Chronzo

As I have written before, I have recently returned form my Trip to London. In this post, I will break things down I have taken with me.

First of all, let’s talk about backpacks. I only had a carry-on so a good bag was a must have. My last backpack (Nomatic Travel Pack 14l) had some disadvantages, so I changed it to Alpaka Elements Backpack Pro for this trip.

Nomatic Travel Pack 14l

In general, this is one of the best backpacks I have ever owned. Some features are great, but some features are strange.

Pros: good organization, expansion, full opening, and top access. However, this comes with a price: the material is very easy to scratch, the 14l version is missing several useful features of 20l (such as waist strap, briefcase mode, hidden pocket), and last but not least is its price – ~330 USD. It’s a lot for a backpack which will lose its look quickly because of small scratches.

Alpaka Elements Backpack Pro

I used this backpack for only a month, but I can surely say it will stay for long.

This is just a great backpack: black color, not like Nomatic’s gray, better price of 150 USD, non-scratching material, well-thought organization (including a hidden pocket), comfortable straps. However, there are some minor cons: no full opening, and no waist strap.

Also, this backpack successfully went through all kinds of tests: heavy rains, 5kg of load, and everyday carry.

Still, don’t get me wrong, both of these bags are great.

Front compartment

• Toothbrush, flossticks,
• My business cards (never know when you might need them),
• Lens wipes (same reason),
• Ear plugs,
• Spare cable and tips for my Sennheiser IE 600,
• Amazon Kindle,

Main compartment

• Peakdesign Packing Cube Medium,
  This packing cube held all my clothes. It’s a game changer: special compartment for dirty clothes, doubles as a compression cube, and super lightweight. It also comes in four different sizes and in six colors which is nice. These are the main things I have taken: three shirts, one wind coat, spare trousers, and small items (socks, PGYtech Photography Gloves (Fingerless)…). I also had a hoodie on me – it warms well when combined with my wind coat. This doubles as a good rainproof jacket and saves space when not in use.
• Alpaka Elements Tech Case 2.1l,
  I used this for all my tech and as an everyday bag. It survived all trials including heavy rains and all day on the shoulder. Inside:
  • Small notebook (just in case),
  • Pen,
    I have a plastic pen. I would rather take a metal pen, but metal pens are not allowed on planes (apparently because you can stab someone with a pen).
  • Sennheiser IE 600,
    The best in-ear headphones which I ever used and totally cost the price.
  • Shanling M0 Pro,
    This is an MP3 player I use as most of the phones today don’t have AUX (headphones jack) and my headphones are wired. It is tiny, has long battery life, Type-C, touch screen, volume control, lyrics, supports up to 2TB MicroSD card…
  • Type-C to AUX adapter,
    In case I want to watch something on my phone.
  • Fujifilm x100vi,
  • Fujinon filter adapter,
  • PolarPro Shortstache Everyday filter,
  • Urth 2-400 ND filter,
  • Urth Filter Caps,
  • SmallRig battery for Fujifilm x100vi,
  • Peakdesign Cuff,
  • Samsung Z Fold,
    Highly recommended if you want a phone and small tablet combined.
  • Some small things,
    Spare SD card, screwdrivers, USB flash drive, money, and carabiners.
  • Matador Global Travel Adapter,
    What I like about this adapter is that it doubles as a charger. It has two Type-C (one of them is super fast charge) and three USB A. Strongly recommended for frequent travelers.

Tips on packing more efficiently

• Make a list of things you need to take. My way is to reread it every day to remove unnecessary items or add some if I forget.
• Use packing/compression cubes to organize your clothes and compress it when stored. Be aware that vacuum bags leave serious wrinkles on your clothes.
• Use “Ranger roll” technique to save some space. It came from military so it is very easy and efficient. It doesn’t create wrinkles. I recommend this guide.

Thank you for reading! Tell what you think in the comments down below.