Here What’s on My Bag

With the airlines beginning to tighten their enforcement of carry on rules I thought I would pass along what I carry on the plane. The difficult choices we must make are those items we cannot live without and that are too expensive to replace if they get damaged in the check in luggage. I once put a nice Nikon camera safely in the center of a checked bag, wrapped in bubble foam and then padded by T-shirts and socks only to find the attached lens cap and UV filter destroyed. I was lucky the camera and lens survived.

Well here’s what’s usually in my carry-on bag. I took these photos after arriving in the USA on my last trip back from the Philippines.

 

Begin in the top left corner of the photo and working clockwise.

A lightweight sport windbreaker that roll into a small, roll to easily slide into the bottom of the backpack that I use as my carry-on bag.

Small tube of roll on waterproof sunscreen spf 50

Tic Tac breath mints

Cell phone

Headlamp

Small Ziploc baggie with toilet paper and napkins folded in it. An empty Ziploc is also folded inside this storage baggie to hold my dirty socks if I change socks on the plane. Also inside the T.P. baggie are a few IBprofen, a couple Imodium AD and a couple tagament in a small plastic bottle. One extra pair of warm clean dry socks

A can of Pringles. Crushable foldable hat. Sunglasses inside a hard shell carry case. When traveling from Asia to USA or back I customarily put the hat and sunglasses in my checked bag.

My laptop is inside a cushioned case that slides into a cushioned pocket in the backpack. Thus providing two layers of padding for my precious laptop. I usually carry the laptop charger and cord in the carry on not in checked luggage.

A fabric money bag that can hang from my neck by a cord, but normally just lay in the bottom of the backpack. Inside this bag I carry small sums money from the countries I’m traveling through, a few extra passport size photos for visas, my frequent flier cards, and my California driver’s license. My passport when traveling is in a special easy to access pocket inside the backpack or in my shirt pocket.

A small but really terrific Kodak video camera that is waterproof to 15 feet. The small digital camera I used to take the photos for this article, which is a Canon Power, shot A3100.

A thermal drink cup with lid ($1.00 at 7-11 or Starbuck’s) inside the cup I carry a Ziploc baggie filled with sweetener and tea bags. You can usually get hot water for free on the plane simply by walking to the galley and asking. Easier and faster than waiting for the food service. With this large cup you can actually drink some tea, not just have a sip or two like you get with those tiny plastic airline cups that they only fill halfway. Sometimes I add a couple Snickers bars to this tea service bag.

A notebook and several pens in different colors with waterproof gel ink so the ink doesn’t run if my notebook gets wet.

My kindle eBook reader I still use the cheap and simple black and white model because I only use this for reading books. This and my laptop are two of the most important items I carry.

A backpacker’s headlamp for reading. Frequently the lighting on airplanes is misdirected or cannot be adjusted so as to shine where I want the light.

 

Sometimes I carry maps in my carry-on bag if I’m going somewhere new and I want to make notes while I’m on the flight.

I almost never carry liquids in my carry-on bag. If traveling to an area with mosquitoes I will place a small spray tube of DEET repellent in my bag so I can dose up before leaving the plane. I might carry roll on style sunscreen in tube if I will be going directly into hot bright sunlight when I land. Otherwise I don’t carry sunscreen onto the plane.

I brush my teeth either using the miniature tubes of toothpaste provided by the airline or I brush without toothpaste. I just use the salt packet from my airline meal and sprinkle that onto a wet toothbrush.

In addition to this day pack as my carry-on bag I normally also carry my Nikon SLR camera with the zoom lens mounted onto the camera body in a smallish camera bag that becomes my “personal” item as customarily allowed.

This carry on back pack was purchased at Costco. I looked for months all over the world for a quality bag that had a cushioned laptop pocket, a separate large pouch or pocket and some small pouches and pockets to tuck away various items. This bag is now 3 years old and appears almost new. I carry it every day as I walk so I’m quite pleased with the bag.

I hope this helps you when planning your next adventure.

Keith Jones

Writing this morning in Covina, California

March 19, 2013

Author Bio:

Keith Jones is the founder of Baja Jones Adventures, Jones Adventures, Tigress Tours in Thailand and Butanding Tours in the Philippine Islands and has led thousands of people to Mexico and other interesting locations around the world. He specializes in gray whale tour, blue whale tour, gray and blue whale combo tour, giant panda bear tour, walk a tiger tour, shark tour, African safari tour, African gorilla trek, arctic narwhal tour and Magdalena Bay whale watching tour. He also writes about Baja travel and gray whales. Keith Jones is the author of Gray Whales My Twenty Years of Discovery.