How to organise a 10 month family trip "on a shoe string" to South America in 7 scary steps:
step1 decide to go
step2 tell your kids
step3 calm them down
step4 make plans - save up buy kit sell house
step5 resign from jobs
step6 get one way plane tickets
step7 leave (October 2008 here we come...)

We are a family of 4 and have took this unusual step, because we always really wanted to do it, we can do it, and there's no point in sitting around dreaming about it. Having created for ourselves the opportunity through saving, planning, organising and giving up a few creature comforts along the way, it finally happened. I should mention here - having previously failed to, that were it not for the help of family and close friends - you know who you are - this trip would have been a lot harder to organise. Thank you all!
The image depicts our life on the road as it was for several months. If not camping using two small hiking tents, we lived in and out of hostels. Camping is obviously the cheaper option and we are well travelled campers.

NOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN TRAVELLING FOR 6 MONTHS..........

We thought we would discuss how our gear survived, what was useful, what was a bit pants. This is for all you 'would be' backpackers out there who want to know what to take:
Top ten (well... 12 actually, well call it 14) of things we would not go without:
1 - Waterproof rucksack liners. The last thing you need is for things to get wet. Rucksacks are not that waterproof what type ever you get. Our packs spend half their lives in the hold of a bus and there is always some twit with a leaking bottle.....or they are on the roof of a bus which could be very soggy.
2 - Regatta ´entry level' (bottom range) waterproof anoraks. They were cheap and reliable and small!
3 - Sleeping bags. As we have been doing warm weather and cold weather we needed a variety - and this is the key. We took very small 2 season bags, fleece liners (fiver each from Lidl), Silk liners. All have been used together in freezing conditions - adequately - or separately, as needed. Not only that but bags can be zipped together to make a double....
4 - Berghaus waterproof overtrousers - zip all the way up the leg, they don´t restrict your walking ability and they can be very breathable. Not to mention the fact that they are erm.. waterproof!
5 - Lacie external hardrive for storing photos, music electronic documents etc. Providing you can find a half decent internet cafe this little gadget has worked well for us for transfering pics from our camera.
6 - "Lifesaver" Water Filter. This has been invaluable. It filters out virtually everything. You can filter your own pee if you have to ( no haven't tried that yet). Our filter lasts for 6000 ltrs! It looks like an ordinary sports bottle and not fiddly to operate. Saves us huge amounts of money now that we don't have to buy mineral water. Saves the environment from more unecessary plastic bottles. Did you know it takes a litre of water just to make the plastic in a 1 ltr bottle?
7 - USB memory card reader. This device costs about 3 pounds, and is the same size as a pocket flash memory pen/stick. You slot your camera memory card into it when its full of photos, and plug the card reader into a computer. We use it to transfer photos to the Lacie hard drive. We have found that many digital cameras require their own (massive, gimmicky and cumbersome) software to be installed to a computer in order to plug them in. The card reader bypasses all that nonsense.
8 - Swiss army knife - has been used on a daily basis for everything from sewing to opening tins to spreading jam. No. You don´t need a fancy one. The smallest blade on a basic swiss army knife will open any tin, once you get the hang of it. Don't be cheap and buy the funky looking alternatives - they are never as reliable. Trust me, I know.
9 - leather walking boots. We do a lot of walking. A half decent pair ( I use AltBergs) are always waterproof providing you keep polishing them with dubbin ideally. There´s a lot of boots on the market that promise to be waterproof, and are NOT! Get the leather ones, spend some money, break them in, and feed them when you can.
10 - Sewing kit. You may laugh but no matter you bring, if you are travelling for 8 months on a budget, half your gear will need mending at some point and if you don't.......We have had to mend something virtually every week!!
11 - solid shampoo and solid conditioner. 2 bars of the shampoo lasted 4 of us 3 months. They can´t leak and they are not big to carry.
12 - Ultra absorbent towels (Life venture) are great. Even when they are soaking wet you can wring them out so easily and use them again (there´s 4 of us remember). They pack small and dry big. Drawbacks: Unless you you tie it to your arm it will eventually get stolen from the public washing line in whatever hostel . One solution is to sew your name in big embarassing letters across the middle of it. I wish we had done that to ours before it got swiped!
13 - washing line and pegs, ok, maybe that goes without saying!
14 - head torches with charger and rechargeable batts.
15 - 10 litre compression sacks. These have been so useful for keeping a family of 4's sets of clothes packed away without being in a big jumble and the 4 straps on each bag enable us to pack clothes down so tight that they squash down to something very small, even if they do have the density of a neutron star.
Ok and now for the "top ten" of pants gear...
1 - We bought a cheap copy of a trangia alcohol burner from a certain chain of cut price supermarkets. The burner leaked and we resorted to using a metal coffee tin! Alcohol for burning is cheap and readily available in South America but we should have bought the genuine article! Having said that we would have bought a multi fuel stove but couldn't afford it! Also, the other gadget we bought from the same supermarket is a gas burner of the variety that goes with the small gas bottle with the valve and metal thread for screwing on and off. This has been unbeleivably useful and was very cheap - get one if you can.
2 - Tents. Hmmm, when you a buy a tent how often do most people use them? Three or four weeks in the year for a short period of time right? We camped solidly for 6 weeks, we used our tents for around 3 of the 6 months so far. They did not stand up to such intensive and extensive use. I'm not really sure what would, unless you really splash out. Ground sheets which are made of a thin, waterproof nylon will eventually leak - holes or no holes. Zips give up the ghost, and poles snap. This is life I suppose and we fix what we can, but I have struggled to find any water repellent silicone spray for tents out here. We used a Robens Cloud 2 and a Coleman Avoir 2 person . They have both been great for packing small into the bottom of a pack and not weighing too much. However you might be better off buying something cheap and just replacing it. To their credit they were both easy to pitch - especially the coleman.
3 - Nylon or tekky clothing. We thought these would be great for washing and drying in hostels etc, pack small and don´t wrinkle, dry fast etc. We scoured TK Max for weeks looking for bargains before we left. However although they are quick drying, they are hard to wash ( smells tend to linger)and look a mess after a short time. A combination of cotton clothing and tekky would be best for long travels.
4 - Kodak digital camera. I can´t remember what model it was (F-something or other). But it was faulty and we replaced it under warranty. The next one (same model)developed the same annoying fault! Then I killed it completely by jumping into a river with it in my pocket. Doh! Perhaps we should have got a waterproof one!
5 - Platypus water bladder with hose for drinking. We had one with a bite valve. It was a gift and it was greatly appreciated. However it leaked through the valve and perhaps was not practical for what we have been doing. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. We thought it was great at first and used it intensively. It eventually ruptured anyway, so we binned it. But at least it had a good innings. If I were to get another one I would make sure it had a tap on the end......Now we use ordinary plastic 2 ltr lemonade bottles to store our filtered drinking water, and replace them every so often.
6 - Hi Tech walking boots made in china - fell apart after 3 months and were not waterproof in any way despite promising to be (it said gore tex).
7 - regatta "zip off" trousers - we had 2 pairs between us. They both developed stupid zip problems and the stitching was rubbish.
8 - Walking socks - might as well spend money on some decent wool ones - ours were not so great in every way.
9 - Sunglasses without a hard protective case! We got through so many pairs it was rediculous.
10- Old, very tired, dead Laptop, given to us kindly by a friend, restored to the land of the living, loaded up with useful educational software, Wifi readied, died the day we arrived in South America!!! Shame. But it wieghed a ton so it was probably for the best. (Thank you so much anyway Sean). I have long since coveted the Asus Eee which is so small and relatively cheap. But would I really risk taking it to the places we´ve been? Its just another thing to worry about, especially when camping.
11 - Highlander thermalite self enflating roll mats. We bought 3-quarter length ones because they pack so small. But after 6 months they all leak so that after an hour of lying on them they are flat. I would repair them but I can´t find the damned holes. Maybe next time we´ll find better quality ones...
12 - sporks. I'm talking about the plastic ones. They lasted about 3 weeks before they snapped or just perished from use. They were a disappointment! Perhaps the titanium ones would have been better. But we have been camping in Argentina and Uruguay, where the juicy steak rules. A plastic spork really doesn't cut it. If you want cutlery then just get some!

