Nothing says ‘that weird time between Xmas and New Year’ more than an annual list of all the stuff I keep in a bag and carry with me like a totally normal person… right? Well even if nobody reads this I use it as a useful log of what I have / had, what worked and what was ditched quickly and when I discovered that perfect thing that still sparks joy (is Marie Kondo still a thing?).
I’m gonna mix this up slightly by just discussing the new stuff then pulling it all together with the weights table at the end. Starting with the thing I’m typing on right now; possibly the greatest laptop ever created…
Asus Expertbook B9
Let’s cover off the best bit first… this thing is 990g. It honestly feels like a toy holding the thing in one hand. This is, in itself, prettty cool but when you check out the specs on this bad boy you realise I’m not overstating how perfect this machine is (at least for me);
- 13th gen 10-core i7 processor
- 32GB RAM (sweet)
- 2TB SSD (very rare to find this)
- 2880 x 1800 OLED screen
- 2x USB-C and 1x USB-A ports
- full HDMI port (rare these days)
- 1080p camera (Windows Hello)
- awesome (Dolby) audio
- US Mil-Std certified (tough)
This thing runs like a dream, almost silent and barely any heat output – save for high performance activities but with a beefy processor these don’t take long anyway. The keyboard is a delight with a perfect amount of depth and response, and the trackpad becomes a numberpad with the flick of a switch (if you need such a thing).
It replaces my 6+ year old, 1248g HP Spectre x360 which has been a wonderful machine but the 8th gen core i7 processor was struggling with Windows 11 and I had outgrown the 1TB SSD (relying heavily on cloud storage).
The Asus doesn’t have a touch screen but I’m old so rarely used that anyway – plus I can throw away my barely touched 16g HP touch-pen and even the 10g HDMI adapter. The Dolby audio output is better than my 62g Anker Soudcore Ace 0 portable speaker so that’s gone too (although I seldom used it anyway). All up that’s 346g shaved.
OK so this thing wasn’t cheap at $3249 AUD (on sale from $3649!) but it just ticks so many boxes. Suffice to say I absolutely love it and given that my livelihood depends on my laptop I reckon it’s justifiable.
Lowe Alpine Escape Flight 36L
This bag was a recommendation from the good folks over at /r/onebag. I have loved my 3.5-yr old Minaal 3.0 35L backpack but – to me – it feel unnecessarily heavy at 1491g or 1555g with rain cover. It has some superb features but I still miss my good old Tortuga Air from a decade back which weighed in at just 1030g for 35L.
Enter the Escape Flight 36L from Rab (branded Lowe Alpine; a brand I remember from my childhood in the UK). This thing weighs just 967g (although it does ship with a removable 73g shoulder strap that I don’t use).
This bag cost me just $189 AUD shipped (as opposed to the $521 AUD asking price on the Minaal right now – plus $51 shipping!) making it a budgetworthy offering.
Features-wise the Escape 36L is very much like a pared down Minaal. It opens the same way with a ‘scoop’ clamshell from the base of the bag, although the Escape has a zippered mesh section to the entire internal front whereas the Minaal has two zippered mesh sections to the internal back. There is no other organisation internally (save for the 2 internal compression straps) which does mean you’ll be relying more heavily on packing cubes (fine by me).
The top easy access pocket is the full width of the bag and maybe 1.5L but the zip is not the full width of the pocket making access a little trickier than the two easy access pockets on the Minaal. The laptop sleeve is minimal but padded and features the all-critical false bottom, it’s a long way from the Minaal Nest but it’s the absence of features like these that provide the weight saving and my new laptop in US Mil-std ruggedised anyway.
The straps are padded and comfortable (although thinner than the Minaal) and they can also be stashed in to compartments on the back enabling the bag to be used as a duffle (although stuffing the straps in to their requisite compartments can be tricky when the bag is full). The Minaal wins again here as the zip cover provides a much simple means of achieving the strap-free look although this is a feature I never used anyway as I always carry as a backpack. There are no load lifters but there’s a capable sternum strap and fully loaded the bag feels very comfortable and secure – possibly even moreso than the Minaal.
