Carry on Contents

I wanted to do a video before I left for Beijing, but it had to wait until I got back.  A quick overview of my carry on bag for my flight.  Oh, for some reason, because I have the video marked as “unlisted”, I can’t seem to get it to embed here.  Clicky here.

I looked online for tips and pointers for my long-haul flight carry on contents.  I had what I would usually take along to fly from here to Vancouver or Toronto, but as this was my first intercontinental/trans-Pacific 12 hour flight (Vancouver to Beijing) I didn’t want to be sitting there 6 hours in and wish I’d had something and it was missing.

I decided to try a different style/size of bag for my trip (instead of my big leather Roots totebag):

Lesportsac medium weekender in “ooh la la” print. This photo is the “large”; I got the medium which is about 20% smaller. Perfect size!

It comes with an adjustable shoulder strap as well and I used both equally – the handles and the strap.  I am so pleased with how well this bag worked for me.

I found this video incredibly helpful during my preparations:

as she raised some items that I never would have thought of.  Here is her list.  I didn’t take a lot of her suggestions, but they inspired me to add products that I like to use:

Neck Pillow – Microbead, cushion, massage or inflatable
Earphones – Noise cancellation or ear buds
Reading Material – books or magazines
Contacts – case, cleaning solution & glasses
For Feet – socks & slippers
Pillow – bleacher cushions or personal pillow
For Eyes – Eye mask, Earth Theraputics Lavender Eye Pillow, Earth Theraputics Eyelid Compress, Earth Theraputics Cucumber & Orange Eye Pads
For Face – cheap/thin washcloth, moisturizer, lip balm, Neutrogena Wave, Toner, Clinique Moisture Surge spray
Makeup – One Night Cosmetics, eyeliner stubs
Misc – earloop face mask, Icy-Hot patch, Tissues, Ear plugs, Colgate Wisps, Dramamine, Tylenol, Sleeping Pills, gum, lotion, body spray, Quart size Ziploc bag

And here is my list:

Roots travel wallet, passport, itinerary, ID, health insurance card$$, MasterCard, debit card, pen
noise canceling eadphones & MP3 player (with ear buds)
Sony eReader
reading glasses
p&s camera
fruit gummies (instead of chewing gum for when my ears needed popping)
small tin of dark chocolate pieces
clean t-shirt and underwear
wool socks
pashmina wrap
neck pillow (I left this in my luggage for the trip back)
eye mask, ear plugs
tampons
lip balm, skin lotion, facial mist spray, antiperspirant, facial wipes, toothbrush and paste, dental floss
hand sanitizer, ear drops, eye drops
sunglasses
back/neck heat patches
tissues
hand wipes
antibacterial wipes
just in case antibiotics
Immodium
Excedrin XS
Benadryl
seasonal allergy tabs
nail clippers
Beijing City Notebook
Moleskine planner
pens
bottled water
protein/energy/snack bars
small bag of trail mix

I also did a little first aid kit for transit (bandages, etc.), and then had the rest of it in my checked luggage in case I had blisters, etc. during the trip.  Once again, I didn’t need any of it.  I don’t mind the minimal space in my luggage I had to give up to carry it along; I would much rather have it and not need it than be left wanting.

(sidenote:  I found it hilarious that the majority of “what’s in my carry on” videos on YouTube are girls/women showing their huge make up bags that they take with them.  Really?!  My very small zip pouch of makeup was in my checked luggage.  I started out with makeup on, but once we boarded the Air China flight and after our meal, I washed my face and moisturized as needed.  I was going to look like hell once we landed, makeup or no.)

I didn’t use a lot of the items.  On both travel days, I didn’t find the cabins that cold.  I agonized for a few days over what to wear.  Usually when I fly, I dress in business clothes.  But the length of time from when we boarded the first plane, to when we deplaned in Beijing, was 19 hours, plus a good 1.5 hours getting through the airport and then taxi ride.  So  I wore black yoga pants, a v neck cotton t-shirt and a bunnyhug (Saskatchewanian term for a “hoodie”).  I wore thin wool socks and Nike running shoes.  My feet were warm and did not swell during flight.  (Ankles swelled up horribly as soon as I stopped moving once we got to our office/apartment.)

The flight from Van to BJ was excruciatingly awful.  Air China.  I was so disappointed.  There was really nothing in my carry on (other than the chocolate) that made me feel comfortable.  I did feel a bit better after washing my face with a single-pack Olay facial wipe, then brushing my teeth, and then spraying the mineral spray on my face.  The seats were very uncomfortable, the aisles very narrow and the food not so great.  My boss was able to catch a few hours sleep, but I could not.  I just couldn’t get comfortable and the neck pillow made it less comfortable than just pushing my head back into the head rest.

