Do you bring along survival items on holiday vacation? for example, you might bring along dehydrated food , water bottles, mateches, flashlight when you go to cancun, mexico or Bahamas? The last hurricane that hit cancun had stranded thousands of tourists for several days without water, food, shelter. Everyone was wet, hungry, sick etc.

Depending upon where I am going, I will take my EDC when I can. If we are driving, then it is easy. If we are flying, well, it becomes more of a hassle. If it is outside the USA, then most of my EDC stays home. Two things always go with me: a reliable flashlight and my ability to improvise from local materials.

Yes, whenever possible. Like KI6IW mentioned, it's tougher when flying. For that reason I prefer to drive if possible. Even when flying there is still a Fox 40 and a Photon light on my keychain. Probably should upgrade that to a bigger LED light at some point. The "Proton" coming out by the Photon folks looks promising...

why do you leave your EDC materials at home? what happens if you travel to Dominican repbulic where there is troopical storm. Your hotel is cut off from airport due to wash out roads. There is no rescue for 4days. What the heck would you eat? How would you light fire if the forest is dampen with rain water? you need to bring matches.

Perhaps I should clarify...My EDC includes one or two firearms, two or three extra magazines, two knives...You see where I am going. Going into other countries while on vacation places limits on what I normally EDC. Improvising from local materials can easily include building a PSK after arrival. Unfortunately, going through security screenings in foreign contries is even more difficult today than it used to be. And obviously, monitoring weather forcasts is important.

I take what I can on the flight flasklight, water, food, matches, etc. What I cant take I buy when I get there like Bic, razor blades, maybe a knife I do not mind to loss or give up. I then dich the stuff I bought before geting on the plane. Yes I "waste" some money but I just by less crap to compincate.

Of course! How can I relax if I'm not prepared? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Seriously, knowing I have the tools & equipment with me to deal with most emergencies (or even little difficulties) that might arise gives me a great deal of peace of mind.

I've used items from my travel kit to:

repair furniture (stitched a lounge chair back together),
patch a hole in the wall (SwissTool & clear duck tape & a couple of items scrounged from the condo where we were staying),
and
fix a leaky faucet in my wife's hospital room that was driving us both to distraction (Leatherman tool...on the occasion of the birth of our first child)

We've also outrun a blizzard purposely to get snowed in at our favorite mountain resort...but knowing that if we were unlucky, we would be OK with the gear in the old Jeep Wagoneer.

It's like they used to say in the American Express ads: Don't leave home without it!

David

I can't say that I bring along a BOB or anything like that. However, I do pack my PSK in my checked bagage. The wonderful TSA dumped that out in my bag on my trip to New Orleans a few weeks ago. Oh well, just put it back in the container. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I've just come back from a skiing holiday, and I took what gear I could on the plane and in checked-in luggage. I saw it as a high-risk period rather than a low-risk one.