In a few days’ time, I will be posting my annual survey of the Top Ten D&O Stories of the year. For now, though, we are all enjoying the holidays. The last thing most of us want to think about is the latest case decision or the most recent developments in D&O insurance coverage. With that in mind, I thought I would go off-topic and turn to the lessons from my travel experiences. The fact is that I travel a lot. I have gotten pretty good at maintaining my equilibrium while traveling. But we all know that along with joy and surprise, travel can also entail a lot of bumps and bruises. I thought it might be useful for me to share some of the things I have learned to make travel easier, as well as some of my travel likes and dislikes.

Travel Hacks

There are a number of things I have learned over the years that unquestionably help to ease some of the inconveniences that travel entails. I offer these here for whatever they may be worth. I also want to encourage readers to send along to me their own travel hacks and if I collect enough I will publish an updated list of travel hacks inclusive of readers’ suggestion.

1. Power Strip: My first travel hack is the solution to a recurring travel gripe, which is that many (most?) hotel rooms do not have enough electrical outlets for 21^st century travelers. I mean, you arrive in your room with all your devices – your phone, your laptop, your kindle, your AirPods – and they all need to be charged. And maybe your wife has all of her devices that need to be charged, too. All too often, the hotel room will have only a single electrical outlet, say, behind a table or under a desk. Even if there are more outlets, they are usually inconveniently located, say, in a hallway, or behind a desk. This is not just a problem in older hotels, even newer hotels share this same deficiency.

In order to address this problem, I always travel with a multi-outlet power strip. (Mine has nine outlets.) Of course, you may need an adapter to plug the strip into the wall, but you need an adapter for your phone or computer anyway. If hotel rooms are not going to provide enough power outlets, you just need to take matters into your own hands and travel with a power strip in your suitcase. In my experience, the power strip solves the problem.

2. Night Light: Waking up in the middle of the night in a dark hotel room can be treacherous. This difficulty can be a particular problem if you stay in several different hotel rooms in a short time frame. It can be tricky trying to remember the furniture arrangement in an unfamiliar room, and even worse if your memory of the arrangement is confused by the several hotel rooms you recently visited. I am tired of stubbing my toes in the middle of the night. So I travel with a couple of night lights. This is my way of preserving my toes. It works. It is true that if you are in a foreign country, you may need an electrical adapter for the night light. However, this is an additional issue that the power strip mentioned above can help to solve. If you have already plugged the power strip into the wall using an electrical adapter, you don’t need a separate adapter for the nightlight, since you can just plug the nightlight into one of the plugs on the power strip.

3. Adapters: As you may have discerned from the preceding two travel hacks, having electrical adapters is an indispensable part of travel – foreign travel, anyway. Most 21^st century travelers already know they need to travel with electricity adapters. However, getting the correct adapter can be a challenge. One pitfall that snares many travelers is that they get a so-called Universal Adapter and they think they are covered. I know from painful experience that the “Universal” adapters fall far short of universal coverage. There are certain countries – for instance, Switzerland, Brazil, Australia – whose outlets fall outside the standard plugs used in much of the rest of the world. The solution is not to settle just for the so-called Universal adapters, but rather to get a comprehensive set of adapters, covering plug types A though N. I travel with one of these sets and – after years of having problems with so-called Universal Adapters – I no longer have any problems. With a little advance planning, you can avoid having to carry the full set, carrying only the specific adapters you are likely to need.

4. Travel Underwear: O.K., I know that at this point you are thinking, this guy sure does travel with a lot of gear. What does he do, travel with multiple suitcases? No, I travel with only a single suitcase. How do I do this? I manage my underwear cargo.

Let’s say you are traveling to Asia for three weeks – something I actually did in October. For a trip that long, you are going to have to take a lot underwear. Even if you make the underwear do double-duty, you will need lots of underwear. And traditional cotton underwear is bulky, particularly cotton undershirts. Underwear can take up a lot of suitcase space. Of course, you can plan to do laundry on the road, as a way to take less underwear.  I actually do have preferred laundry services in London and Paris. But I can’t always count on finding a laundry service in an unfamiliar city, and I also can’t count on having the time.

The solution is to pack washable, quick-dry underwear (t-shirts and shorts). I wear one set on the plane, and pack two sets in the suitcase. The lightweight quick-dry underwear packs up very tightly. It takes up very little suitcase space. It does require you to wash the underwear in the sink every night, but that that is small price to pay for all of the suitcase space saved. I use the travel underwear available from TravelSmith. For my purposes it works great.

