Tag: travel

Holiday packing list
I know you guys love lists and all things pertaining to something akin to a setup, so I figured I’d share what I’m taking with me on my five day trip down south. I’m celebrating Christmas with my family, but I expect to get some work done as well.

I’m not checking anything for such a short flight, but I wouldn’t on a longer one either. The only time I check luggage is if I need to bring my snowboards, but that’s been years now, alas.

Anyway. Two bags, one man, and a ton of people going somewhere over the holidays, possibly with wailing children. The experience will be horrible, so I want to be as prepared as possible. That means I’ve made sure to have fast track at the airport, and lounge access, although the latter sucks during the holidays. When will Swedish airports learn how to do proper lounges?

While both bags are carry-ons, I treat one as if it would be checked. It’ll just sit in the overhead compartment, while I’ll keep a smaller bag in my seat.

The Rimova Classic Flight Cabin Multiwheel:
- T-shirts, socks, and underwear – five of each. I also have plastic bags for laundry.
- A shirt, because I might want to look a little more formal.
- A Muji canvas case with a 29W charger, Apple Watch charger cable with USB-C adapter, USB-C and USB-C to Lightning cables, Airpods, business cards, a cleaning cloth, and an assortment of USB-C adapters. I also have a smaller Muji canvas case with a few pens, stickers, and the Apple Pencil 2.
- Extra notebook – this one from Field Notes – should I feel like writing a novella by hand. It happens, especially when I’m traveling.
- Dried ginger snacks (to kill germs), and tissues.
- Christmas gifts, because ‘tis the season.
The Rimova goes in the overhead compartment. I keep a Peg and Awl’s Hunters Satchel at my side during the whole flight. I think you can guess what’s in it:
- iPad Pro 11” in the Smart Keyboard Folio, which will be my largest device for this trip.
- B&W PX noice-cancellation headphones, because I’ll be damned if I’ll listen to airplane noise. Noice-cancellation headphones is a great way to arrive somewhat mentally refreshed.
- See-through toiletry bag, with the necessities, including painkillers. Easy access, and no need to open the Rimova at security.
- Passport, a pen and notebook, local commuter card.
Keen-eyed readers will note that this list differs somewhat from what’s in my travel setup. I’m tweaking my travel kit at the moment. Expect a setup update sooner rather than later, moving has switched things up as well.

I’ll carry the iPhone XS Max, keys, and the Paper Micro Wallet in my pockets, wearing an Apple Watch as always. No extra pants, the jeans, t-shirt, Houdini Power Houdi, Blundstone 500 boots, and my trusty leather jacket will have to do.

This is obviously enough for a trip to the family, but I intend to write, edit, and design during my stay as well. That’s what the iPad Pro’s for. Thing is, the only thing that differs in this setup when I go to our client in Zürich, is the number of shirts and suits I bring. Technically, I could do my work using this, and a camera, which I’ve decided not to bring on this trip. I might add a Nintendo 3DS with a Zelda game though, to feed the nostalgia-vein, but that’s the only excessive thing in my bag. The rest fills a purpose, which I think is important when traveling. It’s so easy to carry too many things.

“But what if I need This Very Important Thing?”

Spoiler: You almost never do. And if you do, you’ll work it out.
December 21, 2018
Five things (April 3rd, 2018)
Traveling is a big part of my life at the moment, mostly for work, but still. It has obviously made me reconsider some things in my setup, and also been top of mind the past few months.

