Photo part of Jason Travis’s Persona Series
Two years ago on book tour I learned how important a day bag is. (I keep it on me at all times.) For the Steal tour, I traveled only with an iPad 2 and a tiny Timbuk2 bag. This time around, I upgraded to a larger but still small Timbuk2 Commuter Bag and switched up my gear.
Here’s what’s in there:
- 13 inch Macbook Air. I find it impossible to get any admin work (email, blogging, etc.) done on the road without a laptop. I adore this thing, and I’m sorry it took me so long to upgrade. (I only have the 128GB hard drive, because that’s about the size of my Dropbox folder.)
- iPad Mini Retina. For reading Kindle books, listening to music, and drawing at talks.
- Wacom Intuos Stylus. I adore FiftyThree’s Pencil and Paper, but I’ve found that Wacom’s Bamboo Paper app and the Intuos give me the greatest flexibility when performing — it looks just like I’m drawing with chalk, with pressure sensitivity, and I can dump photos onto the pages and draw over them.
- iPhone 5S with Rocketcase. I don’t know how the hell we ever traveled without texting, mobile boarding passes, Google maps, and Yelp.
- Sketchbook. (See pages my tour sketchbook.)
- Two copies of Show Your Work! You never know when you’re going to bump into somebody and want to give one away. I carry extras in my roller suitcase.
- Field Notes steno pad. Modded for grabbing emails at events. (Photo)
- Shure SE215-K Live Sound Monitors. Fancy ear buds, because I hate having to carry around noise-cancelling headphones.
- Belkin power brick. Has two USB ports, so it saves you having to carry extra power bricks around.
- USB rechargeable battery. The size of a pack of gum, and it’ll recharge anything USB.
- Various dongles and cables and extra batteries.
- Bandanna. For snot, sweat, tying stuff together, etc.
- Sunglasses.
- Safety scissors, newspapers, and tape. Believe it or not, the TSA allows scissors up to 4 inches.
- Pens, pencils, and markers. Sharpie for signing, Marks-A-Lot for making blackouts, Papermate Flair felt-tips and Blackwing pencils for writing.
- Business cards. You’d be surprised how often people want one.
- Rathole $20 and quarters. Because you never know.
- Earplugs. For on the plane and getting to sleep in noisy hotels. Don’t leave home without them.
- First Aid kit.
- Hand sanitizeer.
- Chewing gum.
Not shown, but maybe more important than anything else: my water bottle.
Thanks again to Jason Travis for the photo!