Baggage Check

Yesterday, as I was beginning my walk, I spotted my neighbor, Jim. Jim retired last year at the age of 80 with some trepidation. He was worried about what he would do with himself and all the free time. I never faced any such concerns when I retired, or at any time since, but I understand that many people do. I hadn’t spoken to Jim in a while and as almost a year had gone by I asked him how he was settling into retirement. Had he found an ideal and enjoyable way to use his days? He admitted to me that he hadn’t quite figured it out yet but he had identified some things he didn’t like to do. He realized he hated traveling.

As you may recall from my post last week, I am in the midst of preparing for a trip to Japan and as he said that I realized in that moment that I hate traveling too! And yes, I have done quite a bit of it. I have been to every state in the U.S. I have traveled through Europe and the U.K. I spent three months on the Indian subcontinent moving about by steam engine train. And, of course, I have been to Israel 17 times most of which were on trips with 40 college students in various states of intoxication. So I can understand why you might be skeptical of my claim.

I have joked that my two favorite parts of traveling are packing to go on the trip and unpacking again at home. There is some truth in that. Anticipating and preparing for a trip is fun. You get to figure out what to bring. Maybe you need to buy some new, fun stuff. Then there is the jigsaw puzzle of how it will all fit in the smallest possible bag.

Coming home too, there is the joy of getting everything clean again and organized and put away and, of course finally sleeping in one’s own bed.

But in between? Stress and discomfort. There are long plane rides to be endured (14 hours to Tokyo!). There are unfamiliar roads to navigate. Often (in the places we go) large, hungry mosquitos, moose, and the occasional bear. Sometimes there is no Apple Store for 1,000 kilometers.

Abroad there are people who don’t speak English, revolting, non-kosher foods, and no end of strange pillows, beds, and the dreaded public restroom. Not to mention, civil war, violence, tropical diseases, and foreign currency conversion calculations.

Why go through this?

I started running again about a month ago after having stopped back in 2020 during Covid. I started slowly. The first day I ran 500 meters. Then a kilometer. Now I am up to just over 6 km 3 times per week. I’m not sure why I stopped in 2020 . Nor am I sure what made me start up again. Truth be told, I don’t love running. I rather not, in fact.  But here’s what motivates me to do it:

• I think it’s good for me.

• It makes me feel stronger and more resilient.

• I always feel better for having done it.

The same, I believe, is true for traveling.

I think it’s good for me.

Traveling requires that you change your perspective on things and on yourself. You do things you weren’t sure you were capable of. You are forced to try new things whether you want to or not. You are asked to confront your deepest held beliefs and prejudices. Away from most friends, family, and the familiar rhythms there is an opportunity to step outside one’s identity to reimagine who you are or could be.

It makes me feel stronger and more resilient.

The more something scares you, the more you don’t want to do something, the more important it is that you do it. Remembering back to the 15 years or so that I rode a motorcycle, I recall that every time I started up the engine I’d wonder, “Will this be the day I get hit by a car and die?” I had more than one close encounter with a vehicle over those years. Each one scared the hell out of me. Yet, I knew that I couldn’t quit riding just because I was scared. Quite the opposite. I needed to do it because I was scared.

At the end of my semester in Germany in 1980 when I was 19 years old, I hitchhiked alone from  Munich to and through Yugoslavia. It was December and cold, I had very little money. At one point I got picked up by the police. I ended up stranded at the end of a day wet and hungry in Zagreb where I made my way to a train station and booked a fare I could ill afford to Florence to meet up with my roommate. I waited for the train for hours on the freezing platform talking to some dude who was friendly enough once he realized I wasn’t German. The train was crowded but warm as it crept slowly toward Italy through the long night. I was incredibly grateful to be on that train.

Perhaps I don’t need to explain why my memory of that adventure is only positive. It is at times of maximum stress that you glimpse what you are made of.

Sometimes the way is rocky and steep. Other times it’s just mud as far as the eye can see. Adirondacks, August 2009.

I always feel better for having done it.

It’s not that you don’t remember the discomfort of travel, it’s that the memory of the discomfort fades while the positive experiences glow brighter over time. Sure, I remember the time the train broke down leaving us stranded in the middle of Uganda for a day and a half. Yes, there was the time we journeyed 48 hours from Madras to Delhi while I was in the throes of, lets just call it, deep digestive distress. But looking back, these just don’t seem so bad, while standing at the top of Mt. Kenya or watching hippos illuminated by lightening ripping the tall grass from the ground right outside the tent feel among the most significant experiences of my life.

