What Goes In My Travel Bag

It might surprise absolutely nobody that I can be little particular about my gear for traveling. So today I'll dive a bit into how I packed for a recent 4 day/3 Night, work trip with some socializing as well. I don't do businessing or anything the requires a proper suit. But I try to look decent, and ready for everything a trip could hold in store. I pack in one backpack, which is carry-on. So everything that follows is either on me or in that bag. I value:

• things that can be re-worn,
• are packable,
• and work in inclement weather.

The Bag is a 20 year old NorthFace Recon. It's not perfect, but it hasn't given me any real reasons to replace it (this is a theme in my life). Legend has it this was actually my wife's bag, but somehow became my bag. I can neither confirm nor deny this rumor. It doesn't have a dedicated laptop pocket (just a flimsy sleeve) and its not really waterproof. But is has the right amount of pockets (1 big, 1 medium, 1 small) and deep side pockets for water bottles. If I traveled more I might consider replacing it.

Tech Gear #

• Laptop Macbook Pro 16″. A sixteen inch laptop is not optimal to travel with. Doesn't fit on table/trays well, doesn't slid into the bag well, is bulky and heavy. If I traveled more, or had a redo, I might have gone with the 14″. It's a year old, so the battery lasts forever. That is nice.

• iPhone but of course. But, I switched over to a cheaper VZW pre-paid plan during quarantine times because I rarely left home, let alone town. The phone plan sucks ass so hard. It always fails me when I need it most, so I end up having to find sketchy wifi to access gMaps to unfuck myself. It added stress.

• Cables I bought an Anker 3 port charger and that is it for chargers. It replaces a bunch of gear, and charges my laptop, phone, and watch, but I am iffy on how well it was handling it. If it didn't have all night to charge all three, it might have let me down. So far so good.

• Big-ass Bose headphones this is a splurge in cost, but also in weight. It's the second biggest thing I packed. I could probably just use earbuds, but I really like to block out noise. I seem to be a magnet for loud unstable people to work through their issues five feet away from me, so the ability to block out the world is pretty valuable.

• Kindle PaperWhite Runs forever, no glare, and it fits inside the Bose headphone case. So I can grab that case and put my backpack in overhead on a plane, and I'll have plenty to watch, read, listen (when combined with my phone).

Clothes gear #

• Waterproof shell Mine is not very waterproof and will be replaced soon. I'm not going to be afraid to go all in for this purchase because being warm and dry is very important, especially when you are packing minimal amounts of clothing. It rained this morning and I am sitting on an Amtrak train, a little damp, and that is a bummer.

• Blundstone Boots These are near perfect. They go with whatever you are wearing (can look casual or dressy), comfy enough to do real miles, easy on/off during air travel security theatre hour, and can be waterproof with the right treatment. I stopped tricking myself into believing that I might go to the hotel gym, so now I only bring these.

• Travel Blazer Works for work stuff, conference attire (I am a code monkey but have to cosplay in government and academia). Wore it out for social stuff. It's packable. Just a useful and functional garment.

• 2 pair of pants You could roll with one pair, surely. But that seems...risky. One pair is something people use to scale mountain rock faces, but I use to build websites (I've dubbed this concept "tactical office wear"). One pair is black jeans with some stretch (that is just how I like them). Slim black jeans and a blazer can look pretty dressy, so that adds some versatility.

Two light weight Merino wool sweaters
Two collared shirts
Two light weight merino wool t-shirts (maybe with spandex blend)
Two pair merino wool light hiking socks

You are picking up on a trend here, yes? I alternate through these and they stay looking nice, and just as important, smelling nice. Merino wool is apparently some sort of magic material that cost $100 per inch but seems to be worth it.

Two sweaters might be excessive, I might replace one with a classic tech-bro vest for another layer of warmth and some more versatility.

Of course pack as many pairs of underwear as there are days in your trip. Some things are immune to travel hacks.

There is nothing remarkable about my toiletries, except that I use a OneBlade and that means I don't have to bring shaving cream.

That's it. I'll probably edit this page as I change my method/habits.

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