The Escape has a side mesh water bottle pocket which is actually better than that on the Minaal offering good stretch. There’s also a hidden passport pocket in the laptop sleeve but again, not on a par with the Minaal’s secret passport zipper on the back of the bag. Finally the bag is not waterproof and there’s no rain cover but thankfully the Minaal rain cover fits perfectly and it’s just 64g.
The dimensions are 55 x 33 x 23 which makes the bag compliant with most carry-on dimension requirements and very similar to Minaal’s 55 x 35 x 20… which makes you wonder where the extra 1L comes from…
All that said; I bought this bag for the capacity/weight ratio which is superb at 26.8g per litre – the extra 1L capacity is actually noticable because my gear, which was something of a struggle to squeeze in to the Minaal, fits in the Escape with ease. I’ve not tried the bag on a proper trip as yet (recent acquisition) but I am excited to. The weight saving here is 524g (allowing for the 64g rain cover).
Lencent 20W Universal Travel Charger
I knew someone would eventually make a lightweight universal travel charger for smartphones. The bricks usually pedalled as ‘universal travel chargers’ usually weigh more than 150g – this baby is just 61g which is less than the actual 20w charger that came with my phone. Actually sorry – this was an Apple device so it was sold separately – silly me.
The Lencent not only works in (almost) every country (offering UK, AU, US and EU charging pins) it also has both a USB-A and USB-C charging port (although only a 20W output so no fast charging two phones at once, all for a very reasonable $30 AUD. I have tested this on a couple of trips now and I’m delighted with it.
Lululemon ABC Slim-Fit 5-Pocket Pants
That is not a name I ever imagined I’d be typing in to my blog and yet… here I am; a corporate sellout in remarkably comfy pants.
And they are that. Rumour has it the ABC used to stand for ‘Anti Ball Crushing’ (although this has since been rebranded ‘Always Be Comfortable’) suffice to say the fit is superb and the four-way stretch allows for easy and comfortable movement. There is a hidden zippered pocket in the back and a neat keys/coins pocket in the front.
The ‘Warpstreme’ material is (very) breathable, anti wrinkle, quick drying, smoother than most travel pants, snag (and cat claw) resistant. It looks sharp and works just as well in a boardroom as ‘bored at home’. It’s not *amazing* in cold weather but it excels in heat.
These pants are available in a classic ‘formal’ pocket configuration (as opposed to the 5-pocket jeans style) and in regular fit (as opposed to the slim fit) but the differences are negligible (particularly in black) and paired with a belt and shirt these are perfectly fine for the few days of the year I’m in the office.
Despite multiple recommendations over the years, one of my hesitations with Lululemon has been their environmental credentials but they seem to have upped their game significantly in the last few years – releasing a Social Impact report that is genuinely impressive. I am also erring towards locally available products since I have spent an arm and a leg on international shipping and import taxes over the years. These pants are available in Australia for $129 AUD.
This is one of the two reasons I turned my back on my beloved Western Rise. I wore their Evolution 1.0 pants for many years and even had 4 pairs at one point but these pants now cost a whopping $265 AUD delivered. Worse than this the upgrade to Evolution 2.0 has involved a material changed from [96% Nylon / 4% Elastane] to [90% Nylon / 10% Elastane] leavingh the pants feeling noticably more synthetic. The ‘swishy’ noise is much more annoying and the comfort level is reduced. It’s a real shame as I their ‘onebag travel’ approach to product design is one I can absolutely get behind but these are no longer in my case of travelling pants.
The Lululemon pants weigh in at 398g as opposed to the 316g WR Evolution 1.0 (and 355g for WR Evolution 2.0) although this is offset as I only have two pairs (instead of the previous 3 WRs). That said – I may have to invest in something (likely heavy) for colder weather at some point.
Lululemon Commission Short 9″
So it turns out I’m a corporate sellout in remarkably comfy shorts too. Who knew that the clothes everyone else was buying were actually excellent technical performers and reasonably priced?
