You know you travel too much when

the only restaurant in which you eat dinner twice in a month is in an airport. In my case, this happened tonight in the DFW Au Bon Pain in Terminal A near gate 33. I had a fairly tight connection and needed some sort of meal, so I grabbed a small sandwich and some fruit there.

Just to prove to myself that I'm not set in my ways, however, I did not order my usual (chicken Caesar wrap) and instead opted for another sandwich with similar calories (ham and cheese and lettuce). Take that, those who would pigeonhole me!

I'm now home for a couple of weeks, and I'm mighty glad to be here.

Sabbatical FAQs: Living out of a carry-on suitcase for six weeks

In this last entry in the series of answers to common questions, I address queries about living out of such a small suitcase for such a long time.

Did you really live out of one carry-on suitcase for six weeks?

Sort of.  I also had a ScotEVest coat and a backpack.  Aside from the coat, though, all clothing and shoes, aside from what I was wearing, and my toiletries fit in the international size carry-on bag. 

What clothing did you take?

Counting what I was wearing at any given time,

·      two pairs of identical black pants

·      two identical black UnderArmour short-sleeve shirts

·      three long-sleeve shirts (these were supposed to be thin shirts designed for travel and easy washing, but my plan for those fell through and so I ended up taking three Peterman shirts I already had)

·      five pairs of black socks

·      five pairs of underwear

·      six handkerchiefs (plus two spares in the backpack)

·      a small dop kit

·      two pairs of identical black tennis shoes with no logos, shoes that passed as dressy enough in multiple three-star restaurants

·      one Travelsmith black sport coat designed for travel (lightweight, wrinkle-resistant), which I needed for nice restaurants

·      one black cashmere sweater, to wear under the sport coat in nice restaurants

Sharon had told me I could get by with one pair of shoes, and she was right; I never wore the second pair. 

How often did you wear things?

Until they were dirty or smelly enough to bother me. 

What then?

A combination of hand washing and paying exorbitant prices for hotel laundry services. 

Any problems?

Don’t read this if you don’t want a little information about my personal odor. 

Oddly, the UnderArmour shirts did not handle sweat at all well.  They claim to be odor-resistant, but with me they were exactly the opposite.  My odor when I sweat is not normally strong, but, wow, was it strong in these shirts.  I mean the kind of strong that I could smell myself coming, the kind of strong that made me feel bad for anyone sitting within three feet of me.  Maybe it was the change in soap or washing the shirts in different detergent; I’ll know more on that after I’ve been home for a bit.  But, based on my experience, as much as I loved the thinness and wicking ability of these shirts, I’m not sure I’d choose them again.

Would you pack this lightly again?

Absolutely.  I’m seriously considering changing my standard business travel approach to fit in the same tiny suitcase. 

What do you wish you’d packed that you didn’t?

Over-ear, high-quality headphones (either my Beats or my Bose noise-canceling set), to block out unwelcome conversation and trains, and a small sound bar, because I like music in the air in hotel rooms, particularly when I’m writing. 

What was the biggest downside of this approach?

No souvenirs.  I window-shopped, but I bought myself only one object, a truly remarkable book, because I had no room to carry anything.  So, I’m coming home empty-handed.  I apologize to my family and friends in advance, but there was just no room. 

Why the backpack?

For electronics—phone, mini tablet, and ultraportable—cables, notebooks, pens, documents, and so on. 

No books?

For the first time in my memory on a trip, no.  I simply had no space for them.  I read a bunch of books, but all as ebooks on the tablet. 

How’d that work for you?

Not bad.  I missed and still greatly prefer physical books, but to save the space for a trip, I’d do it again.  Of course, being a collector, it was expensive, because I own paper copies of every ebook I bought. 

How’d you like the ScottEVest jacket?

Overall, I loved it.  On any cool day, and many of my days were cool, I could wear it and carry safely with me everything I might want to have, including wallet, passport, glasses for reading, tablet (if I wanted it), small notebook, pen, and phone. 

I have only two complaints about it.

First, it does not breathe at all.  If the day turned at all warm, I ended up sticky sweaty inside it.  Adding a back vent and vents under the armpits would not jeopardize the jacket’s contents and would make it a far better garment.

Second and less important, the hood, which was wonderful on rainy days, does not tuck well back into its little pouch, because that pouch seals with very little Velcro.  A couple more Velcro strips would make all the difference. 

That said, I’m glad I bought the jacket and recommend it, with those two reservations, to other travelers who want a safe way to have all their key documents and stuff with them at all time. 

Sabbatical FAQs: How I traveled

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, while I was in Europe, a lot of folks asked me a lot of questions.  I’m answering the most common ones in a set of three blog entries, of which this is the second.  And, it's a bonus day:  two entries for a May Sunday!

How was it traveling alone?

I’d mentioned to quite a few folks that I was expecting to travel alone.  I’d also offered to a group of friends that if they could live with my rules and trip structure, and if they had the time off and the resources to do the trip, they were welcome to join me.  Jennie did, and we toured together for the whole trip.  Gina joined for most of Amsterdam. 

How were they so lucky?

They agreed to the rules and structure, and they had the time and resources to do so.

What were these rules and structure?

Basically, that I was going to do whatever I felt like doing, and I was going to do it in luxury.  I planned absolutely as little as possible, so I woke up each day with somewhere between no idea what I was going to do and a simple idea, e.g., go see the Louvre some more.  Anyone with me could, of course, make a plan and follow it, but anyone who wanted to stick with me had to live a largely unplanned life. 

