I’m afraid I can’t help with fashion. Ive become a fan of Dockers, Rohan, Timberland and Doc Marten. Rohan do almost bullet and kebab proof trousers. Double lined winter ones too.
If you’re going somewhere not posh
Craghoppers do lined trousers too, particularly good if your sitting around and the temperature drops. For seriously cold weather, remember, jumping up and down to keep warm isn’t an option, good boots, insoles, socks (These work as extra cushioning too, theres no point doing more harm than necessary to the feet).
If its continental Europe really cold a Snugpak Ebony is probably the best thing out there. For static use. Don’t try anything energetic wearing one of these things, you’ll drown in a welter of sweat. But for getting about on powered wheels these things are worth their weight in Guinness. Well made too. Filled with primaloft, they’ll work after a fashion when wet.
Rohan do woolly hats and cold and wet weather gloves. As do Sealskin, find what fits and works and stick with it.
There are loads of quilted jackets out there. They don’t have to be North Face and Rab. ( You can spot the tourists in Belgium in January. They’re the ones wearing brand new Jack Wolfskin softees and fleeces)
Very handy for keeping warm is a hoody and a shemagh. Hoodies can be picked up anywhere. Shemaghs, 511 and Tad gear do them. The sort of nice ones you won’t want to lose, or you can wait until you really need one and pay a lot of money for one you can spit through. You can use them as a towel, mopping up sweat, keeping the sun off, an extra layer under a jacket if a chill hits.
Lots of socks and underwear. Oversized hankies, handy for sweat rags, yes it does get hot when I go somewhere, sometimes.
So far the hottest days of the year so far in two different countries. Not that I don’t like heat I do, but a bad chill is harder to shake, it sneaks up on you and it’s something truly miserable that you won’t forget in a hurry.
You can get in out of the heat a lot easier than recovering from a chill. What Im saying is pack appropriately.
This from a person who has never managed it yet. Its something to aspire to. I’ll let you know when I get it right.
Techie stuff. These days I don’t have to carry an extra bagful of books. A baby iPad or a kindle carries everything i need and want. It all slides into a jacket pocket. A power charger, plug and a couple of leads.
As well as books you can, if there’s wifi, download today’s newspaper from home. Sit over breakfast with and play catch up with what’s going on anywhere else.
We were, pre digital media, wifi, travelling in a remote bit of Ireland when they started the Gulf War. Brilliant, all these local radio stations complaining about the noise of Mrs McGintys chickens. Syphilitic protestants. And us haring across the middle of the country looking for somewhere with a news channel. (During one war, a bar in Richmond refused to turn over from the cricket). I like travel. I also like my news and BBC Radio 4.
Music too, with a half decent set of headphones. I disagree with wearing them when you’re on the streets. But static and settled, brilliant you can even watch movies on these things if you aren’t into reading (just don’t ask me how, apparently, you load the films on to an exterior hard drive or USB key, plug it in and work away without compromising or using up the memory on the original setup)
A good case for your tablet/iPad is a must. Mine looks like a lunatic four year olds cover. It protects the machine and it just looks cheap and nasty. No self respecting thief would bother lifting it. And here we go again, don’t hang your bag over the back of the chair. Mine sits on my lap, with a Maxpedition cable lock running through it and wrapped once round the wheelchair armrest. It’s also handy when it falls off.
And in a nod to security the me facing camera on the iPad has been taped over. It’s, well apart from a powered wheelchair, one of the best pieces of travel kit, ever. A must have definitely. They’re great. Music, books, maps all in one piece of kit.
Books too. Moleskine do city guides, with maps in them. So we work out where we’re going put it in a simple black notebook it doesn’t scream tourist. By all means in the bar, cafe or hotel, sit and sort stuff out. Not on the middle of the pavement, or the middle of the road.
Not in everyones way, or where you’re going to be the centre of attention. Show some wit, or compassion for the poor stiffs hurrying to work. Of course, if you’ve done all that and the self obsessed arseholes still shoulder charge your chum and fall over your wheelchair. You’re probably in Germany or somewhere where Germans are.
Ive been lucky. I’ve been all over the place and I’ve had very little trouble. We did get followed by prospective muggers in Barcelona. I was walking in those days, on a stick. But so slowly, they gave up.
You know all the stories, bags, money, cash, jewellery. Don’t flash it. Its all good advice. A lifetime of watching where I’m putting my feet has meant that my situational awareness is very good. You can train it, its a skill which is never wasted.
ironside Travel 