Ambitious Packing Plan

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I decided that I'm going to try and pack light this trip. Not that I didn't try and streamline things on my last trip - I thought I packed pretty light for two months! - but I do recall some walking around with a hugely heavy 60+20 L backpack strapped on my back and a small daypack on my front puffing up the steep hills in Cuzco out of breath from the sudden elevation gain... In any case, I want to try and do things differently this time. I'm going to do carry-on only. I have a lot of flights booked and with some of the lower cost carriers I just don't really trust that my stuff will show up when I do. Also so when I go on buses etc. I don't have to put my bag underneath the bus (hopefully). So I'm going to bring a small day bag and a carry-on sized backpack.

I was looking at a lot of bags that would be small enough to use as a carry-on - I was thisclose to buying the Tortuga bag (check it out if you haven't heard of it, looks awesome!) - but also find something that would give me maximum functionality for packing and utility. I was given an older version of the Patagonia Transport MLC which is going to be awesome! The true test will be whether I can fit everything in it! I do believe that by committing to a smaller bag that it will force me to pack lighter than I would otherwise, and realistically if I'm gone for two months I'm going to need to do laundry anyways so I can pack enough stuff for about a 7-10 day range and be just fine. The good thing is that I'll be in fairly warm/tropical places and can wear lighter and fewer clothing items. That was one of the packing challenges with South America, the range of climates I had to pack for was tough - sunny beach weather in Lima and near freezing in the mountains of Bolivia (even though it was summer!). So fingers crossed this will be an easier go of things.

I'll try and post a packing list before I go. Mostly because I kind of wish I had written down my whole list from last trip and done a post-trip report on gear - what I used, what I didn't use and actually write it down so I would remember for the next time!

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