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International Field Engineer Travel Tips?
ShamelessHero writes "I was recently hired as a Field Engineer, deploying servers, workstations and peripherals to sites around the globe. I try and travel light, but try as I might, the Emergency Repair Kit has ruined three sets of luggage so far. I know there are Slashdotters here who travel internationally and through some treacherous environs. What are the best travel tips you've come up with? Recommendations for durable, light yet large luggage are much appreciated."
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If you need to take a large set of tools with you, get dedicated hardcase luggage with foam cutouts for each item. Is that what you mean by "Emergency Repair Kit"?
Is it possible to ship the hardware you need to the site a few days before you arrive?
Can you learn to pack so that you don't ruin one set of stuff with another set of stuff?
http://www.anvilcase.com/
Windows is not the answer.
Windows is the question.
The answer is "NO."
Bring lots of condoms.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Seriously - Ship your supplies (and if possible, clothing) there, and ship them back. You should only have two things to actually lug around while travelling - You, and a book to read on the plane.
Don't drink the water. The local wine or beer is probably much better.
Invenio via vel creo
While it may cost a little more, having your tools shipped will save wear and tear on the luggage, and the way airlines are charging extra based on weight of luggage, you will be better off not dealing with that potential snarl at the airport.
Since airline regs mandate that your tools go in the checked baggage, you will have a better chance of actually having your tools arrive at the same time you do if you ship them.
I'm a happy pessimist. I expect and prepare for the worst, when it doesn't happen I am pleasantly surprised.
Get a pelican case, waterproof and near indestructible for tools and equipment.
Get another for your stuff.
They come with removable foam, and you can customize spots for each tool.
Some other tips-
Carry some cash somewhere on your person other then your wallet. Carry more then one type of credit or debit card. (machine ate one of mine in china when I arrived in China. It was NOT a good day)
Printout maps to all the hotels you are staying at-its handy to show cab drivers that don't speak english.
Carry some basic things like a small travel toothbrush, and hand napkins on your person. If the plane you are about to board has the luggage loading door torn off-you will appreciate this as you spend the night somewhere with no luggage.
Deodorant is your friend-yeah they don't sweat in the 110 degree 90% humidity heat. If you were born in Minnesota, odds are you do.
Don't assume things. Some fun examples-
Going out to eat Pussy, in China refers to the district you are going to have dinner in NOT the activity.
When Chinese are saying "nigga" they are NOT referring to any color of your skin, its not related.
When asked if you want a "Chinese girlfriend" they are asking about a hooker, not if you want to meet nice Chinese women to get a girlfriend. Try to avoid conversations where at the end of it they assume you are gay. God that was funny later. Not so much at the time.
Buy tools and shavers that take both 110 and 220.
Bring adapter plugs.
Hotel networks are often horrifically infected with spyware etc-keep a firewall up, and up to date anti-virus.
If you don't think you can eat those chicken feet, or bugs without throwing up-decline.
If you CAN eat horrific things, and the locals are messing with you to make you look foolish-suggest a better place to eat, and take them somewhere where they turn green. Evil...but funny.
Good job the emergency repair kit caused those issues. Otherwise what would have been the point of taking it if you didn't have something to repair.. What's that? It's NOT a sewing kit?? wtf bbq
As well, I find outdoor backpack type gear also work well. Personally, I use a large travel pack from Mountain Equipment Co-op http://tinyurl.com/3lrpae
Words to men, as air to birds.
Depending on where you travel, DHL may be a the only option for getting things delivered. Have accounts with both, just in case.
Invenio via vel creo
Aero, Anvil, Pelican, or hard-shelled Sampsonite will work.
There's also Zero Halliburton aluminum luggage, the favorite of movie drug dealers.
If it's for tools, get a real toolcase, with the pallets and loops to hold tools. I have a big Jensen toolkit myself, in one of those cases.
One plug adapter + One power strip = One room with lots of plugs you can use.
I once had a japanese customer that really enjoyed himself seeing me eat "natto" (a sort of soy bean curd gone terribly mad) at breakfeast in Hokkaido.
When he came to visit in Paris I brought him to an "only cheese" french restaurant. And we really have delicious but very smelly cheeses here 8)
(for cheese lovers, they have a "Crescendo" plate, where you start with a light, fresh goat cheese and finish with something called ""Le Gris", which is like the strongest goat cheese ever, even stronger in taste and smell than "l'Epoisse")
The next time in Japan, I got an invitation to the best non-sushi restaurant in town. Seems he got the message all right.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
One of our biggest problems right now is how to move money internationally.
