When I travel these days, I’m doing it one of two ways: with my family for up to three weeks, or on a writing trip for a week to 10 days. I sometimes check a bag for the former (especially if I need to backpack with a real backpack), but usually get by with a carry-on for the latter. You get a free checked bag for international flights on all but the stingiest airlines (like Spirit Air), but if you’re leaving the airport city upon arrival, the last thing you want to deal with is lost luggage.

As the editor of Practical Travel Gear, I get loads of apparel, footwear, and gadgets to try out. I personally review close to 100 items a year and the three others who write for me there check out even more. So after all that, what are the best items to pack? Which ones really pull their weight and bulk?

Quick-dry clothing
This is the key factor in packing light. Sure, take a few cotton t-shirts if you want, but the bulk of what you carry needs to be items you can wash in a sink and have dry by morning. I’m a big fan of ExOfficio clothing as it holds up to a crazy number of washings and still looks good. But if you’re put off by the price, try similar alternatives from Colombia Sportswear or just browse the clearance racks, physically or at sites like Sierra Trading Post. A few companies are making polo shirts with built-in odor suppression, something you’ll also find in many wicking t-shirts meant for exercise. These are a nice alternative to the button-up ones.

For pants the usual lightweight tough nylon ones are great for warm places, but companies like ExOfficio, Craghoppers, and Sherpa Adventure are making “trekking pants” that are stretchier and thicker. They still dry fast though and resist a drizzle and stains. I’ve often worn these a week straight without washing them–like I did with the ones in that photo above.

If you’ll be someplace like Delhi, Rome, or Barcelona though that’s notorious for pickpockets, it’s good to invest in a pair of Pickpocket Proof Pants (also known as P^Cubed Pants) from Clothing Arts. They also make shorts and just released some nice lightweight travel shirts as well. It would take an incredibly determined thief and you being passed out for someone to get into these and steal your valuables.

Double-duty shoes
Shoes are the adversary of the carry-on bag. Footwear takes up an inordinate amount of room and if not chosen carefully, can add a lot of weight. Fortunately shoes are getting lighter in general—even hiking boots—and more companies are making ones that pack down flat or close to it in your bag. Scroll through a few pages of travel shoes that the four of us at PTG have reviewed. We go through a lot of them looking for ones that can be worn in multiple travel situations.

Wear the heaviest, clunkiest pair on travel days to lighten your packing load.

Quick-dry underwear and socks
Cotton is not your friend in this area. Underwear and socks are the things you want to replace most often in your wardrobe, so bring at least a few pairs of travel underwear that use merino wool or synthetics. You can sink wash them anywhere and they’ll dry more quickly than cotton. Well-made hiking or running socks usually avoid cotton and will last for years of heavy usage.

Small toiletries
To carry on a bag, stay with small sizes. Hit the trial size aisle at your local drugstore or Target, save the little bottles from hotels, or buy small refillable bottles you can reuse. You can buy cool dry tabs from Sea to Summit that start working when you get them wet and I like shaving cream that comes in a tube as it takes up less space. I use a hanging toiletry kit for when counter space is tight.

Pack-away jacket and bag
One of my secret weapons in getting by with a carry-on bag is to pack things that stuff down into a little pouch. I love my Eagle Creek packable daypack, for instance, and if I need a jacket where I’m going but sporadically, I’ll bring one that stuffs into a pouch when I’m not using it, like this Helium II windbreaker one from Outdoor Research or this warmer Powerfly Down one from Colombia.

SteriPen Water Purfier
If I’m going anywhere with dodgy water, which is most of the world, the SteriPen is an essential item. It saves the world from your personal mountain of disposable single-use plastic, but keeps you from getting sick from any bad drinking water.

Gadget chargers
I’m past telling anyone what gadgets to bring and how much to use them, but a lot of them have batteries that don’t last very long. I’ve used a Callpod Chargepod for six years now to avoid bringing along a bunch of cords. Then I carry a small charger from Innergie or Eton for times I can’t access an outlet. If I’m going off the grid for a while I might bring some kind of solar charger.

