The Grey NATO - Ep 58 - Everyday Travel Tips
Published on Tue, 01 May 2018 09:00:16 -0400
Synopsis
Jason and James discuss tips for travel, packing light, accommodations, researching destinations, car rentals, and other aspects of domestic and international travel. They share their preferences for noise-cancelling headphones, compression socks, packing cubes, and other gear to make travel more comfortable. They also talk about Jason's upcoming dive trip to Bonaire where he'll be testing out various dive watches, as well as James' upcoming press trips to Italy and Austria.
Links
Transcript
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| Jason Heaton | Hello and welcome to another episode of The Grey Nado, a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 58 and we thank you as always for listening. We're recording kind of pre-travel. We've got some busy times coming up and, uh, you know, last time we, we spoke, it was kind of a general catch-up episode and I think we've, we've kind of got a little bit more of that to do this time as well. And, uh, You know, certainly hope everybody enjoyed the interview with Outlier last time. I thought that was really great. |
| James | Yeah, I think it turned out pretty well. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, I think, you know, it's it's that it's that start of of kind of travel season. Yeah. You know, like the weather's pretty good in most places right now. So you get a lot of press events kind of popping up. Yeah. Like, I think you've had a fairly busy travel schedule for a number of years now. Yeah. And I'm just starting to learn how busy it can be. Yeah. Uh, depending on, on the role and certainly with the, the nouveau gig are writing about cars. You think you kind of have your, yeah, yeah. You think you kind of have your month planned or the summer or something like that. And then it's like email, email, email, email, email. And you have to decide like it's the calendar work is incredible lately. |
| Jason Heaton | And I think these, the thing about these press trips for, you know, people that aren't kind of on the inside of the business that we're in with, with watches and cars is these press trips rarely are organized well in advance, you know, it's often sometimes three weeks ahead or something and it's just, um, you kind of have to get used to, you know, making quick decisions and, and sort of juggling your life in a hurry. And, uh, yeah, it sounds like, it sounds like you've gotten a couple of things that popped up very quickly in the next, uh, six weeks or so. |
| James | Yeah. So starting tomorrow, starting tomorrow. So by the time people were listening to this, of course, I'll actually be two trips in, I think. And, uh, but, uh, starting tomorrow I'm on the Lamborghini Urus press launch. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So that's their SUV. I'm curious to see what you think about that. That's, it looks really interesting. |
| James | Like the, the, the car got kind of slammed, especially by journalists, uh, when it came out because it's a SUV for Lamborghini, but like people really want like people who buy Lamborghinis really want a bigger, Lamborghini, they want that experience, but they want it with two friends or kids plus some gear. Yeah, like, I like I told I can like you have to think on a broader scale of like, classically speaking, does it make sense for Lamborghini to be making kind of a mass market SUV? No, not so much. They are a brand that will continue to be known for wild cars like the Aventador. But It didn't, you know, a lot of people were kind of upset when Porsche did the same thing with the Cayenne. Yeah. And yet that's the reason that Porsche is still around, right? Right. The bulk of Porsche's money comes from the Cayenne and the Macan. And that I hope works out to be the same thing for Lamborghini, because you have to consider the fact that like what Lamborghini does is a dying thing. Giant V12, crazy, dramatic, powerful, wild cars that are almost distinctly designed to be evocative, dramatic and, you know, exciting. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. And here they are building something reasonably practical. |
| James | Yeah. That you could put more people in while still having that same interior. It's still going to make an insane noise. Yeah. Anyways, you know, I could ramble at length about this and I'm sure I will once I've done the trip, but I think the Urus is a wild thing to exist. I think it makes a lot of sense for their brand. I'm not ever going to buy one, that's never going to be the life that I lead, but I totally understand why they've decided to make the Urus. And on top of that, the trip kind of signals what they think about it, because we're going to Vallelunga, which is a track in Italy, and then there's a road drive, and then there's an off-road. Wow. They're definitely considering this an SUV, not just some sort of Huracan-based crossover that they've got a little bit higher off the ground. And I saw some, you know, I'm probably in the second or third wave of this trip. And I saw like powerslide lover. It's an Instagram account. He, he had some, he must've been on the first wave. He's the first guy I saw on Instagram in the Urus at Vallelunga. And, you know, they showed the, it's like a little rally cross dirt track. Yeah. And they're getting sideways. They're going over little jumps, like I think it's going to be wild. |
| Jason Heaton | That will be wild, yeah. And for those maybe listeners who didn't pick up on the very Italian-sounding name of the track, Vallelunga, where is it exactly? It's in Italy, obviously. |
| James | Yeah, it's just outside Rome. Oh, cool. Nice. Yeah, so tomorrow afternoon I fly to Italy for a few days, and then I come home, and then I go to Austria for a few days, which involves a drive over the border back into Italy. Wow. That's in the Bentley Continental GT, the new one, which I'm crazy excited about. I've long said, and I think it's on record for the show, that the Bentley Continental GT is one of my favorite rich guy things. Because again, a Lamborghini SUV, not in my reality. That's not going to be in my garage. And neither is a Bentley Continental GT. But were I a rich guy that was looking at a new car, I think the Continental GT is awesome. big and fast, super comfortable. It looks the part too. And the new one, the new one, you really all obviously put it in the show notes, but the new one, this, uh, the kind of the first major redesign of the car that helped save Bentley. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Beautiful. Oh wow. Yeah. They've got pictures in kind of a really radiant British racing green with not too much Chrome. Oh yeah. Really cool. So that's going to be bonkers. That's from Kitzbühel into Italy and then, um, flying out of some small Italian airport back to Munich and home. Wow. Which all of that should be fantastic, obviously. Wow. Wow. Yeah. So then I'm home for a little bit and then I go to Mexico for a little while for a trip with Blancpain, but I think that's probably partially embargoed. And I don't really remember when this episode will go live versus that event. I think it might actually be before it, but that's connected to an event that you're also on. So we're in Mexico almost at the same time, but won't see each other. Yeah. Both for Blancpain, you have a really exciting Portion of that trip certainly and and then I'm back for a couple days and I'm back in Italy again for concorso della. Gonza at Lake Como sounds like you should start looking for a house over there. Yeah, I think I got somewhere I gotta figure it if like Clooney's got some room. Yeah, he's got a spot on I'm sure Lake Como he might I don't know. Maybe he wouldn't notice like above the garage. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah, you know, I like Nespresso. He likes Nespresso. Yeah, we got a lot in common. |
| Unknown | Yeah, right, right. Yeah |
| James | So I mean, it's all these these kind of weirdly short trips. So I've become progressively more insane in terms of my like very light packing. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, which is actually a good kind of a good little preview or whatever for for today's topic, which is which is some travel tips. And I think this is this is a great time to kind of cover this topic on the show, because like you said, it's kind of the kickoff of travel season, which is always struck me as a little bit strange because of the the way of the world these days and you know, the ease of getting places. It's always surprises me how we still kind of confine our travel time to kind of the spring, summer, and fall months. But it does make, you know, airline logistics a little bit easier without cancellations and airport closures and that sort of thing. And, uh. |
| James | Yeah. I mean, remember the stress we had getting in and out of New York a couple of times. Oh, yeah, yeah. And that wasn't even really bad winter. Yeah. It was just, that's kind of casual winter, I think, for the Northeast. Yeah, yeah. And their winter appears to be continuing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's sunny and beautiful in Vancouver today, which is rare to begin with, but like winter's dead over in my part of the world. Yeah. But it seems to be continuing. Certainly you still have snow, right? |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, yeah. Look out the window. We've got a foot of snow on the ground. I mean, it's the lake outside. I'm recording this from my parents' house and outside of Minneapolis a ways. And they've got a little lake out the back door here and it's frozen. There's probably you know, a foot of ice and a foot of snow on top of that. And it looks like mid January here, but it's, uh, it's going to melt soon. I'm speaking of travel. I'm quite excited because, uh, as I mentioned on the last show, uh, I'm off to, uh, to sunny Bonaire on Saturday. Um, and again, by the time this show is aired, um, I'll be back from that trip as well, which is a really weird, weird thing to think about. As I had mentioned on episode 57, the kind of point of this trip is to take a few dive watches to Bonaire and, uh, and just kind of try them out over the course of a week and get some cool photos and, um, spin out a few stories for, for Hodinkee. And, you know, I, over the years I've, I've gotten a little savvier about travel. I've also gotten admittedly and probably sadly a little jaded about it. And sometimes, uh, it's just easier and a little more pleasant to stay at home. But, uh, I have to admit, you know, there's some trips that really get me jazzed and, And Bonaire is always one of them. It's a favorite place. And so I'm excited to get down there. |
| James | Yeah, for sure. I know. Eventually, I'd like to tag along on one of your Bonaire adventures. It looks like a great place to dive. It looks nice. It looks like once you get there, the actual diving is fairly stress-free. |