After almost 8 years my Outlier New Way Longs were just about done (zippers were shot), and Outlier only make the New Way Shorts these days (at $289 AUD delivered!) so an alternative was required.
The Commission relates to the ‘chino’ style pocket configuruation (i.e. not 5 pocket) but these shorts only come in this style and the pocket configuration is actually pretty great with a perfectly formed phone slip inside the front right pocket and a zippered pocket (for wallet and keys) in the front left pocket too.
The ‘WovenAir’ material is even more breathable than the ‘Warpstreme’ so much so that it has visible tiny holes in it (that thankfully don’t make the shorts see-through). This makes the material very quick drying and very light at just 234g a pair (as opposed to the Outlier NWL 277g). They’re a similar length too – at 9″ which is more of a boardshort than a short-short.
The fit adopts the ‘ABC’ technology of the pants which makes them very comfortable although they don’t have quite the ‘heavy’ drape of the Outlier shorts and don’t feel like they have quite the same durability. That said replacement is significantly more plausible at $79 AUD delivered per pair (a 72% cost saving over Outlier).
Citizen Wolf Merino V-neck Tee
My beloved Outlier Ultrafine Merino tees were sporting extra ventilation even at the end of last year and I hadn’t sourced a solution. This is mostly because the Outlier McKenzie 200gsm merino is untouchable, simply the best material out there. However each tee is now $258 AUD delivered so that’s another big nope from my quietly weeping credit card.
Citizen Wolf (a Sydney based startup) make custom fit tees using their patented ‘magic-fit’ combined with a trial and error free returns period and laser perfect cutting for future orders once the perfect fit is established.
The custom fit extends to the removal of scratchy labels (which I’ve never understood) and they offer a V-neck which I favour greatly. This of course means the fit cannot be faulted – it’s literally perfect.
They also make the tees in Sydney (how rare is that?) which massively reduces the environmental impact.
All up they are *almost* perfect… except the 150gsm merino they use (also Australian) just isn’t quite as soft and beautiful as Outlier’s. It is, however, comfortable, breathable, crease resistant, odour resistant, quick drying (quicker than Outlier) and pretty awesome. It’s also lighter (143g as opposed to Outlier’s 180g) and 42% cheaper at $149 delivered. Given the weight saving I’ve swapped out my 6 Outlier tees (1080g) for 7 CW tees (1001g) and thus far I’m feeling pretty happy with my decision.
Allbirds Trino Trunk
I really did try to love the super lightweight Uniqlo AIRism boxers – especially after so many rave reviews, but ultimately they’re still synthetic and while that works for some things… it doesn’t work there for me. I guess I’ve always been a natural materials kinda guy (hell my first blog post in 2015 was about the benefits of merino wool).
I wasn’t keen to go back to Icebreaker Anatomica having ditched them last year for durability issues so I was looking for a natural, lightweight, breathable, fitted, alternative; enter Allbirds Trino Trunk.
The Trino trunk is actually 65% tencel, 28% merino and 7% spandex but that still makes it 93% natural and remarkably cost effective at $36 AUD delivered when compared with entirely merino boxers.
The fit is remarkably excellent (snug in all the right places) and pilling is, thus far, minimal.
The weight is good at 64g although this is a sizeable increase on the Uniqlo AIRism 41g – 512g as opposed to 328g for all 8 pairs. It’s still better than the 70g Icebreaker Anatomica, the 74g Unbound boxers and the 85g Wool & Prince boxers.
Darn Tough Tactical Socks
I’ve been wearing Darn Tough socks for a while now but a recent new release attracted my attention; the all black Tactical brand. These are higher merino content [55% Merino / 43% Nylon / 2% Lycra] as opposed to the Light Hiker [43% Merino / 54% Nylon / 3% Lycra], this is particularly imortant for high friction clothing where a high nylon content can cause pilling.
The Tactical socks are also available in quarter length (halfway between crew and no-show) which creates a much more satisfactory seal above the ankle, frustrating bastard mozzies and reducing the amount of forest floor carried home after a hike.