Even though our return flight was delayed 3 hours and caused us to miss our connection in Toronto, we were so fortunate to get an upgrade to first/executive class and the 12 hour flight back was much more comfortable and easy and bearable.  Next time, I will pay the difference to ride up front; it is SO worth it.  I’m serious.  Being able to stretch out, raise my feet, sleep uninterrupted for 6+ hours is worth the extra $$ from economy/cattle car class.

We got stuck overnight in Toronto at an airport hotel (slept for 4 hours).  As the flight in the morning was only 3 hours, I lightened the load in my carry on.  I also put on a nice skirt and top and heels for the flight.  I felt much better for this short hop!

Next time, I would reconsider a few things in my carry on, but as I am a believer in being prepared, so it’s entirely likely that I wouldn’t change the contents that much after all!

My Filofax went to China and all I got …

was a pen.  Actually, I brought back a few of some awesome gel/roller pens.  I don’t think they’re any particular (Western) brand, just a black, .3 mm point pen.  The ink was pretty smeary writing until it dried.  ETA:  it was this pen:

which is M&G brand (#1163), and it’s a 0.5 mm pen. I don’t know what the R3 stands for.

~~~

the Moleskines

In addition to my work A5 Finsbury, I took my Beijing City Notebook and my hacked Moleskine planner.  I ended up not using the planner at all.  All we did was work, work, work, eat, sleep, then work, work, work some more.

journal

I used a section of the city notebook for journaling.  I actually was having trouble keeping track of what day it was.  1) I didn’t bring a watch.  I also didn’t bring my smart phone because I didn’t want to pay international roaming fees, and I always check my phone for the time instead of wearing a watch.  2) My laptop clock was still set to Saskatchewan time, which is 14 hours behind Beijing time.  I was so confused!

handy dandy map sections

We actually used this a lot.  Even though my boss and my colleagues in Beijing are long time city dwellers, there were some sections they didn’t know well, so this came in really handy.  We only used the subway once (the rest was taxis), but it was easy to check the location on the subway map.  On the map above, we were trying to find a silk shop.

the name and address of the store in Mandarin to show the taxi driver

So while I had my planner with me, it never really left my bedroom.  I just wrote on a couple of sticky notes for personal appointments that came in via email while I was away.  Once I got to the airport and had a 3+hour wait for our delayed flight, I transferred the info into the planner.

monthly view

As we were so intently focused on business, I had no personal life while we were away!  This weekly spread is from the week before we left.

the weekly spread

And when I got back, this was waiting for me:

another one of those late-night online shopping episodes

Now that I am back and should get back into a normal routine (once I shake this jet lag – jeez!) I can give the Moleskine planner a proper trial run.  I think I will use it for my diary/appointments (satellite log book), but still use the A5 Kendal as my home base/repository.

My work A5 performed wonderfully.  I actually revamped it a little en route and during the trip.  I had one section for files that was divided by the A-Z tabs.  I found in recent weeks that it really wasn’t that functional any more and that I was more likely to refer to my email folder for that particular client/file than to check my paper notes.  So I popped that out of the binder, but still took it along in my laptop bag.  I didn’t look at it once.

I moved a few things around as well.  I’ll post about those next time!

the Great Wall was … great!

The seven hours of the 11 days that we weren’t working or sleeping:  on Sunday we drove 1.5 hours out of Beijing and did a big climb of a very rustic and original section of the Great Wall.  It’s simply amazing and breathtaking that this thing was built hundreds of years ago and it still stands today!

those crazy ideas in the dark of night

As mentioned, I am finding my A5 Filofax is now a bit “overkill” for my pathetic personal (non) life right now.  Work is soooo all-consuming.  My work A5 is working fabulously and I love how I have it set up and how functional it has become for me.

My beautiful, lovely A5 Kendal for personal use … it’s not so much planner-FAIL as “planner under-utilization”.  Even though I’ve been using my own custom Week Per Page inserts, I don’t really need that space, and I haven’t been using it as well as I would like.

I’d mentioned below I was thinking of switching over (for a few months) to a hacked pocket Moleskine and spent a few minutes doing that, setting it up for a 2-days-per-page format for the next month or so:

It seemed serviceable enough.  But after I’d used it a couple of days, my interest waned.  It had the wee, tiny little monthly calendars in the front, but the squares are too small for my hideous handwriting.  I think it was also because I had come across this fabulous post, followed by this one.  Those two posts took my simmering Moleskine love and rekindled it into full-scale Moleskine passion once again.  The first blog shows an Extra Large size Moleskine, the second shows a Large.

