As I become more and more experienced as a traveller, I also learn what things to pack and what not to pack – what to leave behind. Down the years I made many mistakes when it comes to preparation, equipment, packing etc. It’s all a learning process, a trial and error. You learn from your mistakes in life – it’s a simple as that. These days, having swallowed over 170 countries into my backpack (the latest being Kenya, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo), I fell well equipped to tell you 5 quirky and random travel essentials that you might not know about and that I recommend a lot, especially on long train journeys, overnight buses, nights spent waiting in airport and those unwanted delays…

1.Ponchos
Ponchos are a must for me. They are cheap, small, easy to carry, they take up hardly any room or weight! Yet this little $1 US invention can save your entire body, bag and laptop from getting soaked! Ponchos are really essential and the only time I ever travel without one is when an airline steals my luggage.

2.Travel Mugs
Finding hot tea and coffee can be difficult up in the mountains – so come prepared. By that I mean, firstly bring a travel mug with you on your journey, and second bring some tea bags and coffee sachets! This way, any time you have access to hot water you can make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and stow it away for later! These travel mugs can also be used of course for storing quality energy drinks for hikes, some vitamin drinks like orange juice or even a cheeky beer on your journeys. A quick and easy invention and readily available these days!

3.My Northern Ireland Flag (Fleg)
What some people don’t realise is that I travel everywhere with a Northern Ireland flag. I am a proud Northern Irishman and a nationalist too, so I love to show this flag everywhere I go. The thing is, though, the flag has many many more functions than that and it will surprise you how versatile this flag is! In the past I have used it as:

• a scarf
• a flag
• a towel
• a sun protector
• a sign (to show where you are)
• a beach mat
• a cover for when you are changing clothes!

4.Water Filter Bottle
Water is not always clean and there are so many advantages to bringing your own water filter bottle.

• you don’t waste plastic as it’s reusable
• it’s yours to keep
• you never have to pay for water
• you never have to boil water
• all the water you drink is filtered and therefore safe!

5.Paper and Pen
I’m putting these two together. Real writers are never more than a metre from a paper and pen and this needs to ring true. I love to write and so my backpack always has a working pen (often 3 or 4). This is also so useful in queues at borders for filling in forms, for writing down people’s phone numbers, emails, addresses. In fact, I cannot think of anything much more important than you passport and wallet, than a pen. Plus it is so small and compact and easy for everyone to use!

If you have followed my stories since this blog’s inception in 2007, then you will probably have seen my varying array of backpacks. I can’t even remember half of the brands I used, from Hello Lulu to a £6 ASDA job to Adidas to the ones that got slashed on a night bus in Colombia, ironically in CuCUTa! Have a look at some of these photos and you’ll see how many different backpacks I really used down the years of that insanic journeython.

So having first used a MindShift backpack in 2015, the Rotation180° Travel Away, I wanted a new backpack as my day pack from 2018 onwards. I still have the Rotation180° Travel Away and I still use it, it’s lasted 3 years and is great but I wanted a change and so I stuck to my loyalty to MindShift.

I opted for the 18 litre Backlight 18L from Mindshift Gear. Already, a few months in and I love it! This is my new beautiful daypack rather than my overland long-term backpacking rucksack (since I have basically not done any backpacking since depression began in 2016). Here are some of my latest backpack’s features and parts of it that I love!

Colour: Forest Green
I love the colour of my new backpack. I chose forest green. Green is my favourite colour and believe it or not this is the first backpack I have had that is green! Can you believe it? It is two shades of green and is also grey and black (in straps and interior). There’s a warmth and happiness in wearing a backpack of your favourite colour. The Backlight 18L is available in two colours, Charcoal and Woodland Green, and meets almost every international airline carry-on requirements. So you can also get it in black.

Flexibility
This backpack has a lot of options and a lot of parts. In brief it has two main sections – the front which is compact, and tight. And then the back which is almost like a suitcase. The front acts as a place for laptop, books, files, keys, business cards, quick access clothes. Thanks to the frontal strap, you can turn the backpack round and open the rear without disconnecting it from your body, it rotates – another special feature of Mindshift products.

The side pockets are perfect to store fast access food and drinks. TWO 500ml bottles of soft drinks (or even a brace of beers) fit in each side pocket, so in theory easy to travel with 4 different 500ml drinks, or a large flask and 2 x 500 ml drinks. So do oranges, peaches etc. – many of them fit in the side pockets. You can also put the rain cover here and easy access important documents (unless of course it’s raining).

The main compartment at the back offers great flexibility. There are separable compartments within it using Velcro straps and dividers. You can use as many or as few of these as you want. This part of the backpack is also well protected and durable. This is perfect for professional photographers.

You can change lenses or just snap a quick photo simply by rotating the bag to the front of your body while the waist belt is still secured. Rear-panel access also adds security when traveling since camera gear is protected from behind.

Back-panel Access
There are lots of cool quirks with my new backpack. The back-panel access allows you to work out of the bag without getting the harness dirty, wet, muddy, or icy. Dedicated compartments fit both a 13” laptop and a full-size tablet, places for keys and pens are also included. As a daypack, the pack’s front pockets can carry up to 5 litres of personal gear space for a day’s outing, such as extra layers, a light jacket, food, and more.

Huge Space
Despite looking compact, this backpack has lots of space and when you open the back it even resembles a suitcase. Because of the flexible material and strong zip you can fit a lot in here, the velcro padded compartment can be moved around to suit your needs.

Durability: Strong Zips and Padding
Down the years of backpacker I have had so many backpacks that have broken, got ripped or simply the zip breaks. These zips are the strongest yet, especially the back ones and each zip has two zippers, meaning that even if one does break, you can pull it to the bottom and the other one will still work. Protection and padding is also excellent.

Extra Pockets
I love it when I get a backpack that I keep discovering. In other words there are hidden pockets, extra features and surprises all the time. At the start I didn’t even know about the lower pocket, which can hold the waterproof cover or the frontal pocket which is hidden under a flap.

So far my backpack has been in United States (where I ordered it from), Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Belarus and Poland! Not bad for someone who isn’t a hardcore backpacker any more.

So I am enjoying using it and recommend it – it’s a superb item to have. Now you know it’s name, I’ll show you how to buy it. Here are the details for buying the Mindshift Gear BackLight® 18L, which is also available in 26 and 36 litres, but for me the 18 litre is perfect.

Order it here online – https://www.mindshiftgear.com/products/backlight-18l

Visit one of their stores by putting in your postcode/zipcode here – https://www.mindshiftgear.com/pages/store-locator

Here is a video of me in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on the first ever trip using my new Mindshift Gear BackLight® 18L: