Auction open · 18 slots

Your brand has a
window seat.

I'm Thomas — a software engineer four years in, and I don't stay put. Ten sticker slots on a new MacBook Pro 14", eight patches on the bag that goes everywhere with it. Win one and your logo comes along: Japan in November, and wherever the year after that goes.

Claim a spot on the lidSee where we're going

20% deposit to bid. Refunded the second you're outbid.

$0committed of $2,799 · be the first brand aboard

The goal is one MacBook Pro 14"M5 Pro, 32GB, 1TB. Every slot sold pays for the machine your logo rides on.

Lid auction closes

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The lid · 10 slots

Pick your rectangle.

Die-cut vinyl on a MacBook Pro 14". Positions next to the centre mark carry a premium — they're the ones that land in every photo. Click any slot to bid.

From $125

LARGEfrom $400LARGEfrom $500Premium position, next to the centre markLARGEfrom $400SMALLfrom $125SMALLfrom $150Premium position, next to the centre markSMALLfrom $150Premium position, next to the centre markSMALLfrom $125MEDIUMfrom $200MEDIUMfrom $250Premium position, next to the centre markMEDIUMfrom $200

Sizes are real: large 9.5 × 5.5 cm, medium 9.5 × 4 cm, small 4.5 × 4.5 cm.

No bids yet. The first brand aboard gets the pick of the lid.

What you actually get

Not impressions. Presence.

Placement

A laptop lid at eye level

Die-cut vinyl, hand-applied, cut from your vector artwork. Open on tables in cafés, coworkings, airports and client offices — rooms full of people who build and buy software.

Content

Photos from every country

Each trip I shoot the lid where it actually is and post it, tagging the brands on it. You're buying the sticker and the pictures it turns up in — not a static impression count.

Link

A named sponsor spot here

Your logo and a live link on this page for as long as you're aboard, plus a place in the social-preview card every time someone shares the auction.

Terms

No lock-in on the bag

Backpack patches run 1 to 12 months, your choice. Try a month, see the photos, decide whether to renew when the slot comes back around.

The trip so far

I've been writing software from other people's countries for four years.

France first, because that's home. Then Spain, and slowly most of Western Europe — mostly by train, mostly with the same bag. Two months in Bali surrounded by people shipping products from laptops. A van and patchy 4G across New Zealand. Shanghai and Beijing, which rearranged what I thought I knew about how fast hardware moves.

The laptop came to all of it. It's open on café tables in Lisbon, on hot desks in Canggu, on tray tables at 11,000 metres, in coworkings where the person next to me always ends up asking what I'm building.

That's the offer. Not a billboard nobody looks at — a laptop lid at eye level, in rooms full of people who build things, in a different country every few weeks.

FranceSpainPortugalItalyNetherlandsGermanyBelgiumSwitzerlandBaliNew ZealandChinaJapan next

It's a working machine, not a display case

This isn't a laptop that lives in a drawer. It's the one I build on every day — cafés, coworkings, airports, trains, client offices. Wherever I work, your logo is on the table.

Real photos, not mockups

Every trip I post the lid where it actually is — Kyoto, Lisbon, wherever — and tag the brands riding on it. Winning a slot buys the sticker and the pictures it shows up in.

Hand-picked, every one

I approve each brand and each logo myself before anything gets applied. It's my laptop for the next few years; I'd like to be happy looking at it.

Roadmap

Where your logo is going next.

Each stop suits some brands more than others. If one of these is your market, that's the slot to bid on.

Up next

Japan

5–19 November 2026

Two weeks in November. Cafe-hopping through Shibuya, coworking in Kyoto, shinkansen between the two. The lid will be open in a lot of very photogenic rooms.

Route · Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka

developer toolsroboticshardwaregaminganyone eyeing JP market entry

France

Paris, Lyon, the Alps

Home base, and where the laptop opens most days: cafes, coworkings, and a lot of trains.

developer toolsfintechcoffeeoutdoor gear

Spain

Barcelona, Madrid

Long stretches of remote work from terraces that stay warm into November.

travel techSaaShospitality

Western Europe

Lisbon, Amsterdam, Berlin, Milan, Brussels

Nearly every country west of Vienna, mostly by train, mostly with this bag on my back.