| Jason Heaton | It's incredibly pleasant, easy, well, I shouldn't say easy, but yeah, friendly diving and logistically just wonderful. And I often think that, I always tell people that if you're kind of getting into diving, it's a great first place to kind of go and just get a lot of dives in your log book because you can do four or five dives a day if you want or one or two if you want. And it's a fairly stress-free, um, really pleasant. I know we talked about Boner last year cause I was there in the fall and one of our listeners, um, sort of pinged us for advice and I, I sent him a few notes and he went and came back and, and had some cool photos to show. So, um, yeah, anybody that, that wants to kind of, you know, get into diving or, or isn't a diving and, and wants to just do a lot more of it. It's a great place to go. So, you know, speaking of that trip, I think last time I mentioned that the Omega Seamaster had just arrived the day we recorded episode 57. And, uh, since then I've gotten the other watches that I'll be taking along on the trip. And one of them is the Jaeger LeCoultre, uh, Polaris, the Memovox that arrived as did the Aorus ProDiver GMT very, Two very different watches. |
| James | Yeah. I like this trio. It's like super varied. |
| Jason Heaton | It is, um, sort of intentional, but also, um, also not, but yeah, they're, they're shaking down to be a really interesting, very diverse trio of watches. The Polaris is obviously a complicated piece with an alarm function, limited edition, um, definitely way more expensive than, than the others by two or three times in some cases. Um, But it's, it's a cool watch. It wouldn't be the one I'd get. I'd probably get just the, the standard, uh, date or no date version that they showed at SAHH. But, uh, it's, it's a beautiful piece with a really nice rubber strap, classic looks. And then the Oris, um, I've, I've dived with a couple of Orises over the years and, and, but I've never really spent any time with the ProDiver series, which is, Always intrigued me. I've always kind of liked that one. I'm not, as I've mentioned in the past, I'm not a huge Aquas fan. I love the Diver 65. The Pro Diver just has that burly, you know, professional grade kind of no holds barred sort of sports watch vibe to it. You know, as you and I chatted a couple of days ago, it's just, it doesn't pretend to be anything other than something you'd wear with swim trunks or a wetsuit or something. |
| James | I mean, they just make a fantastic dive watch. Like from the more casual stuff, like, you know, I took a 65 diving in Mexico a couple of years ago, and that's a perfect vacation watch. Even if you want to go diving, anyone can come at me and complain that it's a hundred meters water resistant. It makes no difference. It has a screw down crown. I had it at a hundred feet. It'll be fine. And you know, that's about what you're going to dive anyways. Yeah. Like obviously if you're going a lot deeper than that, you need a different watch and you're dealing with a bunch of other gear. Yeah. But from like a vacation watch all the way to, you know, obviously I put a lot of dives on the Dermeister Talker for Clipperton. Yeah. And on the Hammerhead, which is the 45.5 Aquus. Yeah. Both of those, they're just great dive watches. The legibility is great. The bezels are great. They take a beating. Yeah. The case shape of the Aquus, which carries into the Pro Diver, I believe. Yeah. Has this kind of dish case shape that kind of keeps the edge, the leading edge of the case under the bezel. Yeah. So when you hit it on stuff, the bezel is what takes the. Right. The hit. Yeah. And you know, these bezels are made out of highly scratch resistant materials. Like I couldn't believe how destroyed the clasp was. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | On the Durmeister Talker, you know, I had it on the red rubber strap and that clasp is titanium. Yeah. And it would have needed a full refurbishment if you wanted it to look normal again. Sure. But the watch, which is also titanium, looked essentially brand new after like a solid nine, 10 days of diving all the time in and out of zodiacs and climbing up and down boat ramps and... Right. on and off the island. I mean, my body was beaten and cut up by then, the watch was fine. And I think that ProDiver looks great. Obviously the functionality with the GMT, really cool. |
| Jason Heaton | It is. My one kind of question mark about it is you were talking about the bezel and this one, the distinctive characteristic of the ProDiver series is this locking rotation safety system bezel that they have, which is an outer, I want to say it's plastic actually, ring that you, you have to pull up in order to turn the bezel and then you turn it and then you push it back down to lock it in place. And if you turn this, um, black ring, uh, might be aluminum. I should check that. But, um, if you turn it without pulling it up, it just spins the, that outer piece unless you lift it up. And I guess, you know, I do wonder how that would take any sort of direct blows, um, uh, whether it would pop off or get jammed. Um, as well as kind of the ability to kind of keep it clear of grit and salt and sand and that sort of thing. But I guess that's, that'll be part of a week, a week of taking a diving. And, uh, but it's, it's a cool looking watch and it's a big watch. I mean, it's a boy, I don't know the exact dimensions. It must be upwards of 46 millimeters, 47 maybe. I want to say 49 could be 49 big tall watch. Um, but it's titanium, so it's, it's reasonable. It's still pretty heavy. But like I said, you know, sometimes I think of the three of the Omega and the Polaris and this one, it's nice to take one that is just a big chunky, you know, burly watch that makes no excuses. Whereas I think the Omega is definitely the kind of the elegant dress diver one. It's the one you keep on when you go to the restaurant in the evening and the Polaris is just kind of what it is. It's a cool, just a cool watch from a cool brand. So. |
| James | Yeah, so it is 49 millimeters wide, which obviously is a huge watch. The funny thing I learned... Man, that's a great-looking watch. I like that dial a lot. The funny thing I learned when I was on Clipperton, because I had two watches, you know, the Durmeister Tucker is the smaller case size. Yeah. And I would say at 43.5 millimeters, it wears like 42. Yeah. And on the rubber strap, super comfortable. It's not very thick. I think it was the much more interesting of the two watches. The other one being the silver dial Hammerhead LE based on a 45 and a half millimeter Aquus. Yeah. All of the like normal non-watch nerd dive, like crazy divers on the boat. Yeah. Like, liked the big one. Yeah. Oh, sure. Yeah. So like some, it was one of those scenarios where I realized that like my, and maybe our viewpoint of watch sizing. Yeah. is not universal. It's fed by a lot of information that comes from knowing a ton of watches and having bought and owned a ton of watches. But like Michel, the guy that was running the trip, he wore a big Aquas. That's what he liked. He's not like a giant guy, he's a shorter dude than me, has normal size wrists, and he liked a big Aquas because it was... My guess is it felt like a piece of dive equipment. And if you compare something like you know, a 40 millimeter dive watch, you know, like a C4, which is a perfectly good dive watch. We both, I believe dove with ours. Yeah. To something like this, the Aorus, the, you know, that size communicates a certain toolishness. Yeah. And man, I think that like 49 would be too big for my wrist to like wear around. But if you're out on a dive trip, it's perfect. I mean, I had a Seiko SUN 023, which is the kinetic GMT. Yeah. And it's also huge. Yeah. a great big watch. I had that in Hawaii several years ago, and when you're in that mode, the t-shirt, going to a dive shop, getting on and off a boat, it's perfect. You don't notice it being big at all. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's kind of what you want, and so I'm going to enjoy wearing that. And then the last one that came in that is sort of an unofficial entry for the trip is that Certina DS-PH200M that I wrote up for Hodinkee, and that you also included in the story about kind of best starter watches for Hodinkee recently, It was arguably my favorite watch from Baselworld. If not that, it was kind of the most pleasant surprise for me. And it came a couple of days ago, and I've actually got it on my wrist right now. It looks great. I love it. It's a $700 watch. It's got the 80-hour power reserve, a Hesalite crystal, you know, the acrylic crystal, the Powermatic 80 movement. So it's just a lot of watch for the money. And value aside, I just think it's a really good, classic-looking watch. I love sword hands. It's got that sort of subtle red crosshair on the dial. To me, I was thinking about this the other day, it's a bit like the old Seamaster 300. It has that same vibe of 60s Omega Seamaster 300s that I just happen to love. Oh, for sure. Similar dial and hand shape too. It is, and those have gotten so astronomically expensive, and those have a domed, he's light crystal, and you know, sword hands. To me, if you're kind of looking for that vibe and kind of waiting for Omega to reproduce that, you know, they're coming close with the Master Coaxial Seamaster 300 and then, of course, the re-release 60th anniversary Seamaster 300 from last year, but they haven't quite made the one that I really like. |
| James | Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | And the vintage ones have gotten so expensive that, to me, if someone's looking for that vibe, this is the watch to get. I think it's great and it'll be fun to to take it diving. I think it's, you know, I've been wearing it quite a bit in the past couple of days and, uh, and it's, it's really cool. So, and then finally the, the last wrist instrument that I'll be taking is that, uh, Garmin Descent. Ah, cool. That I talked about, I don't know, quite a while ago, actually, that, that Garmin sent me to review and it's finally time to, to get it wet. I've had it, you know, cross country skiing and, um, whatever, but, uh, it's, uh, it's a full, full on, you know, dive watch, really great app and, uh, intuitive display, bright, bright screen. Um, so that we'll finally be able to, uh, put it through its paces underwater heart rate, um, GPS, all that stuff. So, um, that, that'll be, that'll be really fun. |
