The Aeronaut and The Sky Train -- Chilling Out At The Sofitel Papeete

In Part One, Lauren and I were trying to find luggage that met both of our requirements for the round-the-world trip. Somewhere along the way, we also had developed our own concept of “one bag travel” — one that was a little different than the way we saw other people doing it.

Unlike some One Bag Only purists, we decided that everything we brought along should be able to fit into one bag — but we didn’t necessarily need to be dogmatic about it. If it made things more convenient for each of us to supplement our main suitcase with a couple of small bags as well, that was fine by us… so long as we could fit everything back into our main bags should that become necessary. We also both wanted something that we could carry onboard airplanes, fit into the overhead racks of trains and ferry boats, and also be sturdy enough to check if we wanted to.

But Lauren wanted a backpack and I wanted something a little less…. granola.

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By unpacking my travel attitudes a bit before planning our trip, I had to face up to the fact that I had a kind of aesthetic allergy to backpacks. For me, I felt like I’d look more like a invading soldier than a respectful guest if I hoisted around some enormous, oversized pack that fellow pedestrians would have to dodge.

Was there a way to split the difference so that we could keep a low profile while moving around easily and quietly? Was there such a thing as a “carry on / backpack hybrid” that was also sturdy enough to survive as checked luggage, but didn’t make me look like I was about to climb K2?  Perhaps a bag elegant and simple enough to not be out of place in either a nice hotel or in a hostel?

After some research, I discovered two bags that I thought fit the description and were enthusiastically recommended by other world travelers: The Red Oxx Sky Train and the Tom Bihn Aeronaut.

Would either of these bags be able to meet all of our needs? I bought one of each to find out.
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Here’s a quick bit of Script-fu for all you Evernote users:

A user calling him/herself “gatekeeper” (probably a guy, but you can never rule out the possibility of a Sigourney Weaver / Ghostbusters variety of Gatekeeper) posted a message on the Evernote forum asking if there was “a way to generate in to a text file only the urls from all my snaps ?”

I can see how this could be useful in certain circumstances — especially for those people who use Evernote as a sort of private delicious.com substitute (in other words, as a sort of anti-social bookmarking service).

I had published a script here a while back that saved a list of Note Titles as a text file…
Could that be easily adapted to do the job here?
(Spoiler Alert: Yes, it can.)

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Tokyo, Japan: Roppongi At Night

Every one of us has assumptions and attitudes that shape how we travel, but I had never directly considered my own until I was preparing to pack up and walk out my front door for an indefinite period of time.

Once I committed to making this open-ended trip, I began to ask “What am I going to bring?” and “How am I going to carry it around?” The answers to these (admittedly First World) questions took time to figure out — but what I’ve learned along the way has actually been key to having an enjoyable time while traveling!
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Almost as soon as I started planning our trip around the world, my pleasant day-dreams were disrupted by a recurring image: It was a vision of me lugging my laptop for weeks on end like some sort of modern-day Sisyphus.

I’m a writer, a consultant, and the sole proprietor of Veritrope.com… and I didn’t want to have to stop my work just because I was traveling for an extended period of time. In fact, being able to work while away was a key part of my travel plans — you know… the part of the plan that helped me pay for the trip.

So, I had basically resigned myself to carrying a laptop when *it* was announced.

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