As a seasoned business traveller with his successful broadcast company, Hywel Jones is a hard man to track down. We managed to catch up with him in New York, where he passed on some travel tales
It wasn’t a pretty sight at the baggage desk in HK. This being a mainly English mob, there was the semblance of a queue, but a seething absence of patience. Dozens of passengers had just stepped off the 12-hour flight from Heathrow, only to hear the rumour that their bags were still on a trolley in Middlesex.
As the queue lengthened, tempers began to fray. The 30-something guy at the head of the queue had been the epitome of a laid-back, chilled-out business dude on the flight, but was quickly morphing into The Incredible Sulk.
Beneath the carefully ripped jeans, the designer T-shirt and the two-day stubble beat the righteous heart of a Wronged Paying Passenger. “Don’t you understand,” he shrieked at the baggage bloke behind the counter. “Everything I need for a meeting tomorrow is in that case. My suit. My notes. Everything! Where is the case? Am I supposed to have a meeting dressed like this?!”
Before the rest of the mob had chance to ponder the sartorial etiquette of your average HK meeting, The Wronged One stomped off, vowing to sue everyone: the airline, the baggage man, and anyone who might have looked at his baggage between Heathrow and HK.
As the minutes ticked by, the mood darkened. The mob wanted blood. (Or at the very least, a complimentary pass for the Executive Lounge.) At that very moment, fortune smiled on me. My bags appeared, borne on a baggage trolley and unceremoniously dumped by a glum airport employee. An ancient Chinese proverb rang in my ears: He who travels farthest travels Hand Baggage Only (And hopefully, not in economy).
But hang on, you’re thinking, business trips really can’t be done with Hand Baggage Only, can they? Well, let’s look at the plusses of doing a trip HBO. You won’t miss lugging the suitcase to, and then through, the airport, taking the skin off your shins and anyone else who gets in the way. You won’t get that vague sinking feeling when you’ve just checked the bag in, and it clatters down the chute, perhaps never to be seen again. You might save a few bucks on excess baggage. You will almost certainly save some cash at the other end, with no dodgy cab rank sherpas or hotel porters to tip.
You won’t be without your favourite toys. These days everything is shrinking in size: laptops, ipods, cellphones (oh, and bonus cheques too). You won’t miss the endless waiting-by-the-carousel, pretending to catch up on urgent work e-mails while you wait for your case to emerge. You will impress your greener friends and colleagues by reducing the weight of the aircraft. Hey, I’m saving the planet, while saving time and money.
Going HBO should not turn you into a noxious health hazard. The average laptop case has plenty of room for, ahem, the essential items of clothing and grooming to keep you smelling as fresh as a daisy for a few days. It’s important to pack the fragrantly smelly stuff, too. (Chanel Allure Pour Homme is a current favourite of mine; so alluring indeed that a check-in attendant recently stopped me just to ask what fragrance I was wearing. I didn’t get an upgrade, though.)
So what’s the downside to going Hand Baggage Only? Obviously, your wardrobe will be somewhat restricted. At its most basic, going HBO means you will be travelling the world in one set of clothes. But look on it as a creative restriction. These days, a suit is acceptable anywhere, anytime. Just try not to spill anything on it. On the return trip, you won’t be able to pack a case with extra briefings (or indeed, extra briefs). The duty-free bargains, the bath towels and the ring-bound presentation documents will just have to stay on the shelf.
But think of the freedom as you step straight off the plane and bypass all that worrying, waiting and weightlifting, just make sure you don’t forget to pack something fragrant.
