Greg's Wanderings

Category: Travel tips

Useful tips regardless of the type of international travel you are planning.

  • Last minute details

    Last minute details

    I just had the line from “Leaving on a Jet Plane” pass through my head: “All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go…”. Since I’ve been practice hiking with my packed bag, that’s basically been true for the past month. But now it’s time to get serious and double check to make sure nothing has been removed that I won’t notice until a day or two on the trail.

    I recently discovered that despite purchasing my backpack because it was sized as carry-on item, Icelandic Air has a more restrictive standard and I’ll likely have to end up checking it at the gate.

    Fortunately, I’m bringing a small daypack that scrunches up to about the size of my fist. I will now have to move things around so that I use that as my carry-on (or personal item in case they don’t force me to check the pack). I’ll want to make sure my clothing, toiletries and electronics are with me – just in case my pack gets lost or delayed.

    I also stumbled upon a very helpful travel blog with tips for when you have to check a backpack. Unfortunately, I can’t find the link for it right now, but will add it later if I can. Their tips included making sure all of your straps are tightened and zipped inside of pockets, reversing your hip belt and shoulder straps so they go around the pack and help hold everything tight. By all means, try to avoid checking at the counter and instead, gate check so that your pack is less likely to be damaged in the automated baggage systems that frankly are a nightmare scenario for a backpack.

    I’ve been keeping a to-do list of absolute last minute things to take care of around the house Monday morning before I leave. I doubt I’ll sleep much Sunday night – I always sleep poorly the night before a big event – so I may get up in the middle of the night and tackle some of the things on the list.

    Since my flight doesn’t leave until after 3 pm, I’ve decided to utilize public transit to get to the airport. How often can you get a ride to the airport for $1.40 (honored citizen rate)? A short walk to the bus stop, a 27-minute bus ride to downtown and then 50 minutes on a train right to PDX. No stressing about an Uber driver showing up, no need to bother family or friends for a ride and no monster long-term parking charge when I return.

  • Buzz Cut

    Buzz Cut

    In the summertime, I normally get my haircut every three weeks. If it goes any longer than that, I feel like I’ve got a giant heavy mop on the top of my head. So what’s a guy to do when he’s going to be at least six weeks between haircuts? My answer: get it buzzed off. 

    Before
    After

    I’ve gone to the same woman for over 30 years to get my haircut. Once 20 or so years ago, while we were deep in conversation, she accidentally used a number 2 razor guide on the top of my head – which I normally only use on the sides in the summertime. The look on her face when she realized what she done was priceless. This time, it was me who had that look after she took that initial swiped down the middle of my head. But it’s what I wanted and it will keep me cool and minimize my hair care needs for many weeks.

    

  • Final long training hike

    Final long training hike

    Last Sunday, I met some friends for coffee at St. Honore’s bakery in Lake Oswego. On the way home, my navigation suggested a route I had never taken before and I realized that LO was much closer to my home than I had previously thought. Close enough, that I could create a training hike that would take me back to the bakery as a mid-point rest stop.

    That evening, I used a route-mapping app to create a loop that took me from my Garden Home neighborhood to Lake Oswego via Tryon Creek State Park and then back again over Mt. Sylvania along Kerr Parkway.

    The weather was overcast, but quite muggy. But without the sun blaring down on me, it made for a pleasant 16-mile adventure.

    For the past two days I have been practicing my “trail laundry” tactics. After returning from hikes and taking a shower, I’ve been hand-washing my clothes. This is to both ensure the process I intend to use works and to make sure my clothes are dry by morning when left hanging.

    From this experiment I’ve learned two lessons that will serve me well on the trail:

    1 – wash socks after everything else. The first day I tossed all my clothes into the sink together. The water immediately became murky due to the dust that my socks had picked up from four miles hiking on dirt trails.

    2 – use a micro-fiber towel to help wring out clothes. My first attempt included hand wringing each item before hanging to dry. Twelve hours later, all items were still damp and by morning the socks were still too damp to wear. So for my second attempt, after hand wringing, I laid each piece flat on top of my travel towel. I then rolled up the towel and wrung it as hard as I could. After unrolling, it appeared that the clothes had lost perhaps half of the remaining moisture, which in turn meant they were all dry by the next morning.

  • One week to go

    One week to go

    I’ve been planning my trip for so long that it feels surreal that it is now only a week away. As I write this, I’m literally exactly a week away from my departure from Heathrow to Lisbon.

    I’m definitely in the home-stretch mentality at this point. I literally have my bag completely packed with only my iPhone to be added. I have hikes planned throughout this week to test and make sure everything rides comfortably.

    I did a solo 6.5 mile hike yesterday, will hike 5 miles with my MeetUp group this morning and then have a 15-miler set for Wednesday.

    About the only thing I really feel behind on is learning some basic phrases in Portuguese and Spanish. I fully expect that I can get along with English, some pantomime and Google Translate, but I feel it is important to be able to at least attempt to speak to people in their native tongue.

    I used an AI tool to generate a list of common phrases that would be helpful to me. It produced the list and categorized them in groups such as navigation, accommodations, dining and basic pleasantries. Now, I just need to practice them.

    As part of my home stretch preparations, I did a thorough cleaning out of my refrigerator, not only removing those things that should have gone away weeks ago, but also things that will expire during my trip that I am not certain to use in the next few days.

    A tight fit, but the door will close!

    My biggest accomplishment has been cleaning out my garage sufficiently so that my car can spend the time inside and the my daughter and son-in-law can utilize the driveway during my absence. It’s a tight fit. The sensors on literally every part of the car scream warnings of impending collision as I slowly drive in. It then takes some contortionist moves to get out of the car. But it fits and the garage door will close. I’ll chalk that up as a victory.