What’s in my bag

So what’s in my bags when I am traveling?

I am not a hardcore backpacker. I am not saving every penny to go extra week of traveling. Nor do I camp in a tent. I am a traveler hoping to be closer to people who live in places I’ve never been to. I tend to stay in a guest house or a hostel near a residential area. As such, my packing tends to include some items that might be considered excessive if you are a backpacker. I am a traveler, not a backpacker.

Anyhow… here goes!

Camera

Obviously central to me as a photographer. These days I use Fujifilm X mirrorless cameras. One of them is a fixed focal length, and the other I could change lenses. Those mirrorless cameras drink up the juice in battery like crazy, so I always have spare battery packs. I had a few more but the T2 I just got do not seem to like the generic brand battery that I used for E1 for years (too tight into battery bay!). A few months in to this new gear I only have one spare which is not a comfortable set up. Majority of shots are made with the X100T, and I have a couple of spare packs, which is enough to get me through about a day and a half. Yes, I need to throw away old packs and get new ones as I think they are dying. Unfortunately, the two cameras use different batteries, so I carry two battery chargers, and their cables. There are more compact battery chargers out there, and I do have one for one of them. Up to you to go for non-authentic batteries and chargers. I tend to not worry too much about it. Smaller chargers, especially without cables, would mean less weight. So I should be taking that generic brand charger I bought in emergency when I went to Taiwan for a trip without chargers a few years back.

Don’t ask me why, but for years I only used Sandisk memory cards. When I was using a digital SLR (which I really should get out of dry box and put on eBay), I used a Sandisk CF card. There was only one instance in which I had a problem erasing a 64GB card (which I should have sent back to manufacturer for refund), but I never had any issue of data loss or corruption, so why not. Always keep them in dry case, free from dust and water. I imagine it is easy to mess up with camera and the memory card.

Obviously a dust blower and a silicon cloth.

I used to travel with a MacBook running Lightroom. At the end of each day I would back up all the data from memory card, tag them up, and even rate to pick good ones. It is a good practice to keep photos in multiple places, and it helps save the hustle of trying to remember exactly where the image was taken. Also it may give you a chance to notice some problem with equipment, like dust on sensor, which I think would be very hard to spot while only looking at the back of camera. Then I moved onto an Android tablet. It was an 8 inch el-cheapo. But it was great for writing blog post without the weight of laptop. And it was perfect for copying from memory card, through a card reader, to an external drive. The tablet died, unfortunately, but I still carry that external drive. It is a tiny Samsung SSD drive. It is not a hard drive so you don’t need to worry as much about the shock as you would with HDD (those metal spinning discs inside HDD can be damaged and corrupt data easily when the case is shaken while in operation. Don’t move it while it’s plugged in!) That tiny, thin grey SSD in the photo has a capacity of 250GB. That’s enough for my trip even when I’m shooting Raw + JPEG. I only use it when/if I have access to somebody’s computer. I can back it up then. It is also useful in passing the photos to somebody else if I need it. I feel very uncomfortable plugging my memory card into somebody else’s equipment – all images are lost if the card is damaged. But it is a bit of strange argument here, that I should carry a backup drive without a tablet/laptop to copy from card to drive. I have been thinking about picking up another cheap tablet. Some people use those backup drives with built-in card reader, which I think is a sensible idea for mission critical photography. Mine is not.

Medicine and hygiene

I have sensitive skin which needs managing. That is one of the reasons I am not camping out. I need a shower at the end of each day. It is an unfortunate requirement as a traveler but that’s just what it is. A few extremely important items that could make or break my trips.

Antihistamine – I carry Zyrtec. I always always carry them. The yellow box was from some airport medical room from a trip when I forgot to pack one and had to get some after a couple of days of flights and buses led to pretty uncomfortable situation. If you don’t have to worry about your skin, I envy you.

Toner – I used to carry moisturiser, but in the recent years I switched to a toner. Generally I use a very light, non-alcohol one from MUJI store, but I almost ran out of the small travel pack I brought in my last trip, when I bought the small blue one at the airport chemist. It has a distinct smell of alcohol as you open it, and it has a bit more kick to it, but it still does the job. I’m topping up my small container with the MUJI toner but this one stays somewhere in the bag as a backup. It is in an airline friendly small container, too.

