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ROAD WARRIOR ESSENTIALS: What I Carry 200 Days a Year
15
items I'm an apparel rep and I'm on the road about 200 days a year. This is the gear that survived the job — not a wish list, just what's in the bag after a lot of trial and error. Heavy on the boring stuff that actually matters: keeping a line uncreased, ...
Sections
4
The Bag Itself
Power & Tech
Looking Presentable
Surviving the Flight
The Bag Itself
I live out of a carry-on, and the cubes are what make that possible. Shirts stay folded, dirty stuff stays separate, and I can pull one cube out at the appointment instead of unpacking the whole bag on a hotel bed. The expandable ones matter when you...
REI Co-op Expandable Packing Cube Set - Small/Medium/Large | REI Co-op
The one piece I'd replace first if it walked off. Built-in trifold folder with a roll bar, so a suit rides flat instead of getting crushed, and it still fits the overhead. Expensive up front. I've watched cheap bags lose a wheel in an airport and cos...
Baseline Essential 22 Inch Expandable Spinner Carry-On Bag
Folds down to nothing in the carry-on, then opens up when a market drops samples on me and I suddenly have more coming home than went out. Also doubles as my gym bag on the road, which saves carrying a second one.
Pack Duffel
Rides on the carry-on handle instead of pulling on my shoulder through a terminal, which sounds minor until you've done it a few hundred times. Laptop, order sheets and a tablet all have their own spot, so I'm not digging through a bag in front of a ...
Alpha 3 Collection Slim Solutions Laptop Brief Pack
Dress shoes go in a bag before they go in the case. Sounds fussy right up until a sole leaves a mark on a clean shirt the night before an appointment and you are ironing at 6am. Five in the pack, so a couple end up holding dirty laundry on the way ho...
Fosmon 5 Pack Shoe Bags for Travel, Drawstring Shoe Bag Organizer, Travel Shoe Bags for Packing in Suitcase Gym Travelling, Waterproof Shoe Travel Bag
Markets send me home heavier than I came - samples, linesheets, whatever a vendor hands me on the way out. Weighing the bag in the room takes fifteen seconds and has saved the overweight fee more times than the scale cost. Repacking a suitcase on the...
Travel Smart Digital Luggage Scale - Black: Maximum Capacity 80 lbs, Solid Pattern
Power & Tech
One reachable outlet behind the nightstand, and a phone, a laptop and the battery all wanting it. This is three plugs and three USB-C ports in something the size of a deck of cards, so everything charges overnight off the one socket I can actually ge...
Anker Travel Power Strip, Anker Nano 67W Max 6-in-1 USB C Charger
Four flights a week will wear you down. These are the difference between landing wrecked and landing ready to work. Battery outlasts anything I've thrown at it, and the call quality is good enough that I take buyer calls from the gate without apologi...
WH-1000XM5 Wireless Noise Cancelling Over-the-Ear Headphones
Cable is built in, so there's nothing to forget at the hotel. Twenty thousand gets my phone and laptop through a full day of appointments when outlets are behind somebody's display rack. I've written orders on a dying phone before and I'd rather not ...
Anker Power Bank, 20,000mAh Travel Essential Portable Charger ...
Looking Presentable
Samples show up creased every single time. Hotel irons are a gamble and half of them leak. This heats in about two minutes and lives in my carry-on — the line looks right when I walk into the appointment, which is the whole job.
Link Portable Handheld Garment Steamer For All Types Of Garments Great For Home Travel And Office
Merino, so they don't stink after a long day of walking a market floor, and you can rinse a pair in a hotel sink and have them dry by morning. Lifetime guarantee is real — I've sent worn-out pairs back and gotten new ones. Three pairs covers a week.
Darn Tough Hiker Micro Crew Cushion Socks - Men's | REI Co-op
Wrinkles fall out on the hanger, it doesn't hold smell after a full day walking a market floor, and it's washable - which matters when the alternative is a hotel dry cleaner and a two-day turnaround. Reads as put-together at an appointment without ne...
Nordstrom Washable Merino Wool Polo Sweater (Men)
Hangs on the back of a bathroom door, which is the entire point when the hotel counter is six inches wide and already holds a coffee maker. Large because travel sizes run out by day four and I would rather carry full bottles than hunt for a drugstore...
REI Co-op Travel Kit - Large | REI Co-op
Surviving the Flight
Unglamorous, and the thing I'd tell any rep to try first. Two hundred travel days a year adds up in your legs. Put them on for anything over three hours and you walk off the plane feeling like a person instead of something that got folded into a seat...
Truform Travel Compression Socks for Men and Women, 15-20 Knee High Over Calf Length Navy Medium
Hotel gyms are a coin flip — sometimes a real setup, sometimes a treadmill and two dumbbells. These weigh nothing, fit in a side pocket, and mean I get a workout in regardless. Staying in the routine on the road is most of the battle.
Resistance Bands | REI Co-op