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Published: October 7th 2008
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Oooohhh, how exciting. My first ever travel blog entry.
Now that I am only a few short days away from leaving for Nairobi I thought it was about time I got my stuff all packed up. This was mainly as I have been buying and piling things up based on a packing list I wrote about 4 months ago. At no point had I really considered too much whether it would actually fit into my rucksack and whilst packing today I was prepared to be ruthless if needed. In the end, it turned out that everything fit inside my rucksack first time (another reason why my ridiculous need to plan and organise things to death is not something to be mocked).
Many of you have asked me questions about exactly what I am taking, how big my rucksack is and so on. So I thought I would actually show you and tell you about it on here, whilst at the same time being able to see how to use the blog before I go.
So first of all, for those of you that like the boring details, the rucksack I eventually chose to buy was the Karrimor Global
50-70 Litre (Ladies Fit - apparently it means you carry the weight more on your hips rather than your shoulders). At the moment I have it set up to only hold the 50 litres. As and when I pick up bits along the way it has a zip which I can undo to expand the pack by 20 litres to fit it in. This was something which really sold this pack to me above other ones that I looked at. It is a travel pack rather than a top loading rucksack which means that it has a zip which goes nearly all the way around so that you open it like a suitcase rather than having to pull everything out the top to get to something in the bottom of the pack. Another thing which I thought was great. Finally, the small back pack which I will be using for my hand luggage on the flight, also attaches to the front of the main pack by a zip so that when I am walking around I can have it all attached together on my back to keep my hands free.
I have put some photos on here of exactly
what I am taking.
Hand Luggage
In my hand luggage you can see I don't have too much. The main bulk of it is my camera. I have allowed myself just the one book and that is my Australia guide. I wanted to bring this as I still need to do some reading up on what I want to do when I get there. Lots of documents, a travel journal, the very small amount of electrical things I am taking including a power monkey, my Ipod, and my luxury - a little pillow. You can see it all fits in my small backpack easily with my pillow just strapped to the front. On a day to day basis I will pretty much always have my camera on me in this back pack so will not ever need the room for this in my main pack.
Main Pack
So, my main pack also has relatively few contents. On the photo working from left to right I have: A self inflating sleeping mat (to make my 2 months camping experience just that little more comfortable). My very light sleeping bag. A small case for my camera. A bottle
holder thing to keep my beer cool in the heat (getting my priorities right). The larger red organiser holds all of my clothes (about 4 sets of things to wear on bottom, 8/9 things to wear on top, a dress, and something to sleep in). The smaller red organiser on top of it holds all of my underwear and swimming stuff. The plastic folder in front holds a few photos, notes of certain phone numbers etc. The large black organiser on bottom is a roll out wash bag with all toiletries in. The small black organiser on top holds my travel towel and face cloth. A hard purple case in front has my sunglasses. To the right of this is my multi functioning wonderful knife thing (I know the technical terms for everything) in a lovely leather case. My head torch. Standing up behind this this you can see my very comprehensive medical kit. In front of these a small organiser with a belt, necklace and bracelet in and a small organiser with very minimal make up. To the right of this is my red 'Jack in a Pack' (waterproof jacket). Finally, a pair of flip flops and a pair
of Merrill walking sandals.
All in all, not a lot really but I think it is enough to live on for 5 months. You can see I am also wearing quite a bit on the plane including a hooded sweatshirt, hat and some shoes which cover my feet up a bit more than flip flops.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who contributed to all of this in some way. Special thanks to Nurse Samantha who kindly put together my excellent medical kit, making sure I keep in good health whilst I am in the middle of nowhere on safari in Africa.
So I am all ready to go, apart from the fact that the reality of it hasn't set in as yet. Hopefully it will by tomorrow!
If you have managed to read this it means that I have succeeded in figuring out how to work this thing. More blogs to follow in the next few days and up until my trip leaves on Saturday morning, then you may not hear from me for the first week whilst I get my feet wet!
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Lyndsey
non-member comment
GEEK!!!!!!!!
I love it though! If I ever go travelling will you just do all of this for me?? Lynz x