Are eNewsletters Dead?

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Are eNewsletters Dead?

June 24th, 2011 · Branding, design, Media/Entertainment

Maybe this idea is nuts. I was just on Facebook and one of the companies that I like said “Sign up for our newsletter and you’ll get the skinny on _______ events & _______ releases, and get discount coupons at our online store” and I thought to myself – I already like you on Facebook, isn’t that enough?

Digging deeper into this, what’s the point of asking for both? Furthermore, if I sign up for your eNewsletter – nobody sees that, so it’s not like I can become a promoter and encourage others to join. Maybe the moral of the story is that it’s not only cheaper, but more broad-reaching, faster and effective to just promote your brand through social media and not newsletters. It would sure make my inbox a bit cleaner too.

I’ve only had 3 espressos this morning so maybe I’m still a bit out of it. Any thoughts?

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New Web Font Services Expand Choices

February 22nd, 2011 · design

New Web Font Services Expand Choices.

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The Next Generation of Customer Service?

June 30th, 2010 · Branding, Career Philosphy

Having recently left the retail industry, I took some time to reflect on my experiences in selling and customer service. I observed that there may indeed be a generational gap between the expectations of service in my parents’ generation, and my own. Interestingly enough I also noticed that customer service and sales often have little to do with one another.

Baby-Boomers and Older Need to be Coddled

As a young lad I remember going into stores with my dad, and whether the salespersons were busy or not he would leave if he couldn’t receive attention. I asked why and he would say “if they’re not going to help me, then I’m not buying anything from them.” My take on the issue is that salespeople are a fail-safe when a customer doesn’t have enough steam to figure it out on their own. The only time I leave a store is when I am attempting to pay for the items that I want, and the line is too long or there’s no one around to take the money. (I put the items back)

My Dad’s generation came out of the Industrial Age, where after WW2 the world made so many products they needed a huge sales force to sell them. Salespersons were paid on commission–they needed to do whatever it took to keep customers happy and coming back. There was also no internet, so they were the only shop in town. Our parents got spoiled!

My Generation Only Cares About Customer Service in Certain Situations

When I asked around for other opinions I found most hold the same service priorities that I do–returns/exchanges and restaurants. I really don’t care what level of help there is in stores until things get hairy and I need to wring a neck or two while returning something. Seeing this pattern, I’ve concluded that my generation is a product of the information age. Information having the highest value of all commodities in our society–the greatest value of salespersons/ customer service is in the information that they are able to impart on us.

We are accustomed to the pattern of first researching things online, learning everything that we need to know and then if we decide to buy something in person–we are executing a directive, not in most cases seeking additional information or looking to build a relationship. And as the internet (Zappo’s) has trained us, when something isn’t right we want to return it seamlessly and instantly.

This level of “informational independence” also stems from my generation’s distrust of authority and die-hard self-reliance, in my opinion bred partly from the increase of single-parent/divorced families. As the age-old saying goes, if you want something done right–do it yourself. Most salespersons today also aren’t paid commission, so there actually isn’t any economic incentive to “go the extra mile,” and if you haven’t read Freakonomics yet, people RESPOND to incentives.

The Missing Correlation of Customer Service vs. Sales Results

I contest that sales credibility is infinitely more valuable to a sales transaction/relationship than is “superior customer service.” In my observations, I witnessed several associates delivering beautiful amounts of personalized service but in the end it either took too long, didn’t deliver a solution, or was so overbearing that the customers were actually weirded out by the exuberance. When I worked at Apple I worked incredibly hard to give good customer service–and I wasn’t such a great salesperson… It sometimes is effective for individual customers, but at too great a cost for everyone else who wasn’t serviced.

The smartest brands understand this. When I look back at my Apple 5th Ave. training, we spent 40 hrs. training and of that time only about 8 hrs. involved studying good customer service practice. PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE is more important than the delivery, simply because it is the embodiment of INFORMATION. Especially in New York, where flagship stores are always packed; people have to deliver the facts, immediately.