5. One Pair of Jeans, One Pair of Shoes: There is another way I conserve luggage space. That is, I travel with one pair of jeans and one pair of shoes. Black jeans and black hiking shoes. I wear the black jeans with a blazer on the plane, as well as the hiking shoes. I then wear the jeans for leisure, in client meetings, at receptions, whatever, adding the blazer if I think the situation requires a little more formality. No one even notices I am wearing jeans, because they are black. I wear the black hiking shoes for the same functions. Both the jeans and the shoes are comfortable and versatile. And if you wear them on the plane, they are not taking up space in your suitcase.

6. Sleeping on Planes: Traveling economy can be an ordeal, particularly when it comes to trying to sleep on the plane. I can’t say I have mastered the art of sleeping on planes but I am much better at it than I used to be. In order to try to get some sleep, I take several things with me on the plane: a set of eyeshades (what the marketing folks call a “sleep mask”); ear pods for my phone; and a Turtl Travel neck pillow (the fleecy kind that wrap around your neck). I put on the Turtl, cover my eyes with the eyeshade, and then listen on the ear pods to a book on tape. Covering up with a blanket also helps. The book on tape carries me off to sleep, and most of the time I can sleep that way for hours. Not fool proof, but it generally works.

7. Travel Ready: To make sure I have things like the eyeshades and ear pods handy when I need them, I wear a fanny pack on the plane. In my fanny pack, I have my passport; ear pods with two kinds of plugs (one for my phone, one for the seat back to watch movies); a pair of sunglasses (not because I will need them, but just so they don’t get crunched in my suitcase or backpack); and a pen (because you often need to have a pen).

8. Three Things That Never Leave My Suitcase: You can’t plan in advance for everything. Sometimes you are just going to have to wing it. But there are certain situations that come up on travel so reliably that it is better just to be prepared. For these situations, there are three things that never leave my suitcase: a bottle opener; a corkscrew; and sunscreen. The bottle opener and the corkscrew are self-explanatory. It may seem that the sunscreen is also self-explanatory, too, but some further details may be instructive.

The fact is that  when you are traveling, you may often spend more time outdoors than usual. For that reason alone, you need to pack (and use) sunscreen. But there is more to it than that. I have managed to get myself sunburned in some unexpected locales. You may think you are in a Northern climate or that it is not the time of year when the sun is a problem. Ha! I have gotten sunburned in London in March – more than once. I got sunburned in Seoul in late October. Bottom line: pack the sunscreen. And use it. One more note, in sunnier locations (say, Australia, Israel, or Spain) you need to use a higher SPF than usual. And cover up. Wide-brimmed hat, long sleeves, long pants.

That’s a short list of my travel hacks. There are more. Buy me a beer sometime and I will fill you in on the rest. Now it is time for my travel gripes. I feel the need to say at the outset that I am not a grumpy traveler or some kind of misanthrope. There are just some things – particularly when I see them or they occur over and over again – that bother me. One of these gripes is the problem with hotel room electrical outlets, which I mentioned above. Here are some of my other gripes.

Travel Gripes

1. Luggage racks: You are in a double room. There is a double bed. There are towels for two people. Sometimes, in nicer hotels, there are even bathrobes for two. In fact. there are two of you. Each of you has a suitcase. Why is there only one luggage rack? This one is so stupid it makes me cross-eyed. When my wife and I travel, I always wind up with my suitcase on the floor, and every single time it makes me mad. Do the people who design and furnish hotel rooms ever stay in one of their hotel rooms? Mind you, this shortcoming is nearly universally true. It is the very rare hotel that provides two luggage racks. The rooms with only one luggage rack drive me nuts.

2. Towel racks: Every hotel I have ever stayed in has provided towels. Sometimes the towels are very nice. The people who design the hotel rooms certainly are aware of the presence of the towels. If they are thinking at all, they have to know that the towels are going to be used. When towels are used for their intended purposes, they  get wet. And it is best that wet towels are not just thrown on the floor or draped on the washstand. So why do so many hotels (like, most hotels, that is) not provide towel racks? By the way, I am not just talking about small or old hotels, what I am saying is applicable even to the flagship-brand business hotels. How about a towel rack for crying out loud? Or at least a hook? Geesh.