And then…
One belt, usually worn the day of travel.
One or two hats, including a sun hat for sunny places, a beanie for cold ones. Tilley ones are expensive but have a lifetime warranty.
A pair of good sunglasses, usually worn the day of travel.
A loaded Kindle or good book.
Magazines I can throw away or pass on as I read them, lightening the load as I go.

Many women carry some kind of shawl or multi-use scarf to change up their outfits.

Keep an eye on the colors you’re packing. Ideally most every bottom can go with most every top. You don’t want to have pieces that can only go with one other thing.

What about you? What carry-on items or tricks have you found worked best?

This blog has been quiet the past week because I’ve been checking out new travel gear at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Utah, seeing what’s on the way from all the top brands in the industry. There are more than 1,000 companies there showing off everything from skis to shoes to solar lanterns, but I spent a good amount of time checking out new backpacks.

If you’re in the market for a backpack, or will be soon, I’m going to provide a good cheat sheet that will make it very easy for you to get what you need. I’ve used $90 backpacks and $400 ones, tried them on year-round journeys, 3-week vacations, and biking trips, so I’ve got a more rounded view than most reviewers.

Here’s what you need to know about the best backpacks for travelers, from the general things to remember to the advantages of specific brands.

Get a TRAVEL backpack

If you go looking at backpacks, you’ll find a lot of pretty, lightweight, comfortable packs that load from the top. They are meant for backcountry hikers, backcountry skiers, or people planning to summit a peak of 8,000 meters. That’s not you.

What you want is a pack meant for travelers. Easy to zip open, easy to find things, meant to be loaded up with lots of clothes and gadgets in different pockets. Preferably one that can be carried with a handle on the top and side if needed. If the straps can be zipped up inside a flap for checking at an airport (or looking more respectable when entering a nice hotel) even better.

Buy a pack meant to last

Yes, you can find some piece of crap no-name backpack for $75 if you look hard enough, but there’s a good chance  you’ll be looking for another one six months from now. And you may not be somewhere with a good selection, so you’ll make the same mistake again—or pay twice as much as you would have at home. If you’re really short on funds, look for a pack from Kelty (more on that later) or keep an eye on the outlet section of the online gear sites to get last year’s model for half off or more. Ideally, you want something that comes with a lifetime guarantee, or close to it. You may not need it, but that shows they believe in their durability.

Buy a rain cover or get one with a cover built in

Most backpacks are made of ripstop nylon or something similar that wards off a drizzle, but they’re not seam-sealed, so water can get through the zippers. Many good packs have a built-in rain cover, others require you to get your own. But when your bag gets thrown on top of a bus somewhere and then a rain storm comes, you’ll be very glad you had this on.

Ideally, try it on

I’m all for shopping the discount section at the likes of Sierra Trading Post, Backcountry, and REI Outlet because you can get a quality pack for half the list price sometimes, but if you’re new at this or have an odd body size/shape, you may need to try a few on in a real retail store with someone who can help. Walking for a year with a pack that doesn’t fit properly is no fun.

Be very sure you want a pack with wheels

When you hear someone rave about their backpack with wheels, ask them how they travel and what their budget is like. As I’ve mentioned before here and here, wheeled backpacks are great if you’re mostly moving between airports, hotels, and train stations via taxis. I gladly take one in those cases. They’re not so great if you have to walk a half mile down a dirt road or up 220 steps in my sometimes home of Guanajuato, Mexico though. Wheels and a handle double the weight of your pack and the way most of them are designed, the (dirty) wheels are hitting your back. This year at the OR Show though I saw some with straps on the front instead, so look for this option to avoid the wheels in back problem.

Watch the size

You can find backpacks that hold 90 liters, but unless you’re a very hefty man, you probably don’t want to carry that much once you fill it. For most people 65 or 70 liters is the max. If you’re going to mostly warm places, you should easily be able to get by for less if you’re packing the right kind of lightweight clothing and quick-dry underwear.