Coming from the “South” (Eastern Maryland), I was appalled at how kurt my coworkers in both Apple and EMS (my retail stints) often were with customers. I soon realized however, that those staff members were actually the top-performers and the most-regarded by customers! There’s a curious degree of psychology involved here:

Scarce time is valuable time

By giving fast answers, speeding up the clock of things and delivering accurate quips of information, it is established that “this person’s time is valuable–I should listen to what he/she says.” Think of it like this, for my generation–the more closely you can embody the function of the internet, the more rewarding and valuable you will be for the customer experience.

Part 2. Restaurants – The Final Frontier (Coming Soon)

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Why the iPad Doesn’t Suck

February 11th, 2010 · Branding, Current Events, Gear, Media/Entertainment, Travel

Though some of the clamoring has died down, there’s still a lot of critics out there who seemingly wanted Steve Jobs to descend from Mt. Sinai with God knows what when they unveiled the iPad. Worst of it is, these modern worshipers don’t even have a golden calf substitute to throw in his face. All alliteration aside, I like the iPad and I’m probably going to buy one.

Stop drinking Haterade.

You’re thinking–it’s a geriatric sized iPhone! Well, there’s one difference with the iPhone/iTouch–the iPad isn’t doomed to endure the admittedly horrible AT&T data network. I’ll slap that puppy on my Verizon account and enjoy good service anywhere. Maybe I won’t even hook it up with 3G–if I want to look up something in the middle of a field, I’m using a cell phone. My thought is that these devices are going to be highly-snatchable, so I probably won’t use it unless I’m seated or in a secure environment, most of which will have free wireless anyway.

Let’s also consider the cost. I can buy a decked out iMac and an iPad for less than what I’d want to pay for a MacBook Pro, the way I would want to configure it. This is going to allow me to work on projects on the desktop and then just carry them off to meetings with the little iPad in my giant-ass back pocket (jk). But you get the point.

Traveling. All day at EMS I meet wary soon-to-be travelers that are asking me for the safest way that they can carry their laptop and then Fort Knox it to the bed frame at their hostels. At 1.5/1.6lbs, throw it in your day bag and take it with you. Never again will I hoof across Tokyo with a digital SLR with two lenses and a PowerBook girded to my back. As far as features, let’s be honest–all people do when traveling is upload photos and send emails. At least now they can finger paint…then upload.

It really boggles me why some people have such a violent reaction to the iPad. Some ad industry nutjobs are even crying about the “death of branding” when if anything this should simply serve as a reminder that as a smart consumer you should be buying products for their benefit and not for their brands. What did these people honestly expect Apple to do? Are there other companies that people choose to buy every single product in the line?

If you have an iPhone, and a laptop…then isn’t this really the most logical thing that they could have developed? Of course we can complain about the Flash compatibility issues, the effective temperature range and a few other random gripes but as Jobs himself explained this is a new direction. This iPad, like it or love it is a first step, not a final outcome of hand-held tablets and if you look back where Apple started you can imagine that these things have got a long way to go but it’s going to be worth it.

I need a new computer and I don’t want to get an iPhone because of AT&T. If I’ve already once been willing to buy a PowerBook in the past, then buying an iMac and this iPad is going to give me tons of computing power, portability and two devices for the price of one. And if you keep up with my other posts, then you know this baby is going to fit nicely in the Seal-Line.

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My Three Life-Changing Gear Brands of 2009

January 26th, 2010 · Branding, Gear

Despite the recession of the economic environment, 2009 introduced me to three brands that markedly changed the way I live my life. Drastic sounding I know, but from here forward I will be walking, dressing and carrying things differently and when you think about it–that’s a pretty big deal.

Walking: SUPERfeet
The reality of most modern shoes is that they just don’t fit the biological needs of human beings. Products such as the Vibram Fiver Fingers, and books such as Born to Run are teaching the public that a human foot isn’t built to walk on cushy, soft shoes and in doing so chronic damage can form on misaligned joints and ligaments.

Hailing from Seattle, SUPERfeet is a company that originally made custom orthotics until they realized that they were fixing the same one or two problems 10,000 different times. Commonalities obviously exist in the human foot and an insole could exist to offer support and prevent planar fasciitis and bunions before they start–the two most common foot conditions.

