my good travel stuff

I love my new duffel bag. REI. Sixty bucks, baby, with wheels, a sturdy handle, and compression straps. It eats up my stuff and there are no pockets to lose things in, except the front pouch that has become my dirty laundry slot. It will hold 36" rod tubes. It is definitely my new suitcase for fishing excursions or long trips, especially when paired with this next item.

My Eagle creek folding shirt pack. It would probably hold twenty folded shirts, and in about two weeks on this trip it's kept everything relatively wrinkle free and contained. Beautiful.

ipod. duh. Do you have any idea how many hours I've spent on airplanes and in cars since February 14th? My favorites on this trip: 6 hours of the first season of the Ricky Gervais podcast, and Jenny Lewis and the Watson twins.

Gerber paraframe pocketknife. I can't fly standby anyway with my big duffel bag on a long trip like this, so I figured I'd bring this along. I've used the hell out of it, and flicking it open and closed under the table is a wonderful nervous habit that works in lectures, meetings, you name it.

Alka Seltzer. My magic cure-all. When people find out you have some, they will bum these off you to no end. I carry a lot.

High speed 8 GB SD card. How can something smaller than a square inch possibly make life so much easier on a guy? You can go days of snapping 300+ photos without downloading, and once you do they move in a flash.