I travel a lot. Someday, I may find time to write down all the things I've learned about how to do this with minimal pain, but one of the most important is that the less "stuff" I carry along, the happier I am. Particularly in my carry-on bag(s), "every gram counts"!

For that reason, I kept avoiding buying a portable audio player and noise-cancelling headphones, even though many of my uber-frequent-flyer friends claim this as something they can't live without. Well, I finally broke down, and bought an iPod mini and a pair of Sennheiser PXC300 headphones. Wow. Good stuff, and definitely helps reduce my stress level.

As for what I listen to... I've ripped my entire CD collection to flac using abcde, and transcode to mp3 anything I want to move to the iPod using gtkpod.

When I first bought the iPod, I loaded it up with a diverse collection of stuff. But after a few trips, I realized that what I enjoy most on airplanes is classical music. And in particular, I really enjoy listening to an album of solo violin performance by Rachel Barton Pine, called Solo Baroque.

My daughter and I met Rachel briefly after a concert she gave to benefit the Colorado Springs Philharmonic as it struggled to rise from the ashes of the bankrupt Colorado Springs Symphony two years ago. She autographed a CD we bought of Handel Sonatas for Elizabeth that night. Later, Rachel graciously donated several signed CDs to benefit the Young Concert Artists orchestra Elizabeth participates in... and I succeeded in buying enough raffle tickets to end up winning the Solo Baroque CD. But I hadn't listened to it much until I put it on the iPod. I particularly like track 9, the Passacaglia by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, who I'd never heard of before acquiring this CD. Rachel is scheduled to appear with the Philharmonic again next season, and I'm really looking forward to it!

If I'd know I'd have such a short playlist of stuff I actually care to listen to on airplanes, I might well have gone for an iPod shuffle instead of the mini, which would have had the huge benefit of being small enough to fit into the zippered Sennheiser case along with the headphones, and not needing a cable to plug into my notebook for updates. Oh well.

The iPod mini and headphones are now a permanent part of my travel kit.