I always pack too much on trips. I was on a two day trip labor day weekend, most of which would be spent in the car or at a wedding.
Here’s what I packed (excluding clothing which I am surprisingly I pack very lightly):
– My netbook (adapter, mouse, mousepad)
– 6 flash drives totalling 180Gb of storage
– 3 physical books (2 thin, 1 medium for research)
– Zipped portfolio containing CDs, 5 pens, notepad, composition notebook, playing cards and a booklight)
– Digital camera (charger)
– A 3 outlet power strip and cigarette lighter power adapter
– My Kindle Touch (loaded with 6-7 albums, 4 This American Lifes, Apps and Games and my usual 1500+ books)
– Earbuds
Here’s what I used:
– Kindle Touch to write 6 blog posts, play Scrabble and listen to music (no TAL).
– Maybe 20 minutes research with 1 book, 2 pens, and the composition notebook.
– The Camera at the wedding.
– Power strip mainly to charge devices I had with me that I did not use.
I’ve traveled on long car rides all my life and I’m never realistic about what I’m actually going to do. Part of it is to give myself options, but many of the options I bring are unrealistic. Some may be becuse I am working on a lot of projects and think somehow I will work on them all. And I have gotten a lot of work done in the car (two weeks worth of blog posts ain’t too shabby).
But I think my dad’s got it right when he says I just like to travel around with my stuff. And it makes for a heavier load. Maybe someday I’ll realize the Kindle (or even less) is all I really need, but probably not for a while.
What stuff do you carry that you really don’t need? Why do you still ferry it around?
[BTW] : Ben Trube, Writer 
Better to have too much than too little. 😉
I, like you, want to have options. On a trip I will always bring too many books that is unrealistic to read in the allotted time. My newest hobby is knitting so of course the knitting needles and yarn come with me wherever I go and of course an assortment of snacks and drinks, half of which come back with me. The mindset is to accomplish as much as I can while sitting still in a confined space. And in my purse you can find a toothbrush, toothpaste, screwdriver, sewing kit, calculator, nail clippers, comb, tape measure, and note pad and they have all been used at some point in time and I’ve been glad that I’ve had them. So go ahead and load your bag with your stuff. You just may find that you need it.
I want to read, but since I travel constantly I don’t study just as much as I had like to. Bringing more than two books along with me gets cumbersome, and I worry about them getting torn up and weathered.
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