As someone who spends tons of time on his feet, I was intrigued by the idea of alleviated stress and as a “hereditary” knee pain sufferer, overall better weight distribution on my joints was music to my ears.

Regarding arch support, Superfeet uses the delightfully simple illustration that a suspension bridge is not supported in the middle of the arch, but by the sides–and the human foot is no different. Many people with flat feet and high arches look to solve their qualm by propping up the middle of that natural bridge, and that’s just not logical. The heel, the point where the body’s mass meets the pavement, is the origin of the arch and the point most needing support and control.

The problems plaguing the average pedestrian are so common that shortly after I was inducted into Superfeet lore my Dad reported that he had hurt his foot while hiking and had gone to the doctor. Within three questions over the phone I had diagnosed him with planar fasciitis and explained why it had happened through nearly the same verbiage as his doctor. Needless to say Christmas shopping for Dad was a no-brainer this past year.

I wear Superfeet every day and have done so for the past eight months. They’re nestled safely in every pair of shoes from my snowboard boots, to my leather lace-ups. I’ve even got plans for my ice skates in the days ahead. Standing on my feet for an entire day now bears inflicts fatigue when compared to my life before Superfeet. Even my girlfriend, who long-suffered with flat feet, happily sports the insoles in her shoes and they allow her to walk endless distances without battling discomfort. Needless to say that works out for me too!

Dressing:Icebreaker/Smartwool
In March 2009, I was walking with a friend in the temporary store of EMS on Mercer St. explaining to him that as far as I knew the apparel industry had little to offer hot-weather trekkers besides synthetic shirts and the painfully impractical cotton ones. No more than one month letter I endured my second revelation, that of the merino wool t-shirt (and other garments).

If you haven’t read my applause for them, Icebreaker and SmartWool both make clothing that is lightweight, breathable, packable and maybe more importantly antimicrobial–so you don’t have to wash it as frequently as cotton/synthetics. Being that wool doesn’t soak up water (i.e. sweat), I enjoyed a nice, dry back all summer and was in general much fresher feeling than years prior.

Insulation, regardless of wetness, is another added benefit of wool. While backpacking at Harriman State Park in August, I let the rain fall on me and my IceBreaker GT shirt and kept a comfortable temperature even at rest. My companion wearing cotton was forced to put on his heavy shell jacket during our lunch break and shivered with chills until he could start moving again.

As the season transitioned into winter, I loaded up on Icebreaker and SmartWool baselayers–allowing me to endure -16ºF temperatures at my season-opening snowboarding trip on Hunter Mountain. On my recent trip to Canada, I don’t think there was a single point that I wasn’t wearing a wool baselayer–and don’t tell my girlfriend but I still don’t think they need to be washed!

Thanks to the creativity of textile designers and the advancements in garment production, I now have durable, reliable and functional clothing that allows me to pack lighter and stay more comfortable be it on the trail or grinding away at the work-day.

Carrying Stuff: SealLine
My coworkers and friends laugh at how much I love this bag.

The brainchild of John Davison, the watertight SealLine bag has proven itself a great companion on summer travels and in the days since has been stellar at carrying massive amounts of groceries (e.g. 5 gallons of milk plus more things), challenged Santa’s gift sack at Christmas and even survived being frozen at the top of Hunter Mountain on that -16º day.

Just yesterday I was in Fishy’s Eddy, buying a flat of 1Q mason jars (12 on a flat). At the checkout I had the bag cinched up on my back and the cashier didn’t think that I’d be able to fit everything. It was almost like an infomercial as I should her how the bag expanded to fully envelope the flat of jars and the rest of the contents I already had in it. After a brief Q&A session about the bag with her and one of the other cashiers, I hauled the bag onto my back and walked out.

