Tea and Travel

I don't know about you, but, if I don't get a decent cup of tea in the morning (and lots of it), I am grumpy and mean. Yes, I realize that I am addicted to caffeine, but there is more to it than that. The sheer pleasure of a steaming mug of tasty, full-bodied tea cannot be eliminated from my morning. For me, tea is like a hot shower. I could substitute a latte or a cup of lukewarm "tea" from a teabag of dust, but, like a cool shower with limp water pressure in the morning, it just doesn't satisfy me.

For that reason, my mornings (and those of the colleagues with whom I have been traveling) were saved by my discovery of the Bodum Mini Ibis water boiler (http://www.bodum.com). The Mini Ibis is short and thin and packs easily into a suitcase for travel. The entire top lid pops off, making it easy to save a bit more space in the suitcase by packing the tea inside of it. Now, I no longer have to pray that I will find a decent cup of tea on the road. Instead, I buy a bottle of water and make my own in my hotel room. (I sometimes pack a travel mug too, but most hotels these days have a coffee maker that I never use and a few mugs in the room.) Business travel has become a lot less risky now that I have the Mini Ibis in my bag!