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For several years now, when I travel, I have been taking slippers with me. Hotel rooms and Airbnbs have gross floors, and it’s not logical to assume that they’ve been anything more than vacuumed or dust mopped between guests. Which means if the guest before you stepped in dog crap and wore those shoes into the room — well that doesn’t really vacuum out, now does it?

There’s a million reasons, even in an extremely clean country like Japan, to assume the floor is dirty. I never used to think about this, so sorry if you had never thought about it either, but here we are, and travel slippers are a must bring for me — even for a single night. I’ve tried loads of different ones over the years, but on this last trip I bought everyone in my family these Montbell ones — they are perfect for this use.

Comfortable, versatile, easy to wash, and easy to pack.

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When I first saw this bag, it was next to the XL model I wrote about previously. I was torn, as this is the size and model I would normally pick for my day to day gear, but I also knew that it would be slightly too small for me to carry for the next 12 days of our trip. So do I buy the larger one and be happy now, or the smaller one and be happy later? As is always the correct answer, the answer to this conundrum was “both”.

Though, the excuse was that my wife also was looking to get something slightly larger than the bag she was carrying, and this Tanker Sling Bag W zip (L) (item 622-08633) caught her eye. She simply said “ok, get both, I’ll use this for the trip and then you can have it.”

One day later: “You know this bag is mine now, right?”

A day after we got home she handed me this Tanker, and said: “You can use this until we go on a trip where I need it again.”

My dear reader, I do not know if this is my bag, her bag, or both of ours? I am going to say it’s hers, I’ve played this game before.

The thing is, it’s a really damned good bag. Which is why we bickered over it. And why I’ll probably buy another. Which, is also why, you should buy one.

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In my search for a good looking, but performance based chino, I picked up Triple Aught Design’s Agent LST Chino to give them a go. These are very comfortable and very light, but they don’t pass for a standard chino pant.

There’s something here, I am just not sure where these work best. I’ve been using them for days when I know I won’t be leaving my desk all day.

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Note: this item was provided for review.

I was quite happy testing the Savant from Pioneer Carry, so when they offered to send over the 2.0 variant of the Duration Pack, it was an instant yes from me. Even more so after I saw the new green colorway they have for it — I love green bags.

The Duration Pack is designed as a travel personal item, and is well sized and laid out for just that — though it will work quite well for people using it for the office as well.

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Note: this item was provided for review.

As spring gave way to summer, the jackets went into their dust covers to hide from the heat — and I lost substantial pockets. This happens each year, and each year it takes me a few weeks to find my footing and realize I need some small bag to carry my gear in. I always start too large, but this summer I decided I would switch to carrying a sling full time, and ditch any grand ideas of not needing one.

I’ve been rotating through a bunch of options, so the offer to test the Safari Sling from Pioneer Carry was one I was not going to pass up. This is a small, if not tiny, sling which is about as minimal as I can push myself. It looks solid, has fantastic materials, and in practice is quite great.

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Something I learned rather quickly after leaving the gray of the Pacific Northwest many years ago, was how transformative keeping the sun off your skin is, and how much that can help you stay cool. In order to achieve this for your head/face/neck/ears, you effectively have two options: hat or umbrella. Preparing to head to Japan in the dead-heat of summer, we geared up with sun protection gear, and I picked up Montbell’s Travel Sun Block Umbrella 50 for my wife to use.

By day three of the trip she had moved from her sun hat, to this sun umbrella and she never looked back. By day 12, I bought one for myself, as I was getting jealous with how well this umbrella works. This is primarily a sun umbrella, but Montbell does note it will shed rain (but I think this means don’t buy it for heavy sustained rain).

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“We are close to a Porter Stand location, I am going to pop in and see what they have, catch up with you in a few.” Off I went to see what bags I could see, determined to pick up my second Porter bag in Japan, and to find something that doesn’t dupe bags I already had. I wandered the small store — the staff always gets excited when they see you have a Porter bag already, they thank you, it’s sweet — and I kept pulling myself from the Tanker lines.

Brown, huh, that’s not a standard looking color. Feels like cotton, cool.

I asked about the bag, the staff came over and pulled the stuffing from it and encouraged me to try it on, to pack my stuff in it. I was pretty sold from the feeling alone, but it was small and small bags can be tricky — they have to be the right kind of small. Then my newly minted good pal, the salesclerk, said the magic works “we have a larger size in the back, shall I get it for you”.

This is Porter’s Smoky line, and specifically the generically named “Shoulder Bag” — this comes in two sizes, this is the larger of the two. It’s also one of the best bags I own, and it’s a lot easier to explain why this one is so very good.

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Billed as a versatile backpack for peak bagging, day hiking, everyday carry, and travel — the Wy’east backpack has a lot of ground to cover in a very lightweight and low cost platform. It looks good, and is well reviewed.

In my testing, it falls short, which is a shame for how much promise the bag has — it’s missing a few things which would make it great.

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The Alpha Executive line of pens are among my most used, and most loved. I’ve had my Electroless Nickel model for some time now, and I still use it a ton. These pens offer a lot of great options for ink, as well as an excellent clip, and peace of mind with a secure screw cap — have no worries tossing it in your pocket or bag.

Recently, Prometheus announced a second version of the pens, with titanium being the first material. I jumped and bought one immediately. My favorite pen, is now even better than it was before.

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I am not sure how to start with this bag, but perhaps I should start by telling you two things: this is possibly the best shoulder bag I’ve ever used; and it will be exceedingly hard for me to convince you of this if you have not handled a ‘Tanker’ bag before.

There’s a long history with Yoshida & Co’s Porter line of bags, and I was dying to get my hands on some while I was in Japan. I had ideas of buying just something small as a keepsake — I did not think I would run into the store yearning for something better to use for the rest of my trip.

That’s why I bought the Tanker Sling Bag W Zip (XL) (product number:
622-15153) — the largest of their shoulder bags before you move into travel, or briefcase territory.

It is an exceptional bag.

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I realized that it’s been almost a full nine years of rucking as my primary workout, and wow. It’s been a while since I wrote about it, so I thought I would take a moment to talk about the gear I use.

I previously wrote about rucking gear in 2017, rucking and gear in 2020, and rucking clothing in 2021.

I ruck about 2.5 miles, six times per week — in all weather from snow and ice, to 100°F. Let’s dive into it.

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