Poll: What do you carry in your daypack?

Old Aug 27th, 2005, 05:02 AM
  #61  
 
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Look out:

Kleenex
Toilet seat covers (for the wife)
Small binoculars
Camera
Notepad
Pens
Maps
Guide book
Corkscrew / bottle opener
Hand sanitizer (purell or whatever)
Wet wipes (anti bacterial)
Phrase book (assuming I'm in another country)
Bottle of water
Gum
Small umbrella
Extra batteries and memory for camera
Guess that's about it...not too bad.
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Old Aug 27th, 2005, 05:23 PM
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Someone mentioned that the strap of a neckpouch would show & be a giveaway. Well, I wore mine with the strap over my shoulder under my blouse, etc. Now, I am working on a pouch that will attach around the side of my bra & I think it is going to be more comfortable!
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 08:14 AM
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My friend used to wear a neckpouch until she noticed in a mirror that it looked like she had a third bosom and a crinkly one at that!

I take a small messenger bag (Prada makes the microfiber kind that is light) along with a regular purse that I carry at home too. This is only if I know I am going to be out the whole day or I will actually need a map, etc.

When I first started traveling I used a moneybelt but it can sure get sweaty and my passport during that era looked like it had been washed and wrung out. I still take one with me in my luggage in case I suddenly get worried about theft.

On the plane I take my small bag with me to the toilet, I came back to my seat once and the lady that was sitting next to me was urging her child to go through my purse. I caught them at it and have been wary ever since. If I am traveling with someone I don't take it if they are awake and lucid enough to watch it.

Loveitaly, my grandmother was in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake too. She was living on the outskirts of town and was thrown from her bed. What stories she told of that era!
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 09:34 AM
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No purse...no backpack!!

This is what I do on a walking day:
Right front pants pocket, credit cards & cash.
Left front pocket kleenex & lipstick.
In my blazers I have hidden pockets...left one, small map...right one lipstick. & comb.
I keep the order the same...so I know that the important STUFF is in my right front pocket.
My hands are free!!
Oh, if I need an umbrella I carry that....and soon enough I'll buy something so I can stow it in that bag.
Photographs?....I usually go out specifically to photograph...then I carry camera/equipment in a NON photo bag.

We're traveling about 3/4 months a year...I don't want to be caught up with stuff...I keep it simple!!!

Driving days? Camera at my feet & purse in the trunk.
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 11:54 AM
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As a followup to what SeaUrchin just posted about her experience on a plane, my adult daughter flew from L.A. to D.C. & after landing discovered that her wallet was missing from her purse! I got the call to rescue her & wired money to her. She said, "I don't suppose that nice man who was sitting by me on the plane took my wallet while I was in the rest room!"
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 08:44 PM
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After my last experience in Rome, where the lock on my backpack fell completely apart...in my hands, I felt completely insecure about walking around with a backpack, although its the best bag to distribute the weight of my contents:
medications for the elders (those things are HEAVY!)
diapers for uncle
passports
wallet with very little money
bottle of water
DVDs for camcorder
my camera and my dad's
printouts from Fodors, mappy.com, and Eyewitness books
paper and pen
hair brush
lipgloss
my cell phone

I was thinking of getting a messenger bag to keep my contents in my eyesight, instead of carrying my backpack in front like a backwards camel, but haven't seen one with a zipper to close the top. I'm starting to like Kipling bags as they're lightweight and have zippers galore.

Watch out NY. A shopaholic's coming through...again...
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 09:09 PM
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Overland Equipment Donner and Eagle Creek Nomad are two good choices for travel handbags.
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Old Aug 28th, 2005, 09:17 PM
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Hi SeaUrchin, so you ancestors were in the 1906 SF Earthquake too? Interesting. My family ended up in GG Park for a period of time, did yours?
More things we have in common it seems.

Regarding when I am on the plane. First of all I do not carry my purse and my carryon on the plane. I pack my daytime purse and my evening purse in my checkin baggage. Both are full of items. I only take my carryon bag on the plane with me. I have a large size wallet that holds my passport, my ticket info, my credit and atm cards and my cash etc. When I am on the plane and go to the restroom I take this wallet with me.

