Gear Not Stuff: November 2025 Edition
13 essential travel items, tested across hundreds of thousands of miles.
It’s the second Friday of the month—which means it’s time for Gear Not Stuff.
We live in a world of mass consumerism, where we have more stuff than ever. As I point out in Scarcity Brain, the average home contains at least 10,000 items. Yet minimalism, as I wrote here, has failed us.
When considering how to make smarter purchasing decisions, I’ve started distinguishing between gear and stuff.
Stuff is a possession for the sake of it. Stuff clutters. We buy stuff impulsively to alleviate boredom or stress, or to solve problems we could have tackled creatively with what we already have.
Gear, on the other hand, has a clear purpose of helping us achieve a higher purpose. Gear is a tool we can use to have better experiences.
We’re heading into the holidays, the most wonderful and stressful time of the year. About two-thirds of people say their stress is “very or somewhat elevated during the holidays.”
And it gets even worse when we all frantically travel in packed airports or take long road trips to see family. Nearly four out of five holiday travelers say the experience is a stress hell.
I can’t get your kids to behave or prevent flight delays. But I’ve also logged enough miles over the years—book tours, reporting trips, speaking gigs, etc—to find that a smooth journey requires a repeatable gear system, not a hodgepodge of stuff you toss together each trip. What’s that oft-repeated quote? “You fall to the level of your systems.”
The following system is the result of a hundred small failures: lost bags the airline can’t find, hotel takeout with no utensils, the wrong exercise apparel in a mountain town, loud planes that kill productivity.
I’ve taken these 13 items around the world, and they’ve made my trips better, safer, and easier. They also make fantastic holiday gifts.
Here’s today’s roadmap:
13 essential travel items: The items I take on every trip, battle-tested across hundreds of thousands of miles, to make holiday travel (and all travel thereafter) seamless and stress-free.
Why they work: I’ll break down how each item makes travel easier, more streamlined, and allows you to make travel productive.
My favorite new brand: A small company making, by far, the best travel and EDC gear on the planet right now. (Hint: It’s not GORUCK).
Where to find each item: Links to buy and save.
Housekeeping:
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Thanks to our partners:
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The audio version is at the bottom of this post.
Let’s roll …