The first part in the series of What To Pack As Man brought you the first three items that should go into your suitcase travel bag head first once you decided you are going to travel.

As I set out in the first part the series would start off with 3 travel items for men that are so essential that their importance is only topped by the most essential one of them all (your passport).

In the second part we are letting go of the very fundamentals. Our list of travel packing tips for men will continue with three more things that are slightly more sophisticated in their nature, but nonetheless essential for the traveling man. After packing the oldest and most reliable one of your smartphones (1), a non-extravagant watch (2) as well as a Swiss Army Knife (3) the following three items are of equal importance.

Item No. 4 in our list can be seen as a combination of the first item in the series (the outdated smartphone) and the one advice on how to avoid getting robbed while you travel, namely that using a travel bag instead of a suitcase has one convenient side-effect: you will not be taken for a tourist, but rather for a local who might just be going zo the gym with his sports bag over his shoulder.

Why a low-key digital camera?

One advantage of using an unimposing camera for your pictures becomes very clear when you apply the travel bag-logic to digital cameras: a bland, perhaps older model will not stick out much while a fancy camera with a telephoto lens has tourist written all over it. It will, in all likelihood, draw more unwanted attention to you than the other model ever would. Unless you know your way around photography and you can value the options that an advanced camera model offers there is no real reason to turn yourself into an amateur Peter Parker while you travel (the non-transformed Reporter-Peter).

Price

Prices on Ebay for a well-maintained camera start at 40€ and go up to 75€.

Weight

As your camera will have no photolense and you will not need any further equipment your pocket-style camera will come down to about 150 – 200g.

Tip

If you decide to buy a second-hand camera then consider buying a fresh battery along with it. While being of an older age has no real effect on the camera itself, it is the battery that will show the strongest wear and tear symptoms. You will be surprised how much a fresh battery will add up to a well working and realiable camera.

I have written a whole article about why having a no-fee credit card, e.g. a credit card with no annual fee, no foreign transaction/purchase fee and no cash withdrawal fee is a must for any traveler. What want to do here is to stress how important it is to be totally independent from the need to wander around the city just to find that one branch of the local banks that lets you avoid the $5 fee for a withdrawal because that bank is in the same international alliance as your bank back home.

Why a no-fee credit card?

Even though there are already 19 contries in the Eurozone, making the Euro the most internationally most accepted currency right after the US Dollar the whole concept of paying in the same currency from Flensburg to Lisbon does not help you much with avoiding fees.

Eurozone or no Eurozone it is the actual banks down on the ground where you will get your cash and that will charge you shameless withdrawal fees from 2.00€ up to 8.00€ per transaction. These are relatively small (2€) and not-so-small (8€) amounts of money that will add up tremendously over time. Just take the average of 5€ per withdrawal and let us suppose you make 7 withdrawals in a 10-12 day trip. You will be throwing  35€ — almost $40 — right out the window just to have access to your own money.

Bringing cash with you is no real alternative, either. While it can be safe to say that even at the worst exchange rate will you hardly lose as much as the 35€ it is a psychological moment that will kick in. Even if wanted to avoid withdrawal fees so bad that you didn’t care about the money you’d lose through horrible exchange rates your brain won’t allow you to. The capitalist mindset of bargaining that you acquired in the west is very likely to urge to compare prices and will make you feel guilty if you didn’t. Add to that the bad feeling in your stomach once you get your receopt in a changing booth that contains all kinds of “fees” that were never mentioned in the store then you find yourself in a vicious circle where you will lose money either way.

Owning a credit card that charges no fees for withdrals wipes out losing money for good. Once such a credit card is at your disposal you gain an incredible amount of freedom. No matter where you are you will only pay the actual amount due – and nothing else. No more comparing prices or the bitter after taste that stays with you once you left the money changing place. Just like in a corny TV commercial your free credit card takes care of all that and lets you focus on those things that interest you the most.

Price

Since it the idea of a no-fee credit card includes no annual fees the price comes down to zip. Go to the original article for an international list of banks that provide fee-less credit cards.

Weight

Nothing to look for here. 15g perhaps.

