Travel Lightly (Premium)

My trip to Seattle for Microsoft Ignite is interesting on a few different levels, but I'm particularly stuck by the unfamiliar travel experience: I had to do things differently to make this trip happen, and it's been a good reminder of why I'm so particular about travel.

And because I've traveled so much, I do everything I can to make what is usually an arduous experience as comfortable and trouble-free as possible. This involves adopting and honing habits over many years, too many flights to count, and a growing amount of time spent outside the United States each year. And while it's interesting how much has changed since our first international trip 30 years ago, one thing has never changed, and it's my key takeaway from a life spent on the road: Always travel as lightly as possible.

Long-time readers likely know the basics of my travel experiences. I traveled regularly for work for over 20 years. My family spent three weeks in Europe every summer. When the pandemic changed everything, my wife and I purchased an apartment in Mexico City with the goal of splitting our time between there and the U.S. And I write about these experiences in What I Use articles that, among other things, describe the technology products and services I bring with me for personal and work-related reasons.

But there's more to it than all that.

For example, you may assume that I enjoy traveling. But I do not: Traveling is a terrible, stressful, physically uncomfortable, tiring, and grueling experience, and the pain starts the moment you start trying to book a trip and lasts until a few days after you've returned. What I do enjoy is being in other places, meeting the people there, and experiencing new things. Sadly, one must travel to accomplish that. And so I do. And I hate it.

Flying is the worst part of traveling. It's an experience that you can't fully control no matter how much money you have, and it can be unpredictable. Short of an actual plane crash, I've pretty much experienced everything that flying has to offer. I've sat in the best seats on a plane, and the worst seats. I've flown great distances with a lay-flat bed, and great distances in coach seats that weren't quite wide enough for my hips. My wife and I were on a flight that dropped out of the sky, hurtling a flight attendant into the ceiling and raining the contents of her drink cart all over everybody nearby (she was OK). I've experienced extreme turbulence, have flown in blizzards that tossed my plane around like a child's toy, and have held the hand of a terrified seatmate and stranger.

Many years ago, I was flying out of TF Green in Providence, Rhode Island because of the Big Dig disruptions in Boston. It was a night flight, it was pouring outside, and I had a window seat. Our plane taxied out to the runway and was poised to take off when the roar of the engines died down and we limped back to the terminal. The pilot explained that he wasn't getting a reading he wanted to see...