Here are five not completely travel related things for you, in no particular order as usual.
- I travel a lot, which means that I put a lot of value in a good pair of noise-cancellation headphones. People keeping tabs on my setup know that I’ve switched to Bowers & Wilkins PX, and I couldn’t be happier. Great headphones, recommended.
- Speaking of travel, Zürich is treating my oyster cravings well. No trips planned in April so I guess I’ll just have to find the best oysters in Stockholm then.
- I wish there was a decent blogging app for iOS. Alas, none does it for me, so all my posts are copied as HTML and pasted into the WordPress admin interface. It works well enough on an iPad, but the UI is sorely lacking on smaller screens. (I’m tapping this on my phone in the bath, by the way.)
- Love the Rimowa Classic Flight Cabin Multiwheel! Didn’t think I’d move from backpack to something with wheels, but this is just plain great.
- Finally, my Peg & Awl’s Hunters Satchel was every bit as lovely as I hoped. I got it with my initials, obviously. It’s become my daily carry, and I can’t see that changing anytime soon.
As always, I love hearing about things you use and like. Hit me up on Twitter or drop me a line. Here are some older five things lists.
April 3, 2018
Flying habits
Like so many other frequent fliers, I’ve got my habits. They’re not hacks or unique in any way, just things I’ve started doing on a regular basis because it makes traveling less stressful. Key here is to reduce stress, because traveling takes a lot of energy as it is, and stressing about it just adds to the load.

So here you go, things that I keep in mind when I zip back and forth across Sweden, and through Europe. Actual gear isn’t found here, although noise-cancellation headphones really should be on the list, because getting on a plane without them when traveling solo is out of the question…
- Aisle seat, always. I’m tall, worst case that gives me room to stretch. Also, I get off the plane faster which could mean I’ll have a better shot at catching an earlier airport train.
- Get a ticket with fast track if you can, because not only is standing in line stressful, said ticket often give access to a lounge as well. I use the time saved to write, maybe you have more important things to do.
- Airport trains almost always trumps taxis, if the airport is outside of the city centre and your destination isn’t too far off.
- Use apps for tickets, and suffer through airline apps for live updates on delays. Check-in queues are so 2000, right?
- Never check luggage. Carry-ons are big enough, I’d rather buy additional things at my location. Oh, and remember that plenty of airlines lets you bring a second small carry-on for your computer.
- Speaking of bags, make sure that you have one with easy access to your computing device, as well as your toiletries. That makes it easier and less stressful going through security.
- Put as many things as possible in a coat or jacket pocket that you can close when passing through security. That makes it go more smoothly, especially if security is crowded.
- I keep my toiletries and liquids in a see-through toilet bag. You could use a zip-locked plastic bag too, if you can’t find a toilet bag you like.
- Generally speaking, rolling clothes is better than folding. Divvy up clothes in bags (I use disposable plastic ones) is often a good idea, and you can keep your clean clothes separated from your laundry using said bags.
- Mesh bags with zippers are great for organizing smaller things like cables, vitamins, and other things you want to bring but don’t need to store in a toilet bag, or have easy access to. Some people swear by mesh bags for everything, but I like to have disposable bags as well.
- I always bring my passport, despite rarely crossing a border where I actually need to show it. That said, weather could land you someplace else, and knowing I’m prepared for the unexpected helps.
The best travel hack to date though, is pack less than you think you might need. There are a lot of nifty gadgets that sound like a good idea, but question each and every one of them. For example, external batteries are amazing when you’re out of power, but will you ever be that far from a power outlet at your destination? Each device, each gadget, each piece of clothing needs to earn its place when you travel. I’ve yet to use all of my packed t-shirts, ever, and I travel light. Apparently not light enough though…

For more about the stuff I use, check out my setup. It gets updated on a somewhat regular basis.

Agree or disagree? Let me know by tweeting to @tdh. I’m always interesting in opting my travel days with clever hacks.
March 11, 2018
Stuff I fit in my headphone case

My over-ear headphones of choice currently is the Bowers & Wilkins P5 Wireless. They’re tight over the ears, more so than a lot of people like, and feature neither phone features nor noise-cancellation. I like them for the raw sound quality, especially when listening to classic rock, as well as how they block out most of the world without ruining the sound with white noise.

