Category: National Preparedness Month

Despite prepping being understood as something done by ultra patriotic rednecks hoarding spam and ammo in their remote homestead/bunkers, there are many practical things that can be done by urban professionals and digital nomads, and many are already doing it without realizing what it is.

Preparedness is not about hoarding survival items. Though it is good to have a set of survival tools, whether it is a power bank + backup memory for your laptop, snow chains for your vehicle or a pressure cooker, the exact set of the tools you need depends on what you can use. If you have a garden and can can fruits, thumbs up and power to you! For someone like me, living in a second floor studio, survival gear means having portable electronics and their backups.

Having said that, I think everyone should have a bugout bag (a shameless PlanktonPunkt Designs commercial included at the bottom of the post.)

Bugout bags are preps for emergencies when you need to move fast and have no time to pack. Even if you have not one waiting in a closet, everyone should know what should go into their bugout bag and where the items to toss in are.

Again, the exact contents of the bugout bag depend on your exact needs and where and how you are bugging out. My bugout bag is for sudden international air travel, because I used to travel back and forth to manage my affairs in California and Finland. I have never needed to escape war, civil unrest, impending sanctions, natural disaster or such calamities, but I have had family emergencies that have required me to quickly pack my bag and hurry to airport. Even quick changes in work plans may need a sudden departure.

I believe my plan for a bugout bag to work for any person who needs to be ready to travel fast by air.

Generic rules:

1. Only take carry-on baggage. If you need to transfer planes, especially between airports, your chances of missing the connecting flight and/or your luggage decrease if you carry it all with you. Also bumping to earlier flight is only possible if you don’t have checked in luggage and time is of essence.
2. Use a duffel bag. For more leisurely travel it is OK to use hard shell luggage, but to ensure your carry-on luggage fits the overhead compartments, I recommend a duffel bag. Back bags are more rigid and therefore less likely to adjust into overhead compartments, and many of them contain unnecessary extra straps and padding that is away from your weight allowance. Unless you plan on hiking a lot, duffel bags are optimal airline bugout bags.
3. If the airline allows an extra cabin item, take a laptop bag or handbag (that can hold your laptop.) In nicer airlines, the check-in often does not count your cabin item to carry-on weight allowance, which leaves more space for the rest of your bugout items. For the same reason, unless the weather is too hot, I recommend an overcoat with many and large pockets. If your carry-on luggage is too heavy or bulky, rather than arguing with airline check-in remove those items you can live without and leave them, but if you are wearing an overcoat with pockets, you may try to stuff some items in your pockets, especially if you are over the weight rather than the size limit and there are small but heavy items like small electronics or books you need.

What to pack into a bugout bag?

Most items people carry are not necessary, even I tend to carry maybe 1/3 of the volume of items that I never use during the trip. And I miss rarely needed items that I left out.

Below is a list based on my experiences, but everyone should tailor the contents of their bag according to their personal and bugout needs.

1. Absolute travel essentials

Valid passport(s) – everyone should have one or more

multiple credit and debit cards for different banks and credit card companies

banking tokens and/or keylogger devise

cash, preferably in multiple denominations.

The passports should be kept behind a zipper in easy to reach compartment. The one under which the air tickets are issued should be in easier to reach place like handbag or coat pocket, the spare for emergencies (like having lost the primary passport) in a more secure location like inside the carry-on luggage.

The multiple debit and credit cards and cash should be divided between your luggage, handbag and pockets, so that if you lose some not all is lost.

Cash is essential for those situations when ATMs and credit cards do not work, whereas credit cards are essential for those situations, where cash is not accepted.

The easiest way to transport cash is debit card. I usually start my travel with some dollars, but when I get into another country, I withdraw cash from an airport ATM. This saves the time that would be spent dealing with banks’ currency exchange counters or Forex dealers. Also, ATMs are common and open 24/7, whereas banks and currency exchanges typically are not.

Banking tokens and key-logger can be kept deep in your carry-on luggage (or in your handbag), they are essential if you need to move funds between your bank and credit card accounts, e.g., to buy new plane tickets or rent a vehicle or stay longer in your hotel room.

In case of extreme hurry / emergency, everything else is expendable, but you will need a valid ID and cash to travel and with cash, the rest of the travel gear can be bought under normal circumstances.

Also good to have:

driver’s license (useful for renting cars in the destination)

medical insurance card

Driver’s license and medical insurance card are kept safe deep inside your carry-on luggage in case they are needed. Driver’s license is for renting a car in your destination, so that can be closer to zipper than the medical insurance card.

2. Medical kit: your prescription medications, common travel ailments and first aid.

If you have a medical condition, your prescription medications would go to the absolute travel essentials, but it is good to have a first aid kit for travel ailments and mishaps.

Prescription medicines should come with the prescription, which should be kept with boarding passes and passport for the security screen and can go inside your duffel bag afterwards.

