The planning has always been my favourite part.
Not the hours spent on Skyscanner trying to save twenty quid by accepting an eight-hour layover. The ritual before that. Laying everything out. Checking it twice. Deciding what earns a place in the bag and imagining the moments each piece of kit might make possible.
Packing is an art.
Choosing the essentials. Thinking about their purpose. What deserves a place? What’s ready? What can stay behind?
The camera is charged. Spare batteries packed. Passports checked. Cables coiled. Everything has a place. Which packing cube? Easy access or buried at the bottom of the duffel? These are the decisions that make the journey feel real.
I find the ritual therapeutic. Working through the list. Laying everything out. Packing it away. There’s comfort in the order of it all. Somewhere between the final zip and the taxi arriving, the adventure has already begun.
This was our first proper trip as a family. A month through Vietnam and Cambodia. Me, my wife and our two boys, five and seven.
I’m a consumer. I don’t mind admitting it.
I appreciate well-made things. Not because they’re expensive, but because they’re built to be used. The kind of objects that quietly become part of your routine and ask nothing more than to be taken somewhere new.
We’d committed to travelling light.
Twenty-year-old North Face duffels for my wife and me. A North Face backpack each for the boys. Packing cubes kept everything in its place. Four bags for four people, and a month on the road.
The taxi arrived at one in the morning.
Bags in the boot. Doors shut. Dubai disappeared behind us as we headed for the airport.
The route was simple enough: overnight to Singapore, then on to Phnom Penh. The journey would be long, but that felt like part of the experience.
The boys carried their own backpacks. My wife and I wore Bellroy Lite Slings that wouldn’t leave our shoulders for the next few weeks.
They were somewhere between nervous and excited. Not many five and seven-year-olds are awake at two in the morning, let alone responsible for everything they own.
We found a quiet bar near the gate, ordered a drink and taught our youngest how to play Uno while the airport slowly came to life around us.
I exchanged a few dirhams for dollars before checking my sling one last time.
Passport. Wallet. Headphones. Sunglasses.
Everything exactly where it should be.
The Carry
- Spyderco Para 3
- Notorious EDC Beer Bomb
- Bellroy Lite Sling
- Persol Folding Sunglasses
- Olight Arkfeld Pro
- Ridge Wallet
- Ciele Athletics Cap
- Hand Sanitiser
- Wet Wipes