| James | I think that, I think that'll be really interesting one. And, and I'm hoping to see some pictures of what the display looks like underwater. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it varies so wildly from something, uh, the, like a dive computer, the basic ones work so well. Yeah. Yeah. Like a zoop, like a zoop is essentially perfect underwater. Yeah. It's, you know, it's hard to read on the surface because it has that screen cover. Right. That always has like condensation under it or, or they get scratched up a bunch and all that kind of thing. But, uh, underwater they work so well. And then you see some of these ones that are kind of like fancier and you're like, does that work better in like weird light or refracting light? Or, you know, sometimes, uh, the dive computer work really well when you're deep and it's a bit darker and then you're doing a safety stop and it's more glittery light. Yeah. And then you're like, it's kind of harder to read or the screen's not quite big enough. Right. You know, I like those, is it the liquid motion ones that use a lot of color? Yeah. Those like super bright segment LED style screens. I don't know how those work underwater. I've not had the chance to use one that I think they're kind of like a super premium option. Yeah. Uh, but they certainly look cool. Yeah. Yeah. And my guess is the descent will work great. You know, the, my experience with the Garmin was that it was always legible. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So that'll be fun. Um, there was a guy who, um, pinged me on Instagram, uh, his name is, uh, Emil Solberg. It goes by Mr. Solberg on Instagram. And he, um, had asked me about underwater camera gear, having looked at a couple of photos on, on Instagram and, um, thought I'd just briefly mention, you know, what, what we use. My wife takes most of the underwater watch photos. And for a number of years ago, um, we, started out using a Nikon DSLR, the D7000, in an Ikelite housing. And it was a big, heavy, you know, full-on SLR in a big, heavy molded plastic housing. And then after a while, we upgraded a couple of years ago to the Sony A7 Mark II with a Nauticam housing. So that's what we're using currently. It's been just a bomb-proof kit. I can't recommend Nauticam housings enough. Very expensive, but the way they design them is just tremendous. All the buttons, the features, it's got a vacuum pump that you can ensure that you have a good seal. And it has a little alarm system that if it starts to leak or detects moisture inside, it'll flash and beep at you underwater. It's just a really nice kit. And then we have a couple of arms on it and use a pair of Enon S2000 strobes, which are fairly low power, small compact strobes that work really well with this camera for kind of close up stuff and for the watch photography. But if you were shooting like bigger scenes with big critters or something like that, I think those lights might be a little bit underpowered. But yeah, and then on this trip, so we'll be taking that to Bonaire and then I'm taking a mid 80s Nikonos 5 underwater film camera, the kind of legendary one that Nikon produced for a number of years and I took it to Bonaire last November and used it for the first time with a Nikon Strobe, which made all the difference. Because I've shot with it before without strobes, and using film in a natural light situation underwater was not great. I would get lucky every now and then, but you just don't get any color. And boy, when I added that strobe, it made all the difference. So I'm really excited to try that again. Those are kind of the two camera choices, Emil. You know, thanks for the question. And, you know, certainly there are a lot of underwater options out there from, you know, CNC point shoots up to, and GoPros, which work great, up to, you know, pro level, you know, really giant, expensive, you know, RED video cameras and SLRs. |
| James | And you've had some experience to try, is it called the Paralenz? I have not. I have not tried that. But so I think we both follow them on Instagram. Maybe that's what we chatted about at one point. Yeah. So like my experience with GoPro is that certainly the photo aspect isn't that great. Yeah. Like it's better than nothing. You know, I shot a ton of video and photo on the Clipperton trip, but like the colors wash out really easily. You have to use a filter, all those sorts of things. So I've assumed the entry level that I assume a GoPro does kind of represent the entry level for a diving camera. Yeah. In many ways, because you could buy it and then like an hour later be underwater and not really be stressed. Like, I mean, they're just flat out designed for it. I mean, with the five that I have and presumably the six, I'm really not keeping up with GoPros these days, but you have to buy a separate dive housing because the camera's 10 meter water resistant on its own. Um, and then if you want to go deeper than that, you need a housing. Whereas I think earlier ones, any underwater use, you use the dive housing. Right. If I have it correctly. Yeah. Um, but then there's, there's this other one called a Paralenz and I always see their videos on Instagram and they look great. Uh, so I mean, that's, uh, another one that might be an interesting one to check out. That's dive specific. I don't think you'd use that for other. Uh, camera per like, I don't think you'd use it like a GoPro otherwise. |
| Jason Heaton | What's cool about it is it's, um, it's, it's kind of like the, form factor of a, of a nice, uh, dive torch or flashlight. And it has a little, uh, you have the ability to clip it to your mask strap. So you could do hands-free recording. They also make a kind of a long stock that you can attach to your, I suppose, the top of your, uh, your tank or your BC and it sticks out behind you and then aims down. So you get sort of this view of yourself swimming. Um, and, and, but what's neat about this thing. I wondered how they did that shot. Yeah. What's neat about this, um, camera is that it self-corrects for white balance as you're shooting or filming. And then it also will not only sort of time stamp photo and video, but it'll record depth and water temperature. So it's almost like you're creating an ongoing photo dive log. And obviously you don't need that on the photo if you don't want that on every photo, but it's kind of neat to be able to kind of download that and record all that information. Yeah, I was on a trip with Kip Evans, who's kind of a well-known, uh, underwater photographer. He was on that Sylvia Earle trip last year and he, he's one of their ambassadors and he was using it and he, he, uh, he kind of swears by it and I got to handle it. I didn't get to shoot with it, but, uh, it's, it's, it's just really slick. I think it's for somebody who just wants, you could literally just tuck it in your, uh, buoyancy compensator pocket and, uh, just take it out whenever you wanted it. |
| James | So, yeah. Yeah. I wasn't, I just was, I just remember not being blown away by the, the ability to take say a snapshot. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. With the GoPro. Yeah. And there's a little bit of a delay when you go to take the picture and then your hand shakes a little bit and yeah. |
| James | And the, you know, the aspect is super wide. Yeah. Um, because I believe when it's in the dive housing, you can't use some of the more narrow aspect ratios. Right. Yeah. Um, or they don't recommend you, there was some reason why I was on not super wide, but just the normal wide setting and like the photos are fine for say like Instagram or something like that. you can't really get a wrist shot with them. I got a couple that were like lucky, but I took 30 or 40 shots to get what reasonably resembled a wrist shot where I could get my wrist in the center of the frame so that it wasn't, you know, hugely bowed by the perspective. And I think beyond that, yeah, you get into either specific camera housings for a camera you already own, or you're buying kind of a dive Specific camera like the I can't remember what that brand light light motion or light in motion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah something like that So, I mean there's there's definitely options from a few hundred dollars up to literally whatever you could possibly want to spend. Yeah, but I Think that a GoPro is a good option if you want to do video But maybe not if you're expecting Expecting it to look like blue planet or right right or or the sorts of photos that you and gashani get I mean, it requires gear and expertise to take a photo of a watch underwater, or a diver for that matter. Yeah. Cool. And then you've got one other, it's new to you, watch with kind of a fun backstory before we get into the main topic. Do you want to go through the new T-Graph? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, sure. Yeah. Just briefly, if anyone was checking out my Instagram in the past couple of weeks, they might've seen this Shark Hunter Black Dial DOXA T-Graph that I recently acquired and it was pretty exciting. It came to me in a very interesting way. I had written an article last year or the year before about my SeaRambler T-Graph, the old one that I have for Hodinkee and this guy sent me an email out of the blue saying that he had one as well and that he was researching it because he didn't quite know exactly what he had in sort of modern terms. came across my article and wrote to me for more information about it and said that he was interested in maybe selling it. And lo and behold, he had a, a, a, a black dial T graph that he bought in 1970, uh, brand new from a U S divers, uh, dive shop in Chicago. And he said he bought it on layaway for $179. Um, and he was living in the Chicago area at the time and he bought it. He was 17 years old. And he, it was his companion for the next, I don't know, 30, 40 years until he kind of put it away and didn't wear it for a while. But, um, he had sent me a photo of himself wearing it as a teenager at a small Lake up in Northern Minnesota where the family was vacationing, which had some sort of interesting relevance for me. He's now living in Oregon. Um, fantastic. But we had some good phone conversations and exchanged emails and it just seemed like this is the exact sort of guy and backstory that appeals to me. And, um, you know, we kind of negotiated a little bit and I said, you know, I'd love to be the kind of keeper of your, of your memories here in this thing and kind of make my own with it. And so we, he sent it to me, I checked it out and I bought it from him, but, uh, just a neat tale. It, it really kind of resonated with me because of my kind of own background. I was about that age, you know, 17 when I saved up for my first watch, Seiko dive watch that I bought in high school. And so I could imagine his, um, his excitement, you know, you could see the pride that he had in that old photo that he sent me, uh, wearing that watch. Um, I can't imagine, I can't imagine wearing an awesome, you know, big steel Swiss dive chronograph at age 17. It's just, it's so cool. And, uh, he actually, he took a diving, he wore it, uh, He didn't go very far, he said, with his diving career, but he did dive in a few lakes, uh, in Wisconsin, got his training and was wearing the watch. So, um, it's just a neat backstory. So I'm the watch, uh, it keeps good time, but the sweep hand is kind of flops around loosely. So it's, uh, obviously needs some service, but, uh, that was to be expected. So I'm going to send that off and have it serviced in the next couple of months. And, uh, so yeah, I feel really fortunate to kind of be, uh, be the the latest sort of keeper of that great watch. |
