The travel gear that I use, abuse and recommend for your adventures is listed here. Note that I subscribe to the belief that you shouldn’t wear/use anything overseas that you wouldn’t also wear at home, so you won’t find three-quarter zip off pants, dodgy travel sandals, or anything else that screams “tourist” here. Well ok, maybe apart from backpacks and giant cameras, but then they are necessary evils! The below recommendations will help you travel in comfort and style without breaking the bank. Hopefully.

When it comes to travel gear, acquire it progressively. There’s no reason you need all of this stuff on your first trip. If you end up wanting to travel more, and particularly if you start to travel for work, you’ll find more and more of this gear becomes essential. In the beginning, all that is needed is a bag! So let’s begin there…

Luggage and Backpacks

If you’re going on any trip that involves camping, hiking, or lots of moving around from one city (or hostel) to the next, you’ll want a backpack. I’ve only ever had one pack, an indestructible one made by One Planet, an Australian brand. Put simply, One Planet are the Rolls Royce of backpacks- they’re great for hoofing it from one Thai island bungalow to the next, but they’ll also get you to Everest base camp (probably higher) if need be. They’re light, waterproof and have such good harnesses that they’re approved by the Chiropractic Association of Australia for their ergonomics. They’re not even that easy to obtain within Australia so I was kinda shocked when I found them for sale at Amazon! I also love Osprey packs, with the Aether or Atmos being great choices for most general purpose backpacking.

However, there’s no point using a backpack if your luggage is only travelling from the airport to the hotel or if you’re only moving around with your luggage a couple of times on city streets. Then you need a suitcase with wheels. It’s hard to go past a good Samsonite suitcase. This option is also good for trips where business and pleasure are mixed.

For short business trips or hotel stays less than a week, I use a wheeled carry-on bag from Ricardo. It looks the goods and does the job and you’ll almost feel sorry for the poor sods waiting to collect their checked bags as you exit the airport. If you’re carrying fragile silicon wafers like I do sometimes or just want to look extra cool you might prefer the more expensive metallic option in anthracite grey. Oh yeah.

Footwear

For hiking, I’ve got a pair of Timberland Premium in wheat. Totally waterproof, tough, comfortable and look good enough to wear out at night (at least to a pub or bar).

For general purpose city walking, hanging out on planes or at the bar I pack a pair of Vans Eraor Slip-On. If it’s a businessy trip, then a pair of rubber-soled leather loafers like these ones from Sperry serves the exact same purpose. Most trips I’ll take one pair of each. Stuff ‘em with socks or undies when you pack.

Converse Chuck Taylors fold up to almost nothing in your bag and look better and better the more you use them. Likewise, a pair of Havaianas takes up no space and gets your feet breathing at the beach or hanging out in the city… just don’t walk too far in either of these!

Clothes

Without going into too much detail, since it might be a bit male-centric anyway (me not being a chick and all), I’ll just say go cotton. I favour simple cotton t-shirts and hoodies like these ones from Staple Superior, shorts and chinos/khakis like these ones from Academy Brand and jeans from Industrie or similar. Darker colours will look better when you haven’t washed `em in a while, haha. Avoid polyester cos it’ll stink. Layer up as required by the weather and depending on where you’re going, add a leather jacket or an easy to pack windbreaker like these ones from K-Way and you’re pretty much good to go.

Guidebooks, Phrasebooks and Apps

I don’t use guidebooks anymore, though I did when I first began travelling. They’re maybe not the bible they were 10 years back, but I still recommend Lonely Planet guidebooks. They’re great both for research before and during the trip and their phrasebooks are the duck’s nuts. If packing a massive book into your bag is not your bag, you can now get them as e-books on Amazon for your Kindle or from Apple for your Mac or iPad, and they also make apps for iPhone. Another very cool translation app I am using to learn Portuguese is Duolingo. It’s awesome and free.

Camera Gear

I shoot with my Canon EOS 6D SLR, which I love. The image quality is second-to-none, it does 1080p video and it comes with GPS and WiFi, making it awesome for travelling. You can track each photo on a map, use your phone as a remote, or save photos to your phone and then upload to Facegram, etc. Aussie photographer Rob, who wrote this photography guide on Confiscated Toothpaste, is a Nikon man and swears by his Nikon D800. But we both got by in the past with entry level SLRs, such as the Canon EOS Rebel XT  or the Nikon D5300.

