I’m sure those of you that travel a lot have certain items that always make it in your bag. I’m no exception and thought I’d share what I always have in my bag. Most of the time I’ll have two bags: a North Face backpack, which carries all of my entertainment items such as my computer, Kindle eBook reader, and magazines, and a 22” Victorinox  up-right that I can fit in the overhead bins. Personally, I love my suitcase as I can fit enough clothes for over a week, yet can still carry it on.

I’ve had my North Face backpack for the last few years as I lugged my books and computer to school every day and have always chosen to use it when I travel as well. It has plenty of space to carry plenty of stuff and it can still fit comfortably under the seat if there isn’t any room in the overhead for it. As for what goes inside it, I always bring the following:

• Computer – The college I just graduated from issued everyone Dell Latitude E6400s that has served me reasonably well over the last two years.
• Kindle – I have one of the second generation Kindles and I haven’t had any problems with it. In fact, I love pretty much everything about it. It makes bringing books on vacation painless as I only need the one device
• Magazines – I’m a huge magazine fan and have subscriptions to almost ten. This is the biggest part of my bag as I can sometimes have 4-5 in my backpack alone with more in my suitcase.
• Chargers – I have a charger for my computer as well as a charging cable for my iPhone and iPod. I also carry a cable for my Kindle. However, I only carry one wall plug that both my iPhone and Kindle can use so that I can cut down on clutter. If I know I’m going to be in a car, I’ll bring a car charger for my iPhone as well.
• Ethernet cable – Almost all hotels have WiFi these days, but there are a few that have refused to get with the times. Although most have Ethernet cables in the room, I’ve run into at least two where there wasn’t one in the room and I had to rent one. Ever since then, I’ve carried a small cable with me in case of emergency!
• Extension cord – This is a new addition based on two experiences. The first was a four hour delay in New Orleans where all the outlets were taken. However, I saw one person pull out his own extension cord so that he could charge his computer, which I was very jealous about. The second was a commenter on my last post about Amtrak. The commenter recommended one as a way to maximize the available outlets on Amtrak. Needless to say, I bought one from Amazon the same day!
• Headphones – I’ll sometimes carry my Bose noise cancelling headphones, but a majority of the time I will just carry a set of HiFiMAN RE-0, which I’ve had for several years and have always served me well.
• iPod – I have an iPod touch from several years ago before I had an iPhone that I always carry with me. I have too much music to put on my iPhone so I just carry both!
• iPhone 4 – I bought an iPhone late last year after my Droid Incredible died on me. So far, I’m really liking it although I do find it struggling to keep up sometimes. I’m hoping that Apple will release a new iPhone this fall that I like so that I can have the option to upgrade.

So I keep all of that in my backpack, which can sometimes get very heavy if I’m carrying a lot of magazines. I’ve thought about getting an iPad, Nexus 7, or Kindle Fire, but they all seem to have something lacking that has kept me from doing so. If I do decide to purchase a tablet, I’ll be able to read almost all of them on it, which will make my backpack a lot lighter, which would make traveling a lot easier. What do you all think? Anybody have a tablet that they absolutely love? What do you always bring with you?

Deal of the Day

For today’s Deal of the Day FlyerTalk is giving away A FlyerTalk Luggage Tag & Hoodie combo for the best overall travel deal submitted. A great mileage run, mistake fare, partner promo, new card sign-up offer, or the special twist you figured out on a deal today.  Add it to the comments section of this post (with your First Name, Last Initial, and 3 letter airport code) or this afternoon’s Deal of the Day post to be eligible to win.