I just got back from two weeks of travel in Panama for their 2017 International Film Festival. I made a solid attempt to edit and upload a video while I was there, but my aging MacBook Pro overheated during an editing session and cooked itself. That’s the second time in the past year that I’ve had a catastrophic failure with that specific computer, both while traveling out of the country.

Now that I’m back home and have remedied the situation, sorted through two weeks worth of footage, and tried to catch up on everything else… here’s a quick behind the scenes look at what we were doing and what it’s like to travel for work.

Gear notes:

With my last backpack from Kelty surviving over 10 years of travel, I didn’t expect to buy a bag from The North Face when I realized it was time to upgrade. While my old bag is still perfectly functional, it has become more of a challenge to fit in the shrinking space under the seat on a crowded flight these days.

After a good bit of searching, I landed on the 27L Hot Shot model for it’s slim design, smart pocket layout and incredibly affordable price. It worked perfectly on this trip, fit under the seat without snagging, and was comfortable to wear all day, even when fully loaded. I’m looking forward to using it more around town as my everyday bag in the coming weeks.