Old Travel Tech

As COVID seems to be behind us, I had the chance of going on my first intercontinental trip two weeks ago. The itinerary was super dense, as we visited NY, NJ, OH, TX, CA, CO, KS, MO, IL over 12 days, only two times spending more than one night in the same place. And the airline succeeded to lose the luggage only once (and they quickly found it). 

Of course for such a trip the less you carry with you the better, but in general I find it impossible to squeeze 12 days worth of clothing and other equipment in a carry-on. Especially as with my daily running habit, I need an extra pair of shoes and walking poles. Still not sure if folding poles are allowed in a carry on. I used to do that, but the TSA regulations seem to say otherwise.

On top of the business part we had a plan for a short weekend escape to the desert (overnighting in Joshua Tree and joining the Indian Wells tennis tournament finals). And while two days in the desert do not require any particular gear (you can survive on a bag of water and a couple of protein bars), a morning coffee is what tigers like best. So we needed to boil water :)

Of course there are tons of camping water boiling equipment, but there are several less know caveats:

• You cannot carry (neither in the carry-on nor in the checked luggage) any fuel (gas, alcohol, solid)
• You cannot carry any equipment which had contact with gas in the past (e.g., any not brand new butane stoves will be removed by TSA).
• Petrol stoves tend to be heavy (although this is my go-to option for multi-day hikes, as petrol is easier to find than butane canisters).

Several years ago I came across a great water boiling device known as Kelly Kettle. A chimney with water jacket - the most fuel efficient way of boiling water, also a lot of fun. And it can burn anything, small scraps of wood, cones and moss in particular. I have the 1 pint mKettle, supposedly the world's most compact double walled kettle. It is fully TSA-safe, runs on any type of fule and delivers delicious morning coffee in the wild.