My carryone bag is small enough that I put it under the seat in front of me so it is not a problem to take out the wallet if I go to the restroom. And of course having only one item to carry makes flying simply. I do take a coat (which one depends on the time of the year I am travelling) with me on the plane. I put that in the overhead bin. I do try to keep it simple.
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Old Aug 29th, 2005, 11:57 AM
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SeaUrchin! What did you say to the woman and her child when you got back?!
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Old Aug 29th, 2005, 12:51 PM
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It was an eye opening experience. I had walked up to the toilets but little did they know that I was actually walking past them to circle the plane. So when the mother must have thought I was safely seated in the loo, she struck. Actually I was coming up to my seat from the back of the plane and saw her nudging her daughter to reach further into my purse! I grabbed it out of her grubby little hands and the mother clucked like she was surprised at her daughter's behavior. They didn't speak English but I accused her anyway in English. I went through my purse and nothing was missing. We avoided each other as much as possible in a three foot space for the rest of the flight and I sent them glaring looks whenever I could. I would have told an attendant but they were not to be bothered. It was one of "those" flights where everyone was upset over something.

The moral is take your purse with you!!
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Old Aug 29th, 2005, 01:33 PM
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It's a lovely idea to travel light on the plane, checking the bulk of stuff inside your luggage, UNLESS you fly fron the west coast to Europe, in which case your odds of being grounded overnight at some point in transit is not uncommon.

It's happened to me twice flying from Seattle to Europe, where I was put up in a hotel for the night without benefit of my meds, night clothes, toothbrush, makeup, etc. The airlines supplied a rudimentary little pack, but not nearly enough for comfort.

Ever since then, I anticipate the unexpected and carry enough in my carryon to minimize the inconvenience of an unanticipated interruption in my travel plans.
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Old Sep 5th, 2005, 01:35 PM
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Just back from hols, so I KNOW the answer to this. It's 25 litre back pack and in the zippy bit in the front (inside) I have painkillers, bandaid, insect repellent, and tissues. In the smaller main section, I have painkillers, indigestion tablets, 2 pens and my wallet. In the BIG section I have a guidebook or two; a guide to restaurants, whatever I'm reading, and a spare book. A language dictionary. Sometimes my binoculars and a bird book. Sunglasses or ordinary glasses, depending what I'm wearing. Goretex if the weather's dodgy.

And quite often, Keith's camera, and book and anything else he wants carried too

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Old Sep 5th, 2005, 04:29 PM
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I carry a leather back pack.


Camera
trail mix/snack
water
guide book
cash/credit card (enough cash for the day)
tissues
tiny umbrella
a gallon zip lock bag
sun glasses
anti-bacterial stuff
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Old Sep 6th, 2005, 06:34 AM
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Mary_Fran,

Since I also fly from Seattle your post made me curious. When you were delayed was it on a scheduled stop & then you couldn't get back out again? Or was it supposed to be a non-stop flight that was disrupted for whatever reason?
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Old Sep 6th, 2005, 03:18 PM
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Suze, the first problem flight was a non-stop British Airways flight to London, originating in Seattle. I had arrived in Seattle the night before from Spokane and stayed near the airport. British Airways checked our luggage and we boarded the airplane and then sat on the tarmack for 4 HOURS, waiting for purported mechanical problems to be fixed, before finally being told the flight would not leave that day. I was ticked off that they made us wait four hours on the runway before pulling the plug on the flight. In any event, they left the luggage on the plane and gave us a little care package for the night at the hotel they bussed us to, with toothbrush and eyemask and a few little incidentals.

The other overnight delay resulted from a Continental flight from Seattle to Amsterdam, with a stop at Newark. Electrical storms on the east coast grounded our flight to Amsterdam until the next day. Continental at first didn't want to accept responsibility for putting us up for the night - and because the delay was weather-related, they probably had no legal obligation to do so. In any event, they eventually trucked the lot of us to a Howard Johnson's, where we were camped out for a full day.

The joys of flying out of the west coast for Europe! Your flight is going to be several hours longer than it would be from the east coast in the first place, as you cross the great expanse that is America, and then you risk being grounded on the east coast by Atlantic storms. Ain't no justice.

In any event, ever since those experiences, I pack enough in my carryon to be able to survive 24 hours in a Howard Johnson's motel in the flight pattern at Newark.
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Old Sep 6th, 2005, 04:32 PM
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Thank you for the details. Since I always fly non-stop on British Air (Seattle/London) I was trying to imagine how you'd end up stuck somewhere. Now I know!!!
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