To kick off our trip to Georgia for the holidays, Maggi gave me an early Christmas Gift, which simply blew away all my gifts to her in coolness. Now I have several more days to contemplate how she has already topped my efforts. She gave me the ultimate traveling kit for the cocktail blogger: Behold!

Dude. I am utterly overwhelmed.
It’s… a backpack.

Always there with the snark. We had been discussing what to pack to ensure a ready ability to mix cocktails during our pilgrimage. I joked that a famous, celebrity cocktail blogger such as myself needed a doctor’s little black bag with the tools of the trade. I could then be ready to dispense liquid goodness in any emergency.
Somehow, in the midst of all the packing, Maggi managed to go out and put together this kit. It’s a bit more impressive inside.

The backpack is a Opteka Computer/Photo Backpack. The inside contains a large number of velcro adjustable compartments, which Maggi used to put in the essential bottles of booze, as well as a shaker, OXO measuring cups, corkscrew, sturdy stemless cocktail glasses, and my mesh strainer. Not shown, as they are in other pockets, are my juicer, channel knife, etc. At the time of the photo, I was still missing a bottle of Angustora Bitters. Readers of this blog and/or my Facebook page now know why I was so obsessed with finding bitters. There also is a pocket with space for two limes. Travel Perfection!
But is is also blogger perfection too. There is also space for camera, a dedicated pocket for memory cards and chip reader, and a pocket for my mini tripod. Finally, there is a large, padded compartment for up to a 17″ laptop. (This last was not included in the gift, an oversight I’m sure. I did get to borrow Maggi’s 15″ MacBook Pro, on which I write this post.)
So there you have it. Whinge in envy, all my fellow bloggers, I have the perfect kit. (No, you can’t carry it on, of course. But you could if you didn’t bring the booze.)