Travel notes

[mdlbear]

The small backpack is much more maneuverable than the rolly -- easier to get around with and easier to find a place for. On the other hand it gets hot, heavy, and uncomfortable after a while. The rolly is better for evening filking, since my guitar gig-bag can be backpacked and the rolly works as a music stand (though it's too low to be a good one). For concerts, the rolly holds my recording gear and can be turned into an impromptu mic stand with a simple clamp.

A rollycrate full of preordered CDs is large and clumsy. You have to be careful going over irregular surfaces; I've had it capsize several times on sidewalks. Possibly not a major consideration, since I will be doing pre-orders differently, if at all, in the future. It does hold a lot, though: all our food fit into one.

I need a smaller shoulder bag. Jammed full of a wallet, two checkbooks, a stack of $5's for making change, a big pile of receipts, business cards, tools, phone, camera, Nokia 770, earbuds, keys, ... it's heavy, bulky, and often a literal pain in the neck and shoulder. On the other hand, I need a lot of that stuff, much of it every day and most of the rest at least a couple of times a week. Once the OpenMoko phone becomes useable I'll be able to drop the Nokia, but it's not there yet.

I'm probably going to end up with multiple bags: one little one with the stuff I absolutely have to have whenever I leave the house, and one (or more!) that I can either clip on or drop it into when I need the rest.

Having two computers along was a win: the Mac for wireless and recording, and the Linux Thinkpad for the direct connection in the room. Should have brought an extra ethernet card for the Thinkpad, though; then I could have used it as a router in the room.