You know the drill: Travel light, keep clean, dress casually and buy what you need when you get there. That's why every travel writer then proceeds to give you a list of crap that would give a pachyderm a hernia.
I have traveled with nothing (after all my luggage was stolen) and lots (on assignment, complete with tripod, tape recorders, video cameras and camera), and having nothing is the way to go. Most travelers travel with less and less as they gain experience or as they get mugged and pick-pocketed. You choose: lose it now or later. The only exception would be specialized expeditions, where you are expected to come back with footage or samples of your discoveries. Even if you consider porters for your gear, maintain your credo of traveling light.

This is just a rambling list of tips and ideas. Please don't pack everything we mention.

Luggage: I prefer a frameless backpack and a fanny pack. Avoid outside pockets, or fill them with your dirty laundry. Locks and twist ties from garbage bags are good to slow down thieves. Put everything inside large heavy-duty Ziploc freezer bags, and then put those inside large garbage bags. Bring some spares of both types of bags. Some people like to use thick rubber "rafting" sacks, but in my experience they are useless, being neither waterproof nor durable. Inside my pack, I like to put a small Pelican case with the delicates and expensives. I also carry a second fanny pack for toiletries and personal stuff. I use clear Tupperware containers to store first aid, medicines, and other assorted small objects. Don't scrimp on your pack but remember it will come back foul smelling, ripped and covered in dirt.

Tent: Do you really need a tent? Consider a hammock, a bug net or even a simple plastic tarp. You can substitute a groundsheet with rope for warmer climes or a jungle hammock for swamps. Or you can get extra friendly and crash with the locals. After your first night on the ground in the jungle, you will realize why the apes sleep in the trees. Your first night in the desert will teach you that tents are strictly for yuppies. L.L. Bean, Freeport, ME 04033, (800) 221-4221, makes a great jungle hammock (make sure that where you are going there are at least two trees or Land Rovers from which to hang it).

Sleeping Bag: Get a light cotton-lined sleeping bag that has anything but down stuffing. Down does not insulate when wet. Get a sleeping bag, small enough so that it can be washed (it will get funky!).

Toiletry Kit: Combination comb/brush, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, deodorant, toilet paper, tampons, condoms, small Swiss Army knife with scissors and nail file, shaver, shampoo, liquid soap.

Compass: Even if you don't know how to use a compass, you should have one. If you take along the manual you'll easily learn how to use your compass to tell time, measure maps, navigate by the stars, signal airplanes, and, God forbid, even plot your course if you get lost. The best compasses are made by Silva, P.O. Box 966, Binghampton, NY 13902, (607) 779-2200, and are available at just about any sporting goods store.

Flashlight: There are only two kinds you should consider buying-a small Tekna waterproof flashlight (get a yellow one so that you can find it when you drop it); better yet, get two or three because they make great gifts for your guides. The other kind is a Petzl or REI waterproof head-mounted flashlight. You will use both. Try putting up a tent with a handheld flashlight. Maglites are great but are a bitch to hold on to in the mud. Get lots of AA Duracell batteries.

Mosquito Netting: REI sells a nifty mosquito tent. Mosquitoes like to start feeding as soon as you drift off to sleep, so this light tentlike mesh will keep your head and arms safe. It can also be used to catch fish, strain chunks out of water and strain gasoline. Bring bug repellent with the highest DEET content. Wash it though, because it may cause some nasty rashes if not washed off. In hotel rooms, mosquito coils can make life bearable. They do not scare off large rats.

Clothing: Cotton is about the only fabric worth wearing, and don't get carried away with too many changes. After one week, everything you own will be stinky, damp and wrinkled, so it's best to rotate three shirts, three T-shirts, two pants, one shorts, three socks, three underwear, a hat, poncho, one pair of sneakers, hiking boots and flip-flops. And that's it.
 

