I just had a strangely long conversation with some of my friends about what crap stuff we carry in our laptop bags when we travel. I found the conversation to be fun and interesting because I was able to pick up on some tips from my fellow road-warriors. So I thought I would share my kit with you and give you the chance to share your kit as well.

1. Jack Spade Nylon Canvas Tech Field Bag – This bag has a nice balance between style and functionality. It has plenty of room for all of my junk, a padded sleeve for my laptop, and external side pockets for cramming small items into when you have to run through the security line at the airport. It’s also very easy to get in and out of because it closes only with velcro. The canvas material is also sturdy, water-resistant, and light.

2. MacBook Pro 15″ – 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo, 3GB RAM + Power adapter and spare battery – I don’t need to say much about this one. This is by far the best laptop that I’ve ever had. I run Windows XP via Parallels when I need access to the very few apps that are superior to all others and run on Windows-only, such as Outlook.

3. Apple MagSafe airline adapter – This little power cable is awesome. It plugs right into airline power adapters and gives me unlimited power for those long flights like my upcoming 15-hour trek to Sydney, Australia for WebDU. Plus, this is way lest expensive than those big power bricks that you have to get for other laptops.

4. Moleskine Notebook – These little notebooks are awesome. Great for taking notes or recording your thoughts when the laptop just isn’t practical.

5. Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Platinum Rollerball pen – I really hesitated to spend this much money on a pen because I knew I would lose it – until I tried writing with it. I don’t know what’s so special about Mont Blanc pens, but this one writes so nicely. And I’ve actually carried it with me every day for over two years, so I guess I can manage to keep from losing some things!

6. Apple iPod 5.5G Black 80GB – A must have. Period. I also sometimes carry the little iPod Shuffle that Lynda Weinman gave me for Christmas. It’s so small that it’s easy to stuff in your bag and use as a back-up when your full-size iPod’s batteries run out. It’s also good to take with you when you go jogging or hiking because it’s very light-weight.

7. Shure E500PTH Earbud Headphones – These were strongly recommended to me by Audition/SoundBooth Product Manager (and resident audiophile) Hart Schafer. He said he read a review where someone described them as being, “like sex for your ears.” Though that’s a little creepy, I have to say that these things do sound absolutely amazing. And they’re noise canceling, which is nice for air travel. TIP: Buy them on Ebay from Power Seller “Wind130″. I saved $215 on a brand new pair and they had them over-nighted to me – great service!

8. Nintendo DS Lite (black) + Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart DS and charger – Great for passing time on those long flights. Also good for finding challengers at conferences. There seems to be a lot of Mario Kart players out there. Built-in wi-fi makes it easy to find a competitor.

9. Canon SD800 IS compact camera + 2GB SD card and charger – I’m a big photography nut and I usually care my Canon 5D SLR with a kit of lenses every where I go. But I also keep this super-tiny, compact, high-quality point-and-shoot in my bag at all times. It’s just great little camera – and with Image Stabilizer built in (a relatively new feature for this class of camera), it works really well in low-light situations. This model has been replaced by a newer version with more megapixels, but you can still pick this model up at a hefty discount.

10. SureFire E2E Executive Elite Xenon Pocket Handheld Flashlight – I learned about this freakin’ amazing little flashlight from an article about the gear used in Fox’s action drama series “24″. When I started doing a little research I found that this flashlight is really awesome. I always carry a small flashlight with me when on the road because you never know when you might need one. I also keep one with my big camera kit as it’s good for fiddling around with your gear when you’re shooting at night.

11. Western Digital 160GB Portable HD – I always keep an external HD with me. I try to back up my most critical files as often as possible, just in case something happens to my laptop. I also use it to offload all of my big DNG files from my SLR – as they tend to fill up my laptop HD pretty quickly.

12. Verizon Wireless V640 ExpressCard – The company gave me one of these recently and man, does it come in handy. I get about 500 Kbps downloads on average, which is great for those hour long train rides down and back from the Adobe San Jose office. Only down side is that it only works in North America.

13. Apple Airport Express – This little wireless base station is essential for anyone who spends a lot of time in hotel rooms. No more getting stuck to the tiny little desk. You can just plug this in and kick back on the bed to do your work.

14. Nokia e61/62 smart phone – I’ve gone through a lot of smart phones and this one is by far the best that I’ve ever had. It also makes for a great alarm clock. I chose the built-in alarm tone called “Rooster” – I’ll let you guess what that sounds like. ;-)

That’s the main stuff. If anyone’s interested, I’d be happy to disclose my pro camera kit some time.