I’m a frequent reader of the Onebag subreddit, which discusses minimalist travel, and the idea that one can carry anything needed to travel the world indefinitely. I also read various other minimalist blogs. But, you wouldn’t know it from a look at my office or my house in general, as I’m a bit of a pack rat. Hopefully a recovering pack rat, but nonetheless I have a lot of stuff.
I’m a problem solver, and I like to be prepared in case of any eventuality, so that means I have a lot of stuff. I’m also a maker and fixer of things, so it’s very hard for me to throw something out which isn’t working perfectly, with the idea that I will eventually fix it. I’m working on both of these tendencies.
So, I guess I’m sort of a minimalist-in-training. I don’t claim to be any good at it, but I did make some efforts on this trip to take a limited amount of stuff. I had a pretty small pair of bags, to the confusion of many hotel staffers and drivers, but still I brought a bit more than I used, or needed. These photos were before I edited out a few items. I’ll discuss some of these things individually in future posts but for now here’s the list of what I brought. I added some sandals in Goa, but otherwise this was everything.
Tom Bihn Pilot – photo, Top row:
Reeses and Candy Canes for gifts (Big hit with the team)
Packtowl XL (did not bring. Regretted once, but made do)
REI lumbar and cheap inflatable neck pillow (Replaced with Sea To Summit Aeros Pillow Premium Traveller, which was AMAZING on the plane)
mesh electronics bag and carabiner (used carabiner with clothesline)
Grayl water filter and bottle (mostly unused except for the night of digestive disaster. I could have gotten away without it, but it was MUCH better to have it than not when I was sick and unable to leave the room)
Tom Bihn Pilot bag (Used daily while working as laptop bag. Used as airplane bag)
2nd row:
Wurfel Bohnanza dice game (replaced with No Thanks, which I did show to some coworkers and would have played but the bag of chips broke open and I forgot to keep them with the cards. oops. )
Starbucks Via coffee (Didn’t use, but thought about it a few times while suffering through crap coffee)
Earplugs (didn’t bring these, instead had disposable ones in with my headphones)
Sleep mask (did not use, the plane supplied them, and I sleep OK with lots of light usually. But I’ll probably leave this in my kit)
Asthma inhaler (India is smoky, I needed this daily.)
cough drops (did not use, but probably should have while teaching)
breath strips (did not use. possibly should have, after the bus ride)
Samsung GT-E3210 (spare world phone) (did not use)
Sea2Summit Aeros Pillow Premium (Used in Goa and Hampi)
Camera bag (Did not bring this bag. DID miss having a lens cloth once)
Panasonic Lumix FZ35 camera, charger, extra battery (needed the battery once)
Joby Gorillapod Micro 800 Gp20 (tiny tripod) (Missed this a few times and discovered I did actually bring it while I was unpacking! oops)
LightMyFire spork (did not use)
Zebra F701, Pencil, Sharpie (used the pen)
Patagonia Houdini jacket (used on the plane on the way home)
Intocircuit 11200 mAh battery (used heavily)
Kindle Paperwhite (did not use, I chose passive entertainment for the plane)
Bose QC25 (Used heavily on the planes. Earbuds hurt my ears)
Bottom row:
Terrifying public bathroom Bag (Eagle Creek small) – packtowl personal, wet wipes, hand sanitizer (in 311 for flight) (Used sanitizer once but wet wipes would have worked, didn’t use nearly as many wipes as I expected. didn’t need the packtowl, but that was luck, as I found paper towels most places)
AMK Travel first aid kit (did not need, had pills in my main kit)
Small Spool of Kevlar cord (did not use)
3 to 4 usb cables of various lengths (used the 10ft and the 4ft, probably don’t need the shorter one)
extra AAA batteries (headphones and flashlight) (needed for headphones)
Pebble Charger (used)
Car usb charger (not shown – ended up not bringing but any time I’m driving I will bring this)
Doberman door alarm (did not use, all the door hasps were quite secure. Will I bring this in the future? probably, it’s tiny and light)
Plantronics Voyager BT headset and usb adapter (did not use, the headphones worked for conference calls. Will omit from future trips)
Anker dual QC2 charger (used heavily)
311 bag (see below)
Dell E5470 laptop and PS (not shown) – (used only for work. heavy)
Microsoft Travel Mouse (used heavily for work)
Wrist pads (used for work and to pad a gift I brought home)
Left side Worn/Carried:
Thunderbolt pants (wore these a bunch!)
