AIR INDIA FLIGHT STATUS 144

I wrote this while sitting at the airport yesterday, waiting for our flight to Dubrovnik. So it's long and boring and I don't expect anyone to read all of it, unless they're really bored or want to take a trip of their own and like to see how other people pack.

The backpack on my back and the one on the front are part of a set --they're meant to be clipped together as they are, or the small backpack can be zipped onto the back of the backpack. The reason I'm wearing them like this is that my camera is in the small backpack on my front, and I wanted easy access to it. I researched this setup like you wouldn't believe (well, unless you know me well enough to know that I can research the heck out of something) and this is what I came up with.

I wanted to take my usual camera backpack with the laptop pocket, and right up until I walked out my front door the day we left, I almost did. The drawback with this setup is that John is stuck carrying my laptop. The benefit is that this backpack fits on my front much better than my other one did (as it's made to sit like this.) Surprisingly, while it's considerably smaller, I can carry about the same amount of gear, except for of course my laptop.

My camera sits inside the bag inside a Domke camera insert -- a foam and nylon gizmo that turns any bag or backpack into a camera bag -- which was a birthday present from my mom. It isn't padded on the bottom, but I solved that by putting my backpack's rain fly (from my other camera backpack), my lens blower, and my beanbag (used to prop up my camera lens in low-light settings where I'm resting my camera on something) and the three of those things together do quite a good job of padding it.

The Domke insert itself is big enough to hold my camera (with lens) in my little incognito bag I mentioned yesterday. Additionally, it holds the other two lenses I brought (I brought the 11-16, 28-135, and 50mm... I have yet to take it out, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave it home -- it's too good a lens!) I also have the $20 Canon Elph I got on eBay a couple of years ago (for situations where I can't/don't want to use my big camera), a couple of lens filters in their boxes, and the big envelope that I always travel with that holds boarding passes, rail passes, hostel reservations, and any other important paperwork.

On top of that rests a large mesh bag that contains nuts, dried fruit, granola bars, chocolate, cheese, crackers, a small piece of plastic for a tablecloth, baby wipes,and packets of jam and mustard. This is our lunch kit. We packed plenty of nuts and dried fruit and granola bars from home, and we pick up the cheese and bread or crackers as we go. Along with the water bottle strapped to the outside, this is most of our snacks and lunch as we travel (and sometimes our breakfast and dinner as well!) and saves a heck of a lot of money on buying pre-prepared foods.

The large backpack is far more mundane. About the bottom third of it is John's and my sleeping bags,which I'm carrying since he's carrying my laptop and some of the heavier food (and his bag is smaller than mine.) Once we get to Croatia and are done with plane flights until it's time to head home, the sleeping bags will come out and be strapped to the outside of the pack, since they won't have to go through baggage check on a plane and I'm worried right now that my backpack is so stuffed that it's going to pop a zipper. That would be very bad.

Incidentally, the sleeping bags are $5 (no, really) specials from Woot.com last year. They are really narrow and don't insulate worth a darn, but they'll work in a pinch, and if they get thrashed on the trip, well, they cost $5. So all in all, a good deal. :-)

The other 2/3 of the big backpack is John's and my clothes. Mostly mine, some of his, because again, he's carrying my laptop and the food.

Clothes-wise, I have two pairs of lightweight cotton cargo pants (the pockets are indispensable!), pajama pants, three skirts, one pair of cargo shorts, a polo shirt, two t-shirts, two tank tops, and three long-sleeved shirts (one of which doubles as a pajama shirt.) I have sandals and a lightweight ballet-flat style of shoes.

I think that pretty much covers my travel gear... and I'm sure that's more than any of you wanted to know. That said, if you have any questions, feel free to ask -- I'm happy to explain more. :-)

this is the roof over the pool of the Sea-Tac Marriott. here's how
I got here:

it begins with this message from United Airlines:

>From: United@ualmessaging.com
>[mailto:United@ualmessaging.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 10:59 PM Pacific Standard Time
>To: Esther Dyson
>Subject: United EasyUpdate
>
>** UNITED AIRLINES FLIGHT UPDATE MESSAGE **
>
>The following flight time has been revised [from 11.25 pm]:
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Flight Number: 262
>Departing From: Seattle Washington (SEA)
>Traveling To: Washington Dulles (IAD)
>Date: June 21
>Gate: N16 (Gate is subject to change)
>Estimated Departure Time: 2:00 a.m.
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Flight times are subject to change. Please check the flight information
>monitors at the airport.

I decided to blow off the trip to Washington since the meeting I
was going to - with the FAA about modernizing the air transportation
system, ironically! - would be half over before I got there. That
took a while; I had to un-check-in before I could get my new
reservation, and of course there were lines.

Meanwhile, I called about 10 airport hotels before I found one - a
Ramada - that would take me. Next, it turned out that there are
*two* Ramadas, and their van drivers hate each other, so they pick up
each other's passengers. Once I got to the first Ramada, I had to
wait for the van from the second to come take me to the right
place. Then in the morning I couldn't sleep past 5.30 am anyway, but
there was no pool, so I took the van to the Marriott and asked if I
could pay to use *their* pool. No dice: only for guests. I got an
$89 room to become a guest (day rate) and had a nice swim.