This article is a continuation from Travel Lightly (Part 1 – Clothing) and will continue along the same themes of finding the highest quality but lightest, smallest, and most compact items to take along with you on your journeys.

Gear

With the exception of my backpack, most of the gear featured below are nice to haves but not need to haves for me. This is an area where you can easily go overboard and end up filling your pack to the bursting point. What I’ve found works best for me is a constant evaluation of the items in there. If during my evaluation I find that I’m just not using something, then I jettison it and see how well I do without. The below are the items that are still in my list.

Your backpack is the focal point of your travels when you travel light. It’s always with you or near you or secured someplace as it is your ‘home’ away from home. Selecting a size and fit that works best for you is extremely important, as are the features that you really want.

I chose the Dueter Futura 28L Backpack based on some recommendations from other sites. This backpack is outstanding! The best feature about it is that you can access the compartment from the top or bottom, and the main compartment can be divided into a top and lower section to keep things separate as needed. I pack all of my clothes and toiletries into the upper compartment with less used items on the bottom, and my rain gear into the lower compartment. Other features are the built in rain fly, the air-comfort design to keep it off your back, it’s under 3 lbs, and the 28 liter small size is perfect too. If you had more room, you’ll be sure to stuff more crap in than you really needed… Simplify!!

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Security is always a concern when traveling. You don’t want to lose everything you have, and if you’re traveling light and every item is an essential cog in your well oiled machine, the loss of even a small thing can reek havoc.

For general securing of my pack I picked up the Pacsafe 55. A worthy addition if all you have is in one backpack. It gives you the freedom to lock it up and leave it secured to a tree or bed. It’s not foolproof as you need to position the sinched opening away from any zippers, and a determined thief can cut your pack open and still pull smaller items out through the holes, but for most circumstances it does great.

To lock the Pacsafe and my zippers I went with Pelilock. My first trip I used a key and lock, and making sure I didn’t lose that key was quite troublesome (in fact I did lose it momentarily when out in the surf in Costa Rica, but luckily found it within seconds.) It’s much easier to just have to remember a combination, and the Pelilock allows for setting of that combonation to whatever you’d like. I bought a few and use them to lock the zippers together even when I’m just on the plane or bus. A very sturdy design for how small they are.

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Even when we are striving for lightness, we need to think of comfort.

A towel is always a welcome addition, but towels are huge bulky items… aren’t they? Not any more. Check out the MSR Ultralight Towel – A quality towel that absorbs water like a sponge, dries quickly, and can fit in the palm of your hand. Well worth it as when you’re out and about you sometimes just don’t know when you’ll need to dry off.

Comfort while sleeping is a must to maintain a healthy mind. If you’re tossing and turning all night who wants to get up and go exploring all day? To that end, I chose the Cocoon Coolmax Liner. This liner is great for use in your sleeping bag or in between the sheets of a bed. It keeps you away from any questionable bedding and keeps your bag or bedding in a clean state. It’s easy to wash and dry and is very comfortable to sleep in. When not in use it is stored in a nice small compact sack.

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Electronics

You will of course want to take photos of your adventures to show your loved ones the amazing things you saw and did, and to help out your failing memory in the years to come. I have a digital SLR and it’s just a huge pain to lug around and doesn’t fit with traveling light, so I needed a compact camera that delivered like an SLR. How about the Panasonic Lumix TZ4? It’s an outstanding camera. This camera fits into any pocket, but still comes with a 10x optical zoom! That was the biggest selling point for me. I can’t tell you how many shots were drastically improved by being able to zoom in to 10x. Unfortunately I lost this in the cab on the way to the airport coming home from Thailand. A big loss because of the 500+ pictures I had on the 4 gig card inside. Once I got home I immediately bought the same camera again, it’s that good.

This little Timex Ironman Watch has served me very well in my travels. It has dual time functionality, a chronograph with 30 laps, a countdown timer, alarm, and indiglo night light with night mode. I use all of the functions regularly. Keeping your home time while traveling the world is great for when you’re contacting friends and family. I love timing things so the chronograph fulfills that geeky need of mine. The countdown timer sets off an alarm when it reaches 0:00, and is awesome for setting yourself up for a quick nap.

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Final odds and ends.

The Kiva Key chain Backpack. Tiny when stored away, but becomes a great day tripping backpack to throw some water, extra clothes, etc in and leave your main pack safely locked away in the Pacsafe. Have used it often and still get excited about being able to zip it into a tiny bundle and stow away.

Brunton Lamplight – Extendible LED Flashlight. There are many more expensive options out there, but this little flashlight does a great job for very little money. It’s a normal LED flashlight and you can pull up on the lens area to transform it into an area light. Light and small, it’s great to hang from your pack strap, or hide away.

First Aid Kit. Better to be safe than sorry. I’ve only grabbed a couple of bandaids out of my kit so far (knock on wood), but if you get a decent kit you are prepared for most all minor ailments. No reason to run off to the doctor, just patch and go! I added a few items to my kit as there is plenty of room for more… such as immodium, plenty of ibuprofen, allergy medication, sting eze, and more.

Eagle Creek Quarter Cube. After struggling with having lots of odds and ends floating around in a compartment in my pack, I finally went and bought a couple of these cubes to store all my electronic gear in. Now I know exactly where everything is. I pack the cables and chargers in one, and all the little equipment like my iPod, Camera, USB stick, etc in the other.

Eagle Creek Sac – Perfect for keeping your toiletries together and the rest of your stuff safe from any accidental spillage. I’ve even been through TSA screening about 8 times with all of my liquids and gels in it, and they have had no issues (Although I did have a quart size ziplock in there too in case they threw a fit.)

Dr Bronners. Leave everything else at home! This soap works for washing your body, your hair, your clothes, your gear, your dishes… everything. It’s all natural and biodegradable and works. I’m sure there are picky people out there who need a different soap for every use, but if you really want to go light, eco friendly, and cheap then this is the soap for you. It comes in a few scents like lavender, almond and peppermint.

Monster Power Strip. When you’re out and only have access to a single outlet but have a few items to power, this tiny power strip is perfect. In it’s stored form it is only 6″ x 2″ x 1.5″ and the cord snaps right perfectly into the body for compact storage.

Belkin Adapter. This is only an adapter, not a voltage converter. But with all the electronics I carry, they have their own voltage conversion and work fine with 120V or 220V. Again it’s compact and perfect for use when out of country.

Nikon Sportstar. Great compact binoculars! These aren’t much use when wandering through cities, but out in the wilderness and watching wildlife they are one of my favorite items to have with me.

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There you have it! That’s the main contents of my pack when I traveled on my trip to Thailand. I was extremely pleased with all the items listed here and in Travel Lightly (Part 1 – Clothing) and would recommend any of them with no reservations.

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