What's in Your "Man Bag"?

My neighbor, Tom, is a great guy! I saw him at the local Wal-Mart the other day, so I stopped to chat. The shampoo aisle of a Wal-Mart isn't the ideal place for a brief chat among men (both pushing carts full of stuff for our spouses), but ... there we were. I noticed that Tom had one of those European shoulder bags for men slung across his shoulder. Being the supportive neighbor that I am, I asked him, "Yo, Tom, what's with the purse?" He explained, "Well, I'm always losing my keys, cell phone, and wallet and stuff, so my wife got me this bag. She says men in Europe wear them all the time." There was a momentary silence as we both looked at the bag, then Tom finally said, "It's a purse, isn't it?" "Yep," I said. "DAMNIT!" Tom replied.

After thinking about it, Tom has the right idea. After all, I have a bag full of my important stuff too; I just don't drag it to Wal-Mart with me. Before I started traveling, I kept my stuff in my pockets. Wallet, cell phone, and keys were the only things I really needed to carry around. Occasional trips and light traveling brought a laptop into the picture so I bought a nice leather laptop brief with a shoulder strap. Now that I travel full time, the bag had to grow into a pull-behind laptop bag with more pockets. My wife calls it the "Man Bag." I call it my "indispensable travel bag."

I've been asked through e-mail, "Ken, what are your travel essentials?" I guess the best answer is, "The stuff I carry in my travel bag." I bought one that is small enough to fit in the overhead bin of the smallest plane I fly on (regional jump-jet) and I pack it carefully with things that I know I will need. Here's what's in it right now:

• Fisher Space Pen (writes upside down and in pressurized cabins) and pencil
• Business Cards
• Keys
• Parking Slip (so I know where I left my car at the airport)
• iPod and travel charger cord
• Cell Phone
  • Contacts
  • Itinerary with confirmation numbers
  • Frequent travel numbers and memberships
  • Email
  • Web-browser
• Bluetooth hands free earplug
• Spare cables
  • USB
  • Ethernet
  • Phone charger
• Handheld GPS
• Travel alarm clock
• Backup wireless PCMCIA card with installation CD
• Laptop computer with charger
• "Stuck overnight" kit
  • Travel toothbrush/past
  • Disposable razor
  • Spare Deodorant
  • Spare shirt, socks, underwear (you'd be surprised how often I need these)
• Tiny video camera
• Digital camera
• Several memory sticks or "thumb drives" with essential files
• Travel wallet with checkbook and emergency credit cards and cash
• Sprint international dialing phone card (with country codes)
• Passport
• Inoculation Records
• Water bottle
• Company badge
• Vitamin C packets and Crystal light drink mix packets
• Sunglasses

That's it. Anything else is "extra" and you'd be surprised just how small a bag all of that stuff will fit in.