During the Brazilian Internet Forum (FIB16), in Belém, Pará, I carried a backpack to the convention center with basic items to spend the day there, do the work I was hired to do, and when I had some free time (which was rare), take a look at this Manual do Usuário.
The descriptions follow the order from left to right, top to bottom.
- Case Logic Huxton Backpack: I like it because it’s discreet and has plenty of compartments. I don’t think it’s waterproof, but I discovered the fabric has some water-repellent technology on the outbound flight, when someone spilled a cup of water on it.
- MacBook Air (M1): It’s four years old and, despite Apple already being on the fifth generation of its own chip, it still delivers more than I need. I think this design looks prettier than the new MacBook Air models. I believe I’ll keep using it for several more years.
- Sweater: Cities in northeastern Brazil — and now I know, in the north as well — are hot, which leads locals to go overboard with air conditioning in indoor spaces. FIB16, like FIB15 in Salvador, Bahia in 2025, was freezing the entire time. I’d keep a sweater in my backpack to put on when I arrived at the convention center. (If I’d worn it when leaving the hotel, I probably would have melted on the way.)
- Thermal mug: I got this one from the NIC.br team. It has the logo of the podcast Nós da Internet (pt_BR) and kept water temperature well — though I preferred room temperature over ice-cold.
- Blog stickers: Some from the “first generation,” made in 2016, and others I made about two years ago. I stopped sending them to new paying subscribers, so whenever I go somewhere where I’ll meet lots of people, I bring them along to hand out. (Note that I put one on top of the Apple logo on my notebook before boarding this trip.)
- Sony RX100 V camera: It looks like those old Cybershot models, but it’s relatively recent and delivers beautiful photos with its one-inch sensor. I stopped taking photos for leisure years ago and thought Belém would be a good place to revisit that old hobby.
- Kindle (11th generation): I used the Kindle at two moments: on the outbound and return flights and during podcast recordings to follow the script. Since it was in front of the cameras, I asked the production team to put some stickers on it to hide the Amazon branding.
- Samsung power bank: These days, power banks must travel outside your backpack and can’t be used during flights. I got this one from Samsung at an event in 2017. The capacity is small (~5,000 mAh) and I ended up not using it. I don’t usually carry one, but I thought it was wise to have it on hand being so far from home because my iPhone SE has never had good battery life and, after four years, it’s only gotten worse.
- Case with Xiaomi electric toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss: You have to have this to freshen up your mouth after meals, especially lunch. (I ate all three days at the event itself, which had catered a buffet.) I was skeptical about electric toothbrushes but ended up really liking it. Maybe I’ll write about it in the future.
- Microfiber cloth: It works for cleaning screens and eyeglass lenses. I got new glasses a few days before the trip, tried to save money on the lenses, and ended up regretting it: they get dirty more easily and are harder to clean.
- Cables: I had others, like my notebook cable, which I left at the hotel. (Thank goodness for MacBook battery life!) For the event, I only brought a USB-A to Lightning cable for my iPhone and a USB-A to USB-C cable with a USB-A to USB-C adapter to transfer interview scripts to my Kindle using Calibre.
- Mint candies: To freshen your breath.
- Hand sanitizer: Always useful.
- Protein bar: I’m not one for eating these bars, but I thought they’d be useful. And they were: the recording schedule almost never lined up with the coffee that NIC.br offered to FIB participants, and even when it did, there would be a crowd around the tables.
It doesn’t appear in the photo, but wherever I go, I bring my “first-aid kit”: medications for common ailments.
The camera also didn’t make it into the shot because I used it to take the photo.