teacher conference to get their heads around this monumental failure. My teacher complained that I tuned out and was off dreaming during the essential math and science classes.
Today I’m very grateful for my minds random walks and ad-hoc idiosyncrasies. I just wish I knew of and had read Richard Feynman’s “What do you care what other people think?” so I could have had a counter-argument to “not trying hard enough” or “just being a little lazy” back in school.
But to quote the Swedish proverb “Inget ont utan att ha något gott med sig” (There is always something good in what might seem as only evil at the time) I now have the opportunity to share my insights with my son and prevent him from experiencing similar lack of understanding.
Or at least aimlessly wander off at the parent-teacher conference and I’m sure he’ll get the message. And who knows, when he grows up we might have programmable droids to facilitate training and development and that whole problem will be eradicated completely.
Don’t you just love a flexible and open mind!
The tourist packs everything, the traveler nothing.
Travels with Oliver
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.
Trying to travel a bit lighter this time
I wish I could sketch like this. Deliciously structured and simple. I’ve to find comfort in the fact that I travel much lighter… ;)
iPad for Business
Nothing beats thinking and planning like doing. I’ll therefore only use the iPad for all my projects over the next 3 weeks to really take it for a thorough spinn. I already sold my Air and my iPhone is bust so what choice do I have… Here are more core apps:
- Manymoon - for project management
- Google Voice - for SMS and voice mails
- Keynote - for presentations
- Office HD - for Google Docs sync
- Reeder for iPad - for news and blog posts
- Skype - for audio calls
- Kindle for iPad - for books / reading
- Netflix - for watching movies
And most will be done via 3G as I have the no-longer-for-sale unlimited plan. Evil - I know.
Travels With Oliver
We took Oliver on his first trip over the Memorial Day weekend and it went splendidly thanks to brilliant logistics and an awesome little traveler. The upgrade to first class added to this very special occasion.
The key learnings are:
- Plan for the unknown by adding an hour extra at the airport, especially the first time when there are a number of uncertainties (infant boarding pass, security checks, boarding et cetera)
- Pack light so that one person can handle the luggage and the other your baby; a small diaper bag and one small carry-one for each of you including his clothes is more than enough
- Bring food to keep mommy and daddy energized and happy. We brought a sandwich with pate and dijon mustard… ;)
- Make sure you get to board first and stay calm and relaxed even during the occasional crying
- Make sure to time feedings for takeoff and landing, to avoid increased ear pressure resulting in excessive crying (Thanks Greg!)
- Enjoy the trip as traveling is fun and traveling with an infant even more so. Just watching how he’s digesting everything new is amazing as well as seeing the other passenger smile - out of relief or amazement…
The flight was just 1.5hr so next time we’ll shoot for the 4-5hr range to make it more of a challenge. The little guy should be ready for a transatlantic trip as the fall arrives.
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.
iPad Global Road Warrior Experience, Part I
Five days, Four cities. One iPad.
Last time I was off to Europe in February I brought a 1st Gen iPhone as my only digital work tool. I selected a few productivity applications and relied solely on WiFi networks. It worked like a charm.
This time I’m bringing an iPad to prove or disprove my hypothesis that the iPad can replace my need for a laptop. And my needs are very simple: browse and blog; create and run presentations; access, write and edit documents; communicate via email; Skype, LinkedIn, Facebook and FourSquare; receive and send voice-mails and SMS; manage my travels and my travel literature (non-fiction PDFs and books). Pretty much keep interfacing the world as I do every day.
My iPad is packed with old presentations, 11GB movies, 3GB music, 250MB apps, non-fiction PDFs and Stanford University’s iTunes U video course in “iPhone Application Development”. The latter to see if I can use my 15+ hrs flight to learn something new. I’m also bringing the VGA cable to run my presentations directly from the iPad and the Apple case to see if lives up to it’s dual promise of protection and cradle.
All my hotels have free WiFi as have all the Airport lounges I’ll be visiting during my journey. The only time I’ll be offline will be in transit.
This is going to be great fun! :D
Packing For Business Travels
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!
Why I Would Buy an iPad
I work in the creative economy, bringing new concepts, ideas and patterns to clients and consumers. That makes my brain and my social network my workspace.
I’m dependent on effective and connected tools and techniques to extract, package and communicate value from concept, ideas and patterns. Value is being created when my brain is plugged into contexts of problems, insights and conversations.
My brain is pre-wired to look for new tools and techniques that create value faster and smarter. That is neither unique or common as people both embrace and resist change. But my requirements are personal.
Until I got to spend extensive time with the iPad the other day I was in the skeptics camp (actually still is). Not as an innovation but as a professional utility tool. I need it to both simplify and to expand my professional life. Here are a few requirements:
- I need both portable and mobile capabilities, i.e. WiFi and 3G (A+)
- I need speed, performance and endurance (A+)
- I need online and offline capabilities and seamless sync of data (B-)
- I need to be able to create, edit and share data online and offline (B-)
- I need local data storage for offline usage when traveling (A+)
- I need text and voice communication tools across WiFi and 3G (B-)
- I need a browsing experience that enables interaction with travel services while on the road (B+)
- I need a much better user experience than the iPhone and the PowerBook Air (A+)
The upcoming iPad Wi-Fi + 3G model almost meets all these criteria. Most of the shortcomings are really third party issues, like Google Docs lacking editing in document mode, Skype not yet offering 3G calling and certain experiences not optimized for the iPad.
The common critique of not having USB ports, lacking camera and therefore video recording and multi-tasking is fine by me. As a product guy I think those were the right prioritization, just as iPhone lacked cut, copy and paste in the first software versions (which I never use).
Entertainment is nice but productivity is a necessity. I need to be able to interact with data cross-platform, cross-team and cross-time zones. The iPad also needs to be good enough to replace my Air and my current iPhone setup. That said, I’m not looking for the iPad to replace my iPhone as one is an in-room device and the other is an on- the-move device. But certain basic capabilities must overlap, as they do.
I’m off to Europe on one of my 5-day take-no-prisoners business trips in a few days and as that coincides with the release of the 3G version I might buy one to put it to the test. The experience doesn’t need to be perfect but good enough to enable work-around solutions. If it meets my requirements I’ll sell my Air as simplicity has to be part of how we prioritize our time, attention and energy.
No More Schlepping Around Toiletries
Suite Arrival is offering hygiene articles for delivery at your destination per Lifehacker. This is a brilliant idea, fewer things to schlepp around on business trips. But it actually works equally great just to get them from your favorite airport lounge or hotel. Life can be so simple.
My obsessive behavior has driven me to make an art out of my travels. They are logistic masterpieces but with lots of room for improvisation. This deck is a summary of how I think about travel and how to plan the perfect business trip.