All the banks we've discovered have big fees and numerous anti-customer arrangements. How do you write a check in Euros or Brazilian Reais? How do you move one currency to another without paying a bank a huge amount?
We need ATM cards that allow withdrawing money in the currency of the country in which we are working -- without paying the large fee banks charge, or the "3%" currency exchange fee that is, in fact 5%.
Maybe it is better to have something that doesn't make everyone who sees you say, "Rich guy!" Find some other way to protect your stuff. Avoid being a target of crime.
Skyway Northwest Trails Westport 30" Rolling Duffle: $29.99.
McGuire-Nicholas Rolling Bag Set includes 14" Multi-Purpose Rolling Bag with 16" and 12" Bags: $39.99.
ATEC XL Pro Travel Bag Three Sidecar Pockets, Zippered Full-length Mesh Inside Pocket: $59.99
Bags costing $200 do more than carry your stuff. They talk to everyone who sees you. They say, "I have money to burn. I am probably carrying expensive things you could sell. Steal me."
If you're not familiar with it, visit and study onebag.com - written by a fellow engineer. You don't have to religiously follow his objective of travelling with just one carry-on bag, but he has a lot of useful travel insight and tips on that site.
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For travelling, musicians usually have really good gear for that sorta stuff. There are even setups that take racks in a portable unit for DJ's that need rackmounted stuff. They aren't near as deep as a typical "U" rack, but should have lots o space. The guitar cases (not always shaped like guitars on the outside), the turntable "coffin", and keyboard cases all would work great for electronic equipment. All the music equipment is getting so filled with electronics, the requirements for making the casings are quite similar. This is the route I would take if building a road warrior setup.
:)
Also, shipping your stuff to the site is much easier than carrying it with you, and usually much cheaper. Many people noted that, and I would second it.
I really recommend them, the gear they offer is worth checking! (Now if they made some armored luggage for my camera, I would be really happy.)
Come on, this is /.! Do you expect him (assuming if it is a male and not gay) to get a woman and get laid? [grin]
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
sir.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
As a working field engineer, I'd recommend the following:
For your equipment, I'd recommend Pelican Cases.
For your luggage, I'd recommend either Tumi or TravelPro. If you go the TravelPro Route try to shoot for some of the higher end lines for TravelPro, as they're well padded, have reinforced corners and are generally well designed. I have a Platinum 5 wheeled laptop bag and a Crew6 25" expandable suitcase.
Tumi makes durable, stylish luggage that also holds up real well. I have a carry-on Tumi 22" Generation4 suitcase for those light/short trips.
The troll with karma.
... and WTF is it anyway? You'd expect a geek to know better than to ask such a half-assed question. For shame!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Pelican or Seahorse case. Seahorse is about 1/2 price of pelican w/ approximately the same quality. Personally, I use a large pelican case for my checked luggage. A giant (12" x 18") emu (not EMO!!!) decal proves I'm a TSA trusted air-traveler. FedEx (or use preferred parcel delivery service) your tools and equipment ahead of time if possible. Other tips... Make sure you take a licensed taxi. Although traveling 105 MPH through Seoul was thrilling, and the selection of 10-year old music videos was humorously satisfying, you may have to explain the $150 charge claimed on your expense report. If you frequent airport hangars, or similar restricted areas, don't wander far...underpaid soldiers with expensive weapons do not joke around. Don't exhange currency in airports...they often provide the worst rates. Look to your local banks, as they can provide competitive rates. Become acquainted with the local customs and make an effort not to be an ignorant. You may be rewarded with an all-night, all-expenses-paid party featuring gorgeous english-students from around the world, soju and gamjatang.
I've been doing this for over a year:
Don't ship internationally. Customs are even worse on shipped items than they are on checked luggage. Before leaving your country of origin be sure to have proof of ownership of all your gear. (that's copies of invoices) if necessary have your firm's asset management department or accounting provide them to you.
Keep a detailed inventory of what is in your luggage. International regulations say that companies have limited liability for lost luggage unless you can provide a detailed inventory (some air companies expect you to file these inventories before travelling so have a spare copy handy to leave in check-in)
Have your luggage wrapped at the airport (secure-bag or similar). It costs less than 10USD a piece and extends the lifespan of any luggage. I do this even when I have hard shelled luggage.
