Gear guides tend to list everything that could be useful. This is the shorter, less exciting list of what actually stays packed after the first few trips, once the novelty items get left at home.
A laptop sleeve that doubles as a desk cushion in co-working spaces, a slim cardholder instead of a wallet, a compact multi-port charger instead of three separate ones, and a vacuum bag for the layers that only come out once a month.
Everything else - the travel router, the second pair of headphones, the backup battery pack bigger than the laptop itself - got tested and quietly removed from the bag within the first month.
