My Most Memorable Kit

JK Knives

JK Knives

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With all the talk about kits here, I thought I would post a picture of my most memorable one, which has stayed the same for the last two years. In my last year of employment I was informed that I would be traveling to China, alone, to help our division set up production of our cheaper line of products. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper, I had never been out of the USA before, and had never flown for more than 3 hours! This would be a 14 hour flight, to a strange land. At least they had someone to meet me over there that spoke English. I decided to put together a basic kit to make me worry a bit less. I bought an inexpensive Eagle Creek over one shoulder backpack to carry it all in. Here is what went in it.
2 bandanas
heavy work gloves
duct tape
zip ties
notebook
pen
sharpie
extra pair of glasses
first aid book
first aid kit
aspirin
advil
pepto bismal tablets
shoelaces
whistle
Victorinox Swisscard
Victorinox Sportsman 2
Leatherman tool
mini prybar
Minimag flashlight
extra batteries and bulbs
sewing kit
safety pins
eyeglass repair kit
smokes
matches
bag of Jolly Rancher candy (for the flight,no smoking for over 16 hours)

I took the bag as carry on with everything in it except the cutting tools, I kept it by my feet for the entire flight. At night in the hotel, I put my passport and wallet in the bag in case I had to leave the hotel for a fire or something.
As you can see, I "survived" my journey. Here is a pic of it all except for my Jolly Ranchers.

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2 weeks in June, and 2 weeks in January of the next year. When I was gone in January my wife was in an accident in an ice storm, nothing major just a broken arm, but my a**hole boss still would not let me come home 3 days early.
 
The airline travel kit is the most challenging for us (knife-minded) folks. You also never quite know the culture and acceptability of toting along a blade via belt carry in other regions. I've also found myself in this past year doing a lot of little air trips from one place to the next in a scheduled business tour. In those cases I won't take any check-in type of luggage. In fact, I try to avoid check-in luggage unless my stay will be more than a week. People generally pack too much clothing. You don't have to wear a fresh outfit everyday. The newer travel clothing available today is also quick drying and you can wash clothing in your hotel room and hang it to dry. If you have a bit more money to spare, most hotels offer next-day dry cleaning services as well. Carry-on does make kit packing very challenging, however, while at the same time these situations demand a good kit because you aren't situated any place long enough to add temporary supplies.

The imodium capsules are my best friend here and a good first aid kit with convenience drugs (like headache pain killers, GI-tract, allergies) goes a long way. While lighters and matches are no longer allowed on airplanes, these are easily procured on site. I have also found that I can bring a small firesteel on board in my carry-on without raising any eyebrows. Match this with bug repellent or petroleum based lip-balm/moisturizer and a few cotton pads in the first aid kit and you have a full fire kit. Strikers, like the light me fire type also are no problem in carry on, although it is best to carry it in a separate compartment then the firesteel. The micro-sized firesteels can be tied right onto a zipper and people think it is just a fancy zipper lanyard. For kicks, I once tried using the end cap of my maglight as a firesteel striker, but it wasn't hard enough to draw sparks :(

If I'm at a place for a couple of days, then I usually check out the local grocery store. You can often find a set of cheapo steak knives for a buck or two that can be thrown in your pack. Just don't forget to discard them when you leave again. A hat is essential to have on hand and often forgotten in a business situation. Having some kind of hat that can be stuffed away in a day-pack pocket, or a bandanna is important also. A whistle is a great thing to have on you in travel and it should be a pocket carry item. John's shoe laces are also essentials - I usually take some paracord to act as a surrogate. Of course, if you didn't secure a knife, that paracord isn't going to be easy to convert into shoe laces.
 
all hail the almighty Swisscard! I love those things, I have two. Nice kit
 
I vacationed in China about eight years ago (before 9-11) and had a pocket knife with me. When I went through the airport checkin in Japan, the woman said I could carry the knife on board if the blade was less than the width of the palm. It was less than my palm but more than hers. They took the knife but gave it back when I landed.
 
HornyToad said:
I vacationed in China about eight years ago (before 9-11) and had a pocket knife with me. When I went through the airport checkin in Japan, the woman said I could carry the knife on board if the blade was less than the width of the palm. It was less than my palm but more than hers. They took the knife but gave it back when I landed.
Click to expand...

This makes all sorts of sense to me. I cant carry one of the small swiss army knives, but I can bring a benchmade tactical pen and a surefire with the crenelated bezel. WTF. I'm flying for the third time since before 9/11 this Christmas, and not looking forward to it. I remember when I was 8 or 9 I was carrying small jacknives onto planes, no questions asked.
 
I have sort of the same thing going with my schoolbag/messenger bag/edc bag. The essence of the contents is the same, but things are a little different. The bag is rarely more than 100 yards from me, and when it is its in my car while I'm at a concert or in a movie, what have you.
 
Nice kit. It works well for urban travel, which is where I find myself most of the time too.
 
No Jolly Ranchers pictured? Man, the rest is just a bunch of stuff without those sweet hard candies.
Seriously though, nice kit :thumbup:
 
Looks great...I've been doing a lot of traveling over the past several months and I'm really trying to refine that FAA-approved package. My Utilikey made it twice as did an older Executive Edge folding pen knife (both by accident). I use to have a Mad Dog ceramic knife that accompanied me down in South America, but I try not to tempt the demons these days. My titanium buckled Wilderness belt is awesome!

Only recommendation would be to carry an empty Nalgene bottle (fill it at a water foutain as soon as you get through security) and upgrade to a quality LED light...you get more illumniation and more features, such as an emergency strobe. Next time I travel, I'm going to try a small pair of pliers (they have to be under 8")...I just don't want to risk my spendy 8" Kniplex adjustable pliers.

The best "weapons" I can come up with are the bandanda with the pocket for a role of quarters and my "tactical" pen.

ROCK6
 
I'm heading to Kauai in a couple weeks, I'm gonna have to hit the hardware store to look for pliers. I've got a pair I love (they were from a swiss mine kit that sportsmansguide was selling years ago) but I'm pretty sure they're over 8 inches.

/I used to bullseye womprats from my T-16 back home, they're not much bigger than 2 meters
//Drunk, please excuse my slashies
 
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