| James | I mean, that's a perfect... Not only is that a great watch for you, because obviously you have the SR and absolutely adore it, and now to have the Shark Hunter, but also with that backstory, I mean, that watch was kind of meant for you. |
| Jason Heaton | I think without that story, it wouldn't have appealed to me, to be honest. I see these pop up for sale and it doesn't inspire me to save up or pull out the PayPal account or whatever, it's just... Just talking to the guy, I was just like, yep, this is right. I'm really buying his legacy, his story here more than just a kind of a collectible old watch. |
| James | Well, we'll have to see if a professional maybe surfaces someday with a good backstory that kind of completes the trio for you. That's really cool. And it's one that I'm excited to eventually see in person. I adore that SR that you've got and what a very cool story. And I just liked that it kind of came to you. Yeah. You know, you hear about that with like car collecting, you know, you're in the game long enough that people kind of naturally know your taste. Yeah. And, uh, and then, you know, you get these kinds of calls and, and for it to actually be something that, that kind of fit is, uh, is just special. |
| Unknown | It made me happy. |
| James | Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, uh, I think that, you know, we've been really just loose loosely chatting. So, uh, we can definitely move on to the main topic today, which I think will be useful General, you know, Jason and I travel a lot. And so our main topic today is in response to a question we got from a listener named Mike, who wrote in to ask, you know, since both of you travel quite a bit, both domestically and internationally, I'd like to get your take and tips on everything related to the overall travel experience. And then he kindly broke it down into several subheadings of various elements of travel. And I think that we can kind of bounce around and try and provide some Yeah, you know, some kind of feedback. I think that in many ways there's elements of our travel that wouldn't line up with other people's. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm going to Italy on business class. I really have to take almost nothing with me because I'm just driving a car for two days. But there's definitely things that, you know, I think you and I have learned just via exposure. Yeah. You know, kind of the, I guess, you know, he starts with flying. Do you have any specific tips or must haves for flying? |
| Jason Heaton | I think, you know, before we even jump into that, you make an interesting point about your trip to Italy, your upcoming trip here and how lightly you're traveling. I think even that, yes, we're all not, you know, traveling business class on the dime of Lamborghini, but I think your experience has led to your ability to pack light. And I think what a lot of people do is they overpack and they think that they need more than they do. Yeah. You know, for instance, there's a kind of a bare minimum of, of sort of creature comforts and maybe sort of necessities that, that you kind of learn the more that you travel that you need to take. Um, and you know, if we kind of kick it off with, with the airline travel, the flying, which is a, you know, it can be a fairly unpleasant experience, you know, like for instance, when it comes to kind of this, this airline travel, you know, maybe a good place to start is for you to kind of describe, since we're talking, you know, of build up from bare minimum, like what you're taking on this trip as kind of a very light sort of travel kit. |
| James | I have the best time traveling when I carry the least stuff with me. And I've learned that very slowly. So with the exception of something like Basel, where I will take the biggest suitcase I own, full of all the clothes that I own, so that I have lots of things to wear while I'm in Basel. With that exception, and of course the exception of traveling with kids, which is a whole different show for likely a different podcast. I mean, at that point I'm now carrying five or six bags because you've got child seats for the car, you've got strollers, all of that kind of stuff. And I'm not going to get into that. It gets really crazy. If I'm going on my own to somewhere and I don't have to dress black tie, I can I can pretty much travel out of a bag that's almost ridiculously small. Yeah. So Italy is a four day trip. This Lamborghini trip is a four day trip. And I will have my camera, all of my clothes, my laptop, and that in the bag that I would just carry my camera in at Baselworld. Yeah. So I don't know necessarily the liter size, but it's the Tenba Messenger DNA 15. Yeah. It's like a simple, really nicely made uh, camera bag, but you can take that insert out and it's maybe the size of a small backpack on the inside. But being a messenger, it's really easy to kind of access everything. Yeah. And then it has room for a 15 inch MacBook, which is what I carry regardless of where I go. I'm pretty much always working when I'm traveling so that when I come home, I don't have a bunch of work to do. Yeah. And, uh, and so this is probably the lightest I've ever packed for a trip, but I'm getting better at it. It's warm in Italy right now, which helps. So I'm not carrying a jacket. the actual event doesn't require anything beyond business casual. So I'll need a blazer, but I can also just travel with that blazer. Yeah. I'll just wear it when I travel. So the end result is, yeah, it's a itty bitty bag that looks like it would carry a laptop and a camera, but I've got everything in there. And that makes it just way easier. I'm only moving one bag at the airport. Nobody's going to ask me to gate check anything, um, you know, for a slightly longer trip or if I had a suit, I might, I would probably have to go with a roller bag, like a small carry on bag and this bag. Yeah. Which is pretty common for these trips that I would say that's more my normal, but I do kind of like to challenge myself in a stupid way to see how little I can bring. Yeah. And it gets, uh, it gets a little crazy. Like I chat with you and I think you do this a little bit too, but I start packing a few days before I go anywhere. Yeah. It's part of the fun. Yeah, I think so. It's, it's like a mental thing. And now I've started doing like a handwritten list of every outfit that I would need for a day. Oh, sure. Looking at the requirements for dress code, for a press event. Yeah. And then I'll break that down into like, how few pairs of pants could I bring? How few jackets could I bring? How few t-shirts? |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | You know, and then, and then, you know, where, where, where it sometimes gets a little bit more problematic is on a longer trip, you want to run or work out. So then you would need workout clothes. And so I try and limit that kind of thing. But, uh, yeah, for the most part, the goal is, is to really take not a piece more than I need because it just adds, you know, I have to carry that through an airport or I have to account for it in my hotel room, et cetera, et cetera. And there's something freeing about really not having that much. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. The only, um, time I've kind of been burned in that situation is, um, well, two, two possibilities are if you, let's say you're on a press trip and you, you arrive and you've, you've packed so perfectly that you, you couldn't necessarily fit more in your bag, um, but you didn't want to take any more. So you're okay. And then you get a gift, you get like a big coffee table book or you get a, uh, a nice, uh, pullover polar fleece jacket or something like that. It's like, what am I going to do with this? So I think, um, that that's one thing to consider if it's that kind of trip. And I think we've done this long enough. You kind of know which trips you're going to get a little swag or a gift, or you want to buy something. And the other, the other place I've been burned and this has happened to me is if you, if you happen to spill something, um, let's say you're oftentimes these two or three night trips, you can get away with even one pair of pants, you know, a nice pair of kind of tech khakis or whatever it is. Um, and then you're on your flight and you know, you're, you're hunched in there and you're getting your, the, the flight attendant hands across like a Coke to the guy next to you and whoops, you know, they drip on you or something. That can be a bit of a problem. |
| James | I mean, certainly you can clean it up, but if it's anything worse than that, I mean, I don't want it to sound like an ad, but this will sound like an ad. |
| Unknown | Uh, |
| James | I had this happen to me on my flight into New York. Yeah. For the Braymont event. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And that was when we also recorded the outlier interview. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And I was wearing my outlier, the slim dungarees. Yeah. And I got like half a cup of coffee poured on my leg and it just brushes off. Yeah. Yeah. Because it has that, uh, water resistant coating. Oh, sure. Yeah. On the pants. So if you can, if you can travel with something that kind of can't be stained, And I'm not saying it has to be Outlier. If you can afford and you see the value of Outlier, I'm fully hooked. I get it. Yeah. But like, Dockers makes stain-resistant pants. I don't know how flattering they are. I don't really know what they look like. I've not owned Dockers pants, but Dockers, Eddie Bauer, I believe they make the Guide Pro Pants have a DWR coating on them. Yeah. I know Patagonia's Climbing Pants have DWR layers on them and they just kind of look like sweatpants. Yeah. So depending on how you travel and how you like to dress. Yeah. In that scenario, you could minimize the stain possibility. It doesn't work so well with a shirt. Right. If you're worried about somebody pouring something on you, uh, on something like a flight or, or a kid touching your pants or something like that, then, then yeah, maybe, maybe consider something. I find it pretty important to try and consider the stain ability of, of the clothing. And that's pretty handy when it comes to, certainly when it comes to stuff like pants. |
| Jason Heaton | I think, too, that versatility is such a key when it comes to traveling light or just traveling in general. You know, when you look at something like shoes can be kind of an area of angst or concern. Yeah, because a second pair takes up a huge... You know, certainly if you can get away with one pair of shoes, all the better. Um, I know you kind of have gone with, uh, you know, like Alden's or Red Wings on some trips and those work really well for a variety of things. |
