Warts and All (22nd Aug 2007)

A digression from all things horse racing and punting.

After an absolutely nightmare journey to the US. After all the security, immigration (my new passport has received extra inspections by two different US officals in different locations twice in 5 weeks), plus customs checks, United Airlines decided to cancel my internal flight. On the flight the next day they decided to send me and my bags in different directions to arrive in Denver at different times.

Enough was enough! After that experience my mission was to see if I can pack for a 10 day business trip IN ONE BAG!

Yes you heard it one bag. I’m all in favour of the current heightend security measures in airports, however when the airlines make things worse by messing you around and having calculated how much time I could save not having to wait for my bags, I decided to research if there was a solution to my problem…

If you think my comments are an overreaction to one incident read this link.

Convinced? The following web sites helped me to clarify my problem and outline potential options

http://onebagger.squarespace.com/
http://www.onebag.com/

The solution can be found at the following link with a quote from their website that describes me to a tee

http://www.redoxx.com/catalog/carry-on/p_91018-air-boss.html

“Doug's design pulled us away from our adventure travel roots and opened the door to the traveling road warriors. You know who you are! The men sitting there in the airport waiting area with the big money suits and enough electronic gizmos to cause a brownout. These guys travel constantly and burn thru bags at an incredible rate. They are always on the hunt for the perfect bag. The Air Boss fits this group of travellers like the hand tailored suits they love to wear”

Expensive? You bet, but after 10 years of business travel to all parts of the globe, I have spent a small fortune replacing damaged luggage. If you want to see how its done, just take a seat on the aircraft in a location where you can see your bags being loaded onto the aircraft.

This link highlights the potential issues when the bags are out of your sight!
http://www.onebag.com/checking-bags.html

The new bag will be delivered to my hotel in the US in time for my remaining two weeks. For those of you who are interested, I’ll let you know my experiences.