I usually don’t like to think about products that can “do everything and anything” but outside of a full-fledged backpacking bag, I think the SealLine Boundary Pack comes pretty close to it. Customers at EMS still don’t bite 100% on it, but lately I’ve been on a good run and we’ve been sold out. A few times people have come in, explained their travel plans and I’ve simply said “any other bag is a waste of your money.” Of course I love bringing a bit of drama into my daily work life, but for $70 for the 35L and $80 for the 70L you won’t find more function in a bag of that price and in a recession function is, or at least should be, king.

All 3 Brands in use at Mt. Tremblant - Quebec

Gaining stride now in 2010, I am definitely a changed man. There’s a little more spring in my step, a bit more warmth in my heart and a little less weight on my back–and I’ve got these brands to thank for it. In a way I feel I’ve gained a few inanimate passengers on my life’s journey and I’m stoked to see what adventures 2010 will bring. I’ll be well equipped.

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WWDDD: What Would Don Draper Do?

December 3rd, 2009 · Career Philosphy, Media/Entertainment

With season 3 of Mad Men being over for a few weeks now, my lamentations have subsided and I’ve entered an introspective phase in an attempt to pass the months until season 4. At a recent branding/networking event I asked myself, would Don Draper ever do anything like this? Am I a putz for being here? Beyond his being fictional, and his working harder at debauchery and philandering than it would seem advertising, Donald Draper is the last person I would expect to see expanding his “social network” and passing out business cards.

Draper expanding his contact list?

Draper expanding his contact list?

For me it begs the question, could such personal reserve be effective in modern business, such lack of schmooze? Being the hero, Don reminds me of Achilles, biding his time and entering battle simply to destroy the opposition with a single swing of his sword–the ace in the hole for the triumphant Greeks, or in this case Sterling Cooper. But when was Achilles ever known as a man of the people?

Some argue that “old-fashioned” business conduct doesn’t have its place in modern times. If you ever look at forums on David Ogilvy, the “Original Mad Man” as some would say, you’ll find a slew of critics blasting his business methods and ad philosophy as dated and ineffective. The conflict I find in this however, is that the same type who blasts antiquated technique probably has a copy of “The Art of War” or “The Prince” on his/her bookshelf.

Reconciling the issue comes by harvesting principles from the subject matter.

Don Draper doesn’t network in the modern sense; he’s awful at staying in touch. He does however execute when it’s time to execute and therefore has immense street-credit via word-of-mouth. If you want to bring Sun Tzu into it, “war is a game of deception” and the very essence of Don Draper is a calculated lie. No punches are pulled, no village spared–Don Draper brings war to the conference table, and that’s all it takes.

As for Ogilvy, my opinion is that any one of his lessons can be used in modern times, simply with different media tools e.g. an eBlast is now direct mail, and the TV commercial is now the webisode. Despite what bandwagon-hoppers will tell you, the core of humanity hasn’t changed so much in the past 30 years (Ogilvy’s era). It is also interesting to note that Warren Buffett, perhaps to finance what Ogilvy was to advertising, doesn’t use computers or a cell phone. He finds these devices too complicated for his purposes and instead relies on written mail, land lines and a fax machine–meanwhile when was the last time you met a banker that wasn’t donning a Blackberry umbilical cord?

With no real icon to emulate in our current era, those in the media/advertising field have found a fictional champion in Don Draper. Even if people don’t want to be just like him, they probably don’t mind borrowing his looks for the office Halloween party but secretly they probably hold a fledgling desire to possess such boldness and supreme confidence. It works on TV right?

Mad Men for Halloween - draw straws to be Draper.

Mad Men for Halloween - draw straws to be Draper.

I’ve always felt that the foremost priority of someone in the media field is simply to see things. Don’s strengths should be observed, analyzed and employed where possible, but like any other lesson in history–his pitfalls avoided. Next time you’re in a tough spot in the office or the cocktail lounge, simply order an Old-Fashioned and ask WWDDD?–see what happens.

**If you want to ask specifically, someone actually set up a WWDDD site>

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Branding Life and Death

December 1st, 2009 · Branding, Gear, Travel

It occurred to me while working at Eastern  Mountain Sports that in the outdoor equipment industry brands don’t simply represent commercial decisions, but in extreme cases the difference between life and death–the gear has to be trusted. The risk in a strong brand influencing buyer decisions more than a product’s benefits can result in casualty. It’s a step beyond buyer’s remorse.

