Mile-high blogging

Cruising at 30,000 feet.

It seems like a strange place to be writing a blog, but that is the nature of life these days I guess. There is something quite cool about mile-high blogging.

I do quite a lot of travelling and this is the first time I have written on a plane. That is down to the folks at Lenovo. I do most of my personal work off a Macbook, but it's a 15" job, which is perfect for working at home, but it's a bit of a pest to carry about. So the other day I invested in a Lenovo Ideabook.

It is a 'no bells and whistles' style laptop, but it is easily flung into a bag and carry around.

That got me thinking about one key thing for anyone who travels regularly: travelling light.

I am a big fan of the TV show The Backlist. In it master criminal and general savante Raymond Reddington encapsulates the whole idea in a neat phrase: "Give me a bug-out bag and 30 seconds and I'm on my way to anywhere in the world."

It's unrealistic, but it is an ideal that appeals to me a huge amount. The freedom of just going somewhere at the drop of a hat is wonderful.

So what does one need to travel light?

The starting point is a good bag. For hand luggage I use a Herschel rucksack. It is hardy, secure and easy to throw your carry-on goods into. Daily accessories - wallet, bullet journal etc - go in there, along with a magazine and/or book. That's all you actually need on a plane. A denim jacket is light, easy and perfect to carry a passport and pen. Importantly, it also has lots of easy pockets to chuck things in at security; necklaces, change, and keys all need somewhere to go for the scanner.

For hand-luggage only trips Globe-Trotter are the masters. But I'm not made of money. I switch between a Boros wheelie case and a Ralph Lauren Polo holdall.

Toiletries are easy. Have a toiletry bag packed with miniatures ready to go.

Grey suit and a pair of navy trousers with a couple of shirts gives you business attire for a few days. Shirts pair neatly with jeans for social or professional occasions too, if you travel in jeans. Footwear? I've personally become a monkstrap convert recently, but find a style which can cross the line from daily runaround to an evening's revelry.

Cut or add as you need and you are good to go. All you need is a plane ticket.