what’s in your bag?

what’s in your wallet bag?

Every time I travel, I make sure to bring several things. After a bad experience of forgetting to pack extra clothes when I missed my flight to Japan one year, I always make sure to pack a small and light set of clothes in my carry-on.

After clothes, the number one thing I have to bring is my iPad. iPads and any other type of tablets out there, are hands-down the best thing to bring when traveling. Why? From storing books, emails, reservations, and being able to access the internet (especially on those wi-fi flights) in a compact size makes traveling a lot easier. I used to lug around a 10lb. laptop, but ever since I got an iPad, I couldn’t imagine traveling without it. I use the TripIt app to consolidate all my travel plans and pull it out with my iPad when necessary. It sure beats printing out a bunch of papers, which only adds more weight and space. I believe that a tablet device is a good investment for frequent fliers since it consolidates a lot of stuff into one device and it helps time on the plane go by a lot faster.

Makes waiting for a flight a lot better too

In addition to the iPad, I also bring a small battery charger that allows me to charge anything with a USB connection (cell phone, iPod, etc.). After flying a bunch of transpacific flights, having a small battery boost means being able to watch those last 30 min of a movie on an iPod/iPad that’s about to die.

Even though they can be quite expensive, noise-cancelling headphones are something I can’t imagine boarding a plane without. I don’t own a pair of Bose headphones, but I bought a pair of audio-technica quiet point headphones for about a third/half of the Bose ones. These headphones get the job done since it drowns out the crying, background noises, and people who can’t stop talking. Having at least a pair of noise-cancelling headphones and a tablet device can make a huge difference in the quality of a flight.

Great pair of noise-cancelling headphones

In a small, zipblock bag, I always make sure to bring hand-sanitizer, eye contact solution, eye contact drops, extra pairs of contact lenses, and my contact carrying-case. Sometimes I’ll throw in some shampoo and soap, although I usually just stick them in my check-in bags. I also bring toothpaste and other hygiene products when I know I’m not traveling to a family member’s/girlfriend’s house.

Since electronic devices aren’t allowed before takeoff and a bit before landing, I usually stick in a newspaper or a magazine to have something to do during those times. In the few cases when I run out of battery, it’s nice having something to read other than the in-flight magazine, which I find pretty boring. Don’t even get me started on the Sky Mall magazines 😉

Ugh, the Sky Mall magazine

I used to buy water bottles, but since they’re pretty expensive, I’m going to start bringing my own water bottle and just fill them up at the airport since most of them have water fountains anyway. I usually ask for water during the flight and refills for water so far haven’t been an issue. Plus it’s good for the environment right?

Pens and pencils, a small pad of paper, and highlighters are useful since I’m still a student and when traveling internationally is useful for filling out those documents before landing.

So that pretty much sums up what’s inside my bag. I aim to travel light since I hate dragging my stuff around the airport. I tend to book long layovers so bringing less stuff makes it easier to get around. I always bring a backpack for under the seat and a roller-bag to put in the overhead.  I recently bought a North Face backpack that’s been awesome since it has great support although it has some trouble fitting under the seat in front since the bag isn’t too flexible. I also always use a black Samsonite roller bag that I know fits in the overhead bins and is the appropriate size for every airline.

Great backpack, even if it is North Face

Now that I’ve listed out what I put in my bag, what do you pack in your bag? Are there things you can’t travel without?  Am I missing anything? Let me know in the comments below.

From ideas to concrete plans

Next week, I’ll be heading to San Diego to kick off my travels for the next three weeks. I just booked some extra flights to ensure I hit at least 25,000 miles on United by the end of March. Here’s where I’ll be heading to:

Travel plans for Feb/March

02/24- LYH-CLT-SAN on US Airways

02/26 – SAN-CLT-LYH on US Airways

03/02- ROA-ORD-SAN on United Airlines

03/03- SAN-PHX-SFO on US Airways

03/04- SFO-SAN on United Airlines

03/05- SAN-CLT-FLL on US Airways

03/06- FLL-CLT-SAN on US Airways

03/12- SAN-ORD-ROA  on United Airlines

By March, I should accumulate around  15,830 miles to just go over the minimum of 25,000 for Premier status.

I’ll be visiting the airports at Lynchburg and Fort Lauderdale for the first time along which is something I’m actually looking forward to. I’m planning to do reviews of the flights and hotels I plan on staying at, so be on the look out for those.

And so the mileage running begins…

In the past three days or so, I’ve already made three reservations on United and US Airways to start off my mileage run to 100,000 miles.After reviewing the terms of the new Mileage Plus program, US Airways counts as EQM/EQS which made booking flights more flexible.

Before booking my flight to San Diego, I found an extremely cheap flight from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale, round-trip for only $294. After some thought and searching around, I decided to book it because of the mileage accumulation, price, and timing. It’s a red-eye flight out of San Diego with a return on the next day (no hotel stay).  This marks my first ever trip soley for mileage accumulation as I have no reason to go to Fort Lauderale.

After booking that flight, I decided to book my flight from school to San Diego. I debated flying out of sevaral airports, including going out from Knoxville, TN (about 4 hours away) because of it’s rock-bottom prices of $240 for a round-trip ticket to San Diego. However, when I considered the timing and costs, I ended up choosing to fly out of Roanoke to San Diego and back.

The third flight I booked was a flight from Lynchburg, VA (two hours away) to San Diego. At $379, the price was hard to beat and worked out perfectly with my schedule.

In total, I’m anticipating to accumulate 14,428 EQM, bringing my total to 24,088. Pacing myself at about 25,000 every 3 months, means I’m right on track to 100,000 miles.