5 Tips for GDC Tip2: Your everyday carry bag

21st Feb 2017

A decent bag is a must, and to be really flexible it needs to tick certain boxes.

It needs to be a suitable size for carry-on with your airline of choice and large enough to contain everything you need to have on your person while travelling or working.

Your bag should be one that you are happy to lug around the conference for days on end, so if you have business meetings or you will be taking notes at lectures, make sure it can take your laptop with plenty of room to spare. A lightweight waterproof coat, your laptop charger, a sweatshirt, promotional materials, and anything else you might find useful – having two hands free makes life a lot easier.

It should have plenty of pockets and compartments, but not too many! Sometimes the temptation is to get a rucksack or bag with countless zips and pouches, but when it comes to finding something like a passport or landing card quickly then you want to know where to put your hands on items straight away. I like to have an easily accessible compartment to empty all my metal items in at airport security; my wristwatch, spare change, phone, wallet and even my belt all get stuffed into the one pocket, and then easily retrieved so I can get organised again once through the scanners.

Another useful feature is if the bag can be completely opened up to reveal a central laptop section. At some airports they are happy for you to split your bag in half and send it through with the laptop sat on top. When this happens, being able to unzip, send through in a tray, and then reassemble makes for a very stress-free life.

My old Arcteryx Blade 30 is years old now but is still my all-time favourite – it ticks all my boxes.