In terms of discomfort, I know pretty much what to expect on our upcoming trip. An interminable plane ride (in economy), many nights of poor sleep, being cold or wet or hungry or tired (or some combination of all four). And many, many moments of feeling disoriented, embarrassed, and lost. Experiencing these are valuable in themselves and actually enough to make the trip worthwhile.

But with luck there may also be moments of delight, clarity, awe, and insight into the human condition or at least the condition of this particular human.

So yes, there is the part of me that would just as soon stay home. Here I sleep in my own bed, eat the food I am used to, dwell in the English language as a fish swims in water —without thinking about it. Not to mention the money that wouldn’t have to be spent. But there is another part that insists that the hard things, the scary things are what give texture, dare I say meaning, to life. That part tells the part that wants to stay home to shut the hell up and get on the bus.

Barbara and I embark on this trip both having had significant health challenges in the last two years. It is also our first trip aboard since Covid (not counting a Canada transit or lunch in Mexico last March in Big Bend National Park) so folded into a batter of apprehension is a heaping helping of gratitude that we are able to do it. At the age of 64, I can still toss a pack over my shoulder just as I did when I was 19, albeit with a higher probability of lower back strain.

As I cram my backpack with the things I imagine I can’t survive without, I can’t help but look forward to the day I unpack them again. In between those two dates lies a peregrination not always salubrious, but with the potential to kindle wonder and create memories to be recalled with pleasure —  at least once I am home.

The world’s a narrow bridge; fear nothing.

Suica Card: Don’t Leave Home Without It!

In February of 1986, Barbara and I quit our dead end jobs bought one way tickets to Belgium on budget airline, People Express, for $100 per ticket. We began a 16 month journey that would take us around the world.

My ‘tech kit’ for the voyage consisted of:

• A flashlight

• A point and shoot film camera

• A solar powered credit card sized calculator.

Our money management was simple too. An American Express credit card, a checkbook, and $200 in U.S. currency. We didn’t intend to use the Amex Card. There would be no way to receive or pay the bills. Rather it was the gateway to American Express Offices. For card holders Amex would:

• Serve as an address to get mail from friends and family and

• Case a check up to $1,000 and give you travelers cheques in return. We exchanged those travelers cheques $100 at a time (once a week or so) for local currency, and that’s how we paid for camping and food.

To get from place to place we’d turn up at the train or bus station, buy a ticket and catch the next thing smokin.’ (Quite literally. In 1986 many countries were still using coal fired steam engines in their locomotives.)

During the 16 months away, we called home just once. Otherwise we heard from family, and they heard from, us through letters with a delay of a month or more between communications. And if someone had needed to get a hold of us quickly? Well, they couldn’t.

Now we are preparing to head to Japan in a few weeks and I have been forced to come to terms with how the world and moving through it has changed.

I’ve started assembling my tech kit, which at a minimum will include:

• A MacBook Air laptop

• An AppleWatch

• A battery bank

• AirPods Pro

• Outlet adaptors (in case we go to Korea)

• Charging cables and power bricks for all of the above

• USB A to C adaptors

• USB C to A adaptors

• An LED Flashlight

• iPad Mini

• HP 12c Financial Calculator mini clone

• Apple AirTags to track all my stuff

In addition, there are a dozen apps to download and register for.

Japan uses a system of transit cards (called IC Cards) for public transit. Each area in Japan has its own card but thankfully, it appears they are interchangeable. The card from one area is supposed to work in other areas. I decided on the Tokyo “Suica” (pronounced Swee-kah) card and though you can get a physical card in Japan, I opted to go full 21st Century and add virtual Suica cards to each of our Apple Wallets on our phones. Interestingly, only iPhone supports virtual IC Cards. Gaijin Android phones need not apply (though the cards will work on Android phones purchased in Japan).

Once installed on the phones adding money to the cards is easy. Just use ApplePay.

The next thing to figure out is the train system. Japan, as you probably know, has a system of bullet trains known as the Shinkansen. They go up to 300 km per hour and can cross the length of Japan in a few hours. But unlike most European counties, there is not one train system but four, each one owned and operated by a different company! Each line has its own website and app and not all of them support English. Luckily, I think we will only need to travel on two of the four systems. One goes north (confusingly called JR East) and the other than goes west (JR Central).

