When Fleeing Disaster, What's in Their Bag?
http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=873556&f=35&p=0

The Go Bag items of New York's rich and famous are clearly not the stuff ETS lists are made of. Is there anything on your list of the not so practical nature? Anything that's purely for comfort, a sense of home and family or something you just want to make sure survives?

If I was from Ontario,Canada & had to to flee south(gulp!)into/thru Buffalo,NY,I'd want to have a Canadian made Browning Hi-power with +p+ ammo & a Maple Leaf Hockey jersey!

Rich people who fled out of Lybia, Tunisia and other countries, had bags upon bags of jewelry, diamond, gold, Euros, and dollars !!!

I didn't hear or read they had any Japanese Yen !!

for the younger set that doesn't remember the large metal ID bracelets of the 50s... the Christians In Action in SE Asia could usually be identified by the star sapphire ring, gold Rolex (with black bezel ring), Browning P35 High Power, and a "get out of jail" gold ID bracelet, where the links could be easily separated and used like a "blood chit"...

many locals and most of the bar girls had the same type of "di di mao" jewelery... your worth was carried on you and you could leave at a moment's notice... many of the Chinese grandparents would give a gold coin at the birth of a child, and usually had some elephant ivory stashed (not very transportable)

Go bags of the rich and clueless. I'd love to have my stuff and be asked by one of these twits for something. Eat the art sweetheart, or Hey buddy, how's that blackberry working with no power/no internet.

I have no clue who most of these people are anyhow, should I?

Speaking of carrying your wealth on you, that's how my one branch of my family came to America. As refugees with great-grandmother's jewelry sewn into their clothing.

Do you carry anything in your kit that's maybe a little less than practical but cram full of comfort or sentimentality? Many here carry cigars, alcohol and family pics, me included. Anything else?

When I travel I do not like to get stuck. Over the years I've become quite comfortable buying my way out of a bad situation. For instance, on a recent bus trip to a racetrack with 40 people, and traveling about 250 miles from home, I carried my regular Visa credit card plus my Citibank Black card (no limit), plus my Amex card, $3,000 in cash, and 2 ounces of gold, along with my Rolex and a necklace that has another 1/2 ounce of gold. I also carried my cell phone and two extra batteries and I had my satellite phone tucked away in my backpack. If the bus broke down, I would not have hesitated to buy my way out (or trade my way out) of being stuck on the side of the road, and yes I would have left my 39 fellow passengers to sit it out in the heat, although I'm sure a couple of them would want to pitch in on a limo or rental car to get out with me. While the rest are waiting for a replacement bus, I'll be propping my feet up in the nearest hotel suite.

It doesn't stop there. I've gone as far as purchasing a brand new car to drive out a town that had no rental cars available, purchased an entire new wardrobe to replace lost luggage, and chartered private planes more than once to escape cold fronts and cancelled flights. Like I said, I don't like getting stuck while traveling.

I know this rubs a lot of people the wrong way but oh well, I'm too old to worry about it anymore and I have the means and funds to back up my desires so I use that to my advantage when I travel.

My mother was born and raised in western Africa to ex pat American parents. Gold and silver rings and chains, small emeralds, rubies and diamonds, along with small bars, US dollars, UK pounds, Krugerands, watches- my grandparents had these in their bug out bags.

Heck, if you believe one of the stories, my grandfather got himself out deep trouble in Egypt during the 52 coup with a Rolex. That and the silver and gold got him to where they getting the Westerners out via landing craft- have the pictures of that. His first rule of bugging out was if there are people around, money talks. That is why I have cash in BoB and in the truck- a dollar per mile to get home.

That being said, I do agree with this quote: "If I'm going to witness the apocalypse, it's going to have a soundtrack."Of course, I keep my music stored in my head.

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald