elegant travel

[Guest]

I am glad to see I am not the only one with travel problems! In any event, to Clothesbunny about the Ativan, any of the newer sleep meds will do as fine (like Sonata, Ambien, or Lunesta), but no matter how you feel when you arrive, you will still be jet lagged when your home sleep time hits. The best one can say about sleeping is that it gives you a boost for the first few hours and it passes the time.

[tteplitzmd]

Pyjamas, blinders, headsets, are all effective universal signals to the rest of the cabin that you wished to be spared unsolicited chatter. Since I am most distraught on the overnight flights to Europe, when I arrive in the morning, usually before my Hotel room is "ready" I have taken to cleaning up, showering, changing clothes, at the "Fitness Center" of my Hotel. This works beautifully at the Connaught, and I can leave my bag in a locker at the Fitness Center or with the Concierge, hit the ground running to my nearest woolen mercer, and catch a second wind. After lunch the room is ready.

[Robert Watkins]

I agree with everyone about how unpleasant air travel has become. A few experiences:

1. I try to keep carry-on luggage to an absolute minimum. For me, this means: necessary toiletries, overcoat, solid shaft Brigg umbrella, and shoes. I am unwilling to check my bespoke shoes with the airlines, so I wind up carrying three or four pairs of shoes with wooden trees.

2. I have tried shipping ahead my suits, shirts, undergarments, etc. by both Fed Ex and several of the "personal valet" services with very mixed results.

Fed Ex has done an excellent job on shipping clothes round trip from North Carolina to both New York City and Los Angeles. They pick up the package at my office (I use a large cardboard box with hangers and rod such as department stores send clothes in) and it is waiting in my hotel room when I check in. As the clothes travel on hangers, there are no wrinkles to deal with when I arrive. I repack the clothes before I check out, and leave the box with the concierge, who then ships it back to me. Pricing is reasonable.

Shipping clothes to Europe has not worked well for me. Shipping to Paris via Fed Ex, my package was kept in customs at DeGaulle for 4 days. I could never get a straight answer from Fed Ex or their French sub-contractors as to what the exact problem was- just some vague remarks about "papers, papers" (echoes of The Consul). The box finally arrived at my hotel three days after I did, having left North Carolina 10 days before I did.

Another shipping service did an excellent job on getting my clothes to Versailles on time. However, shipping them back to the USA, the package was held up at (I think-I never got all the details) Heathrow for four weeks. Again, no good explanation, just murmurs about forms not completed, new security regulations, etc.

In addition to the inconvenience of not having my clothes, the anxiety over possibly losing a large part of my wardrobe was significant.

The base rate for using overseas shipping is moderately high. However, as Fed Ex and the other companies work with European subcontractors, I have always bought insurance to cover the value of the items shipped. When that includes 5 bespoke suits, 10 shirts, and so on, the insurance is often more that the shipping costs.

In summary, based on my experience, Fed Ex does an excellent job shipping personal effects within this country. None of the services I have used so far seems to be capable of dealing with the intricacies of international shipping in this post 9-11 world.

However, the vision of travelling completely luggage free continues to draw me on, and I will keep looking for other options.

It is a pleasure to be part of this Forum,

Robert

[tteplitzmd]

Very interesting comments on shipping of personal goods. It highlights my experience that FEDEX and FEDEX subcontractors to and from Europe can be a problem. Usurious "customs brokerage handling fees' is a particular irritation. I have had these same problems with Dege for shirts and finally stopped using them because of errors and unnecessary delivery charges. It goes without saying that Italy is a problem to ship ahead. Note: FEDEX will waive their charge when goods are inexplicably late in cross country matters: They call it "service irregularity" which I guess is akin to a bowel disorder in medicine.

I am going to Budapest/Salburg in a few weeks, and will attempt an all carry on tour for only 6 nights, each family member equipped with a Globe-Trotter "wheely." Of course this reduces packing to necessities and precludes the fully bespoke panopy, but then again I don't travel for business.

[Will]

I shudder to think of trying to change out of pajamas in an airplane lavatory after it's had a hundred uses during eight hours in the air.

My current approach to European flights consists of slip on shoes, soft trousers such as moleskins, a polo, an odd jacket, and a sleep mask. I prefer to arrive in the afternoon so the hotel room is ready, or if necessary, I pay for the previous night.

[jekarwoski]

And this was in business class, where the average traveler has yet to discover man's latest triumph: the sock.

I think I missed the memo: when did it become acceptable to tend to personal hygiene in public? I flew from the Philadelphia to the West Coast earlier this week, my row-mate decided to trim her toenails even before we pushed back from the jetway.

Over the past four-five years, I've acquiesced to the idea that we are mere packages in air transit - that we arrive safely and on the day (note I did not say the time) is cause for, well, not celebration but contentment.

[majestatis626]

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[maxnharry]

As a career Navy officer, I am often involved in the shipping of various things or all shapes and sizes. I have almost never seen a shipment rapidly clear customs overseas. Packages get held up for absolutely no reason. I have had to produce myself along with a representative from the Consulate to pick up a parcel that was clearly marked as being exempt from customs from Customs.

If going for a short time, I pack lightly. If for a long time, pack heavily but will never ship something ahead unless it is on a US government asset.

[mrwynn]

I live in New York and often travel to Los Angeles for business. When I was recently in Hong Kong, I had three suits made at about $250 a suit and lodged them with a friend in LA. This way I can work out there for a week with only a carryon.