Once you figure out how to register for the websites, you can purchase your tickets. There is a discount when you purchase 21 days in advance so I wanted to buy some of our tickets before we arrive. Once the tickets are purchased you still need to figure out how to get through the gate and get on the train. You can go to a machine in the station and print your ticket. You can get a QR code on your phone to scan. Or, if you are very clever, you can load the tickets on to your Suica card. That is the option that I wanted, but it is not easy. You need the 17 digit serial number of the card - and the card in the Apple Wallet only shows the last four digits.

Turns out you need to download the Japanese only Suica app. The app is impossible to navigate unless you know Japanese (spoiler: I don’t), however there is an easy to spot info button (little “I” in a circle). Tap that and it displays the full number. I entered the number into the JR Central website and boom — Bob’s your 伯父. Then I did it all over again for JR East.

When Barbara and I were traveling 40 years ago, we established a division of duties. She figured out where we should go and what we should see and I figured out how to get there. In India there was a train timetable for the whole country. India has a mind-boggling train system and the timetable was the size of an old style phone book. I no longer remember how it worked but we always found the right train and we never missed one. Today, the old ways are still the best. Barbara has put together a rough outline of where we will be when, and I am figuring out the transportation.

Buying Shinkansen tickets on a Japanese website is mostly easier than the Indian timetable book but with some odd quirks . For example if you want to go from Tokyo to Sapporo up north, you can’t buy a ticket all the way through. Instead you have to buy one ticket to the end of the Shinkansen line in Hakodate and then book another ticket from Hakodate to Sapporo on the slower “Express” train. I managed to get our tickets to Sapporo booked (I think) opting for the business class “Green” car. Hey, you only live once. The Green car has more comfortable seats and a hostess that comes by with a moist towelette. In addition, the electric outlets are at arm level.

Next there is the challenge of telecom. Writing letters home isn’t going to cut it in 2025. We’d be back before the letters arrive. Internet is a must have to buy tickets, refill our transit cards, stay in touch with loved ones, and find our way around strange cities and trekking trails. Fortunately, modern phones can take an e-sim. For about $60 a piece, each of us can get unlimited data everywhere in Japan for our phones and computers. These can be purchased in advance and installed on the phones so that we will have access from the moment we land. Whew! However, they will not work in Korea. If we go there we will need different e-sims!

The e-sim thing is pretty new. As recently as 2019 when I went to Israel, I had to get a physical sim at the airport and swap the chip in my phone. One had to be very careful not to lose ones ‘home’ sim while traveling.

Other apps I’ve had to download include the Japanese “Uber” app GoTaxi, Google Maps (I know, but people say it may work better than Apple Maps in Japan! Forgive me, Tim!) and something called NHK World Japan, which I have already forgotten what it’s for.

Dealing with money is maybe the one thing that has gotten simpler in modern times. No need to purchase traveler’s cheques! Now with a debit and a credit card we expect to have all our cash needs covered. There are ATM machines everywhere (they say the ones in 7-Elevens are best.) Delightfully, the Suica cards are also widely accepted for payment at vending machines, convenience stores, and even some restaurants in Japan. Conveniently, the iPhone calculator app now supports currency conversion and updates the exchange rates automatically. No need to check the exchange rate in bank windows as we once did. Our debit card charges no foreign transaction fees and refunds all ATM fees each month so we don’t have to be concerned with those, and we added a new credit card to our stable that has no foreign transaction fees.

If you can’t buy it from a vending machine in Japan, you probably don’t need it. I am especially curious about the Suntory Coffee Boss!

There are two ways to travel. One is short trips — luxurious, and expensive. This form of travel usually means a guided tour, where someone else has taken care of the transportation, lodging and food. You get to relax, focus on the sights, and enjoy the company of your fellow travelers (at least the ones who don’t get on your nerves). There is much to be said for this, particularly when you are working and you need to see as much as you can in 10 to 14 days.

The other way to travel is the one that Barbara and I have always favored. Long, basic, and cheap. In 1986 we did it that way because we had to. We only had a little money and needed it to last as long as it possibly could.

Today we can afford the other route and in many ways it would be easier but we choose to figure it out ourselves, to live “like the people do down there” as one budget traveler told us many years ago, because ultimately we find it more satisfying. There is something exhilarating about getting to the train station and finding that you booked your ticket correctly, arriving in a strange city hungry and tired and finding a place to stay without breaking down in tears, buying an egg salad sandwich with your transit card at a 7-Eleven in Osaka, solving problems as you go.

