Archive for February, 2008

How to implement GTD (Getting Things Done) on the Road

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

If your are a vagabond / frequent traveler, there are some unique challenges on implementing GTD. I will present a few and describe my own methods on how to circumvent them:

Support Material
As you most probably do not want to take stacks of file folders with you, you have to find a more lightweight and portable system. The solution to this is to virtualize your support material. Digitalize as much as possible of it and store it in a similar folder structure on your computer.
You can even do this on the road by using your PDA-camera as a scanner.

Tech Gadgets
You want to have robust tech gadgets and a checklist at hand to pack all required cables/adapters/power supplies for your target region. As I always try to simplify my gadgets in respect of lightweight travel, my two main tech gadgets are:

  • IBM (Lenovo) Thinkpad X61T

    x61t.jpg
    This thinkpad is small, light, very robust and converts in a Tablet PC. Although I usually do not use the Tablet PC concept for work, I rely on it for other things: It is perfect as a paperless office, as you can just “draw” on PDF documents, sign them, add handwritten notes etc. Furthermore it is perfect as a ebook reader with a huge and very good display. No need to carry tons of books.
  • HTC P4550 TYTN II

    htc.jpg
    This is the perfect allrounder. I use it for GPS navgiation (mainly on-device maps of remote regions – not turn by turn navigation); as a mp3-player; camera; scanner (I use the camera to “scan” documents); GTD Planer and of course as a cell phone and VOIP-phone.

Those two devices are sufficient in almost every situation. I can understand that photo-enthusiasts might want to carry a saperate quality camera though. As the HTC has all possible functions cramped into one device, there are some inevitable battery issues. I recently played with a BlackBerry which is probably the best device if you want long battery hours. There are some issues on getting internet in countries without BlackBerry service though…

Internet Access
As you might still run into situations without internet access, I suggest to have separate GTD categories for internet work (@internet) and offline computer work (@computer).

“Analog” paper-based GTD system
If you like adventure travel in remote regions without internet or even without electricity, you should be able to implement your GTD system with pen and paper only. There are a lot of people who even choose this as their main GTD system. See this website for example implementations. I personally prefer a PDA though…

How to deal with distractions on the road
If you are in a different country, different climate, different timezone where people are speaking a different language – there are a lot of distractions coming from all directions. The goals is to “get back to ready” as soon as possible. The easiest way to do that is to have predefined workflow lists. If you are in your home-environment with a productive GTD system, you probably work best without a stiff workflow structure, but if you are on the road and want to get back on the track as fast as possible – this is the way to go.

Posted in GTD, travel | No Comments »

Secrets on How to Get the Cheapest Flight

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

There are a lot of articles and blog posts on how to get cheap flights. Most of them list all popular meta flight search engines and tell you some tricks like “look for airports nearby” and similar. In this post I will tell you secrets to get the cheapest flight possible which are often overlooked.

But lets begin with the basics:

The best flight search engines:

After having an overview of available flights always check the flight you are interested in on the airline’s website. Sometimes you get more details and options on the flight; can avoid the commission or even get a special deal.

General tips:

  • try differnt days +- 2 days can make a significant difference in price
  • try nearby airports
  • try individual one-way flights instead of a round trip

Why you should not ignore traditional travel agencies:
As it is very convenient to book via the internet, very few people think of going to a travel agent and ask for an offer. You should do that! As they are all aware of the competition through internet booking, their fees are usually not much higher or even the same as booking through an internet booking site. They have however far better options to do a custom flight inquiry. A lot of advanced search option are simply not available in consumer-optimized internet booking systems. You travel agent however has these options. He can find special deals, especially for more complicated multi-stop flights.

As you probably do not want to waste your time talking to travel agents – I suggest the following method, which works fabulous for me:

Every traditional travel agents nowadays also has a website or at least an e-mail address. Build your personal email list of travel agents (I have about 30 in my list). Then you compose a mail which you will send to all of these addresses. It should contain what kind of flight you are looking for, what alternations are possible (nearby airports, flexible date, …) and how they should contact you. I figured out some agents prefer to send a fax rather than an e-mail. Some agents simply do not respond to your request if it looks not interesting for them. But as you mail your request to a lot of agents, you will often get very good offers. In many cases I get a flight by this method cheaper than any flight offered by internet flight search engines.

Local Budget Airlines
Budget airlines can make a huge difference in costs for a flight. They started with local flights but there are a lot of international budget airlines as well. As these airlines use all possible techniques to keep costs low, they usually do not partner with big flight databases and only sell directly through there website. That means you simply won’t find their offers in flight search engines!

Here is a list of popular budget airlines:

Africa Budget Airlines:

Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Budget Airlines:

Europe Budget Airlines:

India, Sri Lanka Budget Airlines:

Middle East Budget Airlines:

North America Budget Airlines:

South America Budget Airlines:

South East Asia Budget Airlines:

Intercontinental Budget Airlines:

  • Oasis (London <--> Hong Kong)
  • Zoom (Europe <--> North America)

In this article I only selected the most important budget airlines. Especially for Europe and North America there are a lot more. Do a custom search on your target destination for them.

Posted in travel | No Comments »