Who makes the best packs?

There are probably 100 companies out there making backpacks, but a lot of those you can ignore because they’re not making travel packs. Based on my 20 years of travel and testing loads of them for Practical Travel Gear, here are my “don’t have to think about it” picks for brands you can trust. Many come in versions for women.

Eagle Creek – lifetime “no matter what” warranty, sterling reputation for quality, constant innovation. Check out the Loche or Rincon models for long-term travel. If you want wheels and can wait until July, every writer and blogger I talked to at the OR show was drooling over the Morphus model pictured here.

Osprey – long one of the most popular brands for round-the-world travelers, with the widest selection, Osprey packs have a lifetime warranty, are super-light, and are well-designed. Look for the Aura, Waypoint, or Porter styles, or four different lines with wheels. The Porter is great if you already have a daypack you like as it’s only about $130.

Gregory – Another one with a lifetime warranty making durable, well-designed packs. I especially like their Savant packs that are light as a hiking pack, but open in the front in a U shape to get to your stuff.

Deuter – You don’t see this brand in the U.S. a whole lot, but this German brand is all over the backs of Europeans. I like their Transit 65 pack if you’ll make use of the detachable daypack and it’s under $200.

Kelty – The cheapo traveler’s best friend, Kelty packs are well-made and rugged, but retail for $100 or more less than many competitor’s models. Find the beloved Redwing one at close-out prices or check out the more expensive Lakota line.

What backpack have you taken around the world, across cobblestones, through crowded markets, up stairs, and down dirt paths? How did it do?

As we see the horrible photos of a monster storm hitting the densely populated Northeast U.S., it’s easy to imagine ourselves in that situation, as one of the millions without power. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it probably will someday.

At Practical Travel Gear we’ve reviewed a lot of travel items that are also quite handy to have around the house. As your neighbors freak out about the local Walgreens running out of batteries and bottled water ahead of a storm, you can get cranking. Literally.

There are dozens of flashlights on the market that work by cranking or shaking. The idea is that a coil/magnet system or a mechanical generator puts out energy that is stored in an internal battery. It takes a lot of shaking or cranking to get hours of light and it won’t be mega-lumens strong, but it’s good enough for basic needs. The shake lights look much like a regular flashlight and are often in the $15-$25 range. If you nose around on Amazon you can sometimes find one for five bucks.

The crank ones are either large ones with a real rotating crank (sometimes with a radio—see below) or are cute little ones that you squeeze on instead, sometimes shaped like animals. This 3-LED one from Energizer pictured at the top is $11 at Amazon.

The second-best option is one that you can recharge by USB, like this cute little Jolt USB light. Hey, your Internet is going to be down anyway, so you’ll have some juice to recharge from your laptop. Or see the solar section further down.

Water Purification

You probably have enough food to last a week. But a lack of water will kill you in a hurry. Do you have days’ worth of bottled water lying around? If not, that SteriPen you should be packing when you travel to developing countries is a good thing to have around the house when your city infrastructure takes a hit.

I like this new SteriPen Freedom one a lot in these circumstances because it purifies close to four gallons on one charge (15 liters) and it doesn’t take long to recharge by USB. This Camelbak All Clear bottle I reviewed a few months back accomplishes the same thing and can also be recharged by USB. What, you think you can’t recharge by USB when the power goes out? Yes you can—see the solar section. Crank ones work too.

Just be advised these SteriPen products and the Camelbak bottle are for tap water, not muddy river water. You’ll need a pump-type purifier if things get that bad.

Meanwhile, there’s a more low-tech solution to the water issue too. Simple iodine tablets work fine but taste bad. The Micropur ones are better and can sit in a drawer for years before you need them. Getting sick from water-borne illness in the midst of a disaster would not be fun.