| James | Um, except taking them on or off at security. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes, exactly. |
| James | So many laces. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, exactly. Um, or if you're someone who likes to go for a run when you're someplace, uh, you know, packing running shoes, but so many running shoes nowadays are so lightweight that, uh, compressible that you can kind of stuff them into the corner of a bag. Um, But, you know, when it comes to kind of bare minimum stuff, I think I, you know, on flights, it's usually like kind of, you touched on sort of a pair of tech, you know, technical material, uh, decent looking pants and, uh, and I'll often wear kind of a nice button up shirt of that sort of a quick dry material, like these Eddie Bauer shirts, um, always have like a nano puff, you know, Patagonia, like a light down or synthetic insulation vest or jacket tucked into you know, stuffed into the bottom of a bag, which works great as a pillow, um, or when flights get cold, you can pull that on. Um, and then, you know, what I tend to do is, is, you know, depending on if I'm checking a bag or whatever, I will, um, if I am checking a bag, I always carry sort of a bare minimum of stuff that just in case that bag doesn't make it for the first day or two, I can still get by. So like an extra pair of underwear, um, like on dive trips, I always put my dive mask and computer, and a pair of swim trunks and a pair of underwear, because then you can at least go rent a wetsuit and fins and still go diving because you've got your swim trunks, but if not, you're off buying stuff. Yep. So it's very trip and activity dependent, but you need to determine what is the purpose of this trip and what's the bare minimum I need to have on my person if my bag gets lost. |
| James | Yeah, and I mean, if you're going on vacation with your family and maybe all you need at that point is like another t-shirt for tomorrow. Yeah. T-shirt and underwear. It takes up no space. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But that gets you to enough time for the airline to get your bag and ship it to your hotel. Right. Or deliver it to your hotel. In our scenario, there's scenarios where like the next day you kind of have to be professional. Yeah. And you might actually be going to another location the next day, which means they're not getting that bag to you. Right. Right. So I get really scared when you're talking about checking stuff. Like Basel, I'm in town long enough. Yeah. And in one place long enough that if they didn't get me the bag, you know, it's fine. I will travel with a t-shirt and, you know, I'll travel with a button up and some underwear and a pair of pants that would work in a business casual setting. Yeah. All ready to go for the next day. But yeah, you definitely want to consider what your obligations are on the trip, because I'm sure there's some people, there's probably plenty of people listening that travel for business. Yeah. More than they travel for pleasure. And everybody who travels for business knows that like, just because your bag didn't come in, doesn't mean you can show up to the meeting the next day in shorts. Right. Right. You still got to be the guy that they hired to do that trip. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And, uh, and that's definitely, definitely a concern. |
| Jason Heaton | Um, I think for working out too, we talked about sort of running shoes and I think one thing that, that I'll often pack is just, you know, it's easy to pack. It's just a pair of swim trunks and sometimes even a pair of swim goggles. They're so small and a lot of hotels have pools. Or if you're somewhere where there's access to a beach or a lake or something and you just want to go and recreate for a bit, um, it's, it's easy enough to kind of tuck in a bag as opposed to stuff you're going to get sweaty and have to wash or, or hang dry in your hotel bathroom or extra pair of running shoes. |
| James | I fully agree with, um, if you can, and this is, you know, as long as you are in the mode of exercising in a manner that's not running, don't take your shoes. Yeah. One, it means you're going to be, you might be running in a city you don't know. which means then you have to have your phone on you. Yeah. And, and, you know, you, you end up having like a, a weird running scenario unless you could travel the same city all the time. Yeah. But what I definitely recommend the bathing suit for any travel period, just have it with you. They don't take up that much space. They're kind of indestructible and yeah, you might get a pool opportunity. You might get a local swim opportunity or something like that. And even if it's just a pool at like a fitness center pool, that's still pretty good exercise. And, uh, and you know, it's that, it's that, um, It was described to me once as like a cascading effect. So you have the same, you get kind of the same metabolic effect from one hour of cycling is a half hour of running is 15 minutes of swimming. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, sure. |
| James | I could have that way wrong, but it's something in that vein. So, I mean, if you're cramped for time, but do have access to a pool, I think that's a good way to, you know, when you're traveling, you're not eating the good food, you're jet lagged. So some exercise can really change your energy level, your mood, your mindset, all those kinds of things. And the other thing I do is I will work out in the hotel room. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, sure. |
| James | Yeah. Which is what I'm going to do for Italy. And all I do is I get up 20 or 30 minutes earlier. I put on a YouTube show or Netflix or something on my computer and then I'll do, it's like something super easy that you barely have to count like a hundred air squats, a hundred pushups and a hundred burpees. |
| Unknown | Oh yeah. |
| James | or something like that. And sure, it takes 25 minutes or whatever. And by the end you're sweaty and you just, you're going to have a shower anyways to start the day. Yeah. And then it's done. You got some, and I find it really helps tell me when, tell my body when I'm now awake rather than getting out of bed. Maybe you had a few drinks the night before getting out of bed. You're kind of like, I'm just going to throw my clothes on and walk downstairs and try and start the day, you know, 45 minutes later after you've already really kind of gotten to breakfast or whatever. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | So don't underestimate the value of some push-ups and some sit-ups or whatever in your hotel room, and that requires no additional clothing. Right, right. So that doesn't change your packing scenario at all. I mean, you don't even need to wear clothes if you're in your hotel room, who cares, right? Right, right. |
| Jason Heaton | A couple of sort of comfort things that I've enjoyed, I guess, having for in-flight comfort are, for one thing, I've started wearing compression socks, actually, regularly on longer flights, so anything over typically international stuff or anything over four or five hours. And, you know, you hear stories about people getting blood clots in their legs and they encourage you to get up and walk around. But just purely from a comfort standpoint, you know, if you're in your seat for a long period on a long flight, you know, you take off your shoes or you loosen them, your feet just get so swelled up. And I had bought a couple of pairs of kind of smart wool compression socks at a ski shop. And, you know, I don't have the kind of the full on sort of medical compression socks, but they work really, really well for just kind of overall comfort for, you know, when you slip your shoes on at the end of the flight, you don't feel so sort of bottom heavy. And, um, I've liked that. And then on the, on the top end, uh, a couple of years ago, I got a set of those Bose quiet comfort 35 noise canceling headphones, and they're fairly expensive. I think we've talked about it on a show in the past, but, um, you know, I'd like to watch movies on the plane or listen to podcasts or audio books or music and I find them just fantastic. The battery life's great. They've got multiple sort of plug options if you're plugging into an airline system or you can use them over Bluetooth with your phone. And they're truly one of the best investments I've made. And I'm certainly not plugging for Bose, you know, any sort of whatever works for you. But I really, really, I really endorse those. I really highly recommend the Bose ones just from my own experience. |
| James | So yeah, I would, I would mirror most of that. I have, um, I always, if, if the flight is more than just a few hours, I always wear like full on skiing compression socks. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | They go up to my knees. I almost break a sweat putting them on. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | They're like incredibly tight. My brother gave me a pair when I got a little bit back into skiing a couple of years ago because it made it possible, a lot easier to get your foot into the boot. Yeah. And, uh, and now they're like, Like I literally, I'm leaving, you know, for this trip tomorrow and they're in the pocket of the jacket that I'm going to wear for the trip. Yeah. Because I don't want to forget them. I don't want them in my bag where I get to the airport and realize I don't have them on. And I'm that guy changing his socks at the airport. Yeah. Right. No, no, no. None of that stuff is happening. It's, uh, compression socks are worth whatever it is they cost and buy the good ones that fit your feet and like squeeze. They squeeze really hard. Yeah. And, uh, you'll notice it when you forget them eventually. and you do a 10 hour flight or whatever it is, and you try and put your shoes back on after or tighten them up. Like I always just unlace my boots. Yeah. And then you go to lace them up and you're like, Oh, they're so swollen. Yeah. Especially on the long flights. Uh, even if you get up and move around and, uh, and then, you know, on top of that, I would, I would definitely agree that the noise canceling earphones are important. I personally am the, I have some, some weird price sensitivity about those Bose QC35s. They're like 500 bucks in Canada. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. And they're big. Yeah. They would take up a fair amount of space in a bag, whereas what I have now does not have nearly as good a noise cancelling profile. