Packing the Right Travel Gear
October 8th, 2009 Posted in Leffel projects, Long-term travel, Travel gear
I just packed up my backpack to head off to Ecuador and the Galapagos, so gadgets and gear are on my mind. Two weeks of stuff packed into my trusty Eagle Creek Meridian 55L pack.
Here’s a guest post I did for the Travel Gear Blog over at BootsnAll a couple weeks ago: 7 cheap round-the-world travel gadgets. The main point of that story is that if you pack the right things instead of loading up on everything that looks cool in the store or online, you can carry less and spend less before departure. 
There’s just one thing I left out of that though that I meant to include: a retractable cable lock. You can get one of those for under $10 and they give you a lot of peace of mind when you can lock up your daypack in your cheap hotel room or on a train/bus.
Of course one secret to packing light is to load up on double-duty travel gear. I try to carry very few gadgets that can only do one thing. They’re kind of like the shirt that can only go with one pair of pants: not carrying their weight/space the rest of the time. If the item does only perform one function (like a torch/flashlight or MP3 player), at least make sure it’s small and light. Here are a few of my favorite road-tested travel gear winners.
OK, enough seriousness. How about a funky hat that has its own bottle opener?