Medicine and cream – Most of them I never use but I have gotten sick in my trips especially when I was still a teenage traveler who did not know how to avoid getting sick, so they are insurance thing. Some of them I bought years ago and they may not even work well any more. All it needs to do is to keep me from dying from dehydration or exhaustion till I get a medical attention. Insurance, well, you won’t see in my bag, but you gotta have one. I am making do with a basic one that comes with a credit card membership. Suitcase and bags can be lost or broken. Other items break. Insurance goes a long way.

Air travel comfort

I have a few basic rules I follow.

• Try to sit towards the front of the aircraft. It gets noisier towards the back, especially behind the wings. It’s got those huge jet engines running there.
• Aisle seat. Window seats are usually tighter with a limited foot/head space. Views are often not work it (though I sometimes see beautiful out-of-window shots and get tempted). You can go for a walk any time without worrying anyone
• Ear plugs – I used to rely on an overhead Bose noise cancelling headphones. They are great and you’d be surprised how noisy it is in the plane without it. Now I use a set of form ear plugs. They are comfortable to have in your ears, and perfect in shutting off all the noise from the aircon, engine or some of those unhappy baby in a seat nearby.
• Drink lots of water – everyone says that, but it is true. Do not drink alcohol in plane; they dehydrate you, and the alcohol works far more in the pressurised cabin.
• Go for a walk, stretch. There are some simple stretches you can do while sitting if you are stuck between people and cannot step out easily. But it is best if you walk to the back of the plane. During a night flight, that’s where a few crew members are resting on standby, and they usually would not mind you doing a few rounds of stretch in the open space near the back emergency door. They may be bored and happy to chat for a few minutes. Some airlines have a basket of goodies ready for those with midnight cravings, like bags of chocolates, fresh fruit, small bottle of water, or even ice cream. Anyway, that’s not in my bag!
• Avoid watching a movie. They dry your eyes, and you miss your sleeping cycle. But that’s up to your personal preference. Last flight I watched 2 movies in a 8-hour stint. Sometimes that’s what you do. I tend to fall asleep as soon as I bucked up and put ear plugs in. I often miss the takeoff.
• Avoid in-flight meals. Eat on the ground before you fly, with enough time to spare before take off so you don’t get sick. They taste better, and possibly less salt. Again, that’s just me, maybe.

Back to my bag, there are a few extra bits…

Nail clippers

When my trip is more than 10 days long, I’d need them. Last thing you want is having a trouble with your toes in your shoes while walking endlessly to discover what might be around the next corner.

Heat Powder

That little white tin of Prickly Heat powder is a bit of curve ball. I came across this one in a small building that was like a little Thai town while living in Singapore. There were maids and other workers from Thailand buying what they would normally find in convenience stores around their home back in their country, I figured. I came across that by accident one day. That’s where I found this. It is just white powder, which sucks in the sweat. It is very effective in keeping the body surface temperature down on a sweaty hot day. I should come up with a smaller package in which this can fit more nicely without taking so much space in the bag. There are many ways to keep you warm when it is cold; there are not as many ways to cool down when it’s 40-degree hot.

Protection fortunes

One I got as a gift from my brother years ago from a shrine in Japan, and the other I got from a Shinto shrine in Kobe during my new year visit this year. Small things but I hope they help keep me free from harm. A money note from a country I’d never been to – I got this as a gift from a backpacker I traveled together with for a few days between northern Thailand and Laos on a boat. I hope we get to meet again some day. I am very poor at keeping in touch with people. But there is something special about people you shared a part of your journey with.

Torch light

In this day and age, everything is found in a mobile phone. Sure my iPhone has a torch. But I would not want to use up the battery on my phone which is important for survival, or even before that, it is usually where I have my map and GPS to find out where I am at. Head-mount torch is small, and comes with a bit dimmed flood light, which I taped up so that it is pretty dark and can be used to look for something in the dark without blinding myself or others. I used to use red tape for it, which I read somewhere has the least impact on our eyes used in the dark. But I don’t really shoot in pitch black and it is not that critical. I ran out of red so it’s got white plastic tape now.

Pad locks

Lockers in hostels and backpackers used to expect you to carry your padlock. Sometimes you may need to leave your bag tied to something.

Local currency and train pass

I  have currency and train card from some countries packed in seal plastic bags in my travel draw. It is often useful when I want to buy a meal or make a quick trip away from airport in a transit country. Back in the bag the money goes when I move onto another country, so I don’t have mixed currencies in my pocket.

Books

The novels are the best for long transit or an overland journey on bus or train. I might go back to a tablet to save the weight of books as well as ability to backup digital photos. Maybe. For this time, thanks to local library that has a collection of Japanese paperbacks – they are so small!

 

What do you carry in your bag every journey?