Travel Bits: June 2017

Travelling smart and Packing Effectively

I've just returned from an overseas working trip which involved taking two different flights and spending close to 24 hours on those flights as well as on transit. Including the outbound flights, it totalled four flights and close to 48 hours just on travelling within a single week. And because it was a work trip, there will be milestones to be achieved, meetings to be conducted, technical details to be discussed and reports to be written. Throw in the time differences between the various locations and the accompanying jet lag and the result was a very tiring trip.

While I cannot control the hassles associated with long haul working trips, I can still do a lot to smoothen the process to aid in my personal comfort and recovery. And a key point to this self-help is to pack effectively.

For this trip, I decided not to bring along any check-in luggage. But because I will be travelling through Europe over the peak summer period, I also knew that there will be strict limits to the quantity, weight and volume of my carry-on luggage. I definitely would not want to stress myself out over having to rush for space in the overhead luggage compartment on the planes.

Panoramic view of the tailwinds of planes at the Boarding Gates, Kloten Airport, Zurich, Switzerland (2017)

Thus, my strategy for the trip was to pack only the essentials. And what were these essentials?

1. Clothing - I made sure I have just enough fresh clothing for the duration of the trip. And this meant no extras. For each work day during the trip, fresh top and bottom were essential. Because I will be staying alone in my hotel room for the entire duration of the trip, I will not need any non-working clothing. Cutting out on these non-essential clothing items from my packing list was thus a no brainer. Believe me, the savings in luggage space and weight were tremendous.

2. Toiletries - This being a relatively short trip, the only toiletries I brought along were my toothbrush, a small travel tube of toothpaste and a shaver. Nothing more. The shower gel and shampoo provided by the hotel were good enough for my personal use for the few days of the trip.

Dispensing with personal shower gel and shampoo and using what was provided by the hotel help saved on luggage space and weight, Benjamin Business Hotel, Herzliya, Israel (2017)

3. Work - I dispensed with printed documents and relied instead on the soft copies of these documents on my laptop. As my laptop is small, compact and lightweight, I thus saved on a lot of unnecessary luggage space and weight. And I also got a chance to do a favour for Mother Nature by cutting down on printing and paper use.

4. Travel Documents - For the first time in my travels, I had no printed itineraries for flights and accommodations. For my flights, I made use of Mobile Flight Passes stored on my mobile phones. The same was true for my hotel booking. More favours for Mother Nature with less printing and paper use and more favour to myself with less luggage space and weight.

5. Others - For personal entertainment, I dropped my iPad from my usual packing list and opted instead for a small easy to carry book.

The results of my trial run bore fruits when I breezed through airports and securities by skipping the long and tedious queues at the check-in counters. I had no check-in luggages to deposit and my Boarding Passes were all in my mobile phones, thus no queuing was required. The relatively little items in my carry-on luggage also resulted in faster security scanning before the Boarding Gates and I had no trouble finding the little space in the overhead compartments needed for my small carry-on luggage. 

For my next working trip this coming Friday, I shall continue this new tradition of travelling light, bringing along only the essentials and making do with the bare necessities. :-)

Less time queuing at the airline's check-in counters meant more time to enjoy my cup of overflowed latte, Kloten Airport, Zurich, Switzerland (2017)