What’s in the bag man?
By Troy Saxton-Getty
Those who know me understand I have a bag & backpack fetish, it’s not some weird OCD thing, and it is based on purpose. (Ok, most of the time!)
Most friends know me as the always equipped geek that travels fairly regularly, including a long weekly run up and down the west coast as well as some longer multi-week out of the country trips every few months.
I get asked a few times a day “What is in that bag, you always seem to have everything with you…what should I take in my gadget bag?”
I have 3 configurations, regular day to day, Domestic trips and longer international trips. (We will just cover electronics, not the huge set of keys, wallet, passport and other non-tech crap that adds another 10 lbs to my bag)
Let’s start with the favorite bag at the moment, it’s the Tumi black ballistic nylon backpack, their higher end model. It offers a mid-sized backpack format, very strong zippers and plenty of pockets. The bag is laid out nicely with a solid TSA approved back area for the laptop in it’s own quick unzip compartment so you lay the bag open and TSA (and most other countries) accept putting it through the scanner without actually taking it out.
Base configuration (Day to day):
Apple MacBook Air 13” (i7)
Charger for the Macbook with the long stock extended cord (best laptop I’ve ever owned, and yes, you can either boot it to Windows 7 natively or open up Windows while booted to Mac OS if you set it up for it, it’s the best Windows laptop I’ve ever owned as well. This thing is powerful, I use it as a regular gaming machine too, but it has to be the fully loaded i7 version)
Apple iPad3, leather case that can serve as a stand or protective cover and standard 2-amp charger module plus stock cable
Either Bose QC-15 or Dr. Dre Studio Beats over the ear noise cancelling headphones (the Bose are slightly better sounding and a bit better on base, but damn those Red Dre Beats look cool, they take a few years off ya, lol)
Brookstone USB Battery pack (this is the quick and easy pocket-able battery for your mobile should you start running low, plug it in via it’s USB plug and your mobile cable)
Sparq 6000Mah Battery pack (these have flip out power tongs, no cables required, just flip them out and plug them into the wall, OMG these are sweet!)
iPhone4 iBattz extended battery sleeve with two removable batteries (key is quick battery changing since the case used standard Nokia NB-4L 1500Mah batteries, I’ve purchased many of these, this is the best one I’ve used so far)
iPhone4S ATT plus 1-amp stock charger and cable
iPhone4S Verizon plus 1-amp stock charger and cable
Samsung Galaxy Note plus stock charger and cable (My favorite Android phone)
Samsung 4G Hotspot (Verizon) (this is just a great little hotspot for up to 5 devices and the battery works for a few hours without fail)
Western Digital 2TB USB Passport laptop hard disk (Time Machine backup and a second copy of everything, Mac runs the backup automatically, don’t even fool with anything else JUST DO IT!) (Older movie storage as well so you don’t clog the SSD)
Micron 256GB SSD USB (solid state) laptop hard disk (main content storage, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie etc) This thing is fast and it’s perfect for those with a lot of content, specifically photos and music
Spot Tracker II – Personal Sat locator stand alone device (get lost? 911? Or just sending messages to a list of your choosing letting them know you are “OK” with map coordinates
SpotConnect – Personal Sat locator that works with iPhone (same as above, but lets you send special “text” via satellite, regardless of where you are on the globe)
Small Tumi nylon accessory bag (holds all the cables and chargers for the mobiles and iPad)
Tumi International travel adapter and cable kit (this kit is the best I’ve found so far, multi country support is awesome and it works, includes an additional dual USB snap on head for charging two .5 amp USB devices)
Apple international plug adapter kit (this is super cool for Apple users as it snaps onto the various Apple power modules, laptop, iPad etc)
Pel Head light (you have no idea how handy a hands free LED headlamp can be!)
Spare AAA and AA lithum batteries (the sat locators require Litium, but they work well and last a long time if you need them for something else)
Handheld small flashlight (The headlamp is great, but you need a small and powerful handheld too)
Zippo Lighter (I don’t’ smoke but this can come in handy, even when it’s dry on fluid)
I used to always have a Leatherman Multi-tool but TSA thinks you might try to disassemble the aircraft since 9/11 so that is out, so put it in checked baggage, you have no idea how handy this is to have in a country you don’t live in… (I have given so many of them to the TSA for free due to forgetting it in my backpack, they must have a side business running on all the stuff like this they collect thanks to not wanting to try to check it in baggage last minute and wait in security line again)
Domestic trips:
Sparq 6000mah battery (Second one, yea, there is no substitute to having USB Power up to 2-Amps , these units include 2 ports, 1 and 2 amps so iPads charge nicely)
Kindle Fire (battery lasts a really long time and has a second copy of my eBooks and other content just in case)
Galaxy Note extended battery sleeve (It’s nice having an Android phone along, but the power dies quickly on the Note, so the sleeve extends it 1.5x in addition to the included battery)
International multi-week trips:
Mili King 18000 Battery pack (This is the mother of all external battery packs, you can run a small house on this thing, ample USB plug power and it will extend most non-Apple laptops for 2-3x)
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