Air travel and survivalism

For those of us who travel a lot but worry about things like having basic survival tools with us, 9/11 made things very difficult for us. There are just certain things that you simply aren't allowed to take on the plane any more. The key things for me are light, fire-starting, and a blade, the last of which is completely verboten for carry on. Shy of checking baggage, you won't be able to take one with you. Personally, I find checked baggage an inconvenience, especially if they lose it on the way to your destination! What to do? Here's where I started:



Dealing with the light source is the easiest part. You simply need a small light that fits well on a keychain. I picked up the Led Lenser K3 at the Leatherman store in Portland, but any small light will do. To me, brightness is not as big an issue as battery life, though I might swap to a brighter light in the future. I've been in hotels where power went out and found having a light like this on you can make all the difference. It is the second most commonly used item in my pocket kit.

Fire starting is most easily done with a lighter or matches. You can now take these through TSA, though occasionally you will get accosted by a less updated agent. I like having something that has less failure opportunities, like a magnesium fire starter. Some people refer to these as flint and steel, though that isn't accurate. I found a small, compact striker that expands into a comfortable size, the Exotac Nanostriker.



I have a number of similar strikers, including much larger ones for long term use, but this has the advantage size, a replaceable rod, and attached striker. It throws hot sparks with very little effort. The downside is that there is very little room for tinder in the starter itself, but you can squeeze a tiny amount in the top. Otherwise, you need to plan on carrying more or going without. I'm planning to carry a small pill bottle with some fire starter just in case.

This leads us with our problem of a blade. As I said, not much to do here for a real blade, but Leatherman has decided to build something with our needs in mind. The Style PS is a micro-sized multi-tool built to be TSA compliant, which basically means it has no blade on it.



Unlike most of the Leatherman keychain tools, this one replaces the scissors with pliers and places the scissors in the blade position. The scissors are small, but sharp, passable as an emergency blade if needed. You also gain a nail file with screwdriver end and a bottle opener that is also a caribiner clip. Finally, there is a small pair of tweezers that are surprisingly good for their size. I've found the pliers to be surprisingly useful for their size and use the scissors more than I expected. Honestly, I've been very pleased with these since I've picked them up. Of course, the TSA expects anything that looks like a multi-tool doesn't meet their standards, so I always like to make sure they are out and can be easily checked by agents.

Anyone else out there travel a lot by air? What do you carry with you?