Posted by Caleb | December 10, 2015
Here I am, and taller.
My default strategy in narrowing options down is always the round by round draft format. This coincides well with my willingness and general enjoyment of analyzing meaningless activities or decisions. Thus when choosing what I wanted to take on this trip, a draft seemed to be a great start. Below I have listed the first five things I chose to toss in my bag, ordered on how useful I thought each item will be. If you are looking for other ideas on what to take on a long-term trip, our full packing list is also posted below. Keep in mind much of these items were influenced heavily by the trekking and camping portions of our trip.
Round 1: Dry Fit Hiking Pants
Previously I had been awkward jeans guy in our hikes around Colorado, not fitting in with the expected hiking attire of the other bearded men. In preparation for the trip I excitingly purchased three pairs of dry fit hiking pants, including a sporty red pair that helps me fit in with all the Europeans. These go round one as I will be wearing one of these three items nearly everyday for nine months.
Christmas Tree
Round 2: Waterproof Hiking Boots
The challenge in being a big guy and carrying nine months worth of stuff on your back is that my stuff is normally bigger. This becomes an even bigger problem when in comes to shoes, as my hiking boots alone take up a quarter of my bag. Nonetheless they are making the trip and I chose to spend a little bit more on these to keep my puppies dry. These go round two as we plan to walk a ton in muddy/wet places, and I tend to get a little hissy when my socks are wet.
Waterproof boots, allowing me to set foot on an iceberg
Round 3: Amazon Kindle Fire
As mentioned in previous posts, we are not doing a lot of hanging around in any cities and the number of places we are going will require a ton of travel. I’m pretty pumped about the Kindle in that it will be my go-to for long bus rides and extended airport layovers.
Round 4: Eyemask and earplugs
We are going to be trying to sleep in some pretty uncomfortable places, and specifically in parts of South America where the sun stays up about 18 hours. Not to mention I am going to be within five feet of my wife, 24/7, for nine months straight.
Round 5: Hawaiian Shirt
Sleeper pick here, I figured at some point on this trip there is going to be a time when I needed a collared Hawaiian shirt, and when that time comes I’ll be glad I lugged it around for nine months. We took a boat cruise the other day to see some pelicans and penguins, and the fellow travelers loved my shirt.
Noticeably undrafted:
Cologne – Just forgot it, big mistake as I often smell pretty bad.
Working beard trimmer – didn’t matter anyway, was growing this thing out!
Got a haircut in Arequipa, Peru for about $2.
Here is our full packing list, everything in our bags. In total my full pack weighs about 42 pounds.
Gear:
Gregory 65 Liter Mens Backpack – For the male
Osprey 65 Liter Pack – For the lady
Tent (Two person, REI 2+ Dome Tent)
Sleeping bags (29 Degree)
Polar Liner sleeping sack
Sleeping pads
PocketRocket Stove
ENO Hammock and Straps
Cooking Set – Bowls and Spoons
Quick Dry Towels
Travel Pillows
Water filtration set
Waterproof matches
Men’s Clothes:
3 pairs Dry Fit Hiking Pants
Casual shorts
Athletic shorts
Swim trunks
5 pairs synthetic underwear
Synthetic long-johns
3 cotton t-shirts
Dry Fit long sleeve
Hawaiian shirt
Fleece Jacket
Waterproof rain jacket
For my other extremities:
Beanie
Waterproof gloves
Waterproof hking boots
Running shoes
Sandals
5 Pairs dry fit socks
2 Pairs Smartwool hiking socks
Personal Hygiene:
Travel toothbrush
Contact Lenses and two bottles of contact solution
Deodorant
1 Beard and Dome Buzzer
Medicine and other stuff: (Heavily influenced and collected by Beth)
Multi-vitamins
Dramomine
Ibproufen
Zantac
Probiotics
Melatonin
Amoxicillin
Malarone – For Malaria
Doxycycline – For potential waterborne bacteria
Anti-diarrhea – For the the worst yet to come
Emergen-C
Technology for 2 people (Mostly hand-me downs, so if we get mugged our friends are out more money than us!)
2 Macbook Pros
2 Kindle Fires
2 iPhones
2 Smart watches (Garmin Forerunner 15 and FitBit Charge)
2 External hard drives
Mini USB
Many sets of earbud headphones
1 Digital Camera
1 Go Pro – Thanks Kacey!
2 Power adapters
1 Power strip
1 Portable power charger
Miscellaneous Stuff
Fanny pack/Money Belt
Eye mask for sleeping
Ear plugs
2 headlamps
Document holder
Notepad and pens
Bible
Journal
Spare batteries
Drain stopper
Laundry soap
Passport holder
Zip-ties
Safety pens
Sewing kit
2 TSA padlocks
Duct tape
Deck of cards
Ziplocks
Women’s Clothes:
2 Dresses
1 long skirt
3 cotton short sleeve t-shirts
2 long sleeve shirts
3 pairs of leggings/athletic tights
pair of athletic shorts
cotton tank
dry-fit tank top
dry-fit short sleeve
2 dry-fit long sleeve shirts
1 pair hiking pants
1 cotton jacket
waterproof rain jacket
pajama shorts/nightgown
swimsuit
Rainbow sandals
running shoes
hiking boots
2 sports bras, 2 regular bras (1 with removable straps), 3 pairs wool hiking socks,4 pairs short athletic socks, 1 pair of Exofficio undies and several more pairs of underwear
Other Girl Stuff she brought:
Dry shampoo
Razor
Sunscreen
Chapstick with SPF
Hairbrush
Mini-mirror
Eye make up remover pads
Q tips
Cotton balls
Floss
Baby wipes
Hand sanitizer
Stain remover pen
Tweezers
Nail file
Nail clippers
Hair ties
Mini Kleenex packets
Eye drops
Basic make-up
Bug spray
Sometimes we carry all of our stuff into tiny bakeries. What are you thoughts on that, Beth?
getting my points high 