As I head into a week of travel, I thought I’d share one of my favorite travel companions. Running through the airport and breathlessly boarding my connection at the last minute leaves me searching for something, anything to make travel less stressful.
Where It All Goes Wrong
I don’t usually book tight connections. However, the forces in the universe seem to conspire against me when it comes to business travel. My problems all start with a text (or perhaps an email) about 12 hours before my flight: my carefully chosen flight was canceled. With some effort, I get rebooked on an itinerary with a tighter connection than I would prefer.
Then, the first leg is delayed. The plane arrives late; the crew's flight is behind schedule; there is a problem with the weather. There is always something to make that tight connection even shorter.
Once we're finally ready to board, the announcement comes: we need to gate check our carry-ons. The plane is too small to hold carry-on suitcases in the overhead bins. Or the flight is full (probably due to all the passengers from the canceled flight), and those of us boarding in the non-priority groups will need to gate check our suitcases. I travel often, but not often enough with any one airline, to receive priority boarding. It's fine they say - we'll receive our carry-ons at the gate at our first destination.
At the destination, where I'm already cutting it close to making my connection, everyone waits patiently (some less patiently than others) at the gate. Ten, sometimes fifteen, minutes go by before the bags arrive. And then the run begins.
My Solution
That’s where my preferred suitcase comes in. The High Sierra Endeavor is a compact carry-on that fits under the airplane seat in front of me. Whenever there’s space, I place it in the overhead bins, tucking my laptop bag under the seat. When the airline runs out of overhead bin space, there’s usually room for my laptop bag overhead, and I can slide my compact suitcase neatly by my feat.
This suitcase is the perfect size for four days or less. Even if I was able to carry-on my larger bag, despite my best efforts, I always over-packed it. Once you master the art of the perfectly packed suitcase, an overpacked suitcase is a waste. Upon leaving your destination, you have to carefully separate your unworn, unneeded clothing from the dirty clothing, lest you create more dirty laundry. Then, when you get home, you need to rehang the unworn clothes rather than just dumping everything in the laundry. (Sure, you could toss it all in together on the way home and throw it all in the wash, but I prefer not to waste laundry space on unworn clothing.)
Despite its compact size, it has room for a few of my other favorite travel companions — more on those to come.
Commenti