The Travel Bag Winner? Red Oxx!

and the winner is . . . Red Oxx!

Last month I posted about how I was trying to find the perfect travel bag for carry-on (nothing with wheels as they just add weight, you lose 1/3 of the space for the wheels and handle, and it will not fit in European carry-ons). Both bags I examined were wonderful. In many ways, they were even comparable–the weight, the thickness, the quality. I even considered keeping them both, though could not justify this to myself (at least for now!). While the Tom Bihn Aeronaut seemed a little more stylish and eye-catching, I really do not want to draw any attention at all to my travel bags. The more attention, the more somebody, somewhere, on some airline will want to measure or weigh or otherwise examine my luggage, potentially delaying me or separating me from my luggage during the flight. You see, style for me translates as attention, and I do not want to attract any of it, for any reason, when I travel.

To be honest, the other deciding factor that had me settle on the Sky Train from Red Oxx, besides this bag feeling a little more rugged, was what I perceived as being stronger backpack straps and hardware. Nothing plastic in sight, the straps had solid metal hardware, felt a little more padded, and appeared to be more firmly attached to the bag itself. Let me be clear, I cannot carry any bag for long on my shoulder, as it will throw off my alignment and leave me nursing knots in my back. I am fully planning to use the backpack straps as I navigate the public transportation, trains, and walking to and from airports (not to mention navigating between terminals), as I move to and fro for the academic conferences I attend. Filling this bag with 20 pounds of clothes and books to test it as I walked around my apartment clearly showed me the Sky Train would be the hands-down winner carrying this on my back. Of course, only time will tell, so expect an update after my next travel in September.

Now I settled on a bag, all that remained was to get the assorted peripherals to help me organize the minimal load I will carry. That box just arrived, so let me share what else will travel with me (all in the colors I ordered to fit together!).

For my computer, I ordered the Metro Briefcase:

For my toiletries, I ordered the Tri-fold Shave Kit:

For my socks and such, along with assorted small items (like a clock, slippers, vitamins, etc.), I ordered 2 Nomad Shave Kits:

For my electronic items, such as chargers, camera, cords, adapters, and the like, I chose the Lil Roy:

And finally, the Travel Basket so I can have a central place in the hotel room to put my wallet, watch, hotel key, and such when I am in the room (as these things always get spread around since there is not a central home for them):

The colors of all these items fit nicely together, and will help me organize (and locate) things along the way.

I spend  a lot of time thinking about travel, due in part to the fact that the trips I take are often very busy and commonly involve a number of side excursions. The less I have to consider how and what I transport while on the way to seeing what I am really traveling to see and experience, the better. Let’s hope all this gear from Red Oxx will work as I am planning; I am confident it all will.

New Avatar for 2011 (finally)

Better late than never, but I just changed my avatar for my online presence.

I seem to do this about every second year, so decided to use one of the pictures from my recent trip to the UK (for study at Lancaster University) and Ireland (for holiday). As I was selecting pictures, I realized the irony that this picture was taken about 500 feet away from the location where the last picture I used as my avatar for the past two years, was taken, namely at Glendalough.

So, while my hair is much shorter now, other things can remain the same.

Goodness, now comes the process of having to send the new avatar all over the place. Wish everyone would use Gravatar for this purpose!

England and Scotland Pictures

I have finally uploaded all my photos from my trip to England (where I took a lovely walking tour of Manchester and went to class for a week with my colleagues in Lancaster) and Scotland (where I stayed in Edinburgh, and drove to Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye, and finally into Glasgow).

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

Click on the image of Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness above to see all the images I uploaded.

Labyrinth in Lower Manhattan

I went for a bike ride this morning, and found myself at the labyrinth in Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. Deciding to walk it, I thought about the birds chirping over head, and the trees looking down from above, all while thinking that the labyrinth is like a metaphor for life itself – – the path twists and turns, though ultimately it travels toward a single life’s journey, wherever it leads.

Reminded me of why I have become so interested in research, as I enjoy hearing the stories of various experiences, and how people make meaning out of them.

I wonder how many of these experiences have similar meaning frames? Ahh, that is for another day.