If you’re not keen on suffering for your art and would prefer a compact camera, it’s hard to go past the Canon G16 (which my gf owns and takes great shots) or the Sony Cybershot range. If you can afford it, waterproof compacts have come way down in price over the past few years and are an excellent travel option.

Compact System Cameras (CSCs) like the Nikon 1, Canon M and Leicas are more expensive than compacts, but give you SLR quality in a much smaller package.

For the SLRs, it’s now possible to have a great zoom range from wide to telephoto in the one lens.  All major companies produce fantastic general purpose zooms these days.  The Canon and Nikon 18-200mm/18-300mm for DX cameras or 28-300mm for full frame digitals are a great choice. They are fine for wide angle compositions, portrait photography and zooming in on any wildlife that you might encounter.  300mm equates to 17x optical zoom when comparing to the zoom ratios on the compact digitals! I normally just take away one of these good-quality general purpose zoom lenses, and if you’re just photographing landscapes a simple 20 mm or other wide angle lens is probably enough. You won’t need a telephoto lens unless you’re on safari in Africa or Antarctica.

I also pack a GoPro HERO3+for recording all those moments out in the surf, or snowboarding, or canyoning, or dogsledding in Finland, or if I just want to take a video out a precarious hotel window of the streetscape below. You can check out a review of the GoPro here.

I use a Manfrotto tripod. If you have lots of space and will be taking lots of night or water photos take one. If you are travelling light, pack a mini tripod such as a Gorillapod or other clamp type product.

Get a good quality card with plenty of storage.  Digital film is cheap cheap cheap!  So don’t skimp here and also have a backup plan with USB sticks or similar in case of theft or disaster.

I also carry a Circular Polarising filter and an ND filter by Tiffen.

I pack all my camera gadgetry into a Lowepro camera bag, which are well respected, but I am more and more tempted byKrumpler Bags which apparently also do a good job and are a little more funky-like.

Having a dedicated camera/laptop bag is also a great idea if you are carrying both these items.  In your bag you should have some basic cleaning gear and a couple of extra batteries.

Laptop Computer

I have a Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus in mineral ash black. I love this computer. Not only is it the slimmest, sexiest looking laptop you’ll ever see but it weighs barely 1 kg. With a 13.3″ super high-res display, it slips into your briefcase so you’ll barely notice it. It’ll show off your photos nicely and do all your basic computing, photographic work and then some, plus it has a gorgeous illuminated keyboard for using on the plane. I also like the fact that it has a matte screen because touchscreens on laptops are not my bag and just get greasy on the road. However, they also have a more powerful touchscreen version if you prefer that.

If you’re an Apple person, the equivalent is the 13.3″ Macbook Pro with Retina Display, also a damn light, slim and powerful option.

Smartphone

Smartphones have made travel so much simpler- these days a phone can be your map, GPS, guidebook, alarm clock, exchange rate calculator, and sometimes even a phone… yep, true story. When it comes to phones I’m kind of the opposite to computers- I couldn’t get by without my Apple iPhone 5S. I think either the iPhone or the Samsung Galaxy S5 are both great phones. Primarily, I use the iPhone only for its ability to hold 64 GB of music, photos and notes. I can fit my entire music collection of around 300 CDs on it and travel with those CDs anywhere. 32 GB wouldn’t do this. Yeah yeah, I know all about Spotify, but that won’t help you if you’re somewhere without good internet.

Headphones and Music Player

A good pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones are pricey, but they are a godsend. Honestly, they will make your plane trip (and also car/train) so much more pleasant, and allow you to arrive at your destination feeling fresher and less stressed. Put them on, flick on the switch, and voila- that deafening roar from the plane’s engines disappears. They are one of the best purchases I have ever made and fold up into a small flat case for travelling with.

In addition, a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones actually allows you to hear your music while travelling. For music on planes and trains I pack a tiny iPod Nano into the headphones case. Normally I’ll play music from my iPhone, but the iPod has battery life that the iPhone can’t match- the iPod will happily make it through the longest flight. (As long as you remember to charge it!) It holds 16 GB, which is a good chunk of my music collection and certainly all the latest stuff I’m into.

Power Adaptor

To keep all the above gizmos charged, by far the best value thing I’ve ever bought is this universal power adaptor with surge protection. Forget having to pack the right plug- this baby will do anything to anything and its all in one piece and folds up into a neat little block the size of a pill bottle! It’s cheap as chips and so convenient it’s travelled with me everywhere for years and still going strong.