3. Trash Cans: What do the people who design and furnish hotel rooms have against trash cans? Anyone who travels at all knows that traveling is a process that produces garbage –boarding passes and luggage tags, dry cleaner cover bags, snack food containers and food wrappers, orange peels and apple cores, empty bottles, and so on, into infinity. So why do so many hotel rooms just have one trashcan, usually just in the bathroom, and often only big enough for, say, a few tissues? Again, this is not just true of small or old hotels, this is applicable to the many of the flagship-brand business hotels.

4. Lights: How many times have you walked around a hotel room flipping light switches trying to figure which switch controls what lights? How many times have you found yourself passing your hands over, around, under, on a floor lamp or table lamp trying to find the power switch? This light switch issue can turn into a desperate problem. I was at the PLUS conference hotel in November, and there was a weird kind of valance light behind the bed that illuminated the wall and the ceiling. Despite extensive efforts over the course of several days, I never did find a switch that would turn off those lights. Again, do the people that design these rooms ever actually stay in them? I mean, how hard would it be to set up the light switches in a logical way so that someone unfamiliar with the room could find the switches? Or if you are going to insist on mysterious, illogical pairing between lights and switches, how about leaving some instructions? Why should I have to try to sleep with the lights on in my room because I can’t find a switch to turn them off?

I have more travel gripes. Lots of them. However, I recognize that if I continue to grouse I am going to sound like some kind of grumpy old man. So rather than continue down that road, I am going to now turn to my travel likes. There are some things that undeniably are getting better.

Travel Likes

1. Credit Cards on Public Transportation: I am a firm believer in using public transportation when I travel. It is often the best way to get around the city, and, other than just walking, usually the cheapest. However, using public transportation in unfamiliar cities comes with several challenges. You have to figure out which bus or subway line to take; you have to figure out which direction is the one you want to go in; and you have to figure out when to get off the train or bus. In addition, you have to figure out how and how much to pay. The payment issue can be particularly challenging, not only because it involves foreign currencies and varying fares, but also in many cities you have to come up with the correct ticket or pass. Technology has provided a way out of the payment problem. At least in some cities, you can now pay by tapping a credit card. You can also pay with your iPhone in many cities as well. New York, Chicago, London, Singapore, Bangkok, Sydney – in all of these places you can just wave your phone and board the train or bus. No need to have the right ticket or pass, no need to try to calculate the fare, no mussing around with foreign currency. I am a huge fan of this new transportation payment system.

2. English Language Ubiquity: When I first traveled to Paris in the early 80s, no one would speak English. It was political, and a cultural pride kind of thing. Now, everyone in Paris (at least those under the age of, say, 45) speaks English without hesitation. Spoken English is also ubiquitous in some far flung places: Stockholm, Riga, Bangkok. Of course, not everyone everywhere speaks English, especially outside the large cities, but in many instances, particularly in hotels and restaurants, you can count on being able to speak English. The biggest advance of the English language usage in recent years is the ubiquity of spoken English on public transportation. For example, in my trip to Asia in October, I found that on the subway systems or other mass transit systems, English was the principal language used for announcements – in Singapore, in Kuala Lumpur, and in Bangkok.  English is also spoken on the subways in Seoul and Tokyo. I know some purists may say that the whole point of travel is to encounter and experience other cultures, including other languages. That is true to a point. But if you are visiting a city, you still want to get around without getting lost. Maybe I am just being a self-centered American. If you think so, I will take it. I can’t deny that it is so useful and stress-reducing to be able to understand where you are, where you are going, and when you have reached your destination.

3. Intercity Uber: I suspect everyone reading this knows how great Uber is. I have used it in many cities around the world. But if you like Uber, you need to know about a similar service for intercity travel called Daytrip. I have used Daytrip in several countries already, including Portugal, Belgium, Latvia, and Lithuania. I am set up to use it in California in January. It apparently is available in over 130 countries. You use Daytrip when you want to go between two cities that are some distance apart. For example, last year my wife and I used it to go from the Algarve region in the South of Portugal to Porto in the country’s North. It was a four-hour trip. It was both faster and less expensive than any other transportation option (though to be sure, not cheap). The main thing is it takes you from the front door of your hotel to the front door of the next hotel. No taxis, no tickets, no waiting in train stations or airports, no fooling around with your luggage. It works just the same as Uber. It is fabulous. You can find it at Daytrip.com.

So those are my travel hacks, gripes, and likes. I am interested in hearing from readers about their travel hacks, gripes, and likes. If I get enough of them I will publish them in a future blog post. Please tell me what you think! You can email me at kevin.lacroix@rtspecialty.com