Being Prepared is the Best Form of Preparation

While we do relish the spontaneity of loose plans and appreciate the times we are completely lost and confused, neither of us like to be unprepared in such situations. Unfortunately, a single rucksack does not allow much in the way of supplies, therefore we are quite selective in what we decide to carry on a long trip requiring a high level of mobility. Our basic strategy is to purchase a few high-quality “technical’ garments, to keep weight and volume down, and supplement these with cheap/throw-away warm clothes as needed wherever we may be. The room (and weight) saved is used to justify technological excesses that allow us to capture, store, edit pictures and videos, entertain ourselves, access information, bank, blog, Skype, and otherwise communicate. The decision to bring along the laptop was one we milled over for some time. In the end, we decided that its 4lb weight addition was well worth the ability to provide anytime blogging, secure connection to our sites (email, bank, etc), storage to external hard drives, and additional entertainment during downtime.

So, without further ado, our equipment:

Rozita’s Rucksack (Karrimor 50-75 litre pack)
* (2) pairs of Nike ACG quick-dry pants/zip-off shorts
* pair of Columbia Capri quick-dry pants
* (3) quick-dry short sleeve
* long-sleeve cotton shirt
* set of long underwear (top and bottom)
* sleeping outfit (cotton pants, tank top)
* (6) pairs of underwear
* (5) pairs of ankle-high socks
* (2) sports bras
* (3) bandanas (very useful in numerous ways)
* scarf
* pair of insulated socks
* poncho
* thongs
* (2) pair earplugs & eye mask for sleeping
* microfibre bath towel
* nylon laundry bag, clothesline and 6 pins
* swimming costume
* mini Mag light
* cable lock (tether rucksacks together and to anchor when day traveling)
* zipper lock
* rip-stop silk bedliner
* Bolle weather-proof jacket
* Toiletry Bag (contents: shampoo, conditioner, soap w/ soap case, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, tweezers, manicure scissors, razor stem & (2) blades, contact lense case, dental floss, deodorant, baby powder, (2) bottles of lotion, suntan lotion, Purell, mirror, perfume, contact powder, eye drops)
* Misc stuff sack (contents: (2) S hooks, plastic bag full of bags, rubberbands, suntan lotion, eyeglasses/hardcase, matches, 100% DEET, sewing kit)
* Medicine Kit (contents: doxycycline, fasigyn, cipro, birth control, contact lenses, (65) tampons, toilet paper)
* Travel chess
* Travel books (Let’s Go: China, India/Nepal, Turkey, Egypt)

Shoes = Keen Arroyo

Rozita’s Daypack (Karrimor)

• Dell Inspiron 700m with power cables and MacCase
  
• Canon Powershot SD630 Digital Elph with Case Logic case, (3) batteries, charger and (2) 2GB SD cards
  
• Joby Gorilla Pod mini-tripod
  
• ARCHOS Gmini 400 with case, charger and Sony earbuds
  
• Samsung 2.5” 120GB shockproof USB harddrive
  
• 1GB USB drive
  
• Mountain Designs travel portfolio (containing: debit card, (3) credit cards, (2) ID cards, passport, immunization card, copy of passport, copies of visas, itinerary, (6) passport-sized pictures, pen, 2 luggage keys,
  
• Other supplies: Masterlock, pedometer, mini-caculator, tape, sunglasses, journal, Burt’s Bees, compass, 60mL lotion, highlighter, pack of tissues,
  