Solar Devices

Yeah I know, during a bad hurricane or other disaster there may not be much sun. But there will be before and after, plus some of these devices will charge up even when it’s overcast. It just takes longer. These solar charges will enable you to charge things like the flashlights and water purifiers mentioned above, but also your cell phones (if the service is still working). I’ve tried a whole bunch of these things and can recommend these two from Brunton as being more than toys.

The Explorer 2 fold-out panel is the more heavy-duty choice, catching a lot of the sun’s energy in a hurry and charging up your devices almost as fast as an outlet would. It works on cloudy days (just slower) and folds up to stuff easily into a backpack or the bottom of a closet when you’re not using it.

A more compact one that will also store the energy for later is the Brunton Restore solar charger device pictured above. It has a USB and mini-USB input and output and can charge your phone two times before it runs out of juice and needs more sunlight.

There are also some quality products out there from Goal Zero that you can get at gear stores and even Target. I haven’t used them personally, but I’ve heard good things about them from reviewers I trust.

If you’re willing to pony up more cash, Eton specializes in rugged outdoor items for campers and wilderness workers. They make a lot of devices that combine a crank, solar input, and USB charger (so you can build up the battery then charge your other devices) and a radio. Some even have an MP3 player input to lighten the mood. Like the Eton crank radio pictured here.

You can find other configurations from various companies at any Wal-mart, Target, or hunting/camping store. Some of them also have a flashlight, which is handy, and that radio can give you a dose of weather news or disaster updates.

There are some people who take all this to the extreme and would look at my little list here as a bunch of playthings. (See this great Preppers article from Outside magazine.) If you don’t think the world is going to end though and we’ll all be scavenging or fighting for our lives when society breaks down, a few basic items like this that don’t depend on your house electricity working can help you get through a natural disaster easier.

The bonus? They’re good for camping, hiking, and travel as well.

As the editor of the top travel gear blog on the web, I check out a lot of new clothing, gear, and gadgets on a regular basis. I get offered a lot of samples and am therefore cycling through enough items in the field to do eight fresh reviews each month.

So if I’m packing something over and over again, not just taking it because I need to review it, you know it’s really worth getting.

Here are the items that go with me nearly every time I pack a bag. They’re the things I don’t even think about: I toss them in because they’re a given. In some cases, I’ve been tossing them in for years.

Chargepod Callpod multi-gadget charger

I reviewed this Callpod item way back in January of 2008. It was more necessary when every damned device had a different connector, a trend that is finally reversing with most (but still not all) cell phone companies and other gadget manufacturers. Still, I typically need two or three kinds of USB and an Apple connector, so this handy device lets me leave the house knowing I’m covered no matter what. No chargers and connector cords to pack. Just this. For some reason a Verizon version of this is on sale at Amazon for the super-cheap price of $11.99 with six adapters. Grab it now because that might be a mistake.

Eagle Creek or Sea to Summit Toiletry Kit

If I’m checking a bag, I usually take the larger Eagle Creek toiletry kit I’ve been using since 2006. If it’s a carry-on, I take this Sea to Summit compact toiletry kit, filled with trial size bottles and a small toothpaste tube. The former has a mirror, which is nice, and pockets for things like deoderant and face lotion. Both hang from a hook, unfolded, if you don’t have much counter space. That’s quite handy in budget hotels and hostels.

Kangaroom Gadget Case

All kinds of assorted little items end up coming along for the ride when I travel, like spare camera batteries, a mini tripod, a Skype earbud/mic cord, a thumb drive, a mini mouse, a 3-prong adapter, etc. I can stuff all of them into this Kangaroom pouch, zip it up, and not be fishing around later for the little stuff. It’s all in one place and when I get home I just put it back on the shelf.

Shoe Bag

I’m not really a big fan of packing cubes, but I do often take one to put dirty clothes in (or a mesh laundry bag) and one for my second pair of shoes. If you get the right size and your shoes are relatively flat, you can fit two pairs into one. That way no matter what your shoes go through on your trip, they don’t have to dirty up what’s next to them in your bag. I just use a regular packing cube, but you can also get thicker ones with a lining specifically meant as shoe bags.

