We have a lot of gear and technology that we consider essential to our technomadic lifestyle. It is hard to imagine traveling like we do without our computers, our iPhones, our solar panels, or our onboard media server.
But today I want to at last reveal what we consider to be our most essential piece of onboard equipment. In some ways, it embodies the pinacle of human technological innovation.
Nothing we have on board can match the overwhelming utility and versatility of… Wine-In-A-Box!
Consider…
- Boxed wines come in an easy to pack shape – we can store several under our bed.
- Boxes don’t roll around, clang together, and there is no glass to shatter.
- According to the marketing materials, boxed wine is supposed to “last for weeks” once opened. This is clearly incorrect – but it does usually last at least a few days before the container runs dry.
- When the box is empty, the cardboard box can be easily collapsed and recycled – or even burned in a campfire. (Carting around bags full of glass bottles waiting to find a recycling center is no fun!)
But the real delight is lurking on the inside. Just like Cracker Jacks – every box of wine has a treat waiting on the inside, ready to be inflated…
The world’s most comfortable travel pillow! 
Such brilliant innovation!
First you drink the wine, then you can nap it off in comfort! All without the hassle of breakable bottles, or bulky trash.
You have to wonder if NASA scientists originally came up with such a wondrous and multi-functional invention for use in the space program. Or perhaps it was a French contribution towards the International Space Station.
Regardless – this marvel of technology can now be found in stores everywhere.
Today, April 1st 2010, is my fourth Nomadiversary.
Four years ago today I left behind my San Francisco apartment to begin my full time life on the road. In celebration this afternoon we will be toasting to nomadic serendipity, sipping from a box full of happiness.
And then we’re going to put the box down and head out for some great margaritas.
I mean, wine in a box is good, but…. *grin*
Hillarious post, but I totally agree on every count. We couldn’t do life on the road without it!
.-= Marianne´s last blog ..Apr 25, Keeping Warm or Cool. =-.
Well I’m an idiot.
Here I went to the trouble of building a “wine rack” for under the sink in the bathroom of our motorhome (there’s lots of wasted space in RV bathrooms, trust me)
You guys like to call them “restrooms” but I’d prefer not to be in there for an actual rest, thanks.
Anyway, never dawned on me to simply go for the boxed variety.
What an eye opener!
Not only that, but there’s no danger of letting in too much air, since the whole thing collapses as you consume.
(I’m sure I could just go on and on…)
Thanks.
Bob.
.-= Bob´s last blog ..Little jobs. =-.
Hi Bob.. thanks for stopping in for a wine break 🙂
Boxed wine really is quite convenient, and there are some really swell choices out there these days. Of course, wine snob friends likely won’t approve.. but then again, we’re not having to tote empty bottles around until we can find a recycling bin.
Okay, this is spooky. As I was reading your post this tweet came up! Sad day…
http://consumerist.com/2010/04/inventor-of-box-wine-dies-at-92.html
Okay, how do you like your iPad?
Loving them both!
Hilarious post, my friend. We can certainly relate to lugging a trunk full of wine bottles helplessly hoping to find a place to recycle them. Perhaps we will make the transition to the box. Sweet!
That is brilliant! I love it. 🙂 I don’t drink much wine but my dad also loves the boxes of wine very much. I’ll have to tell him about the use as a pillow.
.-= Nathalie Lussier´s last blog ..Don’t Have a Garden? Try Shared Earth. =-.
I couldn’t agree more!!
Wine-in-a-box is known in Australia as ‘goon’ – no doubt after the transformation resulting in drinking a whole box!
We couldn’t have done without it on our travels around Oz, in our technicolor hand-print covered Nissan Nomad van. Because Australian booze is unbelievably expensive! Your dollar is not far off parity with the Ozzy one at the moment, so you’ll understand my outrage – the cheapest bottle of spirits costs $40, and it goes on up from there! For something *posh* like – gasp – Absolut Vodka, you’re lucky to get change out of $60! There is of course some fairly cheap beer options (wouldn’t be Australia otherwise!) but for those of us not on the hop… well basically it comes down to a choice between food or drink. Until we discovered goon! Wine in a box is at the expensive end of the range in England (where I’m from), but in Oz it’s the cheap plonk that kids buy to dare each other into their first hangovers, and it’s priced accordingly – sometimes as low as $7 for 4 litres! Be still my heart. And my wallet. Hell, the stuff was damn near cheap enough to run the car on, if a little lacking in octane. Suffice to say, good times had by all – and when you’re sleeping three to a Nissan Nomad, you kind of need a little softening around the edges!
Boxing clever, eh!
Tony
*Sage nodding* Yup. Love the boxed wine. Especially love that it appalls our snobby California raised-in-wine-country friends!
.-= Louise´s last blog ..A closet full of skeletons =-.
I loved the boxed wine from our trip to France cause you can stack em like containers for the run home and they don’t tip over if you buy enough to fill the entire load bay. Customs take a different view of course but that’s another issue entirely.
You know, as a geek oenophile, you might appreciate my observation that a hexadecimal 01 produced at a keyboard in West Virginia while drinking a glass of wine would be….
An Appalachian Control-A
-Steve
(PS – boxed wine is GREAT on sailboats too… the Black Box brand has been particularly good)
.-= Steven Roberts´s last blog ..The Tools of Extraction =-.