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | But I have this noise cancelling set from Sony, which you can still find on eBay, but I don't think they still make. And it is specifically the MDR-NC13, and they're earbuds, so they take up no space. I literally wrap them up in an Altoid case. Oh, yeah. And that's so they don't get crunched or whatever in a bag. And they plug right into, you know, they're not wireless or anything. And they use a single AAA for the noise canceling that gets 100 hours. Oh, cool. So they're cheap, but you know, they're not expensive. They're under $100. And they seem pretty robust. I've been using them for probably over a year now. And I think that's a pretty good option. Definitely if you have if you already have them or you don't have this kind of, I don't understand why suddenly I have some price sensitivity towards these Bose. I have like expensive headphones that it could be a size thing. I'm not sure, but definitely noise canceling earphones. However you prefer to wear them, whether the on ear variety or the earbuds are really, really great. Especially if you like to work on planes or if you like to signal to the passenger next to you that you're not up for a two hour conversation. Yeah. Yeah. I, it's one of those things where like saying that out loud sounds rude, but if you fly enough, you kind of just want to get on the plane and, you know, get a coffee or whatever and, and just kind of get it underway. Yeah. And, uh, and don't get me wrong. I've met some very lovely people on planes, but that's very few and far between. Right. And, uh, for the most part, especially when you're tired, you know, like you end up with a lot of these flights that are like 5am flights. Yeah. Which means you, you left the hotel at 2.30. Yeah. I'm not in the mood to talk. I don't want to talk. I don't want to do anything. I want to listen to somebody else talk in my ear or a song I've heard a thousand times that makes me feel like I'm not on an airplane at the moment. Yeah. And yeah, so headphones I think are absolutely crucial. And certainly you see everybody throw their headphones on as they get on the plane. So that's good. The only other thing I would add about packing light or tattoo light is lots of these companies, I think Eddie Bauer is the one that comes to mind, make these tiny packable backpacks. Yes. Yeah. Or tote bags. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James | So if you are in a scenario where you think you're coming back with more stuff than you left with, one of these little bags, they're not expensive, like they're $20, $30 tops. Right. And, uh, and that can give you a good 10 or 15 liter fully packable backpack that you could use if you were, say, walking around a city, but wanted to leave your laptop and camera bag just at the hotel. Yeah. So I think that's a really good choice that doesn't take up a ton of space in a bag and it's pretty travel appropriate. You know, it's a simple, I think Tom Bihn makes them as well. So if you want a higher quality, like Tom Bihn makes arguably some of the highest quality backpacks you can buy. Yeah. And I'll dig up a few and put them in the show notes, but I think that's a great option if you want to have a bit of, you know, that if you want to have a little bit of wiggle room in terms of like you want it to travel or your goal is to travel with one bag, but you might come home with two. So you're not buying some junk backpack or something in Austria, you have kind of a backup. And then there's lots of kind of duffel bags that fold up really small. Yeah. You know, we've gotten a few of those as swag over the years. I have one from Omega that's maybe the size of, I don't know, it's maybe the size of like a Nintendo Switch system. Yeah. Smaller than an iPad, but thicker. And those can be pretty handy to have as well. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think if we briefly kind of shift gears and talk about trips that maybe you aren't packing as light as possible, um, whether it's a, you know, trip to climb a Mount Baker or dive in there or something. Um, you know, one thing that, that, that I've always loved is these, you know, these photos of these guys getting ready to go on expedition and they're in the airport with mounds of North face base camp duffel bags, you know, big yellow duffels or something piled on a gear trolley. Um, and I, I've, I've tried a lot of, duffels, I've got a nice one from Helly Hansen and L.L. Bean and a few others, but they're not always as practical. And for instance, this Bonaire trip is a fairly gear-intensive trip. I'll be, so just as an example, I'll be carrying on the plane. I have a maximum legal carry-on size rolling Pelican case that holds the underwater camera housing and strobes and arms and things because it's all fairly fragile stuff. I don't want to check it. Um, if I had to, I could, you know, certainly I think I would trust the Pelican in that case, but, uh, it's nice to be able to carry that on the plane. And then on my back, I have that, uh, that black Patagonia black hole backpack, which is I think a 26 or 32 liter, um, size. And I keep in that, I keep the Nikonos camera on the bottom, the swim trunks and underwear that I mentioned, uh, my sunglasses and a cap and my laptop and, and that sort of stuff. Um, but then to check the the dive gear, um, as opposed to going sort of duffle, which, you know, if you lift your dive gear in a, in a duffle, you're going to get, you know, tennis elbow or strain something or whatever, if you have any length of a walk with that. And so I've gone to like, you know, one of these discount shops like TJ Maxx or Sierra trading post, and they sell these big sort of faux, you know, Swiss army or Swiss gear sort of hard side suitcases with four wheels and a retractable handle. And they're just, they're huge and they're very light and they're fairly durable and they work really well for hauling gear in. And, and I know it's not quite as cool as, you know, a North Face duffel bag, but it just works really well for, you know, one side holds pretty much all the dive gear and then the other side can put, uh, you know, whatever clothes or miscellaneous stuff I've got. And that's kind of been my, my MO for, for trips like, like this in the past couple of years is, kind of make use of one of those big hard shell suitcases for, for kind of the gear and then, and then carry on, um, you know, the, the, the necessity stuff. |
| James | Yeah, no, I think it's the same, same for me. And in the past when I've had to do dive trips, um, I will pack most of my dive gear in a norm, my normal suitcase in and around whatever clothing, you know, if I, when I went to Hawaii, I took as much of my own gear as possible, everything, but an exposure suit. I didn't bring my own wetsuit. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And, uh, I took, I brought everything else and my, uh, Ziegel BC is very light. Yeah. The stilettos, I think seven pounds. So if once you, it's deflated and then you can kind of pack things in or around it. Yeah. It really doesn't take up that much space. So then the big thing for me would be fins, but they still fit really well in a, in a bag. And I mean, if you're going somewhere tropical, you're probably not carrying a lot of other clothing weight. Right. you know, your bag isn't full of jackets and boots and other things like that. So you should have the, you know, weight allowance and to kind of wiggle your way up to 50 pounds. Yeah. And, uh, and I found that to be fine. And then when I did Clipperton, it was a soft side luggage only. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | So duffels. Yeah. And for that, I have a red ox duffel bag, which is a fantastic manufacturer of these very specific aesthetic. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I'm And then the camera, all of that kind of stuff was there. But a big duffel in a scenario where they want, you know, because they're loading it on and off of a boat, they didn't really want people bringing suitcases on. Yeah, rolling suitcases don't work well. Yeah. Yeah. So I think in many ways you can treat dive gear as anything else you would pack. Yeah. And I think that a suitcase is definitely the way to go. And then if you're If you're doing a dive trip where you're transitioning on and off of a boat a lot, you can get these collapsible mesh bags. Yeah. Yeah. That kind of zip into like a circle. |
| Unknown | Right. |
| James | And then when you unzip it, they kind of extend into like a, like a duffle basically. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And ScubaPro makes them and you see them from lots of people. And I think that's probably the best way if you're wanting to go from say a hotel room to the local dive shop, to their boat. Yeah. This will give you the ability to carry your gear without wearing it. I've done that before. Yeah, and they weigh nothing, so it's easy to tuck in the bottom of a suitcase. Yeah, exactly. So I think that's probably a pretty safe bet. So for accommodations, I think we can blast right through this. I very successfully used Vacation Rental by Owner, VRBO. I've used Airbnb a ton. Airbnb recently saved me in a big way in New York, where my other option would have been to have just slept on the floor at Penn Station. So that was great. And then you can also use a number of different websites to find affordable hotels that night. Yeah. So hoping that you're not in a scenario where there's a storm and everybody else is looking for a hotel, you can use Hotel Tonight, is an app that you can get for your phone. Works pretty well in any American city that I've kind of needed it. Will certainly give you results, whether it's within your price range. I mean, that same scenario where I was in New York, Uh, three days before I could have found a hotel in Midtown for, you know, 125, 130 bucks. And then when everybody else was looking for hotels due to the, a bunch of snow that came in, it was more like, uh, four times that. Um, so I might, I always lean towards Airbnb, especially if you're in a big city that allows Airbnb. So like using New York as an example, I very quickly found a guy that was essentially running an Airbnb hotel out of his apartment. And he had several units and it was all pretty nice and it was cheap. It was like a hundred bucks or whatever. So I think that's always a pretty safe bet. And then I know for you and certainly for me, Airbnb has been the ticket for Europe. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty cool. I mean, I think, I don't know if VRBO was around before Airbnb, but I've used VRBO for a number of years for dive vacations or even renting sort of cabins in wilderness places and people have lake places that they they only use for a couple of weeks a year and then they rent them out. And that's, that's worked out really well. Um, for sure. I think in terms of kind of researching trips or kind of how you find places to stay and things to do, um, you know, I mean, what, what can you really say about it? The internet, uh, is, is just a wash with, with research options. I, I tend to, I do use trip advisor, which I know a lot of people do, and I've had mixed results. And I think a lot of it is, it's like anything it's like comments on, on, uh, blogs or forums, you know, people kind of get heated and kind of, you know, air their grudges and things like this. But, um, I have found good information on TripAdvisor about restaurants and places to stay and things to do. Um, and I do leave reviews myself. I think it's a helpful thing to do. |
