Random Musings..of an Awry Neuron

London to Belgium in 2 hours flat..

Now we are shifting!! 

As many if my close friends and family know I am an oxymoronic mix of structure and amorphousness. Especially when it comes to traveling. I pack last min but I know exactly what I need. I pack light but I have pretty much all I need. I don’t make any plans for what I intend to do when I get to my destination unless it is meeting specific people and accommodating to their schedule. 

So anyhow, what did I pack for a 10 day international trip? I am not going to go through the usual clothes etc. that’s subjective and depends on the purpose of travel, weather, etc. Let me list some other indispensable things/ gear I am carrying which come with me regardless of where I go. 

1. My trusty Delsey carry on bag, This bag has travelled over 200K miles with me. It’s compact, robust and yet carries 10 days worth of clothes, spare shoes and toiletries  I highly recommend folks who travel more than 40 hours a year to take their luggage purchase seriously. This bag was quite expensive (for my analyst grade pay) when I bought it but it has been single handedly  the  best purchase I made to easen my travel over the years. Now after another 30k or so miles I think I might need to retire this bag and I am already researching alternatives. Some of the contenders are Rimowa Topas, Tumi Alpha, Delsey, Zero Haliburton and Briggs and Riley. So far none of them seem to achieve the balance of compactness, light weight and durability my trusted Delsey has. 
2. Brady Gelderburn shoulder bag. Waterproof, light weight (compared to my over engineered Filson) just the right size to carry your portable workstation and tough as nails. Looks smart enough to pass off as a work bag but is also casual enough to carry my street photography kit. Classic case of form follows function
3. Workstation gear: 12in Dell work laptop, and charger and USB sticks to take backups when internet isn’t available or a Mac Pro if I am traveling purely for pleasure
4. Camera gear: Epson R-D1 rangefinder camera, two lenses – Leica 40mm summicron and Voightlander 18mm ultra wide, 4 extra batteries and memory cards. Very light weight gear that fits perfectly in the front pocket of the Brady Gelderburn. It’s a bit of a retro quirky camera but the image quality more than makes up for it
5. Travel essentials: Passport, notepads, one file folder with travel docs, pens, iPad, Ibuprofen tabs, playing cards, sunglasses, earbuds, international currency and mints
6. Power pack: Kangom travel accessories bag with contains all my power and data needs: Anker battery pack, 2Tb ext hdd, USB sticks, charging cords and cables, global travel plug adaptor

More to come and I will add some images as well