The Things I Carry

If one is going to be on the road for 2+ years, one has to a) travel light or b) have a strong back. I chose the former, and I thought it might be interesting to show what I travel with. When it comes to electronics gear, I’m not going to go into the cords and cables and whatnot. That’s boring. But this is pretty much the entirety of what I own now in the world (except for some books and personal effects soon to be in my mom’s possession).

Also, all product links go through my Amazon.com affiliate programme. Hey, a guy’s gotta eat.

• Three dress shirts
• Three t-shirts
• Two pairs of jeans
• Two pairs of khakis
• A pair of rapidly wearing cargo-pants
• Six changes of underwear
• three pairs of dress socks
• Flip-flops
• Sports sandals
• Dress shoes
• Various toiletries — although you can usually pick these up for cheap on the road. Only buy the specialized stuff, like Kiehl’s or whatever.
• A lot of 2mg Requip (I have RLS, also known as “Jimmy Legs”)
• Some various decongestants, sedatives, etc. (Not strictly necessary, as you can buy pretty much anything you want in India over the counter. Thank you, loosely-regulated pharmaceutical industry!).
• 15-in MacBook Pro (soon to be replaced by something lighter and sexier from Apple. June 11 can’t come quickly enough.)
• 1TB LaCie portable hard drive (for backups)
• Two Western Digital 1TB hard drives, one for iTunes media and additional backup, the other for storing photos
• Nikon D90 DSLR. Great camera, rugged workhorse. Could do with better low-light sensitivity, though. (But this is what I really want)
• Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens
• Nikon 35mm f/1.8G lens
• iPad 2 (64GB, Wifi and 3G)
• Apple Wireless Keyboard (The combination of my iPad and wireless keyboard, which I can throw into a small man-purse, is a knockout. Super for heading to the coffeeshop to get some writing done when I don’t want to worry about power cables, laptops, etc.)
• Apple Wireless Mouse
• Apple iPhone 4S 64GB
• Morphie Juice Pack (PRODUCT RED)
• Manfrotto Unica messenger bag, which is great for carrying laptop, iPad, camera and lenses and all my media kit. Well-designed and doesn’t look like a camera bag. A bit bigger than I like, but I have smaller bags for day travel.
• Deuter 50L VariQuick SL backpack. Doesn’t seem to be available anymore. Bought it 2002, and it’s been through Iraq, Lebanon, and all over. Great bag, incredibly durable. See no reason to replace it yet.

That about does it. I can think of a couple of other gadgets to pick up: a dedicated GPS receiver so I can track my position and miles. (The iPhone might not work in the middle of the ocean.) Also, I’ll be upgrading my iPad and MacBook Pro at some point.