B2B SaaSclimate techmobility

Indonesia

Bali

Two months of Canggu and Ubud coworkings, surrounded by founders shipping from laptops.

creator toolsno-codewellnessremote work

New Zealand

Auckland, Queenstown

Van, mountains, and patchy 4G. The bag earned its scratches on this one.

outdoor gearadventure travelsatellite connectivity

China

Shanghai, Beijing

A very different internet, and a crash course in how fast hardware moves there.

hardwareroboticsmanufacturinglogistics

Under consideration — nothing booked yet:

South Korea
Portugal
Tell me where to send it next

The bag · 8 patches

The one thing that goes everywhere.

The laptop lives in this bag. It goes to the café, the coworking, the airport, the trailhead. Eight velcro patch slots, two rows of four, woven-edge patches cut from your vector artwork.

Patches are leased, not sold. Bid a monthly rate and choose 1 to 12 months. When a lease ends the slot goes straight back to auction, so there's always a way in.

Bids rank by monthly rate, not total — a generous short stay can beat a thin long one, and no one can lock a slot for a year on the cheap.

Patches
8open
From
$25/month
Term
1–12months
PATCHfrom $35/moPATCHfrom $35/moPATCHfrom $35/moPATCHfrom $35/moPATCHfrom $25/moPATCHfrom $25/moPATCHfrom $25/moPATCHfrom $25/mo

How it works

Three steps. Skin in the game.

01

Pick a spot, pay 20%

Sign in with Google or X, name your brand, drop a logo. A 20% deposit through Stripe puts your bid on the board — that's the only thing standing between a slot and a room full of bids nobody means.

02

Hold the lead

Outbid? Your deposit is refunded in full the same second, straight back to your card. Bids in the last ten minutes push the clock out, so nothing is decided by a sniper in the final second.

03

Win, then travel

When the clock stops, your deposit comes off the price and only the balance is charged. I cut the sticker, apply it by hand, and your logo starts collecting countries.

Outbid means refunded, instantly.

Every logo approved by hand.

Vector artwork, cut sharp.

Questions

The honest answers.

Is this a real thing?+

Yes. I'm Thomas JEU, a software engineer, and I'm buying a MacBook Pro 14" that I'll use every day for the next few years. Rather than a bank loan I'm selling ten sticker slots on the lid. The auction is real, the machine is real, and the trips are already booked.

When am I charged?+

You pay a 20% deposit to place a bid — that's what makes the bid real, and it's the minimum $10 either way. If you win, the deposit comes off the price and only the remaining 80% is charged when the auction closes. If you don't win, you get the whole deposit back.

What if I get outbid?+

Your deposit is refunded in full, automatically, the moment it happens — not at the end of the auction, and not after an email exchange with me. It goes back to the same card and usually lands within a few days. You'll see the outbid on the page in real time and get an email confirming the refund.

Why take a deposit at all?+

Because free bids aren't bids. Without money attached, a slot can be run up to a number nobody intends to pay, and the brands actually willing to spend get pushed out for nothing. 20% is enough to keep the board honest and small enough that being outbid costs you nothing but a few days of float.

How does the backpack differ from the lid?+

The lid is a one-off auction with a single deadline — win it and the sticker stays. The backpack panel is leased: you bid a monthly rate and pick 1 to 12 months. Patches rank by monthly rate, not total, so a short generous bid can beat a long thin one, and slots keep coming back to the market.

What artwork should I send?+

SVG, please. It cuts perfectly at any size and it's what actually goes to the vinyl cutter. PNG and JPG are accepted up to 2 MB, but a raster logo at sticker size will show it. One or two flat colours reads best on a laptop lid.

Can you refuse my brand?+

Yes, and I might. I approve every brand and every logo by hand before anything is applied. If I turn yours down after you've won, you're refunded in full, no argument.

What happens after the trips?+

The lid stickers stay for the life of the machine — that's the deal. Backpack patches come off when the lease ends, and the slot goes back up for auction.

Do I get anything besides the sticker?+

A linked sponsor spot on this page, and photos. Every trip I post the lid where it actually is and tag the brands on it. That's most of the value, honestly.