Like most companies in any industry, the vast majority of outdoor gear companies started because they felt that they could do things better or bring products closer to the consumer than existing providers. They are only able to succeed by simply making better, more durable and effective equipment–and when a life is literally on the line–that matters.

Expansion and growth are natural phenomenon for any brand making great products and keeping their consumers happy. The problem arises however when people start to see logos and not product benefits. From a selling standpoint, I still remember our EMS training when Arturo Quinones, EMS SoHo Climbing Guru, said that “climbing is chess with the devil, if you don’t know what you’re selling you can get someone killed.” That speech encouraged us as salespeople to know what we’re selling and to know why it’s the best gear for the task, void of branding.

It’s not uncommon in my concentration, the camping department, for people to ask automatically for The North Face sleeping bags, or Marmot and Arc’teryx packs, when there are many options better-suited for their needs. Some people are willing to listen and will walk away with an Osprey or Gregory, two small companies that specialize in making packs. Others will leave empty handed and for their sake I hope they can figure out how to make The North Face logo keep them warm at night. True enthusiasts generally come in looking for specific products–those customers are looking for a use, a benefit and not a logo.

What most customers don’t realize, is that brands like The North Face, Marmot, and Mountain Hardwear all used to be tiny mom-and-pop shops making  limited-run and in some cases custom products because the owners themselves were avid outdoorsmen. The North Face started in the Bay Area of California, shared their original manufacturing space with Credence Clearwater Revival, and decades later was bought by the massive VF Corp. Marmot, once a tiny company specializing in down jackets was bought by K2, and Mountain Hardwear, another Bay Area outerwear company was bought by Columbia. Now people who won’t set foot on a patch of dirt, let alone a mountain, are sporting it on city streets all over the world.

Some say the latest casualty is Arc’teryx, which was bought by Solomon in 2002 but just in the last few years started moving production to Asia. When I moved to New York in 2007, Arc’teryx was on the streets, but infrequently and only worn by enthusiasts. Lately in EMS I’ve seen droves of Arc’teryx shells, softshells, fleeces, hats and bags. They’re thinning out and losing touch with their original constituents.

People running the brands argue that nothing has been lost, nothing has been compromised. Enthusiast consumers however, are noticing a decline in quality and overall a lack of fit and durability. I guess for us crazy guys actually depending on the gear, having it made in North America still means something in correlation to its quality.

For a few years now I’ve loved my Canadian-made Arc’teryx Bora 80 pack and still see its quality as being far-superior to the new Arc’teryx packs and the packs of any other overseas-made company. It has tangible durability and exquisite attention to detail. Customers still come in showing me pre-buyout TNF, Mountain Smith and Arc’teryx gear and they rue the day they’ll need to part with it.

The gap between big brand and small, artisan shop has been quickly filled in the case of Arc’teryx. Westcomb, another Canadian company started supposedly by former Arc’teryx designers has been dubbed by many as “the new Arc’teryx.” Everything is made in Canada, and has the sort of athletic fit that well, doesn’t fit the masses, no pun intended, that the other brands are now servicing. Their brand is growing and picking up the orphans that Arc’teryx left behind.

So what does it mean for a brand to get “too big for its britches” and to lose their core audience? Well, in the case of most–more money in their pockets. The problem with making good gear is that it just lasts too darn long to need replacing; that gets in the way of cash flow. Corporate ownership means that their customer is no longer the loyal enthusiast, but the mass-market; “how can we make as many products as possible to appeal to as many as possible?” At EMS The North Face representative told me specifically that TNF manufactures “every single type of garment I could imagine.”

Growing big doesn’t mean that all quality is lost in a brand’s products, but for the skeptical outdoorsman it does raise the question of “what am I really paying for?” I have gear from a lot of the companies, big ones and small but the reality is that my most important pieces, the things that can make or break my trip-or save my life for that matter, are all from the small brands, the ones who cater to the enthusiast and are all made in North America or Italy.

