Paddy's Pig wrote:

One other thought: When I'm away from home I carry a portable
computer so that I can download all my pictures onto the hard drive
at the end of the day and start the next day with a clean, empty
Compact Flash card. Oh --- and that's another thing! Storage
capacity is very important, especially if you want to try the
challenge of shooting in RAW.

snipped for brevity

I always carry spare batteries in my camera bag.
Also I can't be bothered lugging a laptop so I invested in an X-Drive Pro
(small portable hard drive). When I'm away I down load my photos every
night, then clear the card, ready for the next day. That way each day's
shooting is in a separate folder, making it easier to sort them, once I
return home. It's small and very convenient. The only drawback with mine,
being an older one, you can't see the photos on the drive, unless you have
an access to a computer whilst away. The newer ones have a preview and you
can see the photos.