Traveling Light

Posted January 29th, 2010 by Chris Gurney

With all of the thinking about minimizing that I’ve been doing lately, I realized I hadn’t put any thought towards minimizing what I take with me when I travel.

That is, I hadn’t until the U.S. Transportation Security Administration’s restrictions for us Canadians came into play.

For a while, I was flying around the continent with a large backpack containing my laptop, accessories, books, paperwork… and other assorted things I thought I might need in the event I wanted to build a house. Or something. Over time, I became conscious of the increasing amount of weight I was carrying, and began to worry about my back. That’s when I bought something with wheels.

My wheeled wonder worked out wonderfully when walking, though it was woefully weighty. Not to mention it no longer left any room for my feet, when stuffed under the seat in front of me.

When the carry-on restrictions came into effect, however, neither piece of luggage was a viable option: my backpack was just too big, and my wheeled wonder was now a potential threat to national security.

So then I had to then ask myself: What was the list of stuff I truly needed in order to do my job, and to keep myself entertained while traveling?

My job requires a list of stuff that looks like this:

• Laptop: My trusty MacBook Pro, which is also my personal computer.
• Power supply: My trusty hefty white brick, which is unfortunately necessary to power my trusty laptop.
• Video adapter: Because nine out of ten video projectors don’t talk DVI.
• Mouse: The trackpad just doesn’t cut it for all the software demos I do.
• Paperwork: Maps, evaluation forms, flight information, etc. in offline format. Just in case.
• Memory stick: Most training facilities have a computer I can use, in the event something bad happens. So here I keep a backup of the slides and software I need.

And how do I keep myself entertained on the plane? For me, all I need is my BlackBerry. I treasure the time I have up in the air. It’s quiet, I’m disconnected, and it gives me a lot of time to think, and to write. My BlackBerry works wonderfully for this purpose.

My “everything else” list, then, looks like this:

• Passport
• Wallet
• Keys
• BlackBerry

All things considered, it turns out I already had a bag that was perfect for the purposes of a carry-on: A very light laptop bag I had purchased a while ago from Mountain Equipment Co-op: The MEC Pro Computer Tote. For me, it’s a great little bag with a small pouch on the side with just enough room for everything I need. And traveling with it over the past few weeks has been a dream!

Now, if only I didn’t have to take the other necessities like clothes, shoes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, a jacket…

How do you pack light when you travel? What do you think you could cut back on?

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