Innergie Mini Power Source

This Innergie PocketCell Charger  is a rather recent addition to my regulars, and sometimes I take it without needing it, but when I do use this Innergie charger it’s a lifesaver. It’s a little battery with a multi-functional cord that will recharge your dead phone, e-reader, or music player when you can’t get to an outlet. I’ve found it especially helpful when on a very long flight or overnight bus ride (my iPod Touch has terrible battery life) or when in a 240-volt country with funky outlets. This can charge up from a USB port, then the output can be USB, mini-USB, micro-USB, or Apple. It holds enough juice to fully charge one item and sometimes two, but it takes up very little room and adds almost no extra weight.

What about you? Besides a phone, laptop, or tablet, what gear or gadget item makes your packing list every time?

Since this Cheapest Destinations Blog picked up 100 new RSS subscribers in the past month and about 400 new Twitter followers, I thought this would be a good time for a rundown on who runs this site. I’m also a speaker on the kick-off panel at the upcoming TBEX conference (Travel Bloggers Exchange), so a few curious attendees may be popping by for a visit as well.

But first a few fun facts that may be more interesting.

#1 – I used to be a semi-glamorous music business executive. 

Back when the money was rolling, in the pre-Napster days when everyone bought CDs, I worked in marketing at RCA Records, in Nashville and then New York. I hung out with rock stars, country stars, and celebs, but it sure didn’t make me rich. Most of them either, actually. It’s an idiotic business model for most people involved.

#2 – Both parents were teachers and my sister is one now.
So I taught English in Turkey and Korea when I started traveling. It was in my blood I guess.

#3 – My daughter has been to more countries at age 11 than I had been to by age 30.
I got a late start on both her and the travel.

#4 – I lettered in track & field in high school.
I ran hurdles, triple jump, and 1600-meter relay. But I was also in the marching band and was one of the leads in the senior play. My mom was my art teacher.

#5 – I’ve been an uncredited ghostwriter/collaborator on seven business books.
No glory, but it pays better than writing about travel. My name made it on to one of them, about the business of hip-hop of all things. Here’s a sampling.

#6 – I went to elementary school with Mennonites in rural Virginia.
Lots of them. Boys in buttoned-up plaid shirts and gray slacks, girls in gigham dresses and pigtails, with bonnets on top.

#7 – My late grandfather worked on the Apollo missions that sent astronauts to the moon.
He was an engineer at NASA and helped develop the heat shield that kept the Apollo 11 capsule from burning up upon re-entry.

So anyway…this blog has been running since 2003, started the calendar year after the first edition of The World’s Cheapest Destinations book hit the marketplace. The reason I’ve been writing about so many different countries so far this year is that I’m researching the 4th edition right now. I’m hitting about half the featured countries in the course of one year.

Almost 1,150 posts have gone up since then, so there’s plenty to check out in the archives. I get quoted in the media a lot, I win lots of travel writing awards, and I attend conferences to find out what’s going on with tourism around the world. So hopefully you’ll find that I know what I’m talking about when I dole out advice on how to travel well for less. If you’re new at this, check out my contrarian travel book for getting a great deal every time you take off.

I also know a good bit about what’s worth packing since I’m the editor of Practical Travel Gear. I review two items weekly there and supervise three other bloggers checking out new gear.

I’m also the editor of Perceptive Travel, a narrative site featuring interesting travel stories from wandering book authors. It’s a perennial award winner (including a big award for “best online travel journalism publication”) and its writers are a staple of “best travel writing” book anthologies.

My media company runs a few other websites that span the budget spectrum. I occasionally still freelance for print and online publications run by others, but not so much anymore. I’ve got enough to do just keeping my own plates spinning without dropping anything.

The home pages of each of the sites listed here have appropriate social media media buttons to follow along and on some of them we do regular giveaways.

Thanks for reading!