For brands, I would just say to heed the words of Kenneth Roman in How to Advertise,”tell the truth, show the truth.” It’s fine if fortune leads your brand to great heights of influence, but either keep making things just as well as you did or stop doing it and don’t act like you still do. People’s lives just might depend on it.

My Key Gear:
Scarpa SL M3 Boots, Made in Italy
Western Mountaineering Lync -10º Down Bag, Made in the U.S.A.
Arc’teryx Bora 80 Pack Fall 2006, Made in Canada

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Breaking the Travel Bag Paradigm – Recap

September 17th, 2009 · Gear, Travel

Down with the naysayers!

Not worrying about my bag let me focus on more enjoyable things.

Not worrying about my bag let me focus on more enjoyable things.

My trip to Prague using SealLine’s Boundary pack was a smashing success. The 35L model held all of my girlfriend’s and my things perfectly, with even a bit of room to spare. Our only additional bags were a small day pack for carrying around and a small handbag with gifts for our friends. That bag ended up going into the bottom of the SealLine after we delivered the presents.

As I noted in my original post, my first trial only presented the problem of organization. To alleviate this, I picked up a Sea-to-Summit Compression Sack for my clothes, a Stuff Sack for my girlfriend’s, two small bags for toiletries and then I reused plastic bags for our shoes. With everything compartmentalized I was simply able to stack the items in order of access–shoes on bottom, clothes above and toiletries/travel documents on top).

Over the whole journey there was very minimal carrying involved simply because we were always on buses, trains, planes or in hostels. The bag actually sat in the corner the entire time we were in Moravia and then later in Prague. Hauling it to the return flight was the only time it was slightly uncomfortable, probably having something to do with the raucous amount of Czech beer that I packed in it.

The bag is tough; it’s waterproof; it’s cheap and light. If you’re worried about a lack of space, pay the extra ten bucks for the 70L–just don’t shell out $200+ for a full-featured expedition pack that will never see the light of day once you return from hostel-hopping.

My gear list:
2 Icebreaker shirts (worn)
1 Tshirt (to oblige the lady)
1 pair jeans
1 pair hiking pants
1 pair shorts (worn)
3 pairs Smartwool socks (worn)
2 pairs EMS Techwick underwear
1 pair Icebreaker Beast underwear (worn)
1 EMS Thunderhead rain jacket
1 EMS Summit Fleece
1 pair Chaco Z/1 sandals
1 pair La Sportiva FC2.0 shoes (worn)
(+ books, papers, etc.)
*I washed a few items randomly towards the end of the trip to keep things fresh, otherwise it was all zero-maintenance

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The Pastry Crucible

July 24th, 2009 · Short Story

My first attempt at short story.

If you’ve ever studied torture, you know it’s the simplest of things that ruin a man’s spirit. Drops of water, a cold floor, not enough room to sleep through a good night; but to me, and any other homeless wanderer out there, you start to forget that there’s any other way of life. We are the pigs wallowing in shit, wondering why our two-legged brothers insist on beds and excessive comforts. Walking past “Le Petit Monsieur” Bakery I am once again reminded which side of the looking glass I am suited to live.

The whiffs of confection sugar pierced me long before I crossed the shop’s penitentiary doors; I knew it was early, the time of day for coffee cakes and danishes–once a weekly treat when I resembled a more conventional man, a man at all. Poised on porcelain plates of pain they rise and remain above me, beyond me. Had I not just scrounged last night’s falafel from a 57th street green can buffet I may have even been hungry enough to want one. If I had the means of procurement, I may have even taken it just as a symbol of insignificant victory.

On the lower racks, yet to be discarded is last night’s gang of cupcakes. Another reminder of life when I walked upright, when I changed clothes and even owned a place to change into them. Their pink, marigold and baby blue frostings sting of colors far removed from my optical palette–snowflakes floating into the hell of an urban street, doomed to soil at the first mere touch of a tainted inhabitant. The intensity of their sweetness would probably further inflame my diabetic nightmare.