They are available with confusing levels of ‘weight’ and ‘cushion’. I opted for:
3 pairs of lightweight no cushion quarter length ‘T4093’ 48g (for summer)
2 pairs of lightweight no cushion micro crew length ‘T4018’ 69g (for formal) and
2 pairs of midweight cushion micro crew ‘T4066’ 81g (for Winter / planes).
This all means I do indeed still have 7 pairs of socks 🙂 weighing in at 444g, a whopping 80g more than last years 364g but hopefully these will suit my use cases better and pill less too.
Matador Soap Case
Having discovered a single bar of soap that can do it all (Tilley’s coal tar soap – made in Australia), I needed to find a soap case that would work for Onebag travel.
The Matador Flatpak Soap Bar Case is designed for exactly that; offering dry-through technology (enabling the soap to dry out without making a soapy mess inside your Dopp kit) this thing fits the Tilleys 100g perfectly.
Despite being manufactured in the US there are Australian retailers including the awesome Rokolife who sourced mine for $25 AUD.
And that’s it for new stuff. I ditched a couple of things that weren’t being used like the Sea to Summit dry bag (clothes just get washed in the sink), the Griffin car charger (cars have USB ports these days), the Anker battery (less relevant now that the iPhone battery lasts so long) and my Ice watch (battery ran out and I didn’t miss it).
So with those changes in mind here’s the final weight tally:
The big ol’ geeky table of weight
So that’s 1828g worn and 5501g carried – very similar to last year’s 1739g worn / 5583g carried / 7322g total, but if I end up buying a pair of Winter pants that’ll blow it. I might experiment with the Icebreaker leggings and Lululemon ABCs when the cold weather returns… another pair of leggings would be lighter and more flexible than a pair of winter only pants.
As for the rest:
| BAG | |||
| 1 | NEW Lowe Alpine Escape Flight 36L 55x33x23 | 967 | |
| 967 | |||
| DOPP | |||
| 1 | Sea To Summit Silnylon Traveling Light Washbag Small | 44 | |
| 1 | Ritter 0-Cut Mini Trimmer (118g 6mm head 2g, 1mm head 2g) USB-C | 122 | |
| 1 | Xiaomi H3 2-in-1 Personal Trimmer (60g, head 3g) USB-Micro | 63 | |
| 1 | Xiaomi Mijia T100 Electronic toothbrush (40g, head 5g) USB-Micro | 45 | |
| 1 | Xiaomi Mijia T100 Toothbrush Heads (x2) | 10 | |
| 1 | Seki Edge Stainless Steel Nail Clippers | 32 | |
| 1 | Zwilling J.A. Henckels Stainless Steel Tweezers | 10 | |
| 1 | The Crystal Deodorant Ammonium Alum 40g | 64 | |
| 1 | NEW Tilleys Soap Bar (100g) in Matador Soap Case (11g) | 111 | |
| 1 | Sunscreen 30ml (in Muji 8g poly tube) | 42 | |
| 1 | Hand Moisturiser 12ml (in Muji 3g poly tube) | 14 | |
| 1 | Hair Muk 10ml (in Muji 20g plastic tub) | 37 | |
| 1 | Toothpaste 20g | 24 | |
| 1 | Hearos Earplugs (x5 pairs) | 4 | |
| 1 | Interdental Flossers | 3 | |
| 1 | Tablets (Antihistamine / Loperamide / Ibuprofen) | 20 | |
| 1 | Sewing Kit (Needles & Thread, Buttons, Safety Pins) | 8 | |
| 653 | |||
| GEAR | |||
| 1 | NEW Eagle Creek Isolate Quick Trip XS (Bought a 2nd for misc gear) | 47 | |
| 1 | Hearos earplugs in case | 6 | |
| 1 | Pocket Tissues | 24 | |
| 1 | Relight My Fire Little Spork | 8 | |
| 1 | Bic Mutifunction 4 Colour Ballpoint Pen | 12 | |
| 1 | Uniball Micro Blue Rollerball Pen | 11 | |
| 1 | Sharpie Permanent Marker | 8 | |
| 1 | Spare Keys | 22 | |