Why did you almost always write as “I”?

Because this blog is mine and reflects only my opinions.  I didn’t want to have to represent a consensus or even differing opinions; I wanted to give my reflections on what I’d experienced. 

What made it a luxury trip?

Basically, the hotels I chose and the fact that when I went by train, I rode in first class and, whenever possible, on high-speed trains. 

How’d you get from city to city?

From Raleigh to Paris at the beginning, and from Paris to Raleigh at the end, via American Airlines. 

From Paris to Florence, the train ride would have taken over 12 hours, so I flew on Air Italia. 

From Florence to Venice, via high-speed train. 

From Venice to Vienna, again the train ride would have taken over 12 hours, so I flew on Austrian Airways, operated by Air Moldavia.

From Vienna to Prague, by train.

From Prague to Amsterdam, once again the train ride would have taken over 12 hours, so I flew on Czech Air.

From Amsterdam to Paris, by high-speed train. 

What were these luxury hotels?

Both Paris stays:  The Mandarin Oriental Paris.

Florence:  The first was the Relais SantaCroce, and then when it was booked and I wanted to stay longer, the HotelBrunelleschi. 

Venice:  The Westin Europa & Regina Venice.  (I’d intended to stay at a hotel owned locally, but after checking into three rooms, all with terrible Wi-Fi and all tatty, I left it and went to the Westin, which was marvelous.)

Vienna:  The Ritz-Carlton Vienna.

Prague:  The Mandarin Oriental Prague.

Amsterdam:  The Sofitel Legend The Grand.

I may rate the hotels on different criteria in a later blog entry.

Why didn’t you name the hotels earlier?

I liked the feeling of people not knowing where I was, and if someone was looking to track me down (e.g., for work), I wanted to restrict them to email or phone.  I didn’t want to be able to receive any packages or surprise visitors. 

You’ve mentioned before traveling in Europe on the cheap, and now you’ve traveled in luxury.  Which do you prefer?

Luxury.  No doubt.  I’ve loved all my European vacations, but staying in great hotels makes everything easier and more comfortable, and I intended to spoil myself this trip. 

Was it worth what you paid for it?

From a “look at how much good you could have done with that money” perspective, certainly not.  For me, for this trip, which very well might end up being the European trip of a lifetime for me, absolutely.  And, I’d saved up for years for it, so I haven’t hurt my financial situation by doing it. 

How much did you spend?

I’m always amazed that people will ask this, but they do.  I’m not going to answer this question, because I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business. 

Ah, the joys of travel

It's 4:15 EDT as I write this.  I'm sitting in the Admiral's Club at RDU.  My itinerary had me leaving RDU at 2:40, arriving in JFK at 4:30, and flying first class to Paris on a 6:00 p.m. plane.  I paid a boatload of saved miles for a round-trip, first-class ticket, so the overseas flight would pass in comfort.

That was all before travel joy happened.

My flight is now scheduled to take off at 5:13 and arrive at 6:49.  I can live with that.  I spent more time at home, then passed more time waiting at the airport.  I don't mind waiting.  I have a laptop and tons to read, so that's fine.

My new flight to Paris leaves at 9:00 p.m., and now I'm due to arrive at 9:30 a.m. instead of 6:30 a.m.  I can also live with that.  Unfortunately, I no longer have a first-class seat, nor do I have any ability to change that fact; I've already failed at doing so.  So, the flight will be later and now will suck vastly more--and I'll still have paid for something I'm not getting.

At this point, I'm focusing on making it to Europe.  After that, I'll deal with the rest.  

***

Now, it's 7:27 EDT, and I'm ensconced in a wonderful hotel in Paris.  I'll have to fight for a refund on my miles when I'm back in early May, but for now I'm happy simply to be done traveling.  I was lucky enough to score an exit row seat, so at least I had leg room.  The flight passed quickly, customs in Paris was as simple and quick as I've ever experienced, and the taxi was a Mercedes; I cannot complain about anything since I hit the ground.

I did not, though, sleep on the plane, so I am off to take a nap.

On the road again: World Fantasy Con, day 1

The con actually starts tomorrow, but as is my wont I arrived a day early. Travel ate most of my day, though the pilot on the flight from DFW managed to get us in a whole half hour early and thus reclaim a tiny bit of that time.

Today marked my first flight out of the new terminal at RDU. Though the space is lovely and makes RDU look like a modern airport in a real city, the American Airlines folks were clearly not accustomed to working in it and with their new gear. Checking in and dropping off my bag, a process that typically took only a few minutes in the previous space, consumed twenty or so today. They were shorthanded, the luggage tag printers weren't working, some staffers had trouble reading the new computer font--we saw one problem after another. I hope they work out the kinks sooner than later.

I worked a lot on the planes today, but I'm still behind at work. My beard continues to grow untamed and will do so until at least one day after I'm home, and probably for longer. I'm very nearly done with the first draft of Overthrowing Heaven, but nearly is not done. Five of the nine major work tasks remain, and my budget box is still not empty.

All I can do is keep trying.

Dinner was from room service, and as such meals go it was fine, even better than most.

I haven't been in Calgary since 1986. I hope to get to see a bit of the city, but I'm sure that between the con, work, and writing I won't get out much. That's okay, though, because the con features plenty of interesting panels, many friends and acquaintances, one of the best SF/F art shows around, and a dealer's room full of books. I'm looking forward to it.