Icebreaker LS merino (wore only on the way there)
Icebreaker LS Departure dress shirt (wore only on the way there, was too hot for long sleeves)
Smartwool light hiker socks (Wore there and back)
Clarks Cotrell Walk Oxford shoes (wore daily, worked great!)
Slide Belt (wore daily)
Tilley TH5 hemp hat (wore during Goa/Hampi daily)
Pebble Time (wore daily)
Leatherman PS multitool (no blade) – (Should not have brought this, I need to find something which is 100% plane safe which can trim my whiskers)
ThruNite Ti3 keychain flashlight (aaa battery) – (Used often, love this thing)
Car key, house key (can’t leave these behind)
money clip: cash, 2 CC, debit, ID (didn’t need much for cards, but still figure this kit is required)
Eagle Creek “undercover” money belt (Did not use, my pants and bags have good pockets)
passport
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Handkerchief/bandana (used a couple of times, was very useful when I needed it)
Insulation: (leaving from and returning to a cold area)
Kuhl Revolt jacket (Pertex/Primaloft One) – (I love this jacket, needed on the bus and when I got home)
EMS Windpro lightweight gloves – (Did not use)
Smartwool beanie smartwool buff – (did not use)
Marmot Precip rain shell – (Did not use, no rain)
Clothing:
1 Outlier New Way Shorts (wore these for basically my entire Goa/Hampi week. love them)
1 Thunderbolt pants (2nd pair) – (Wore these a lot)
Bluffworks pants (only brought the khaki ones – I like these, they have good features and are dressy, but I don’t like the feel as much as the stretchy Thunderbolts)
2 Shirt Icebreaker SS merino (worn as undershirt or T shirt) – (Wore one, didn’t wear undershirts, still will probably keep 2 in my kit)
4 SS shirts (2 Icebreaker departure II, 1 Ibex Jackson, 1 Kuhl Stealth synthetic) (wore all of these. The Kuhl looks nice but I wore it the least, since it’s not wool)
5 smartwool PhD Running Ultra Light Mini socks – (Cut to 4. Shorts and black socks was tacky, but functional)
5 ExOfficio boxer briefs (Cut to 4, which felt like a good number)
Red Oxx Sky Train (Good carry-on size, but I had to check it because of the Leatherman, and because of the “one bag” policy on the way out. will re-evaluate whether a smaller bag could work for me instead)
Eagle Creek specter large/med (these were pretty great)
Swim:
Speedo Endurance+ swim trunks (these are great, swam a few times)
Speedo Vanquisher 2.0 mirrored goggles (not shown) – (New to me, these were great, glad I got them vs my un-shaded ones)
Sea to Summit sil-nylon day pack – (Used in Goa and Hampi as a day bag)
Platypus bottle (did not bring, did not need)
Flexo-line clothes line (used frequently to dry clothes)
Sink stopper (not visible) (used frequently, indispensable)
Garbage bag and Ziploc – (used the ziploc)
311:Certain-dri deodorant (2 part)
Calvin Klein Euphoria cologne – (used up)
Dr Bronner’s – (Used up, mostly washing clothes, may need to bring more next time, or more detergent packs instead)
Hair stuff
Toothpaste – (used up)
No-ad Sunscreen – (Used up, no burns in the desert!)
Lip/skin balm (vaseline) – (used frequently)
antiseptic ointment – (used once)
Clubman mustache wax
Hand Sanitizer (moves to bathroom bag on arrival) – (did not use)
Detergent pack – (very effective, mostly used Dr Bronner’s, but I think this was better)
Antifungal