So what about our rucksacks? They have all been fine. I use a Highlander 100 ltr. If you are travelling with your kids like we have, you may need something this big! However it is really too big unless packed with light stuff (mine was not!). That said, it is a great, cheapish comfortable and reliable pack that stood up to the test. Em uses a 65 ltr Vango. Nice ergonomics, fits her well, again has not failed us and was not expensive. Did need sewing here and there but that is no biggy. Rosa has a 65 Ltr Trespass and has been perfect for her - she only carries the sleeping bags which aren´t heavy. Zora has a 35 ltr Eurohike which has also been a success, and not too big for her. It also serves as a day sack for us. Also needed a few stitches here there though.
And finally what about us?
In the last 2 months we were really beginning to think about home. This was partly a necessity, as we had to find a place to live, work, and attend school on our return and urgently! We could happily have kept travelling and were loving every minute and every new experience. However the kids needed to get back into school and we only had so much money...not to forget as well the fact that a good friend of ours had most of our stuff in her attic and garage, my parents were looking after our car, and Em´s sister had her attic half full of our stuff too. We thank every one of you.
I guess in some ways you could say we were a little bit travel weary as well and the closer you get to the end, the more you are distracted by this end and what comes next. I believe all of us were looking forward to seeing friends and family again and have a craving for baked beans on toast!
Rosa and Zora have both grown - intellectually and physically. The experience of travelling around south america has without doubt been a hugely beneficial experience to both of them. We have all learned so much about peoples, histories, cultures, languages, places and I am so glad we went for it. We are already thinking about another big trip, however this one will not be until the kids are old enough to decide if they want to join us or not........
Colin
13 April 2009
(Revised 14 June 2009 on return to UK)

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