My selection of travel medicine and first aid kit:

head ache pills (non-drowsy, ibuprofen and aspirin; aspirin doubles as clot preventer for long flights)

stomach ache pills (famotidine)

allergy medicine (non-drowsy like loraditine)

cough drops (I prefer eucalyptus)

zinc, quercetin and multivitamin (against airborne infections)

hydrocortisone ointment (against insect bites – those can also happen in urban environments)

aloe vera antibiotic ointment against burns and scrapes

pocket hand sanitizer

pocket pack of tissues

earplugs and chewing gums

All ointments and liquids should be under 100ml and all containers together should fit into a resealable plastic zipper bag of maximum 1 liter size.

To avoid hassle in security screen, put the resealable zipper bag on the top of everything under the duffel bag zipper, preferably on the top of spare clothing item. This will also reduce the likelihood that your bottles are crushed and tubes squeezed, and if they do, only your spare clothing suffers.

Also the pills and tissues should be kept close to the top of the duffel bag – if you cut your finger or your head begins to ache you don’t want to begin excavations into your carefully packed bugout bag.

Chewing gums and earplugs can be carried in pockets. Chewing gums should be put into mouth just before boarding – chewing will help against air pressure in ear drums during takeoff and landing.

Earplugs are essential, if you want to sleep in crowded (noisy) environments.

3. Essential electronics

For me, those are work laptop, personal laptop, two mobile phones, minitablet with SIM card slot, spare portable memories (USB sticks are usually enough for short trips), power cords and adaptors, international electric socket adaptors (important!), and earbuds with microphone

Two laptops are good – if one fails the other can act as a backup until a replacement laptop can be bought. Ditto with mobiles. Assuming availability of Wi-Fi, laptops can be used for checking travel connections and other essential data even when you are in a country not covered by your mobile phone subscription.

Minitablet with SIM card slot is an international travel essential – rather than buying a mobile phone for every local network, buy a prepaid SIM card for host nation network. This saves time and money, and is lighter to carry.

If you are traveling abroad (or your bugout bag includes international option) an international electric socket adapter is a must. It may take time to find one in your destination country while your electronics are running out of battery. Bring a cord and an adapter for each devise you have. If possible have adapters that can be plugged into power cords, and you can switch cords with plugs for local sockets (which is what I do when traveling between United States and Finland.)

All files should be backed up into USB sticks (or other memory) in case one of the electronics fails or is lost. The USB sticks should be carried separate from the laptops and mobile devises – if laptops are in carry-on luggage, the USB sticks are in your handbag, or in a wallet in a pocket.

Earbuds are not strictly speaking essential, but considerate for other passengers plus not all airlines any more offer free earbuds for watching movies.

4. Personal hygiene (comb, dental hygiene, make up, sanitary napkins)

If there is time, always use the airport amenities for personal hygiene and visiting toilet. Cramped airplane toilets are miserable places to take care of your hygiene, especially 8 hours into trans-Atlantic flight.

I don’t recommend packing a razor into a carry-on luggage.

5. Spare clothing

3 – 5 changes of underwear and 3 shirts. Depending on the number of changes and anticipated delays while in transit and after settling in your destination, i.e., the length of time before you can shop for fresh clothing or do laundry, you should have multiple changes of underwear and T-shirts or long sleeved shirts depending on your destination weather.

1 extra sweater or heavy college shirt – no matter where you go, sooner or later it will be cold.

Spare pair of trousers or a spare skirt in case something happens to what you are wearing. Alternatively, or additionally, a small travel sewing kit for emergency repairs.

In case of a wintery destination (Alaska, Canada, Nordic countries), extra pair of long johns, an extra pair of woolen gloves, two pairs of wool socks. You should have your knitted cap and another pair of gloves on you or in your pockets.

If space or weight does not allow too much extra weight, the extra trousers/skirt can be ditched.

While some spare clothing can be transported ‘on person’, so to speak, heat dissipation will set limits to that. Don’t exhaust yourself or get a heat stroke just to pack extra spare clothing. You can usually buy more in the destination.

6. Notebook, pen, pencil and pocket book

Notebook and ink pen are essential. Notebook for memos, appointments, ticket details and other important information into format that does not require electricity, pen additionally for filling immigration paperwork and other forms. Unless you have everything essential memorized, it is a good idea to write it down ready to be used in emergency without internet access.

While not strictly speaking essential, I like to travel with at least one pocket book to keep myself amused without need for charging stations and to reduce eye strain from screen time.

PlanktonPunkt Designs Commercial:

I am selling print on demand duffel bags within USA, on sale for September 2025. This above version with Cladonia cup lichen pattern and “Survival September 2025”-motto is available in PlanktonPunkt Designs Printify and Etsy shop spaces (clicking the mock up image takes to Printify store.) I also have notebooks and accessory pouches available for US customers. Apologies to the rest of the world, but being a solo operator still learning the basics, the international regulations are overwhelming, so unfortunately, USA only for now.