What do I pack for a trip?

The other night I met up with @soulcutter and @BWP22 for a few drinks and to talk about their upcoming travels to Europe.  Digging through some old photos, I found this one, from my 2007 trip to Thailand:

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Looking at this I realized that this is pretty much the stuff I bring on any trip.. give or take only a few items.

Some of this (like all of that sunblock!) is due to a trip to the sun – but even on a trip around Europe I’d end up bringing sunscreen to wear just about every sunny day (the joys of Irish skin).

And some of this stuff (like the rolls of film) are things of the past.

But for the most part, the items on here have proven time and again to be valuable, no matter where the destination.

I thought’s I’d just jot down a few notes about a couple of the items:

Chief among them are the North Face Galileo Small travel backpack.  This I bought several years ago and it has accompanied me on every trip since.  It’s the perfect size (2700 cubic inches) plus the additional daypack (1000 cubic inches) makes a great accompaniment.  I’ve found that over the years, the bigger the bag, the more I’ll bring so I like the way this bag limits me from breaking my back taking every last item.  Besides, I’m always amazed at just how much more I’ve been able to stuff in this bag when it comes time to head home.

I tend to bring plaid shirts because they hide the wrinkles and stains a little better.

Sadly I lost that eye mask on my trip to Africa – I’ll have to replace it for sure.  Those plus ear plugs (or noise canceling headphones if I’m awake) are just awesome for long flights.

I’ve got 3 cameras in this photo.. In this case it was a digital point and shoot, digital SLR and a film SLR.  I always bring at least 2 cameras – the point and shoot I will always take with me if I don’t want to lug the SLR (to dinner, clubs, etc.,).  2 SLRs come in handy for more photographic trips.. In this case I was still uncertain of digital and wanted the film camera along (especially for black and white).  More recently I’ve fully adopted digital but I may still bring 2 SLRs if I want the convenience of multiple lenses (like in Africa where I could have my older SLR housing the wide angle lens and my newer SLR with the telephoto.  Along with all of the accessories (chargers, batteries, lenses, filters, memory cards, etc.,) this is often the biggest/bulkiest part of my travel kit.

Some assorted pouches often come in handy – to organize all of those camera accessories, or photocopies, or dirty laundry..

Magazines are great for the flights – it’s mindless reading that’s easy to leave behind once you’re done.  I usually only do this for the flight out.  For the duration of the trip a good novel, travel guides, and my journal take up the rest of the down time.

I like traveling with a pocket knife – and almost always do .. man I wish we could take these on board.  This is the 1 item that often requires me to check my bag.  Not that I usually mind though.  It’s nice being able to walk freely around the airport (especially true when there are connections involved) without all of this.  That said, I’ve been getting less lucky at the baggage collection areas and in the last 18 months  have twice had items taken from my checked bags and twice not received my bags when I arrived.  So I may reconsider the pocket knife and just purchase one when I get to my destination.

The empty gatorade bottle was to save 3 bucks at the airport buying their overpriced water.. bring an empty and fill up at the fountain.

The clothes I bring (especially t-shirts, socks, underwear) is usually older and I usually don’t come home with it.  This is one way to offset the weight of anything you buy along the way.. as the trip progresses, I’ll just throw away old clothes instead of packing them back home.  That said, I only bring enough clothes for so many days of travel.  Laundry definitely happens along the way.  The tossing of clothes usually only happens during that last week of the trip.

While this photo is handy, I’ve also taken to the following exercise: After each trip, I write down each and everything I brought with me as I unpack – and then later make a quick notation of whether it was used or not.. this serves as a great reference for each future trip, where I can quickly scan the list of what I brought last time – and try to not pack anything I haven’t used for a few trips.

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