General 14 Mar 2007 11:40 pm
What’s in your bag?
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.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 12:17 am 1.Mike Downey said …
Oh, and I forgot, I also carry a 3-port power strip because hotel rooms rarely have more than two outlets available. You can pick them up at any drug/hardware store.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 1:04 am 2.Ryan Stewart said …
I was with you until the Mont Blanc pen, then I was way outta my league. I have pen envy.
[md] Hehe. Well, I did get it at a pretty hefty discount in Singapore. Good place to buy Mont Blanc pens… [/md]
on 15 Mar 2007 at 1:07 am 3.Arul Prasad said …
Thats a pretty tempting list!
Your DSLR was the first gadget to tempt me though (’coz I saw about a year and and half ago!). If I remember correctly, you landed in mm’s Bangalore centre, same week you bought it
on 15 Mar 2007 at 9:07 am 4.Graeme said …
How about a webcam and mic?
[/md]
[md] MacBook Pro, buddy - they’re built-in! Haven’t you seen the commercial with the PC guy getting the “upgrade” where the IT tech is duct taping a webcam to his head?
So what did you learn off your friends then?
I really like the idea of the flashlight, I’ve recently bought one of those ones that you shake to power up and it doesn’t use batteries. That way I don’t have to worry about the batteries dying on me or the acid leaking out due to not being used. I think it’s lighter too.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 9:44 am 5.Josh Buhler said …
You’ve inspired me: http://www.joshbuhler.com/2007/03/15/whats-in-my-bag/
on 15 Mar 2007 at 10:11 am 6.Daniel Sofer said …
Hey Mike:
Jethro told me you’re a 5D fan (that was me taking the pix at the MAX flash engineering session)
- so of course I’m interested in your camera gear.
But what’s your strategy about dragging the 5D, MacBook and all above mentioned items?
I have a big Tamrac bag (http://www.tamrac.com/5263.htm) but it’s too much ‘travelling salesman’ so I don’t use it that often. I usually end up with a laptop backpack + smaller camera bag… not especially svelte either.
Regards,
Daniel Sofer
on 15 Mar 2007 at 1:11 pm 7.Dave Yang said …
When I travel I also carry this wireless router (http://tinyurl.com/b9ts2) which proves to be very handy.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 2:23 pm 8.Ethan Estes said …
Great setup for the road mike! Ditto on the mont blanc-i’m in the AAA league i guess. Have to say a better best of breed example app only on windows would have been Captivate or Adobe Presenter! But in a company the size of Adobe i can see how outlook is needed
-ethan
on 15 Mar 2007 at 2:35 pm 9.Christopher Wigginton said …
Talking about security at the airport, I wonder what would happen if one of those fancy brochures you pick up at tradeshow booths had an aluminum foil silhouette of a gun sandwiched in the middle of that nice card stock cover?
Pretty easy to salt a display or even pass out the brochures outside the convention.
on 15 Mar 2007 at 2:38 pm 10.Andrew Muller said …
Mike, you gotta upgrade to a Crumpler, perhaps while you’re down under next week (presumably you can get them at a better price in the home country).
[md] I actually have a really nice Crumpler camera bag. I’m not as big on their laptop bags though. [/md]
As for Ryan’s pen envy, the two in my bag are Adobe Red and Macromedia Black… using the best plastic!
on 15 Mar 2007 at 5:11 pm 11.Sean McSharry said …
Nice list Mike. At least I’ll know what to mug you for
I did a similar post (http://www.flashcoder.net/blog/?p=87) a couple of months back about multi media bags for us ‘travelling consultants’ and I mentioned the sort of things I carry (pretty much the same as you) but I didn’t do as nice a job of the contents. Maybe I will. I also travel with a Wacom A6 tablet, my earphones suck by comparison so now I’ll HAVE to get a pair of Shure E500PTH (Damn my the competative Geek in me). My Mac Book Pro has webcam, wifi and bluetooth built in so that saves me some space, though not much, which is a shame as I never travel anywhere with out my Nikon D80 DSLR and a couple of lebses and that sukka takes up some space. I have to agree with Andrew Muller though. I found after extensive research that the Crumpler are the strongest, lightest and most well designed multi media travel bags out there and with all our kit, the bag needs to be light as possible. I went for the imaculately built Booq at first but the thing weighs in at over 2KG empty. I will also HAVE to get one of the Apple Magsafe Airline adapters. One of the passengers on the flight back from New York was using one with his Mac Book and I was so jealous. Guess I’ll have to look at a decent pen as well now, damn you Downey.
on 18 Mar 2007 at 12:30 am 12.Gary Barber said …
Mike, yeah you really need to look at a Crumpler bag, they are almost bulletproof.
[md] I have the “7 Million Dollar Home” Crumpler bag for my camera gear. It’s a great bag. [/md]
Would be interested to know how much abuse and misuse your WD external drive gets, as I have heard some horror stories about them, and was considering getting one.
[md] Works great so far. [/md]
Agree on the pocket camera, mind you I just can’t drag myself away from my SLR.
[md] Yeah, I use my SLR 90% of the time, but it’s really nice to have a pocket-size point-and-shoot with you for those times when it’s not practical to lug your SLR around. [/md]
Have you considered a Squid power cable with a few international plugs etc.
[md] I have one from iGo but I haven’t been bothering with it because I don’t really need to carry too many power cables with me. I have my Mac AC adapter, nokia charger, iPod USB cable, and two camera battery chargers. [/md]
on 24 Mar 2007 at 5:39 pm 13.Johnny Sewell said …
I like the MacBook Pro (even though mine only has 2GB of ram). The flashlight and the Apple Magsafe Airline Adapter would be good additions. The adapter I bought is too bulky.
The pen is just way cool.
I also haven’t bought one of the little cameras yet. I am carrying the 20D, two lenses, external hard drive and the 580 flash with the MacBook Pro all around the world in my Lowepro bag.
on 13 Apr 2007 at 11:05 am 14.Kristin Henry said …
Fantastic list…thinking I should pick up a flashlight
I’m right there with you on the moleskin notebook. I like to keep one in a handy pocker. When I need more space for notes, I also use a Clairefontaine, spiralbound, notebook with grid rule, half-page size.
on 08 Jun 2007 at 1:13 am 15.Steve Jobs said …
the new macbook pro has released, with 2.4 duo2 core and 4 gb’s of ram, stronger graphic card, and with the same price….., you should’ve wait a little longer to get one of your mac
on 08 Aug 2007 at 2:05 pm 16.Daniel said …
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article s in your bag?, but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.
on 23 Aug 2007 at 1:17 pm 17.Rob Flores said …
You can pick up a MontBlanc Rollerball replacement cartridge (the part that has all the “feel”) and stuff it into a G2 pen: http://www.instructables.com/id/EWAMSPFFCKEP2871N2/?ALLSTEPS
on 05 Nov 2007 at 6:30 pm 18.John Smith said …
Maybe it can get a little complicated if used in a different way.
on 06 Nov 2007 at 9:36 pm 19.John Smith said …
Good comment. It brought light to an old idea I had.