I’ve been slow traveling and living abroad for two months now and I think this is a good time to recheck the travel gear I’m carrying. At this point I know quite well what I need, what has been working well and what haven’t. Christmas is also getting closer so this post may give you some good ideas for christmas present shopping.

What have worked

• Merino wool t-shirts and training shirt – I just cannot praise these super.natural and Icebreaker shirts enough. These shirts keep you dry, they are comfy and they resist sweat and odour like crazy. They have lost some of their shine and gathered some fuzz balls however so let’s see how long they last in a heavy daily use.
• Roost laptop stand – This has been really good laptop stand from the ergonomics point of view. I don’t use it on every occasion, but I try to use it whenever I’m going to work for longer periods. It’s somewhat expensive “for a piece of plastic”, but the design is very good for traveling purposes.
• Merino wool hoodie – This hoodie has been amazing. I like the design and it works really well in these warm(ish) climates. Definitely a christmas present level material!
• Kindle Paperwhite – During the last months I’ve been reading books more that in a long time and I’ve really enjoyed it. The size, weight and battery life the Kindle provides is perfect for traveling and for me the backlight the Paperwhite model provides have proved to be essential. I bought my kindle already few years ago and it still works really well.
• Polar M600 – I was prepared to take my old trusty V800 with me, but due to various reasons I ended up changing it into newer M600 model. M600 contains an optical heart rate sensor which is great for traveling purposes, but being an Android Wear device it just cannot compete with the battery life of V800. However the battery life has been much less of a problem than I originally though, which is mostly due to my slow pace of traveling. I’ve build a habit of charging the device in coworking spaces from my laptop.
• Plantronics M70 bluetooth handsfree – I don’t carry usb-headsets or anything similar with me and I need to be able to participate meetings via internet or regular phone. The M70 is very reasonable priced, it’s light weight and it has been working very well with all my devices. With over 10 hour active use battery life it’s a great tool to have around.

What haven’t worked

• Long sleeved technical training shirt – Old shirt which smelled horrible after every use. I’m just too lazy to wash my sport clothing after every use. Two weeks ago I finally threw the shirt away.
• Salomon trekking shoes – To be honest they are great shoes and so far I’ve always used those when the opportunity have arose, but I just don’t have enough good opportunities to use them to make it reasonable to keep them with me. I’m planning to leave these home in my next visit.
• Logitech MX Anywhere 2 mouse – First of all the mouse lags in bluetooth mode with the MacBook which seems to be a common problem. It’s possible the MacBook is the guilty one instead of the mouse, but the end result is I have to keep using the small dongle which takes a precious usb-slot from the laptop. I’ve also had issues with its middle roller button. With the button it is really easy to scroll through long pages etc, but it is just very senseless and it tends to do scrolling by itself (I just found out this is actually a configurable feature, so that is not an issue anymore). I haven’t replaced the mouse yet, but I’ll try to find a better alternative during the christmas time.
• Inflatable neck support – The cheap inflatable neck support I bought was horrible and I just couldn’t use it so I threw it away.

What I haven’t used so far

• Long sleeved merino wool shirt – I just haven’t had need for this so far. I’m using either t-shirt + hoodie combo or undershirt + shirt combo and I haven’t needed the long sleeved shirt due to cold weather or similar reasons. The material is also a little bit rough and itchy to be held without any shirt under it so I haven’t found a use for the shirt so far. I think I’ll try to find a more versatile replacement for it at some point.
• Ultralight day bag – For shopping my normal back bag or shoulder bag have been just fine and for beach use etc I can just use a plastic bag so I haven’t had any need for this so far. I’ll leave this out when I visit Finland next time.
• Huawei E5786 4G/WiFi mobile 4g hotspot – I took the device along in case I needed a fast and reliable mobile internet connection, but so far I haven’t had any need for it. I also have a backup phone which I can use as a hotspot so it’s highly probable I’ll leave the mobile hotspot home on my next visit.
• Chromecast – I’d really like to use it but I didn’t have a TV in my Lisbon apartment and the TV here in Funchal has been set-up such a way that I cannot setup Chromecast with it. I think I’ll still keep the Chromecast with me for some time at least.
• HDMI & lan cables – I haven’t had any need for these so far. Most coworking places also seem to provide this kind of cabling.
• Swimming trunks – I bought a cheap pair of pocketless multifunctional sport shorts which doubles as swimming pants so I haven’t used the swimming trunks I took with me.

Complete gear list

Bags & packing

• Osprey 34l backpack
• Osprey Beta 20 shoulder bag
• Ikea packing cubes
• Rain cover for the backpack
• Mini grip bags for certain items
• Osprey ultralight day bag

Clothing

• Hoodie, merino wool
• Long sleeve shirt, merino wool
• Light traveling pants -> Converted into capri shorts
• Nice traveling pants, Dockers (new)
• Black travel belt
• Nice shirt
• Casual travel shirts x2
• Undershirt, Uniqlo
• T-shirts, super.natural, merino wool x2
• Underwear x6
• Socks x6
• Trekking shoes, Salomon XA 3D Ultra 2
• City shoes
• Slippers (new)
• Tube scarf

Sports

• Barefoot running shoes, Merrell
• Technical t-shirt, Icebreaker, merino wool
• Running shorts
• Pocketless running / swimming shorts (new)
• Swimming trunks
• Running compression socks, doubles as air travel socks
• Tank top
• Long sleeved technical shirt

Electronics

• Macbook Pro 13” laptop + hard protective laptop covers + charger
• Laptop stand – Roost
• Portable keyboard – Logitech K380
• Wireless mouse – Logitech MX Anywhere 2
• USB lan adapter
• Kindle Paperwhite + soft protective sleeve
• Backup HD (TimeMachine)
• USB sticks for less important stuff (2 GB, 16 GB & 64 GB)
• Few SDHC cards (8 GB, 16 GB)
• USB charger, dual output
• Micro USB-cable x 3
• Ethernet cable
• Thin HDMI-cable
• Earphone splitter & airline adapter
• Extra USB power bank, doubles as flashlight
• Training computer & activity tracker, Polar M600
• Mobile phone, Samsung S6
• Cheap backup mobile phone, Huawei
• (Mobile 4G hotspot)
• Tripod with Bluetooth remote (new)
• Earphones:  Jabra Bluetooth headphones and regular Sony & JBL headphones
• Plantronics M70 Bluetooth handsfree

Papers and documents

• Wallet + backup wallet + small pouch for coins and cash (new)
• Credit/debit cards x3
• Passport + few printed copies
• Passport photos
• Travel insurance card
• European health card

Other

• Sunglasses (new)
• Bathroom kit
• Locks (two combination locks & cable lock)
• Hard case drinking bottle, Camelbak Chute
• Flight travel set (eye covers, earplugs, inflatable neck support)
• Couple of pens, A5 & A6 notebooks and some post-it notes
• Pack of cards
• Code Verde business cards
• List of all the things I packed in paper & digital format

Summary

I managed to find the most important missing travel items from Lisbon. I bought a tripod for phone (camera) which included very handy Bluetooth remote as well. I also bought Dockers traveling trousers and I converted my old traveling pants into capri shorts since I didn’t have any non-sporty shorts.

When I replace my current laptop I think I’ll select a model with at least 16 GB ram and the Logitech MX Anywhere 2 mouse leaves some room for improvements. However I’m very happy with the equipment I have in general and I’m not planning to do any major gear changes in near future.