| 1 | Titanium Pocket Bit Screwdriver Keyring | 4 | |
| 1 | Muji Double Zip Pouch (Small) | 15 | |
| 1 | Nite-Ize S-Biner Carabiner #2 | 7 | |
| 164 | |||
| DOCUMENTS | |||
| 1 | Passport AU | 38 | |
| 1 | Passport UK | 34 | |
| 72 | |||
| OSK | |||
| 1 | Lii Gear Black Hole Stash | 22 | |
| 1 | Paracetamol | 12 | |
| 1 | Plasters | 5 | |
| 1 | Antiseptic Cream 12ml (in Muji 3g poly tube) | 18 | |
| 1 | Hydrocortisone 12ml (in Muji 3g poly tube) | 18 | |
| 1 | Sunscreen 12ml (in Muji 3g poly tube) | 18 | |
| 1 | Zwilling J.A. Henckels Stainless Steel Tweezers | 10 | |
| 1 | Zwilling J.A. Henckels Stainless Steel Nail Clippers Ultra Slim | 15 | |
| 118 | |||
| LAPTOP | |||
| 1 | NEW Asus ExpertBook B9 KM0126X (i7-1355U, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD) | 990 | |
| 990 | |||
| TECH | |||
| 1 | Eagle Creek Isolate Quick Trip XS | 47 | |
| 1 | Mopoint 65W 3-Port GaN charger w AU, UK & EU adapters | 163 | |
| 1 | Anker Soundbuds Slim+ Bluetooth Headphones USB-Micro | 15 | |
| 1 | K10 Bluetooth Headset USB-Micro | 19 | |
| 1 | Swiftpoint ProPoint 600 Bluetooth Mouse | 24 | |
| 3 | Patriot Supersonic Rage Elite 1TB USB-A 3.0 Flashdrive | 10 | 30 |
| 1 | NEW Lencent 20W 2-Port Universal Travel Charger | 61 | |
| 1 | Anker Powerline II USB-C 2.0 to USB-C 200cm Cable | 54 | |
| 1 | Amzer USB-A 1.0 to USB-Micro 100cm Retractable Cable | 20 | |
| 1 | TRVL USB-C 3.1 to Lightning 10cm Cable | 7 | |
| 1 | TRVL USB-C 3.1 to USB-C 10cm Cable | 9 | |
| 1 | TRVL USB-C 3.1 to USB-A 10cm Cable | 11 | |
| 2 | Amazon Basics USB-C 3.1 to USB-Micro 10cm Cable | 6 | 12 |
| 1 | Eruw USB-A 2.0 to USB-Micro 10cm Cable | 7 | |
| 1 | Apple USB-C to Lightning 100cm Cable | 19 | |
| 1 | USB-A 3.0 female to USB-C male Adapter | 7 | |
| 1 | USB-C female to USB-Micro male Adapter | 3 | |
| 1 | USB-C female to USB-A 3.0 male Adapter | 4 | |
| 1 | USB-C female to Lightning male Adapter | 2 | |
| 1 | USB-Micro female to USB-C male Adapter | 1 | |
| 1 | USB-A Charger for SwiftPoint ProPoint 600 Adapter | 3 | |
| 1 | Sony Anti-static Cloth | 14 | |
| 1 | Ultimate Ears 600vi Wired Headphones (w Lightning Adapter) | 20 | |
| 552 | |||
| OTHER | |||
| 1 | Montbell Travel Umbrella | 87 | |
| 1 | Montbell Tachyon Parka Raincoat | 72 | |
| 1 | Sea to Summit Airlite Towel Medium (100 x 50) | 47 | |
| 1 | Sea To Summit Ultra Sil Nano Daypack | 30 | |
| 1 | Khawy Cork Massage Ball | 43 | |
| 1 | Maui Jim Sugar Beach Sunglasses | 14 | |
| 1 | Maui Jim Sunglasses Case | 53 | |
| 1 | Minaal Rain Cover | 64 | |
| 410 | |||
| EVERY DAY CARRY | |||
| 1 | Apple iPhone 13 Pro 512GB (204g, case 30g) | 234 | |
| 1 | Slimfold Micro Soft Shell RFID Wallet | 78 | |
| 312 | |||
| PACKING CUBES | |||
| 1 | Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Large Cube (pants, shorts & shirts) | 28 | |
| 2 | Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Medium Cube (boxers & socks / tees) | 18 | 36 |
| 2 | Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Small Cube (cold weather gear / other) | 14 | 28 |
| 1 | Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Tube Cube (shoes) | 19 | |
| 111 | |||
| 82 | TOTAL | 4349 |
So my gear weight decreased from 5317g to just 4349g (mostly thanks to saving 524g on the bag and 346g on the laptop). This makes carried weight just 9850g; under the 10kg limit for the first time in almost 12 years of onebag travel!