• Pants: The plain khaki army fatigues made in Korea are your best bet. You will find them in any surplus or Army Navy store. Cabellas is also an excellent source. Banana Republic used to be the place for adventurers, but the only thing they make that is worthwhile now is their correspondent's vest, which has to be special-ordered.
• Light cotton T-shirts: Preferably with the name of where you are from or a DP shirt (use as gifts later).
• Wool socks: Take three pairs-one to wear, one to wash and another to wear because you forgot to wash the first pair. Do not get the high-tech synthetic socks, just the funky rag type.
• Underwear: Loose cotton boxers; get groovy-looking ones so that they can double as swim trunks.
• Shirt: long-sleeved cotton, not too butch so you can wear it to dinner.
• Poncho: cheap plastic to protect pack and camera gear and to sleep on.
• Hat: wide-brimmed canvas hat. Tilleys are the best, but who wants to look like a geriatric on safari? Another choice is to pick up a cheap straw hat when you get there. Natty and disposable.
• Hiking boots: Lightweight mesh and canvas or leather, no foam padding if possible.
• Sneakers: I use Chuck Taylor's Converse in beige. Get 'em one size larger 'cause your feet will swell up. The world's greatest (and cheapest) jungle boots.

Cooking: I bring a standard stainless-steel cooking set that doubles as an eating set: a knife, fork and spoon with a hole in the handle so that they can be carried on a belt ring. (That way, I am always ready to eat.) Other people just bring the old military mess tin and one spoon. I notice that the more I travel and the friendlier I get, the less I use my own mess kit and end up eating at other people's homes.
If you are on an expedition, you need a cooking stove that burns not just stove fuel but diesel and every grade of automotive gasoline. (You haven't lived until you have tasted a dinner cooked over diesel fuel.) Bring a multifuel stove and a small fuel bottle. They work best with white gas, since car fuels clog up the stove and require frequent cleaning (so bring the kit and a spare O-ring). When it comes to freeze-dried food, don't be swayed by those high-end organic meals. You won't hear many complaints when you serve up those trailer trash cheese-and-potato meals they sell at regular supermarkets (at about a tenth of the price). Remember to bring fruits and treats. I can live off peanut butter, beef jerky and warm beer, but no normal human can live on those low fat, high fiber, monkey shit meals they sell in those yuppie outfitting stores. (By the way, some African termites and caterpillars have between 600 to 700 calories per 100 grams. Insect fatty acids are low in cholesterol. The food value of ants, grubs and caterpillars is about the same as liver or sausage.) Power Bars and freeze dried foods can be life savers but taste like hell and will constipate you rather dramatically. So don't be shy about trying the local tucker.

First Aid Kit: A prescription from your doctor or a letter describing the drugs you are carrying can help. Pack wads of antidiarrheals, electrolyte powder, antibiotics, insect-sting kit, antacids, antihistamines (for itching and colds), antibiotic ointment, iodine, water purifier, foot powder, antifungal ointment and a syringe or two.Single sides razor blades, a lighter, condoms, rubber gloves, IV drip (needle and bag) and small first aid kid are good to have.

Camera: If you are a total idiot, bring an auto-everything camera and find out when you return how it turns on and what batteries you should have packed. If you are an idiot-in-training, bring a brand-new outfit with too many lenses and never use it. Pros bring two or more bodies, a 300mm 2.8, a zoom to cover the middle and then a 20mm. The new autofocus lenses suck in moisture and dust. Try to stick to the old manual metal mount lenses. I shoot with a Leica range finder and R system. Nikon, Canon and Zeiss systems are just as good.

Video: I love the now discontinued Sony TR-200, Hi-8 system and consider it a must-have on any trip. It's light, tiny (even with all the accessories) and easy to shoot.

Binoculars: Don't bring binoculars. You can always bum somebody else's, unless you are going to Africa or want to avoid gunships-then they are a must. Leica and Zeiss roof prisms are the only ones to consider.

Survival Kit: Survival kits are like an African fetish. We hope that just having these items around means we will never have to use them. Remember to keep this kit separate from your main pack, ideally in a belt mounted bag. Your entire pack should consist of first-aid kit, two space blankets, Bic lighters, Swiss Army knife (get the one with the saw), a whistle, Power Bars (get one of each flavor), string, extra money, your photocopied ID, fishing line with hooks (not too helpful in the desert), candle butts, Stop Trot or any other electrolyte replacement product and headache pills. Also bring a sewing kit, and buy a surgical needle shaped like a fishhook. You will need this to sew up your skin (sterilized with a lighter first) if you suffer a severe gash. Baby wipes are handy for many uses. Hydrogen peroxide is a nasty but useful disinfectant. Reader Trond M. VÂgen from Norway also suggests tampons (for wounds), a small magnet (for a makeshift compass with needles or razorblades), magnesium fire starting kit (hell why not bring C-4 explosives?) and to cap it off, a Lapplander knife. Thanks for the tips, Trond.
You may also want to bring steel wool (it burns as tinder) aluminum foil, plastic bags and a small flare gun.