There was a time when people said, “Getting there is half the fun!” I am not sure how much I am looking forward to the 15 hour plane flight in economy but I’ve throughly enjoyed downloading the apps and solving the Japanese website puzzles. As they say in the land of the rising sun, “花より団子 hana yori dango — Dumplings over flowers!

The world’s a narrow bridge; fear nothing.

The Cult of Vintage Tech

Every year when the new iPhones are introduced by Apple, as they a few weeks ago, the debate begins. Are they exciting enough to make people want to upgrade? This question will be debated ad nauseam by the tech bloggers. Though I now wait two or three years before updating my device (passing along my old one to other members of my family, I enjoy seeing the new features and designs and considering whether there is something compelling to make me want to upgrade earlier.

This year, I won’t be upgrading my iPhone 15 Pro, which is working well and does everything I want but I did recently upgrade one piece of my tech kit that has been unchanged for more than 45 years.

In 1981 Hewlett Packard computer company came out with a series of calculators called the Voyager Series (after the spacecrafts that were sent to explore the outer planets of our solar system and are also remarkably still functioning today.

There were various models of these calculators targeted at different customers. There was one for scientists (HP 15C), one for computer programers (HP 16C), and the one I have that was marketed to people who worked in finance, the HP 12C.

The distinguishing feature of all of these calculators was their horizontal layout and their use of RPN, Reverse Polish Notation, for numeric entry.

Most of these calculators were discontinued, leaving a cult following of people who buy, sell and collect them on sites like eBay. But the 12C is still being made and can still be purchased new. They are no longer made in the U.S. and the new ones use a different kind of battery but otherwise the layout of the keys and the function is unchanged. You can buy a new one on Amazon for about $35. There is also a another version called the HP 12C Platinum which has a faster processor and can use algebraic entry in addition to RPN but is otherwise the same. It’s around $5 more.

What does it do and why does it have such a fan base that this piece of 45 year old tech is still being sold unchanged? Well, it does all of the arithmetic functions of any calculator, of course (once you learn the RPM input), but the financial functions are what make it shine. You can do all kinds of financial projections, find the return on an investment, calculate the value of a bond when the prevailing interest rate changes, and the amount of a mortgage payment when the interest rate, term, and amount borrowed are known. You can also write little programs for it that allow you to do things like compare whether it may be better to rent or to buy a place to live. You can calculate the number of days between two dates and the percent difference between two numbers with the touch of a key.

Yes, you can do all these things on a computer with a spreadsheet but there is something very enjoyable about having this computational power on a standalone device you can hold in the palm of your hand. And once you go RPN, you’ll never go back.

My 12C is an original model, made in the US in the 80s. I found it in like new condition on eBay with the box and the original manuals for about $40. Shortly after purchasing around 8 years ago , I had to replace the button batteries but it has run ever since on that same set. There was a learning curve to understand how to use all it’s functions (some of which I still don’t understand) but fortunately, it came with the original manual, which I spent hours working my way through.

I also have a 12c emulator app that runs on my iPhone but the real one is more fun to use.

I didn’t think there was any new feature that could tempt me to upgrade my beloved HP 12C until a few weeks ago, when I saw this clone from a Swiss company called Swiss Micros.

Adopted baby sister from Switzerland

Swiss Micros makes clones of all the old Voyager Series calculators including the 12C in a credit card sized model. When I saw it, I knew I had to have one.

In addition to the tiny size, it has a few other improvements including a two line display and the ability to show the time and date. Nice to have but not game changers.

Though thicker than a credit card it fits in my wallet. Now I can carry my HP 12C functionally on a dedicated device everywhere I go and can always be ready to calculate a loan payment or convert a currency whenever the need may arrive or, more commonly, to calculate the tip in a restaurant.

I still love my original HP 12C. Being larger it is easier to use and the keys are more clicky and feel better. It is still the one I reach for when I am at home. It’s the fountain pen of calculators but not my only vintage one. I also have this Walther WSR 160, one of the last and greatest mechanical pinwheel calculators. No batteries needed.

The last and best of the mechanical calculators — The Walther WSR 160 circa 1960 made in the Federal Republic of Germany. I use it as a calendar which gives me a reason to turn the crank every morning.

Is there a piece of vintage that you still use and love? Are you ever tempted to trade it in for a new model? Drop a comment below. No spouse jokes, please!

The world’s a narrow bridge; fear nothing.