Daily essentials

Daily essentials

Since everyone’s doing it, here are my daily essentials, or everyday carry.

In the pic, clockwise from top right: Tumi Laredo Jefferson messenger bag, Vodafone mifi, Altoids, go-bag of cables and chargers, Just Mobile AluPen stylus, hotel pen, Cross passport and card wallet, Tumi Alpha money clip/card holder, D&G sunglasses, house keys (including USB “key” and Swiss Tech Utili-key) on The Bridge keyring, RSA dongle with office keys and more USB storage, iPad (in Incase folio) with Skullcandy Lowrider earphones, iPhone 4s (in Sena case), Jawbone Icon Bluetooth earpiece, MacBook Air 11” (in Incase shell).

The Tumi bag took ages to find, but was well worth it and is the best bag I have ever owned. Still looks great after a couple of years of daily use - so good, in fact, that in a Tumi store in Orlando the staff commented on it and gave me free Tumi-branded leathercare products!

A few people have made fun of all the cables, saying that how Apple got the MacBook Air so small was by making you carry everything around in a separate bag. So OK, there are VGA, HDMI and Ethernet dongles in there, plus a USB hub, which would not be needed with other laptops, but it still weighs a lot less than the Dell 6500 I had before this, or even the 4300 which some people are getting at work now, even if you add these dongles to the scales.

The mifi is a great invention, to the point that when I do eventually get around to replacing my first-gen iPad 3g I can’t see any reason not to just get the wifi-only version. I just wish Vodafone would come up with some sort of reasonable deal for roaming between different Vodafone national networks, as this is still a big issue in Europe.

The Utili-key has never got a second look from airport security, and has saved my bacon a few times. It did cause me to leave my keys behind in Paris once though, when I loaned someone the Utili-key and left the key-ring on the conference room table… Fortunately I managed to recover them the next Monday when I was back in town!

The Lowriders get replaced with Bose Quietcomfort 15s for long flights, but the Lowriders fold up small enough to be an everyday convenience. The QC 15s clip on to the outside of the bag with a carabiner, which is fine for a quick dash through the airport but would get old quickly as a daily addition. Plus, the mike on the Lowriders’ cord is great for voice conversations if the Jawbone’s battery runs out or I need to cover the other ear.

I need a different case for the iPhone. This Sena case was what they had in the Apple Store when I got the phone, and knowing my own clumsiness, I got what they had. However this case covers the camera while leaving the corners uncovered, and is just a bit unwieldy to use every day. Suggestions welcome!