| James | I think the, uh, I think the other thing that I would suggest is if you know the city you're going to, and it's a city that you don't know. Yeah. Go on Reddit. Oh. And just look up that city's Reddit. |
| Unknown | Oh, huh. |
| James | Not only will you get an idea of what the city looks like from a local, people just like the Vancouver one, part of the content is just people posting nice pictures of Vancouver. Yeah. But people also, you know, like if you didn't know anything about Vancouver in a half an hour on r slash Vancouver, you would know that Stanley Park is beautiful. You would know a couple of great places to eat. You'd probably know that like the light rail system wasn't working that well that day because people are complaining about it or the buses weren't doing this or that. It gives you like a very like ground effect for trip research. So I would say definitely start there. And then of course, if you're a Reddit user, these city subreddits are typically very friendly to someone who wants to ask a question or two. Don't expect people to plan your vacation for you. Like don't go in and ask like, hey, I'm in town for three days and you know, I have two kids with me and this and that and put up a bunch of stuff. But if you just want to ask a question like, On a sunny afternoon, am I better to go to Lynn Canyon or Stanley Park? If you don't know the place, that's a good question. Yeah. Because I would say you definitely go to Lynn Canyon. Yeah. Somebody else might tell you Stanley Park. It depends. Right. But these are, I think that's a pretty solid resource if you want to get an idea of what's happening in a city. Yeah. And then if you want to see if there's events in a city, do the same thing, but then sort the Reddit by top all. Oh, sure. Uh, so that'll show you the most popular posts of all time, which might give you an even better idea of what the city's kind of more known for. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I think in the past you've also, um, suggested if you're researching something to, to Google it and then look at the images. Oh, always. Maybe not travel specific, but I think it could be handy in that case. And similarly, I would suggest people use Instagram. Um, you know, most of our listeners and definitely we are big users of Instagram and it's a great place not only to search for things by hashtag or by location on Instagram, but also you can put out your own questions. You can, you can find people that live in a place or have been to a place. And I mean, we've had this happen just through the show. Um, people will write and say, how's the diving in Bonaire? Where should I stay when I go to Belize? What should I do? You know, and it's, um, it's, it's, it's handy. It's a community, right? And I think if, you know, you can use Instagram to just look at pretty pictures, but I think it's, it's been a great place to kind of gather information as well. |
| James | Yeah. And especially because you could, like if you, let's say you're going to Mexico and you knew the resort you're staying at, you can look up that resorts geo tag on Instagram and see what other people are doing at that resort or what they're doing when they tagged it. So if you're trying to decide if it's a good spot to take your kids and all the pictures are parties, that might help you out. And if you get on there and you see someone who has like posted a bunch of really beautiful photos and they have a ton of followers and seem to be engaging, maybe drop into their comments and ask a question. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Yeah. Um, that's a good option. I definitely think that when you want to do, this is how I decided where to dive in, you know, when I was in Hawaii a couple of years ago, several years ago now, I only had so much time that I could dedicate to diving. And, uh, I went on Google image search and typed like great diving Hawaii. Oh yeah. And just looked at the pictures to find what I thought looked like cool places to dive. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And then, you know, click on the picture and the person would say like, Oh, this is the LCU dive out of Waimanalo Bay and put that on my list. Or, Oh, if you're comfortable diving deeper, this is the plane rack at 120 feet. Uh, you know, there's, there's some really interesting stuff, but I think if you, if you, if you're doing something like diving or hiking is on your list, these kind of visual experiences, then definitely Google what your goal would be, you know, great hike in Vancouver. Instagram, great how you came to Vancouver on Google image search and then trying and then see like if you see a viewpoint that interests you. Yeah. Because there's always some variety. Yeah. And especially, you know, if you're going to a European city, an old world European city, you're in Munich or something, maybe you want to actually just just go downtown and walk circles. That's also a great option. But with something like a Vancouver, there's not that much downtown. Yeah. Like if you want to go shopping, I guess, but you go shopping where you live, I assume. Yeah. Yeah. Um, you come out here so that you could quickly get to the mountains or you get to the ocean or something like that. So, uh, to, to have, to know the easiest route to say a lighthouse park or, uh, Juniper point or something like that, if you wanted to see some ocean and some rocky cliffs and that sort of thing. Yeah. Uh, I think these things can visually work with the way that people want to find what they want to do. |
| Jason Heaton | And, and, you know, lastly, I mean, I think specific to kind of diving trips is I've For many years, I've used scuba board, which is kind of the preeminent sort of diving online forum. And they have geographical sub forums that you can. So let's say we're going to the South Pacific or you're going to Southeast Asia and you want to research what diving is like in Thailand, you can go to that sub forum and you can just search. You don't even have to ask the question because somebody has likely asked before, how's the diving in July in, you know, some specific place. And you're going to get loads of replies and recommendations on dive shops and and things like that. So, um, you know, it doesn't just have to be diving. If you're, you know, going climbing or hiking or something, you can, you can find similar sort of sports specific forums and ask those questions or do searches. |
| James | Okay. And then, yeah, I think that's probably like research is obviously it's going to be basically the internet, um, but know what you like to do when you get to a place. Um, and then if you're, if you're doing a city, like, like a good European city, leave yourself way more time than you would think, because you're going to walk if it's your first time going to even a place like New York. Don't back-to-back things all day. You're going to want to just kind of stroll around and see it. So leave yourself some wiggle room, especially if it's a quote-unquote vacation, not just an afternoon where you're not working. And then next on the list, he's got car rental. There's not a lot I can offer here. I never rent cars in any special fashion when I'm away. Do it as early as possible so that you get the best rate, I suppose. Be sure that you know whether you require any special paperwork like an international driving permit because they may require that when you get there or if you unfortunately get a ticket in the vehicle, the person giving you the ticket may require more than just say your passport and your local driver's license or your home driver's license. Just something to consider. I don't really rent cars that often. You know, I rented a car again in Hawaii and it was like a cheap Ford and it was fine. Yeah. You know, there's, I don't think there's that much to it. If there's tricks to it, I don't know it. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Same here. One kind of a close this out. There's one travel tip that I have yet to try that I've heard for years, and maybe you've tried this, but I'm going to try it on my next trip is put a couple of clothes pins in your, in your dop kit so that when you're in a hotel room and the drapes don't close all the way, you can clip them together. Oh, I like that idea. That's great. And clothespins would be handy for like hanging your kind of dirty clothes if you need to or clipping stuff shut or whatever. |
| James | I hate it when the curtains don't let in that perfect beam of light directly into your face. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, for sure. My only other tip, and this is a favorite of mine, is when you travel, obviously you need to consider the plugs depending on where you're going. Oh, sure. But a simple extension cable has saved me many, many times. Whether it's the scenario where the stupid European plug doesn't stay in the wall as soon as you put any weight on it. Yeah, right. This allows you to take all the weight off the plug. It's also that one where you get an Airbnb room in Basel and the plug's on the other side of the room from the bed, which is where I'm going to do most of my work. And then lastly, and this is a huge, huge pet peeve of mine, is the way they designed the plugs in the seat in the airplane. Oh, yeah. They cannot hold any weight. Right. They're usually at a negative angle. Yeah. And they've been destroyed by other people. So the extension cable allows you to kind of bend the prong a bit to get some additional purchase. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And then again, you put all the weight down on the floor where I would actually plug in my MacBook under my feet. Yeah. I'm telling you, this is, uh, this is my only real pro move is, uh, is, uh, like a $5 extension cable because they're just useful everywhere. Yeah, that's true. That's a good one. So, and they, and they fit it like this one will fit in the little like mesh pocket on the outside of my, of the 10, but they just don't take up that much space. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | And instead of carrying, you know, like Belkin makes these really handy power bars that have like three plugs and a surge protector and USB. Sure. but then they're kind of heavy. So you're going to need the extension cable anyways, and they're grounded. So you're going to have to carry a thicker, like an appliance grade extension cable. And then you're still dealing with the plug, you know, the plug, the whatever the local plug shape is. And I found that the easiest route, if you have to plug more things in than a laptop and a USB charger, then sure, you're going to need a different option. But for the kind of work that we do, charging a camera and keeping a laptop running, really a simple extension cable can be a game changer. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Cool. |
