Gear Not Stuff: Travel Edition
Travel gear: My 15 favorite items.
Post summary
- My favorite travel gear.
- Fifteen items that'll help you travel better. They look cool, function well, and (in some cases) can help you not die.
- Weigh in with your favorites in the comments.
Housekeeping
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The post
Today is the second Friday of the month. Which means it’s time for Gear Not Stuff.
The concept for Gear Not Stuff is simple.
We live in a world of mass consumerism and have more stuff than ever. As I explained in Scarcity Brain, the average home contains 10,000 to 50,000 items.
If we want a new thing, we no longer have the pause of traveling to a store to buy it—we can buy it right from our computer, phone, TV, or even yell to Alexa.
Our shift to material abundance has changed our relationship with our possessions—and curious forces are now leading us to acquire more stuff than we need.
For example, online retailers stole tactics from casinos that lead us to buy more faster. (Fun fact: These tactics have probably worked on you if you’ve ever bought some crap and immediately regretted buying said crap. More on that here.)
When we get overwhelmed by how much we own, we often seek minimalism.
But minimalism has failed us (you'll know this if you read Scarcity Brain). Luckily, I found a smarter way we can get more from less.
In thinking about how we can make smarter purchasing decisions, I’ve begun delineating between gear and stuff.
Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff adds to a collection of (too many) items. We often buy stuff impulsively to fix boredom or stress or to solve a problem we could figure out creatively with something we already have.
Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose. Gear is a tool we can use to have better experiences that make us healthier and give our lives meaning.
This month’s Gear Not Stuff: Travel Gear
I hope you're traveling this summer. Statistics say you are.
Summer is one of the busiest travel seasons. Roughly 70 percent of people take a vacation, and airport traffic rises 30 percent during the summer.
When you travel, the right gear can make or break a trip—or, at least, make it run smoother. Heck, depending on where you are, the right gear can save your life.
My books have taken me a collective ~75,000 miles around the world—everywhere from Ivy League laboratories and government offices to prisons in Baghdad and the deepest reaches of the Bolivian jungle.
So I think a lot about the gear I bring along—and I've also had a lot of miles to test it.
Below you'll find my favorite travel gear. Note: This list doesn't include all the gear I'd take to a dangerous area.
We cover all that gear in the Don't Die Event, which will be held the first weekend of November (get your name on the waitlist here). More on that soon.
Let's roll ...
1) The Big A** Duffel: Sitka Drifter Duffel
I'm not one of those people who travels light for the sake of it.
I'll travel light if I'm going into a remote area. But for a leisurely trip with a home base, I like more clothing and footwear options, books, and gear.
I use this duffel on long trips where I haul a lot of gear. Example: My recent trip to Normandy, where I had to pack a Rucker 4.0 and all my gear for the 50-mile ruck. (Read more on that 50-miler and what I learned from it here.)
This bag fits multitudes. It's weather-resistant and has convenient internal storage pockets.
Despite its size, it's easy to carry. That's because it comes with removable backpack straps, making it easier to haul across airports and cities compared to a roll bag.
There are other big, water-resistant duffels like it. For example, Patagonia's Black Hole. But I see a lot of Black Holes and rarely see this bag, making it easy to ID at baggage claim.
BUY IT
- Sitka Drifter Duffel (buy the 75L or 110L if you need more space).
2) The Day Pack: GORUCK GR2
I like all of GORUCK's travel bags: GR1, Bullet, GR2, and the M24.
But the GR2 is The Travel GOAT. It's the one you buy for travel.
The layout and pocket structure keep you organized and give you enough room for everything you need and nothing you don't.
And it'll last forever—I have a GR2 that's ~10 years old, and it still looks and functions like a dream. Plus you can also use it to ruck with at your destination.
My current version is fully customized by SCARS for travel into dangerous places. But, good news: I'm collaborating with GORUCK and Huckberry to release a 2% GR2 later this year—optimized for travel anywhere and everywhere.
BUY IT
- GORUCK GR2; $375-$395 depending on size.
- Or wait until the end of this year for the 2% GR2; price TBD.
3) The Organizer: EVERGOODS Civic Access Pouch 1L
The best gear solves problems.
Problem: Important items get lost in the pockets of your backpack or luggage. You need a home for the important stuff, so you know where it is at all times and can collectively move it from one place to the next.
This pouch is elegantly designed to keep the stuff that matters united, so I don't have to, say, rummage around for my passport at a border.
I keep my phone, passport, cash (usually $1,000), a charger, keys, and other valuables in it. Its pocket layout makes the items you use often visible but conceals the items you want to protect.
BUY IT
- EVERGOODS Civic Access Pouch 1L; $75
- Another option: This dopp kit, recommended by Ben from Huckberry, which gives you more room and doubles as a tech or toiletry organizer.
4) Because Sleep is Important: Mack's Slim Fit Soft Foam Earplugs
Hotel rooms are loud. Planes are loud. Trains are loud. Everything is loud on the road. Example: I'm finishing writing this post at a coffee shop in Bozeman—it's 5:17 A.M. and the place is blasting techno.
That makes it hard to sleep and concentrate. Silence leads to better work, and the right amount of sleep has all sorts of benefits:
- It makes you happier and more alert the subsequent day.
- You'll even eat less junk the next day.
- And, of course, you'll live longer. Here's a graph showing sleep duration and all cause mortality—7ish hours is the sweet spot.
Earplugs can save your sleep—and give you more, better days.
These particular earplugs are slimmer than most—and that helps them fit better than any I've tried.
I keep a pair in my day bag, dopp kit, and carryon. You can never have enough.
BUY IT