I do have a little somewhat excessive Moleskine stash in my closet, so I got one of the beautiful soft-cover “squared” notebooks in the large size.  The pages are similar in size to an A5.

month on two pages

I set it up to have the monthly spread, followed by the weekly pages for that month.

nice vertical spaces for the days, and a “catch all” space at the bottom for miscellaneous notes and information

After the weekly pages for each month, I have left about 5 pages blank to use as a general log book/note catchment area. I still intend to use my A5 personal for my current sections and content (excepting the diary pages), but it will be the stay-at-home and the Moleskine will be the satellite and log book.

I used a fine-point black uni-ball  Signo to draw the lines (and my trusty metal ruler).

auto-numbering machine FTW!

I then used my fab numbering machine to put the dates on the monthly squares.  (Yes, it was late at night and I had to re-do June and July after whiting out the stamped numbers because I started with “1″ on the wrong square.  )

my other weapon of choice, the printy-dater!

I used Printy-dater to date the days of the week slots in the weekly spread.  I’m sure I could find some weekday stampers, too, if I wasn’t so freakin’ busy right now!

starting to fill in the squares

This endeavour started as a space-reduction exercise; I wasn’t going to take my “personal” A5 to China with me for size/bulk reasons, but I still wanted to have some sort of datebook instrument with me.  Yes, it’s time-consuming to manually draw and stamp all the pages, but right now, I need something that will turn my brain off and just do a simple manual task while tv drones in the background late at night.

So we’ll see how this functions for me for the next few months!  (Also had to figure out which pens will be okay with Moleskine paper and more importantly, which pens won’t explode and/or leak all over my carry on bag during the flight!)

Filo and Moleskine, working together

As I’d mentioned below, I have been using both my Filofax and the Moleskine City Notebook to plan my trip to Beijing.

Got my entry visa!

I sent my passport off to get the entry visa – got it back on Tuesday.

Last week my Filofax looked like this:

panic! panic! assorted scraps of paper and notes all amok!

I sorted it all out and organized my trip lists:

List of lists, to do lists, to pack lists, etc.

Now that my lists were under control, I moved to the Moleskine for more trip-specific information:

I removed the cute paper band around the outside – no need to point myself out as a tourist! I have it tucked away in my Filo and will put it back on when I return

I’ve added a little to its bulk already:

It’s always fun to see a pristine notebook become fat and scruffy with use and age.

The inside flyleaf:

standard Moleskine fare

The tabbed sectiosn:

they are sort of ambiguously labelled, but you can make them whatever you want

The first one is “places, legends, recipes”, then “bars, wineries, stories”, then “places, dreams, adventures”, then “names, faces, encounters”, then “info, shopping, art” and lastly, “books, music, movies”.

some of the symbols don’t match the tab sections, to me. I renamed the happy/sad tabbed symbols to “shop”.

One of the things I’ve tucked in and added at the back:

Mandarin pronunciation chart

I have this in both my work and personal Filofaxes.  I printed it off, trimmed it and laminated it, then tri-folded it and it tucks nicely in the back of the Moleskine.

Embassy Info

I printed this off and taped it in the “info” section.  I also have written in my Beijing contact info in there as well.  My flight and other travel arrangements and reference numbers are in that section, too.

back to the book: in the front there’s a fold-out map key that references the map pages further in the book.

On the reverse of that fold out leaf:

the Beijing subway system map (with sticky flag at our closest station)

On the map page closest to our location, I printed out an extended section to show our location.  (I have done this on my Vancouver book, too, where my friend’s house is juuuust off the edge of the maps provided.)

Google Maps FTW!

It’s not to scale – I didn’t have time to fiddle and make the scale match, but it gives a good general idea of where we are in relation to the rest of the map pages.

Other sections of the book are outlined quite nicely on this blog post here. There is also a little tucked in booklet at the back with the Olympic Games maps and venues, etc. Someone asked in the comments about the tracing paper for the maps.  I didn’t get a photo of those, but they are basically a piece of tracing paper the size of the book page and have a band of “sticky note” material across the top.  You would position it over the map page and make notes or trace your route (if someone were giving you directions) without permanently marking your map page.  I tried it with pencil, and it does erase cleanly.

So once I get going on my trip I will use the book exclusively.  The Filo has and will be my “at home” planning and packing tool.  I ahve to now go through my lists and see what I need to do today and tomorrow.  I leave super early Sunday morning, so I will likely pack things up Saturday afternoon.