Thanks for reading – I hope you found something useful.
In to it’s sixth year of daily use my 2014 Tortuga Air has been my constant companion on trips through Denmark, Singapore, Italy, Thailand, Cambodia, France, China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Austria, Sri Lanka, Oman, UK, Morocco, Spain, and Australia. While it no longer looks new it is showing no signs of failing. I have lost count of the number of times I have yanked the full bag by the handles and still no damage or wear. Basically I love this bag and I will be devastated when it finally has to go… which may be sooner than I want and not because of the bag. A recent shoulder injury has prompted me to re-assess my current load and bag. I will write properly on this later but at this stage I am reviewing my options purely for health reasons.
The meds in 
Which just leaves my MSR Ultralite Packtowl, my 
Arc’Teryx is a brand I have a lot of respect for but, honestly, I’d not seen their shoes before. The Acrux is designed for comfort and uses an integrated tongue making it more like a slipper with laces than a shoe. There are three variants; The SL, the GTX (GoreTex) and the GTX Leather. I opted for the first because it was the only one that looked like it could pass for an office shoe, the other two are clearly designed for trekking and look the part. I’ve only been wearing them (daily) for one month but thus far I am loving them. They have coped incredibly well hiking over rocks, beaches, and trail paths and look equally at home in the office and on the wet streets of Sydney. If the durability is good I may have found the perfect shoe for me.
The killer feature, for me, was the weight; just 1050g (primarily as a result of the beautiful, if alarmingly flexible, carbon fibre frame). I think it’s fair to say I thrashed the hell out of this machine with daily use and some serious processing (for work) not to mention multiple international trips. The battery started off at around 6hrs but progressively dropped until I was squeezing less than 2, the touchscreen developed an annoying shadow screen left just 2 years in but it was a failed fan that ultimately lead to an overcooked CPU (and some worried fellow employees after a noisy demise in my open plan office).
I had to travel to the UK to buy the ‘dark ash grey’ version over the garish Aussie native ‘silver’ version. I needn’t have bothered as the trim is still showy in ‘rose gold’, but in addition to a UK jolly, this enabled me to buy the matching 
This well constructed little device weighs a paltry 131g and offers two USB-A charging ports in addition to a 45W supply via USB-C (it’s 45W total output across all ports – so a little slower to charge than the HP, particularly while charging other devices, but perfectly adequate). It comes with interchangeable mains plugs (AU 17g, UK 26g, EU 17g and US 11g) and a little black 11g polyester bag for stashing the mains adapters not in use. You will also need a decent USB-C cable to connect to the laptop (I went for a 2m Anker cable at 52g). Unlike other adapters this doesn’t run hot, doesn’t spark when inserted in to sockets and offers an earth pin on the AU and UK plugs (ensuring a secure connection each time). I discounted the otherwise rather interesting 
storage bump from 512GB to 1TB allowed me to downscale my backup drive, in quite a big way. My trusty Samsung 4TB portable HD had served me well for over 3 years but at 242g (plus a 22g cable) it was a bit on the heavy side. I had been eying up the hellishly expensive portable SSD drives for a while now and when Samsung finally released their flagship 
BLACKSHINE 