Tip

Have a look at the list in the article on the best travel tip to save money when you travel. It contains a list of banks that all offer credit cards that are virtually free of any fees whatsover. Be advised that you MUST pick a VISA or Master Card in order to fully benefit from the no-fee policy. For the simple reason that American Express and Diner’s Club are by far not as widely accepted as the Visa and Master Card.

Tip 2

If you are traveling Europe as a Canadian or American you might have to tell your bank that you will be using your card abroad. As retarded as it sounds for a card that was developed exclusively with its international use in mind many US banks have by default blocked their cards for use abroad. And even if your card is not blocked by default there is a high chance it will be once the first purchases from different European countries trickle in as this will be seen as “suspicious use”.

One of the few things a man can really trust is his own thought taken down on paper. Carrying a small notepad with you at all times is not only a worldly trait cultivated by nearly all of 20th century’s famous writers, with Ernest Hemingway on top of the list, it is also the most convenient and most effective way of saving any kind of information that you want to keep for later.

Why a Moleskine notebook?

Using a Moleskine (“Mo-leh-skee-neh”) notebook is convenient, because they are available in all sizes one of which will fit into your jacket pocket like tailor-made. The slim notebooks are no weight to carry and with their handy size you can whip them out within a second if you wanted to take something down.

Using a Moleskine notebook is effective, because writing things down in your own handwriting is a unique way to give a manifestation to the words buzzing around in your head known as language. Seeing your writing visibly in front of you increases the odds remembering whatever task, roadway sketch or address you took down many times over as that little thought of yours has become a product you yourself created. Is it any wonder that authors, e.g. people who turn their thoughts in almost tangible object (stories that people relate to with all kinds of emotions), all took notebooks like that from Moleskine – and not typewriters – as their choice of saving information? It’s a little urban myth that it was Ernest Hemingway who made the Moleskine notebook so popular. While this is technically impossible as Hemingway killed himself in 1961 and Moleskine was founded only in 1998 I have no doubt that he would have used them if he could have.

Plain paper instead of a travel laptop: Hemingway at a Kenya campsite in 1926

With a notebook like that from Moleskine you also gain freedom. No longer are you dependent on any third party to access the information you stored. This advantage must by no means be underestimated. The easiest way get an idea about how dependent you are on gadgets like computers and the internet is by being cut off from electricity. I gained some personal experience with when I experienced power outs in Kiev or when I was traveling to Wroclaw, Poland.

While I did not take my laptop with me to Wroclaw I made the mistake of traveling with a brandnew smartphone instead of an older one. Like most smartphones these days my brandnew phone came with all kinds of useless apps pre-installed, the Google Hangout app being one of them. I only found out days later that it was that Google app which sucked by battery dry after 45 minutes of charging it up to the brim (no exaggeration). So without the smartphone’s GPS navigation I relied on little maps that I drew by hand into my Moleskine. The result? Even today I could take you on a mini-tour through downtown Wroclaw as writing down the the street names and routes I took  engraved them into my memory for good.

Price

While you can get china-made notebooks in all shapes and sizes at the 1-Euro-store a Milan-made Molekine notepad is somewhat pricey. The classic model as pictured above starts at less than 12€ for the smallest size (9 x 14 cm or 3.5 x 5.5 inches) and is available at your nearest well-equipped stationary store.

Weight

Even with features like a built-on pocket the classic Moleskine notebook hardly weighs in with more than 100g.

Tip

If the stores in your area don’t offer Moleskine notebooks then have a look at the official Moleskine online shop that offers a 10% discount at the time this articles is released. However, a 3,90€ shipping fee will apply which brings your Moleskine Classic to a total of 14,61€.

That’s all folks!

The series of What To Pack As Man ends here. In case you have missed the first episode you can reach it through the link below. Also have a look at the third episode that comes with even more travel packing tips for men:

1. The Essential Travel Packing List for Men (Part 1/3)
2. What To Pack As A Man (Part 3/3)

An additional post discussing new gadgets, accesssories, etc that make traveling for men easier and more fun can be found at Best Travel Accessories.

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