Water Bottle: Bring a metal water bottle that can double as a spare fuel bottle (use a large silver one for your water and a small red one for fuel). Condoms or rubber gloves can hold water in a pinch.

Essentials: Your passport, airline tickets, money, credit cards, traveler's checks, drivers license, malaria pills, sunscreen, lip salve, spare contacts, glasses, sunglasses. Make two copies of all documents Including credit cards. Leave one at home, take one with you in a place other than the originals.

Letters of Recommendation: If you get in a jam or need special dispensations, it doesn't hurt to have plenty of glowing letters about you on fancy stationery. Lots of official stamps help too. Money is better.

Gifts: Most of the Third World views you as a rich capitalist pig. Because you think you are a poor capitalist pig doesn't let you off the hook when it comes to giving gifts. Keep it simple and memorable and have plenty to go around. Mirrors, beads and shiny paper were big in Columbus' time, but you are expected to do better than that today. Here are a few suggestions to make you the hit of the village:

• Pens - Call an advertising specialty company to get cheap pens printed with your name and message on them. They will still be as cheap as drugstore Bics and a lot cooler as gifts.
• Stickers - Buy a bag of them from party stores; if you can't resist a little self-promotion, have your own stickers printed up on foil and give 'em out to the eager hordes.
• Cigarettes - I know it is not cool to smoke, but passing around smokes is a successful way to initiate male-bonding in the rest of the world. In the Muslim world, where men don't drink, they smoke enough to make up for it. Even if you don't smoke, carry a couple of packs of cigarettes as gifts and icebreakers. I know for a fact that peoples' intentions to shoot me have been altered by the speed with which I have offered up the smokes.
• Balloons - Kids love the farting sound they make, and they will play with the balloons until they mysteriously pop-at which point, they will head straight back to you asking you to repair it. So carry lots.
• Holograms - I carry stacks of cheap hologram stickers. They will amaze, confuse and delight your hosts.

• Travel Clock Calculator - I can never find the kind I like, so I buy them in the duty-free shops. The Sharp EL-470 acts as an international timepiece, alarm clock, calculator, currency converter and business card holder. Some of the new personal assistants put this tiny thing to shame, but think about packing one along.
• Adventurer Watch - A number of companies make waterproof watches with all sorts of gee whiz features including alarms, compasses and dual dials for different time zones. Divers will want a watch made for specific underwater depths.
• Utility Vest - Not the kind that holds grenades or ammunition clips, but the fishing, cruising or photo vests they sell in various adventure stores. They make great organizers hung over the back of your seat or hanging in the tent. Don't wear the damn thing; you might be mistaken for a tourist.
• Books - Buy them by thickness. My faves are Information Please Almanac, the Book of Lists, Penguin compendiums of classic stories and fat chunky adventure novels like Three Musketeers or Les Miserables. The Bible or the Koran will do in a pinch, and I have been known to write a book out of boredom. Trade 'em or give them away as gifts along the way. We hope the first thing you pack is a Fielding guidebook. Also think about phrase books, survival manuals, and even poetry if you know all is lost. Address books are useful too.
• Maps - Good maps are very difficult to get in Third World countries. Especially in war zones. Spraying them with a spray fixative available at any art store will help to waterproof them.
• Business or Calling Cards - If you are the sociable type, have a bunch of cheap cards with plasticized ink made up (be sure moisture doesn't make the ink run). Look in the phone book for a translator if you would like them in two languages. Leave enough room for your new friends to write their name and address on them. Make sure you also bring plenty of extra passport photos.
• Shortwave Radio - Now that Sony makes those teensy-weensy shortwave receivers, you need never spend a 10-hour bus ride without entertainment.
• A Notebook and Pens - For the nontechnical, a notebook is an indispensable part of the travel experience. You will have plenty of time to wax poetic and capture your thoughts.
• Caribiners - Use them to snap your pack to a bus rail or bike frame, hold items on your belt, hang things from trees, rescue people and use as a belt when you lose weight.
• Yellow and Black Danger Zone Tape - I use the heavy striped tape to mark my luggage, tape rips, pack boxes and even fix my runners.
• Syringes - Just visit a Third World hospital.
• Razor Blades - Boils, slivers, infected cuts-all may require a little field surgery.
• Hydrogen Peroxide - Cleans out cuts, hurts like hell, stops major infections.
• Ziploc Freezer Bags - Organizes, holds anything, waterproofs everything from passports to cameras. Use it for everything but food. The plastic transmits an icky plastic taste to food when kept in hot climates.
• Trash Bags - Heavy-duty garbage bags make great waterproofers. They also double as ponchos, groundcovers, umbrellas, water catchers, spare windows, sails and even garbage bags.
• Tupperware - It organizes and waterproofs, and you can eat out of it and give it away as gifts. Get the clear stuff and size it to the pockets or corners in your luggage.
• Bubblegum - Get the kind that Amerol makes in the tape form. It's sold in a plastic snuff tin. Get the dayglo pink stuff; it drives the natives crazy to watch you blow those bubbles.
• Empty Film Cannisters - The clear kind that Fuji film comes in. Take the top off, squeeze them and they act like suction cups. Squeeze them with the tops and they are like tiny popguns. You can amuse the little ones for hours.
• Polaroid Camera - I could create peace in the world and brotherly love if I just had enough Polaroid film to take pictures of every headhunter, mercenary, tribal warrior, soldier and politician. They love it, and smiles break out all around. Think about it: How many times does somebody take your picture where you work and actually give you a copy?

