The Well-Appointed Desk

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Travel Week: Packing Tips

AnaApril 4, 20122 Comments

KonradRS — Adolf Konrad's graphic packing list, December 16, 1973. Adolf Ferdinand Konrad papers, 1962-2002.

With just a few days left before I leave on my 3-week adventure, I needed all the packing advice I could find.

So, here’s a series of links filled with packing advice:

Packing light (via EF College Break)
10 tips for Traveling Well, Air Travel (via Delightfully Tacky)
Taking the Problems Out of Packing (via Martha Stewart Living)
Packing for Paris, in grey and black (via The Vivienne Files)
How to Pack a Bag, the Esquire Man way video: apologies video auto-plays but is pretty funny (via Esquire)
The Ultimate Packing Guide (via Budget Travel)

Do you have any packing tips?

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When it comes to travel, I do better with a list I can use to check off each item when its packed into my bag. Especially things that I tend to double- and triple-check like flight itinerary, passport and gadgets. The Pack This! checklist notepad is a great way to keep track of what’s been packed and what you might have forgotten. $6.99 for 60 sheets from Container Store.

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Travel Week: Luggage Tags

AnaApril 3, 2012

No travel bag is complete without the right luggage tag. A good luggage tag will help you identify your bag in the mass of black roller bags and also provide a sturdy place to put your contact information in case your bag goes to Tokyo while you go to Taipei.

(Luggage tags featured above are: Samsonite Aluminum luggage tags, set of two $10, I Pack Heavy ID tag $14.95, Flight 001 3-pack plastic tag set $12, This Bag Is Mine leather bag tag $22, Leather Initial Tag, set of two $15.99, Keep Calm and Carry Your Own Baggage tag $7.95, Penguin Book On The Road tag approx. $20, Anne Taintor Bombshell luggage tag $8.99.)

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Drawing toolkit, drawn

AnaApril 2, 2012

(via My Closet in Sketches)

In feature

Travel Week: Passports

AnaApril 2, 20121 Comment

As I am preparing for my business trip to Asia next week, I have decided to spend this week sharing some business travel tips and mobile office ideas with you, my fine readers. Like this little doozy:

Did you know that new US passports contain RFID chips in them that can be easily read, snooped, or scanned by anyone with a device purchased at Radio Shack? Not just passports but several credit cards now have RFID chips embedded in them as well.

To protect your information, you can purchase an RFID blocking wallet or passport case or rig your own with tin foil and duct tape (though the jury is still out on just how effective this technique is). A more vigorous, though not wholly legal option is available for completely disabling the chip as well.

(via Engadget)

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Clip it

AnaMarch 31, 20122 Comments

Park you important papers, inspiration or photos in this giant tabletop rustic metal paper clip. $19

(Found in the At West End catalog. Snaps to Jennifer for showing it to me. And the No Evil Owls — totally non-desk related, but I want them just the same.)

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Reclaimed Teacher’s Desk

AnaMarch 30, 20121 Comment

This is a warm, woody desk, whose former job was to support a typewriter or a very tired teacher, has been revived as a workstation for a computer which suits its dropped center perfectly for an ergonomic place for a keyboard. The pull-out shelves on each side would be perfect for papers and a cup of coffee.

(via HGTV Canada, home of Lily from Birch + Bird, photo by Janis Nicolay)