Und Tschüss!

Heute kam die lange befürchtete Email:

Sehr geehrte(r) Kundin/Kunde,

wir konnten Ihren verlorenen Gegenstand bis heute nicht finden. Die Erfahrung zeigt uns, dass verlorengegangene Gegenstände, welche nicht innerhalb von 10 Tagen gefunden werden, oftmals definitiv verloren sind.

Sollten wir dennoch Ihren Gegenstand finden, welcher der von Ihnen abgegebenen Beschreibung entspricht, informieren wir Sie umgehend.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

DB Station&Service AG

Ich hatte ja ehrlich gesagt nicht damit gerechnet, dass mein Koffer wieder auftaucht, den ich Trottel da im Zug liegen gelassen habe, als ich neulich aus Deutschland zurück geflogen bin. Der Tag war eine Katastrophe, wo so gut wie nichts geklappt hat, warum sollte ich da ausgerechnet mit der Bahn Glück haben?

Ich habe schon am Wochenende einen neuen Anzug und neue Schuhe gekauft. So ein verlorener Koffer kann ganz schön teuer werden, au weia. Von den schönen Vintage Manschettenknöpfen mal abgesehen, die total unersetzlich sein sollten.

Travel Hack: Power Strip

Pro Tip for travelers and conference attendees: Always bring a small power strip with you. Even if the only outlet at the airport is already in use, you can usually ask that person to swap their charger out and share your strip instead.

Additional perk: Even if you only have a single device, you make a lot of friends by sharing your free outlets with them.

Lastly, when traveling to places that need a power converter, you only need one converter for the entire bar!

I should upgrade to one of these, with USB built in: http://www.amazon.com/Outlets-To-Power-Strip-USB/dp/B0018MEBNG

This is my emergency travel kit.

Some days, you have to leave the house on short notice, and you’re going to stay somewhere overnight, because there is a game jam in the city, or you’re going to the ER, or an earthquake rocks your continental shelf. Other days, you have to take a flight to Europe that ends up taking 3 days, during which all you have is your carry-on luggage. For those days, I have this kit. It’s ready-packed in my bathroom, and I can grab it and just go, or drop it in my carry-on bag, and my worst-case experience just got so much better. An inventory, from left to right, top to bottom::

  • Q-Tips (instructions say not to stick them in ears, but I’m a rebel)
  • Small hotel bottle of shampoo
  • Hand sanitizer, because other people are also at this convention.
  • band-aids, especially compeed against blisters.
  • medication against sore throats, headaches, allergies and colds.
  • hotel-sized bottle of moisturizer, and a stick of lip balm.
  • dentist-giftbag versions of toothbrush, toothpaste, floss pick and mouthwash.
  • emery board, because I tear nails and the TSA are afraid of clippers.
  • an IKEA pencil, for writing things down.
  • contact lenses, because I always forget to pack them.
  • A deodorant towelette for an emergency cat-wash.
  • sleep mask, because I like to take naps at odd hours, especially on intercontinental flights.
  • earplugs, because babies fly on planes, too, some people snore, and some co-working spaces are just too damn loud to get anything done.
  • shaving kit, complete with tiny re-sealable tube of shaving cream

The key is size. The whole ensemble fits into a pocket of my hoodie, because every item in there is tiny, and is probably only good for one-time use. The idea isn’t to replace my usual toiletry kit, but to tide me over an unexpected day when I can’t get at it, because my luggage got lost, my bags are in the bowels of the plane, or I didn’t actually plan to stay a night. Many of the items are scrounged from hotels, or bought as a result of a specific inconvenience.

Do you have an emergency kit like this? Did I forget something? What are your essential travel items?

10 tons of carbon

I’ve done an unscientific estimate, and my carbon footprint for this year is slightly above 10 tons. Most of that (about 70%) is due to flying. If GDC wasn’t in the U.S., work didn’t mean I have to travel, and I’d stay home for Christmas then I’d easily make it to below the worldwide average of 4 tonnes.

Saving the world is hard. Especially this year.