I’m in Mexico right now trekking around the Yucatan. My tripod has been a best friend of mine, especially in low lighting conditions. Traveling with gear and maintaining a light load can be challenging and no one wants to be bogged down with equipment while they’re in another country. In trying to lighten up, I found myself Macgyvering all sorts of methods to carry a tripod without having a huge cluster of sticks on my tiny backpack. My yoga mat comes in a mesh carrying case that has been a make shift bag for the past two days. Also available for yoga mats are carrying straps that you can configure any way you’d like to your tripod or monopod for an easy way to carry your gear and be able to set it all up without having to take everything out of a bag. You don’t get the protection that a bag offers, however, when you don’t need all the padding from a case, yoga straps create a super fast carrying alternative to an actual bag.

I found some of these on Amazon for under 5 bucks. Totally ordering some when I return to the states. My lowest point on this trip so far was using rope I found on the beach as a strap. Although it worked, it’s not something I’d like to take home and use again.

Yoga Mat Straps