The P5 Wireless come in a little case or bag, containing a micro USB charging cable and a headphone cable if you’re out of battery or just want to go analog. What they probably didn’t know when they designed said bag was that it would be perfect to store some other everyday items I need when I travel.

Stuff currently in my headphone case when traveling

The actual bag is to the left, black and soft with an even softer inside to protect the headphones. It has a magnet lock that is just right in terms of strength.

Other than the P5 Wireless headphones, pictured on the upper right, I fit a Kindle Oasis (center), an Apple Pencil (between the Kindle and the headphones), as well as a cleaning cloth (lower right). The two black cables are micro-USB for charging and the aforementioned headphone cable for analog listening, with a Lightning adapter should I need one. Finally, I have a spare Lightning to USB cable in there, because why not?

All that in a headphone bag. It could fit more, I’ve been known to carry extra cash, passport, and travel documents in it too. It’s a spacious bag, without being too big for its primary purpose. I want to protect my headphones when I’m traveling, the headphone bag lives in whatever primary bag I have, but being able to stick these other little things in there is very useful. When I get on the plane, for example, I’ll just bring the headphone bag to my seat – it contains everything I’ll need.

Small things like this makes travel easier. Maybe you have something similar that you’d like to share? Let @tdh know on Twitter, I love to hear about stuff like this.

March 24, 2017
Traveling

Traveling. It is such a bore when done during the Holidays, capital H. People everywhere, noisy and sometimes utterly unbeknownst of how they bother their fellow travelers. Luggage are getting in the way, and all those bags of Christmas present at that. I ventured into the second class carriage and it was even worse, as it usually is. I’m just glad I didn’t plan on getting any work done on this trip.

I’m writing this on my iPad mini. It works well enough, and since the device is so small the lack of proper table space isn’t an issue. It is hunt and peck typing though, but it is better than sitting cramped over a laptop. Although to be honest, I’m just too lazy to bring out my 11″ Macbook Air that sits in my bag in the compartment above my seat.

I used to be able to get a work done traveling by train, which is my means of transportation right now. By air is impossible for me, always has been, but trains usually offer more room for this sort of thing. These days I’m so worked down to the bone that trains have gone from an opportunity of getting some work, usually writing, done, to a chance to catch up on sleep. I’m 40 minutes from my destination and aside some texts, this is the only thing I’ve written today. I have slept for three hours straight though, after a nice reading session, so there’s that.

I’ll spend the Holidays (still capital H) resting up. The new year kicks off with a busy writing and editing schedule, I’m even starting two weeks behind which is far from ideal but that’s the way it is. Reloading my batteries is more important than the minor work I could squeeze in the coming week.

That includes this site, by the way. Don’t expect any updates until next year.

I bid you a great Holiday, no matter what and how or even if you celebrate it, and a Happy New Year at that. Let’s talk soon.

December 22, 2012
Circumstances
I have ended up in my (well, not mine but anyway) lakeside home for the week, due to a broken down car that’s in the shop right now. This isn’t all bad, although I’m not looking forward to the mechanic’s verdict and what it’ll cost me. Since my lakeside home is free of anything resembling real broadband, which in my world is 100 Mbit in both directions, this means I’ll have to adapt to a different working style. I’ve got a decent 3G connection (1-2 Mbit) so I can get just about everything done that I otherwise would’ve done from home or the Odd Alice office in Stockholm, so no worries there. However, I don’t have all the equipment I usually rely on.
- No Apple 27″ LED display for massive screen real-estate
- No Wacom Intous 4 drawing pad for logos
- No ergonomically correct chair nor desk
- No 120+ GB of music
- No movies, TV series, nor the will to download it over 3G
- No Nespresso coffee machine
(more…)
October 4, 2011
30 hours later

30 hours of train, crowded and way too not most of the time, with lots of luggage. That’s how I got home from Chamonix thanks to Iceland and their ashspewing volcano. Ash can’t stop the trains obviously.

April 20, 2010