What do you carry in your carry on bag?

Out of interest, what type of things do people take with them in their carry on bags?

Good question!

My regular carry-on bag is a Booq laptop bag from RushFaster, which has plenty of pockets for stowing stuff – honestly, I have always said that a travel bag can never have too many pockets, but sometimes as I fish through pocket after pocket for some item, I think this Booq bag pushes that to the boundaries!

Anyway, standard kit in this is:

• MacBook Air charger – I have a spare that's always in this bag, as it's the same bag I take to press events etc
• iPhone USB charge/sync cable (and a small Lightning adaptor I picked up from the HK markets) so I can always charge & sync my iPhoe or iPad Mini
• iPhone earbuds
• noise-cancelling headphones, usually my Bose QuietComforts unless I'm testing something else, although if I'm doing carry-on only I swap the rather large Bose cans  for a more compact pair of Sennheisers
• along with my MacBook there's usually my iPad Mini or Kindle, and sometimes both (I prefer the Kindle for long inflight reads)
• usually my camera (Samsung NX10) for taking snaps of seats, lounges etc if I'm reviewing en route
• trusty universal AC adaptor, which I'm meaning to upgrade to one of the newer models with a built-in USB port
• notepad and pen for random scribblings
• business cards for random meet-ups
• in-flight toiletries - I'm in carry-on only mode this is a fuller set, if I have checked luggage then this is a slimmed-down subset, but either way there's always a toothbrush & toothpaste, comb, moisturiser, sleeping tablets, eye drops and a 'depuffer' for under the eyes
• plastic zip-lock bag with a wad of currency for the country or countries I'm visiting

Yeah, that's quite a bit of stuff!

Adding to David's list - I always have my carry-on pre-packed with

• plastic zip-lock bag of medications incl broad spectrum anti-biotics (just in case), sleeping pills, melatonin, etc
• magazine for while you are waiting to take-off land - helps burn time
• ear-plugs - for those nights when it's 3.00am and there is some random noise in your room you can't pinpoint and just need to get some shut-eye 
• travel wipes/sanitizers - for hygiene reasons

My list is pretty similar to David's, with the addition of enough clothes to get by without my checked luggage (usually just a tie, second shirt and underwear) and a pair of light pjs on flights where I know they won't be provided (I usually change into these after takeoff to keep my ground clothes fresh).

I did a massive cull a few months ago and moved everything I can to my checked luggage (most of my travel is long haul for 7+ days so I almost always have checked luggage). My toiletries set now only consists of a small tube of good quality moisturiser, lip balm and a set of industrial grade earplugs, which actually saves quite a bit of space in a small bag. I've also given up on lugging my proper noise cancelling headphones around, and now either use the provided set or a set of small noise isolating earphones which do almost as good a job.

I also carry batteries for my headphones, spare batteries and connectors for my technology and a wire backpack lock so I can secure my backpack when in the lounge and need to go to loo etc.