| James | That's a good one to end on, I think. Yeah. You know, I think that's kind of at a broad level, a rambling coverage of how we think about traveling. So Mike, I really hope that helped and that it covered kind of the needs. If any of you are listening and have more questions or like a specific question, by all means, thegreatnadoatgmail.com. I'm happy to have this be, you know, more of a continuing discussion because travels that kind of thing you do and you learn and you do again and you change up a little bit. So I think that there's plenty to cover here, but yeah, try and pack light, plan ahead a little bit and whatever you do, enjoy wherever you're going. Yeah, definitely. So how about some final notes? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, sure. I'll happily jump in here. My first one's fairly a good segue from what we were talking about. It is the Worn and Wound podcast, specifically episode 62. Uh, where, um, a guy named Alan Farmello, who goes by a Farmello on Instagram, um, took a handful of, uh, dive watches to Belize and that's where he got dive certified and, and did a series of dives with, uh, with these watches and reviewed them for, for worn and wound. So he had, um, he had, uh, uh, the rotto and Oris and a Seiko and he, and I think actually two Seikos. And he reviewed these watches diving. And I thought it was, it was a, it was a great story because he, um, he, he, you know, you can read the story on worn and wound, but then he describes it on the podcast as well. He talks about kind of his early experience diving and kind of what, what led him to, to try it. And, um, uh, you know, kind of his experience diving at Belize and, uh, as well as some, some good dive watch content. So, um, If you're sick of James and I just talking about diving with watches, you know, there are other people doing it. And I think Alan did a great job with that. And you can certainly check him out on Instagram and give that podcast a listen. I think just the Warn and Wound podcast in general is a really nice varied podcast that I enjoy from time to time. |
| James | Yeah, I think they're doing a really good job with it. I thought the post was very interesting, the one that Alan wrote. And then I actually saw this pop up. you know, in my feedly that they were doing a discussion about this and I quickly grabbed the episode and it's just in my, in Pocket Cast for me to listen to on the plane or in the lounge tomorrow. So I'm looking forward to it. Should be good coverage. And I just love it. Anyone, you, me, whoever is out diving with watches. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Kudos to Warner One for, you know, the coverage and for Alan and all of that. And then I'm looking forward to the episode. Yeah. What do you got? So my first one is a car video. I've mentioned Motorhead videos in the past. They did that amazing 4K video of the three Japanese car collectors that drive like Le Mans race cars on the street. Yeah. Do you remember that? It was an XJ220 race car and I want to say a Porsche 962. And another Mazda, I believe. I'm blanking on the three cars in that video, but it's this amazing video. And on their channel, they do another, they do several other amazing videos, but one that was recommended to me at a BMW press event recently was this Motorhead Hill Climb sponsored by Recaro is what the video is called. And it's this like insano hill climb in Hakone, which is a public road, but it's a toll road. Yeah. And it's become quite popular for these all out hill climbs in Japan. Yeah. And they produce this gorgeous video with a selection of really wild cars just tearing up this road. And it's so, so cool. So it's on Hakone Mountain is the road and it's the, the roadway is called the Mazda Turnpike. Oh. And so they, they, they go up in a, a BMW, like super GT car. Yeah. And then some like really crazy drift missile cars. And it's just fantastic. And it's kind of has like a sense of humor. It's beautifully filmed, just like all the stuff from them. And the road for anyone who's listening, who has been watching the recent series of BBC's Top Gear. This is the same road where Rory broke a vintage Porsche race car. Oh, wow. Well, the car broke. I don't think it was necessarily his fault. But you'll remember that road. It's a gorgeous mountain forest road. Yeah. So I highly recommend this video. I mean, it is seven and a half minutes spent perfectly, in my opinion. And I love the way that they shoot. It's always this kind of like contrasty, but it just looks great. I have an absolute... I've watched this video like three or four times. Um, it was for whatever reason, it was kind of buried in their YouTube channel. So I didn't catch it back when I kind of went through some of their stuff. And then I was at this event and another automotive writer, we were chatting about the, the other video I had mentioned. And he was like, Oh, you've seen the hill climb. I was like, no, he's like, I was there. I've been to that hill climb. It's insane. Wow. Uh, so by all means, I'll throw the link in the show notes. You should definitely watch this. If you have any, any interest in, uh, just kind of bonkers car videos. Oh, very cool. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, my, my second one today is, uh, it's, it's a little bit left, left of center for, for the gray NATO, but it's, uh, it's from some, some pretty cool guys over in the UK. Um, they started a magazine about a year or two ago called the Jackal. Um, and I just think the name itself is great. It's, uh, it's kind of a men's style magazine that at first they were doing in print only and distributing on, um, uh, like for free in like, London tube stations and, and, you know, sort of public places just to kind of pick up. I think they were kind of making their money by advertising, but it, it had a real sort of stylish feel to it. And it was started by a guy named Robin Swithenbank, who, if you know Robin, he's like the tallest guy in the watch writing community. He's like six foot seven or something and a very jolly, nice guy. And, and Robin's got a real kind of way with, uh, uh, layout work and writing. He does some stuff with Bremont, uh, on a few things for them and so he started this and another guy named Tim Barber who is kind of a British freelancer. He was contributing for a while. I'm not sure if he still is but I think Tim was the first guy to tell me about this when I met him at Basel two years ago and I just happened to notice that they kind of started publishing a lot more on their website which is thejackallmagazine.com and it's nicely done. It's pretty light reading. It's mainly kind of style. They'll do some sort of watch roundups and Um, you know, trench coats to wear and things like this, but they get interesting, uh, celebrities that they'll sit down and do interviews with. Like, um, I can't remember the name of the guy who plays, uh, uh, Watson on the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch. Um, Martin, Martin Freeman, Martin Freeman. There he is. Yeah. And, um, Matt Smith who plays, uh, he was in doctor who, and then he plays a Prince Philip in the crown, the BBC series. So, you know, they, they, they get some big names in there. The photography's nice. Um, And it's just a nice sort of British twist on kind of the ubiquitous men's sort of style and lifestyle websites. And so, yeah, check it out. |
| James | I like this. I think it looks great. Yeah. Very cool. Yeah. It looks like they've divided it into smart dressing, smart living, and smart thinking. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, yeah, the layout's beautiful. This is a great looking website. I'm excited to add this to the feed. That's great. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | Oh, they got your Sertina there. Oh, cool. The sleeper hits of Baselworld 2018. Oh, there we go. Nice. My second is a book. I know a little while ago, I recommended a photo compilation from outside. It was like a 40th anniversary look at all of these great photos from the magazine. Well, they followed this up with a new book called Out There, and it is 41 years of their most astonishing stories of misadventure. And I don't know if I've ever clicked like buy as quickly on an idea. Yeah. It looks fantastic. It's this big hardbound book and it's the wildest stories from Outside Magazine. I don't think it needs a lot more explanation than that. You either know Outside Magazine for their ability to put together these incredible stories. Yeah. And if you don't, this would be a great way to catch up on what they've been working on for the last four decades. Just some really, really great stuff. And I ordered it immediately. It should actually arrive today. So I'll provide some level of follow-up maybe in the next two episodes as to, uh, what I actually thought of it, but let's be honest, like it's going to be great. It's outside. Yeah. It's, uh, it's stories of misadventure, which are super fun. And, uh, I'll throw a link to a pretty big description they have of, uh, of the book and, uh, also dig it up on Amazon or whatever. I think I paid 30 bucks Canadian for it. So it's, it's really a reasonable thing. |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, cool. But the big question is if it arrives today, is it going to fit in your perfectly packed bag for, for Italy? |
| James | I don't think I just don't think I'll have that much reading time. You know, I guess I'll be on a plane a fair bit, but I've got a ton of ton of work to try and get to. So it's probably for the best that I don't think it would quite fit. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | I could probably throw it on top and then we'll see. We'll see. We'll see when it arrives. I got other stuff arriving today in the mail, so we'll see what comes in in time for the trip. But yeah, so that's that's my second pick. And I think I think it looks like a great way to have some summer reading. Keep keep you in the adventure mood. Nice. Well, great. What a what a fun episode. Yeah, I hope people dug it. Obviously, there's a lot to digest there, but a nice loose conversation about one of our favorite things to do, which is get out of the house and go somewhere. |
| Unknown | Yeah. |
| James | So as always, thanks so much for listening. You can hit the show notes for more details, and you can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey, and of course, follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write TheGraynado at gmail.com, and please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| Jason Heaton | And we leave you with this quote from Seneca who said, There is no easy way from the earth to the stars. |