Those Hard to Find Items:

Camouflage Passports - International Company Services - 1591 East Atlantic Avenue, Suite 200 - Pompano Beach - Florida - (954) 943-1498, FAX (954) 943-1499
Scope International - P.O. Box 2286 Forestside House - Rowlands Castle, Hants, P09 6EE - (01705) 631-751, FAX: (01705) 631-322

A phone passport, ID cards, and drivers licenses that look real but aren't. The passports are for defunct countries like British Honduras, Rhodesia and other former Brit colonies. Let's hope those terrorists aren't up on their geography. For those that know that real terrorist studied geography and history you can also buy citizenship (and get a bona fide passport) from Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda for as little as $13,000. Remember that a U.S. citizen cannot "swear loyalty to any other prince or potentate" other than Uncle Sam. So you could be breaking the law even though it is a fairly common occurrence for immigrants to keep their old passports going.

Pith Helmet - Brigade Quartermaster - (800) 338-4327, (770) 428-1248 - www.actiongear.com
For those colonial daydreamers you can get a pith helmet (made with cork instead of tree pith) for $79.99.
Camelbak - (800) 767-8725 - www.camelbak.com
Carry up to 100 ounces of water for bikers, desert hikers and fish.

Suunto Compasses - Carlsbad, California 92009 - (800) 543-9124 - www.bpbasecamp.com/encly/map_compass/
Compass manufacturer.

Silva - Egham Surrey - TW20 8SA - (01874) 471721, FAX: (01784) 471097
Suppliers of altimeters, compasses and GPS equipment.

GPS Equipment - Positioning Resources - [44] (01224) 581-502, FAX: [44] (01224) 574-354
email sales@posres.com

Supplier of GPS equipment and satellite phones. - Snowsled - Market Place Mews - off The Green - Tetbury - Gloucestershire GL8 8DN - [44] (01666) 504-002, FAX: [44] (01666) 502-731
English suppliers and custom manufacturers of equipment for Polar expeditions.

Leatherman - P.O. Box 20595 Portland Oregon 97294 - (800) 762-3611 - www.leatherman.com
Pocket sized American made tool kit that is slowly replacing the Swiss Army knife for ruggedness and usefulness.

Katadyn - 3019 North - Scottsdale, Arizona 85251 - (800) 950-0808 - www.sportsite.com/katadyn
Water purifiers that use ceramic filters to remove bacteria like e. Coli. giardia and other water borne bugs.

MPS - 1441 West John Street - Matthews, North Carolina 28106 - (704) 847-8793, FAX (704) 847-4447
Suppliers of bulletproof vests

Nomad Travellers Store and Medical Center - 3-4 Wellington Terrace - Turnpike Lane - London N8 - (0181) 889-7014
Suppliers of equipment and supplies for travelers.

Mantec Services - Unit 1 - The Green - Hartshill - nr Nuneaton - Warwicks, CV10 0FW - [44] (1203) 395368
Manufacturers and suppliers of four wheel drive equipment. Also provide training, advice for expeditions and vehicle purchase advice.

Adventure Equipment Suppliers
Brigade Quartermaster - (800) 338-4327, (770) 428-1248 - www.actiongear.com
Lots of military surplus, hunting and camping gizmos.