Rozita’s total equipment weight: 21 kilos

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Danny’s Rucksack (Karrimor 60-85 litre pack)
* (3) pairs of Mountain Hardware quick-dry pants/zip-off shorts
* (3) quick dry short-sleeve shirts
* (5) pairs of ankle-high socks
* (5) pairs of underwear
* (4) bandanas
* pair of insulated socks
* set of long underwear (top and bottom)
* swimming trunks
* sleeping outfit (pair of boxers and cotton t-shirt)
* poncho
* thongs
* (2) pair earplugs & eye mask for sleeping
* (3) zipper locks
* LED flashlight
* Gerber supertool
* microfibre bath towel
* nylon laundry bag, clothesline and 6 pins
* stitched bedsheet and pillow cover (not quite as high-tech as Rozy’s rip-stop silk gear ;)
* Columbia jacket, wool hat, sun hat, fleece gloves
* Toiletry Bag (contents: shampoo, soap w/ soap case, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail clippers, tweezers, manicure scissors, (2) bottles Somersets shaving oil (12ml ea), razor stem & (6) blades, contact lense case, dental floss, deodorant, talcum powder)
* Other electronic: headphone/mic, alarm clock, various adapter plugs
* Misc stuff sack (contents: (3) S hooks, plastic bag full of bags, rubberbands, twisties, iodine tablets, suntan lotion, eyeglasses/hardcase, matches, 100% DEET, sink stopper, Purell, sewing kit)
* Medicine Kit (contents: doxycycline, fasigyn, cipro, immodium, calcium carbonate, melatonin, contact lenses, assorted ibuprofen, aspirin, band-aids, cotton swabs)
* Travel books (Lonely Planet: China, India, Nepal, Turkey, Egypt)

Shoes = Keen Arroyo

Danny’s Daypack (Wenger Swiss Gear)

• Canon 40D DSLR with 17/85mm IS lens, (2) batteries, charger, (2) 4GB CompactFlash cards, Sandisk water-resistant memory card holder
  
• ARCHOS AV400 (aka: the brick) with case, charger and Sony earphones
  
• Samsung 2.5” 120GB shockproof USB hard drive (backup to primary hard drive)
  
• .5GB USB drive (for quick journal and picture transfer)
  
• Mountain Designs travel portfolio (containing: (2) debit cards, (3) credit cards, driver’s license, student ID, ISIC card, frequent flyer cards, $100USD, passport, immunization card, copy of passport, copies of visas, itinerary, (6) passport-sized pictures, pen, 2 luggage keys,
  
• Other supplies: cable lock (tether daypacks to a anchor when swimming, etc), Burt’s Bees, Purell
  
• sunglasses
  

Danny’s total equipment weight: 23 kilos

Being information junkies, we decided that it was worth carrying a plethora of travel books just in case we had difficulty locating what we want on the road (especially the Let’s Go books). As in the past, we leverage Let’s Go as our primary book to get around with. LG guides are more focused on budget travel and we prefer their layout to that of Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, etc. In saying this I realize it will prompt some negative comments from the world of travelers out there, however, it really comes down to personal preference regarding guide books, and, a one-to-one comparison (budget focus, accuracy, lodging suggestions, actual weight of books, etc) almost always has us preferring Let’s Go. For this trip, we also decided to bring along a copy of LP for our main destinations as a supplement. Travel guide books are super cheap on Amazon.com (often less than $15) and they can be eliminated along the way if they don’t prove useful or weigh you down. There you go, a little free advertising for LG.

Beyond the travel books, we research and plan our trips using a number of online facilities. Wikitravel, travel blogs, foreign affairs websites, consulate pages, US State Dept site, questioning friends who come from points of interest, heaps of Google searches, and hours of cross checking and validating information gleaned. All useful information is gathered mostly into an MS Excel workbook (budgets, timelines, packlists, to-dos, pricing, alternatives, etc) with links to webpages, MS Word docs and Adobe pdf docs (insurance details, visa copies, itineraries, etc).

Data protection and maintenance is always a big concern because of the risk of losing priceless pictures, journal entries, documents, etc. All of our documents (be it ID, passports, visas, credit cards, itineraries…) are stored as soft copy images on our USB drives, laptop, and in Gmail. Extra hardcopies of very important documents (passport, visas, contact numbers) are printed and stored in a location different than originals. Pictures (and video clips) are offloaded from memory cards and stored in duplicate on two different portable hard drives carried in two different bags, both of which are on our person for 99.5% of the trip (the other .5% of the time they are locked together and to a post while we splash in the water). Electronic journal entries are stored on the laptop, backed on the USB, loaded here to Travelblog.org and periodically backed up en masse to Gmail.

If anyone out there has any questions on our approaches or any advice or constructive criticism, feel free to share!

STATISTICS (Travel has not yet begun!)

• Rozita steps taken
  
• Flights taken
  
• Trains rides taken
  
• Times lost
  
• Total instances of diarrhea
  
• Total number of requests for pictures with Daniel
  
• Total megabytes of pictures taken
  

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