I have a new obsession I feel obligated to share: Spacepak bags from Flight 001.
This is hands-down the best space-maximizing packing system I’ve ever used. Before I found out about this, I used to swear by those plastic space-saver bags you squeeze the air out of by rolling up. After using the Spacepak, I’m never going back.
I was able to fit 7 dresses, 12 tops, and 4 pairs of shorts into my Spacepak on a recent trip to Thailand. My entire wardrobe for my trip fit into about ¼ of my suitcase, leaving plenty of room for me to pack other things I may not have brought otherwise. (And, while traveling, to buy things I may not have bought otherwise, but that’s another story). The double-sided nature of this bag means that dirty clothes and clean clothes can be kept separate, a huge bonus that other space-savers don’t have. This was worth every penny of the $46 price tag, and after trying the Clothes Pak I will absolutely be purchasing bags for shoes, toiletries and undies as well. If you can’t tell already, I’d highly recommend this bag to any traveler for any trip, whether it’s a short two week hop or a nine month extended journey.
Check out this video that shows the bag in action:
I should begin by saying that I usually advocate discovering new places on your own. I’m someone who loves taking ownership of a new city by exploring it solo, on my own terms, making my own mistakes. I think that’s the best way to truly internalize the places I visit. However, on my recent trip to Bangkok, I found myself feeling differently.
Bangkok is one of the world’s busiest travel hubs, with over 18 million passengers coming through Suvarnabhumi Airport every year. AirTreks books hundreds of tickets every month that include at least one night in Bangkok. Bangkok is a great jumping off point for other places in Southeast Asia, and for whatever reason a lot of travelers don’t stay in the city for very long. On my recent first trip to Thailand, I only had 24 hours in Bangkok so I decided to try to make the most of that time by hiring someone to show me the town.
Here are some of the best reasons to consider shelling out some cash for a private guide:
Tired of flights that give you nothing more than precooked Beef Wellington and yet another viewing of Air Bud? Well, a couple months ago a Lufthansa flight from Tel-Aviv to Frankfurt spontaneously broke out in a PILLOW FIGHT WAR, with a flight attendant right amidships in the center of it all. How’s that for upping bitter attitudes.
In the age of Stephen Slater’s and other horrifying incidents, it’s nice to know there can be some spontaneous fun on an airplane for a change. I love the boisterous applause at the end.
Happy Friday everyone!
Award-winning travel writer Pauline Frommer, daughter of guidebook pioneer and travel legend Arthur Frommer, does a weekly 2-hour radio show at WOR radio in New York City. We were delighted when on August 22nd she invited AirTreks VP Tom Michelson to chat with her over the phone about around-the-world travel.
Recently Pauline has been interested in how the movie Eat, Pray, Love has impacted long-term travel and around the-world trips in general. It has had an impact, no doubt about it, and with AirTreks leading the way selling these type of tickets, Pauline was especially interested in how we help travelers arrange trips like this.
Listen in on how their conversation went:
AirTreks Interview with Pauline Frommer by AirTreks
The recording above is a short part of that day’s entire program. To hear the show in its entirety or to download podcasts of any of her other Frommer Travel radio shows you can find them all in her archives. Check out all Ms. Frommer’s conversations with travel personalities and experts around the world as well. Or else tune in online – the show airs on Sundays at 10am.
You can also take the first step in starting your own around-the-world adventure. Click the red link below!
It’s downright horrifying to realize you don’t have your bags when you arrive in a new city. The logistics of traveling is complicated enough than to do it without your luggage, but hey, it happens.
The first thing to remember is not to panic. Take it from me, you’re less likely to make good decisions when you’re freaking out. Fortunately, there are tried and true systems in place to locate lost luggage – the airlines have been losing bags since commercial flight began and usually know just what to do.
The first thing you need to do when you realize your bag isn’t coming down the chute is to visit the airport’s baggage claims office. Every airport should have one located in the baggage claim area.
Think you’re a light packer? Be prepared to be humiliated. Essential travel writer Rolf Potts started a masterly conceived project/publicity stunt this weekend to draw attention to both the exorbitant world of modern baggage fees and to show that “what we experience in life is more important than what we bring with us”.
Potts is traveling around the world with nothing but the clothes on his back (and whatever he can fit in them). I love this not only because when I travel I always feel hopelessly overburdened, lugging around all my stuff, playing the obvious traveler with giant camera, books, cables and all sort of other creature comforts.
As you’ve probably noticed, I’m a big fan of time-lapse videos, especially ones with a sense of place that draw you in to either go there or to else reminisce on the time you’ve already spent there. I also feel it’s a great way to capture the spirit of remembering because in the minds-eye time has little relevance already, no?
Today’s selection was chosen in part to honor our sales manager Sara who is currently vacationing on a couple of the beaches you see here, and partly because so many people know and love these locations in Thailand. The video was produced by a Spaniard who visited the country in ‘09 and took shots with his DSLR to provide a stunning visual portrait of his short trip through Thailand. These are his 10 days pared down to 4 minutes.
The scenes are Koh Samui, Koh Phangan , Koh Tao, Nang Yuan and Bangkok. Have a great weekend!
The video is in HD so it may take a few minutes to get going.
One of the tricky parts about writing blogs is you need to keep up with the other bloggers out there, because they are, for the most part, the ones with all the information. It gets especially overwhelming when you take a few days off.
It took me a little while to catch up after attending the Book Passage Travel Writers Conference last week and not checking my feed. I came back to my Google Reader filled to capacity, which is good news for you because there were some great articles written over that time period.
Here is some of the travel blogosphere’s best content over the past couple weeks.
It’s safe to say that most people who visit this blog are travelers. Therefore if you’re reading this you probably have a humorous or harrowing story waiting in the wings about your experiences in the world, or else an article 
you feel would make life easier for the traveling public at large.
The AirTreks Travel Blog is accepting guest posts!
Now’s the time to submit your writing. If there’s something in your journal, a set of tips another traveler would love to hear or a story you’ve been itching to tell, share it with us.
This is your opportunity solicit your writing, your travels and your wisdom with the fabulous readers of the AirTreks Travel Blog.
This post was written by David Derrick, Director of Product Development at AirTreks.
There’s exciting news at AirTreks. We’ve just signed a partnership with AirAsia, the leader of low-cost, short-haul flights throughout South East Asia allowing us to use their extensive route network and bargain fares to get you around like never before.
AirAsia revolutionized flying in Southeast Asia by offering reliable service at unheard of prices to and from their hub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They have been expanding their routes and destinations steadily. At present they have four airlines under their brand; AirAsia (Malaysia), Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and now AirAsiaX and they’ve added hubs in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kota Kinabalu and Singapore allowing for nonstop flights to all sorts of interesting places. Among the most useful to our passengers are Bangkok to Bali, Bali to Perth, Hong Kong to Borneo, Chiang Mai to Phuket, as well as long haul flights like Melbourne and Gold Coast Australia to Kuala Lumpur, London to Kuala Lumpur.
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