The Things They Carried

Being on the road is exhilarating; meeting many new people, visiting beautiful and often historic college campuses, driving through the American countryside (I know he eastern seaboard can hardly be called the quintessential American “countryside” in relation to the Midwest or the west coast, but give me a break).

The life of a road warrior is also exhausting. For the past 7 months, as my traveling comes to a close, I reflect on how crazy I must have been to be able to withstand the vigor of being away from home, sleeping on couches, playing guest, being “on” all the time, etc.

One thing I think about is how organized I had to be in order to survive on the road, to stay fresh and clean and prepared. Here are ALL of the things that I usually had with me while traveling from city to city, college to college.

1 Rental car.

One laptop bag. One laptop computer, headphones, extension cord. Promotional DVD. Checkbook for emergencies, flash-drive, name tag, a few pens, extra copies of application and promotional brochures.

One display stand. One stand-up poster. Three pamphlet stands. 6 different types of small booklets, about 50 each. Stacks of single sheet, half-page brochures, over 100. Stack of bigger, 10-page booklets, about 50. Application booklets, also about 50 at a time. A bag of promotional pins. A couple of handfuls of promotional pens.

A travel bag with travel sized toothpaste, two shampoos (in case I lose one, which I have), travel sized body wash, small (not travel sized) shaving cream, disposable razor, toothbrush, nail clipper, ear plugs, eye mask (I have been made fun of many times for that, but when I’m sleeping in a living room, where the light shines in early in the morning and people are walking about, it has been very useful). Cold medicine for the day, cold medicine for the night. Advil. A bag of cough drops.

One big travel bag to keep clothing in the car. One smaller travel bag, which usually contains my toiletry bag and the clothes I am wearing for the next day.

Two pairs of shoes, three pairs of pants, anywhere between 3-4 dress shirts, depending on how long I will be away from home. 4-5 white under-shirts, 7 pairs of boxers, 7 pairs of socks, sweatshirt, jacket. Flannel pants, long-sleeved pajama shirt. Winter hat, gloves, scarf.

These are the things I bring with me on my travels. Sometimes I realize it’s too much, but it’s nice to know that I am prepared and have enough clothing where I do not have to re-wear dirty clothing.

Also, thankfully I have a car to store all of these things in. When I travel by plane, it’s a pain to carry all of these things with me.

So that’s what I take with me. And as I leave Greenwich for Baltimore (I’m currently on the Amtrak train right now, leaving New York City), I am glad to realize that my travels are finished for the year. This 4 hour train ride is considered the last trip to conclude 7 months of this insanity.

Which is why it was a complete pleasure to only pack my computer, a pair of socks and my basketball shorts for this Easter Break. That’s it. Traveling with nothing is a liberating experience. You should try it, if you can get away with it.

Micronesia video

I made this video this morning, Saturday, March 22nd.

I've been back home in Greenwich since Thursday.

I have turned my work phone off. I have not checked my work email. Not counting my Amtrak trip up to CT from Baltimore, my traveling is essentially finished.

More details on that later (I need my GPS to calculate the total miles I have traveled).

Anyway, enjoy this video I made. It's a good time for nostalgia.