For cash, look into Visa Travel Money or similar services. You can use it to withdraw money in any currency at ATMs worldwide. Or open a bank account in a bank that provides you with international access to your account. This is my prefered method as the exchange rates are normally the best available.
With time you will come up with a routine, I have mine set up so that I've managed to travel with a few hours notice with minimum hassle.
PayPal fees:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-fees-outside&countries=ROW
In the table, see the row "Multiple Currency Transactions". It says, "Exchange rate includes a 2.5% fee**".
Also: "** If your transaction involves a currency conversion, it will be completed at a retail foreign exchange rate determined by PayPal, which is adjusted regularly based on market conditions." (My emphasis)
What I understand: We decide what the exchange rate is, then we add 2.5%.
Notice that there is also a link: "Fees for cross border payments". It goes to another page that mentions a 3.9% rate. I am not sure, but I think this is a fee that applies to all transactions through PayPal.
This definitely isn't good. However, I certainly believe it is fast.
Get an international power plug set from Sima Products. It's got 3 different adapters that will allow you to convert from any power plug to any other power plug. Super useful if you end up traveling to some 3rd country you weren't planning on visiting when you left.
And eventually you're going to have a charger crap out on you while you're traveling and you'll have to replace it with whatever you can find locally. When you go home you'll now need a way to convert the plug back into your home country's plug. And when you travel to some other place with a 3rd plug type, you'll have to convert from the 2nd country's plug to the 3rd country's plug.
http://www.savillcases.com/ They will make any hard case or soft bag to your specification. UK Based.
Posting anonymously for reasons that will become glaringly apparent...
First and most broadly, we are geeks. We understand systems, and we can figure out how they are supposed to work, and how to help them work smoothly, especially when dealing with us and our stuff.
I travel with $bignum worth of gear, to some pretty dodgy places, and I have gotten very good at minimizing the concerns of security people ("these are not the bombs you're looking for"), so I breeze through checkpoints while Joe Sixpack fumbles to get his shoes off.
This doesn't just apply at airports, though. It also applies anywhere the metal detector is accompanied by third-world soldiers with Kalishnikovs and so on and so forth. Your social engineering skills will save your ass.
If you don't have skills, get some. They can be the difference between the secret police asking you questions for a few hours while your flight leaves (or whatever), or asking you one question, and based on the answer deciding that they really don't want to talk to you after all. (Seriously. I've heard the words "I don't want to know" from the lips of a Secret Service agent.)
So, anyway, in general, figure out the interpersonal systems you find yourself in - airports, work sites, whatever - then figure out how to avoid trouble, both by not causing it yourself, and by presenting an image that leaves others disinterested in causing it.
Secondly, always have your papers, badges, and answers in order. For three days this week, I had to go through three rings of (armed) security to get to my overseas work site, with the outermost ring a good half-mile from the building. If I were unprepared, this might have delayed my arrival each day.
If you have multiple reasons for being somewhere, or multiple credentials, choose the most boring. If an immigration form asks my occupation, I put "university staff," which is true, since I do work at a university part-time. If they ask why I'm enterin their country, I'm either "visiting family," "visiting friends," or "going to a conference." One of the three is always true.
The other things I do may be more exciting, and may be for more intriguing employers, but the boring answer makes things move faster. Ditto for ID. All they need is my passport, not ID from various government or international entities - that stays in the bag. (As an aside, the passport itself has enough stamps in it, from enough places, that people look at it very carefully when I return to the US. I don't know how to get around that.)
Third... pack neatly. I have enough kit that even with it all organized, I tease the TSA about whether they'll be able to identify what's what. Some of them enjoy the challenge, since it's a change from the usual idiots with half a bag of cosmetics that are going to end up in the not-allowed bin. This is actually advice you'll see on posters at airports, but it's still useful.
Fourth, avoid checked bags. There are plenty of reasons for this, but mainly, checked bags get lost, baggage handlers and crooked TSA agents steal things from checked bags, and you can easily lose an hour or two standing at baggage claim that you could otherwise spend doing something far more enjoyable (fill in your own blank, but almost anything is more enjoyable than standing at baggage claim).
If it doesn't fit in one 22" roll-aboard, or in a backpack that fits under the seat in front of you, it probably doesn't need to go. Seriously. I know people who bring a full-sized suitcase for one week on the road; I'll go for a month or more with just my rollaboard and backpack, and honestly I could go indefinitely with those two.
