There were a few elements of my latest trip, this one to Valencia, Spain, that I thought you might enjoy hearing about. One element is much different on this trip from any I’ve made previous: I have with me a new 32″ aluminum suitcase that weighs 72 pounds. Its contents will be revealed once they are home safely, but for now I can say that my efforts to get this case to Valencia and back lead to a slightly different trip from my usual.
Some of you may remember my frustrated tweets and comments elsewhere about how difficult it has been to use a boatload (nearly 250,000) of British Airways miles (or Avios, as the company has branded them) toward the type of trips I make. I tried to use them for Misano, for Phillip Island, and many times for Valencia. But the combination of the desired destinations, with the times of year I needed to go, with the amount of lead time I had to attempt the reservations, with the varying desires of helpfulness I encountered on the other end of the phone meant that until a couple of weeks before I had to leave for this trip, I was still out of luck as far as BA miles go.
But then, looking at the cost of flights on United, I decided to try BA one more time. This time my call was answered by an angel, who, unlike her colleagues with whom I’d previously spoken, decided that she could find a way to get me to Spain. It took her 45 minutes to complete the itinerary, but at the end of that time I had a First Class ticket from SFO to Madrid and back. It’s amazing to me how much this type of experience depends on the person at the other end of the phone. If you get someone who doesn’t feel like helping you, the answer is “There’s nothing available on those dates. Goodbye.” But if you get someone who wants to help, it’s a completely different story and experience. And because of that single person in the company, I feel much friendlier toward British Airways than I have fro months. One single person has made that difference. BA should give her a raise.
And so I ended up heading to SFO with my normal luggage plus the Silver Bullet, as I’ve named this formerly beautiful piece of luggage. (Having gone through the baggage handling system, it is no longer beautiful, at least not in the same way.) Now, traveling with a lot of photo gear is not easy. My colleagues who are under contract with teams or big sponsors who send containers to each race can sometimes arrange to have their gear go along with the team equipment and thus avoid having to bring it with them as they fly from race to race. Wouldn’t that be convenient! For the freelancer, however, it’s your own responsibility to get your gear to the race in good working order.
For this reason, I try to avoid checking photo gear. I carry everything I absolutely need on the plane with me, first to avoid it getting lost and arriving late or not at all, and second to avoid it getting damaged by the baggage handling system. This means that the one carry on plus one personal item standard is essential for me. It’s not an option to travel on an airline that allows only a single piece of luggage with me in the cabin. I have my backpack with my computer and various photo gear (battery charges, hard disks, CF card readers, flash, etc. And I have my roller, which carries both camera bodies and my lenses. As long as I get off the plane with this kit, I can do my work even if my checked suitcase, which contains some more but not essential photo gear as well as clothes, gets lost.
But I expected that United, even considering my moderate level of standing within their loyalty program, would not smile graciously when I presented a second piece of checked luggage, especially one that weighs 72 pounds. Unsure of how much they would charge me for the second bag and the extra weight, I found the idea of going first class really appealing. I suspected that the First Class desk agent wouldn’t bat an eye at the second suitcase (in BA First you’re allowed three checked bags) even though it was over the 50lb limit.
But I didn’t know for sure. And, I had to get the contents to Valencia, one way or another, and it had to arrive in perfect condition. Hence the purchase of the Rimowa Topas 32″ case. And also hence the fact that I brought with me to the airport a second large suitcase that I could use if the BA agent said that 72 pounds was simply too heavy to be allowed due to baggage handler union rules or something. Before leaving for SFO, I got together all the packing materials needed to protect a portion of the Silver Bullet’s contents in the event I had to return to the car and transfer enough of it to make the weight via three checked bags instead of two. Such complications!
But as it turned out I had no trouble at check in, and given the thoroughness of my packing and the quality of the new suitcase, I had only minor concerns about the contents arriving safely in Madrid. As long as they did, in fact, arrive! Because of that there is no guarantee, and this is why PHOTO.GP needs its own private jet.
In the mean time, we do the best we can with commercial airlines and hope for the best. We did arrive (the baggage and I) in Madrid, though it was almost seven hours later than originally scheduled due to both flights being delayed for various reasons. I collected my rental car, loaded the bags and away I went into the Spanish night for a three hour drive, wondering if at this point the dubious info delivered by the new Apple Maps navigation system would send me in the wrong direction.
But Siri, too, did right and got me to one of the oddest little hotels I’ve stayed in. The staff were kind to stay up until almost 2AM for my much delayed arrival. After a long travel day it was nice to be able to shut my eyes without worrying about heading off the Spanish highway into a ditch, or having to sleep in the car on the side of the road somewhere.
This morning I loaded up all these suitcases and drove the short distance to our HQ for the week, as shown above. We’re about 20 minutes from the Valencia circuit, which I’ll be seeing for the first time tomorrow. Also, all of this effort with the baggage issues will pay off, I hope. And before long I’ll have a very exciting announcement to make about the latest special offering from PHOTO.GP. News will go out first in the newsletter, so why not subscribe to make sure you hear about it first?
If you enjoyed this post, get email updates in our Newsletter (it’s free).
Thanks for reading, and look for photos from the final MotoGP of the 2012 season here, in the newsletter, and on various websites in various languages around the world. Ciao! –Scott