In the event that I still had a life to celebrate, a birthday to commemorate, this is the kind of place I would want to go. My bitterness aside, its bitter-sweet existence compels me to tap my human reservoir, to accept my circumstance and realize that these pastries of pain are only reminders of not what I chose not to have, but what I chose to lose. Instead, I sought a life subsisted from a higher carbohydrate molecule, so simple a chemical change, so profound a result.

There was a time when the bakery could have even been mine. Its diligent and deft workers, answering to my command. Now I stand a broken man, arguably, looking through a glass reminder of a life I once lived, overshadowed by the reflection of what I have become. In the purgatory in between our two worlds, a cupcake, an eclair can dually serve as the object of hopeful sanctuary or the stone-engraved death sentence of a life’s failure and the price to pay. I walk on, awaiting my next crucible of shame.

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Breaking the Travel Bag Paradigm

July 21st, 2009 · Travel, Uncategorized

This travel tip came to me from John Davison–an extensive world traveler. If you haven’t read it yet, be sure to read some of his thoughts on India.

Old nerdy joke from my high-school math club: a pessimist says the glass is half empty, the optimist says half full. The engineer says it’s twice as big as it needs to be. For whatever reason, the average traveler is forever doomed to the paradigm of taking much more than what’s needed for a bag– be it in terms of features, capacity or price.

As an Eagle Scout I can understand “Being Prepared,” as it is after all the Boy Scout motto, but I also argue that there’s a right tool for every task. If you’re traveling, and not backpacking–for a long distance that is, your best bang-for-your-buck, practical option is to pick up a Seal-Line Boundary Pack.

Boundary Packs - what you should be taking to Europe.

Boundary Packs - what you should be taking to Europe.

It’s water tight – as in, it floats. If you’re in a jam you could even use it as a buoy to float back to your ship (just ask John). A lot of packs are “water-proof” and made of water-proof materials but not made with “water-proof construction” and then there’s Gore-tex and eVent and…none of it is going to be as impenetrable as this bag. It’s made of thick vinyl and holds air like an opera singer, an especially fat one.

Weight wise, how does 2lb. 9oz. sound for a 70L bag? Yes, it’s only a single compartment, but how many times have you lost something because you forgot about it in your ultra-secret security pocket? What good are all of those pockets if you still can’t remember where you put things? One compartment is awesome for finding your stuff and just think of how fast security checkpoint will be when there’s only one space to open. If you’re that worried about organization, just get some Eagle Creek bags or Sea to Summit stuff sacks.

Maybe you’re leary about its practicality. Did you see the available colors? You could find your socks in the bottom of this bag in a black hole–that’s an insane yellow! Nighttime be damned! Sure it’s a little ostentatious, but I can almost guarantee that no one will mistake your bag for theirs at a baggage claim. It has a breathable shoulder harness, a waist belt and on the 70L and up models a harness that acts as a load-adjuster and grip if you’re just lugging it around. The face that it’s vinyl also means it’s not going to absorb your sweat all day while you schlep it around looking for the Hofbräuhaus. Should you need to check it on the plane, boat, etc. the harnesses come off and you’re left with a seamless, secure and water-tight bag.

John’s advice made a convert out of me so I picked one up for my upcoming trip to the Czech Republic (9 days). Packing my 35mm digital SLR, a few lenses, my clothes, shoes, books and toiletries, I know I’m going to have just enough space for my girlfriend’s things as well – and I bought the 35L. It’s also perfect carry-on size, so I won’t be waiting in any long lines once I hit the tarmac in Prague. I also won’t be rethinking the price. At $70 for a 35L, $80 for a 70L and $90 for a 115L bag, you’re still looking at one third to one quarter of what a full-fledged backpack can cost. My advice is to save the money on the pack, spend it on travel clothes (hence my two shirts for 9 days) and carry less overall.

As a caveat, it’s not a trekking bag and shouldn’t be used if you’re knocking out the Camino de Santiago or the Ho Chi Minh, but if you’re hostel hopping, island floating or just traveling around for only a few miles at a time, these bags are worth checking out.

Keep an eye out for my Prague recap in early September; I’ll let you know how the bag goes.

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