Fifth, learn some Latin. The most beautiful words ever spoken were "per diem." When I fly out to wherever, I take great pleasure in knowing that I'm remunerated by the day, regardless of what happens that day. Sure, I put in some 16-20 hour days on a typical mission, and maybe the per diem doesn't work out to a whole lot per hour those
It's not no exchange fee. They decide the rate of exchange; they don't use the interbank rate. Hotels make 5 or 7 or even 10 percent on all the money you exchange. It's a huge rip-off, that slows global progress. Maybe there are hotels that don't take advantage of guests, if so, I certainly don't know of any.
International travel for a field engineer? I can make computer stuff work, where do I sign up?
Seriously. I'll explain in the interview that my UID is so high because I didn't get around to creating an account for a few months. Back in the days of Afterstep.
and that's a towel.
In general I actually disagree with most comments above, I would not ship my tools. Carry as much as possible as the likelyhood of your stuff getting lost is a lot smaller then the odds of your stuff getting stuck in customs! The luggage tracking has improved a lot in the last years and bags tend not to get lost anymore, just delayed and arrive a couple of days later, sent by taxi usually to what ever location you are at (I have had bags sent in 8 hour taxi rides across Croatia and to remote islands in the Maldives via boat taxis).
When packing I find it best to keep everything in smaller bags/boxes and then pack them in a big bag with wheels. It is worth spending a bit more on a good bag rather then a cheap one as they do last a lot longer.
Always carry a cd case with every possible software you might need, recovery software, live cds, windows cds etc. A bootable debian memory stick is always useful as well.
Other general tips,
1. Always try to get emergancy exit rows on the flight for the extra legroom.
2. If you travel a lot from/to the UK, get IRIS scanning the next time you travel from Heathrow/Gatwick so that you dont have to queue or even take out your passport everytime you arrive in the UK.
3. Get a frequent flyer card with the airline you are most likely going to use as your base airline. If you are booking your own flights then make sure to stick to the same airline to save up points. Also most hotel chains will do some membership card that gives you airlines as well.
4. Divide your tools into jobs, so that you have a tool bag/box with stuff for each type of job. This saves you from having to pack each time, just grab the box(es) you need for the specific job.
5. Always carry american dollars on you when you travel to none EU countries.
6. If you need a credit card for expenses for work, get a AMEX and make some cash back on all your work transactions and flights. Cards that offer airlines are usually here not worth it as the miles you get are a lot less then if you actually just saved the cash back.
You pay the exchange rate, which I suppose is whatever they want it to be. If so, they make a LOT of money on foreign use.
Interesting. Who determines the exchange rate? It's necessary to consider all the fees, not just one.
If you can afford it you can just buy whatever you need at your destination (if it's available!).
http://emofans.ru/forum/ ZOMG111!!!
Some quick tips.
1) Get a money belt, doesn't have to be a traditional money belt, as long as it goes under your clothing and can't be easily pickpocketed.
2) put your passport, atm cards and a wodge of money in the money belt. keep enough money for daily expenses in your pocket, your chances of being pickpocketed are at this point extremely low, and if it does happen, you didn't lose anything that will inconvenience you greatly.
3) Hunt around the for the best atm card for overseas transactions, banks are b'stards and will ruin you with currency spreads and additional charges. Additionally they will also probably block your card constantly if you are suddenly jumping from country to country, so tell them when your about to leave for another country. That said depending on the bank they will still probably block your card until you call them and tell them to stop pissing about.
4) Long flights are your enemy, you'll be knackered when you arrive and be in a non ideal state for finding your hotel, make sure you have addresses (in the local language), maps and phone numbers.
5) Get a local sim card, being able to make and receive calls with a local number will make your life alot easier, most civilised countries (not police states like the us and uk, I'm talking china, vietnam e.t.c) will let you buy a sim for under $10.
6) Wheeled luggage is your friend.
7) The less you can carry the better.
8) Consider carrying a compass, I have a terrible sense of direction and this stops me getting lost constantly.
9) Finally, cash will get you out of most problems, make sure you've got backups in terms of cash, cards or whatever, leave some at the hotel and keep some on you at all times.
tar -cfz baggage.tar.gz /home/luggage/
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
The problem is that those banks will charge a huge amount for exchanging currencies.