How to Pack a Year in One Bag...

(Pictures Posted Below)
We keep getting requests to explain how we packed for our trip. Ideally, you want all of your luggage to be under 15 pounds total. This way when you arrive at your destination, you can comfortably carry it around on your back and don't need to immediately (and desperately) look for a place to stash your sweaty, heavy burden. This is hugely important for reducing travel stress; we took too much stuff and were kicking ourselves over it. IT IS POSSIBLE TO TAKE VERY LITTLE IF YOU PLAN CAREFULLY! In simplest terms: PACK MINIMALLY The overall rule is: WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE IT OUT!!!

Here are some more specific tips along with pictures below:

Luggage:

1. Take one primary bag and one day pack. Eagle Creek makes a really compactable day bag that can be stored and stuffed into it's own pocket the size of a potato.
2. If you simply can't fit it all into a small bag (under 15 lbs), then get a backpack with wheels to save yourself backache (but make sure the bag has straps to that you have the option to convert it into a backpack when necessary).
3. Make sure that you don't completely stuff your main bag: leave some empty space for souvenirs, etc.
4. Buy a few organizers to keep your stuff from getting ruined in your bag, but don't take this too far: they also take up precious space and add weight. Get one for toiletries (leaky stuff is ruinous), one or two for small easily lost items, but don't buy them for clothing... takes up too much space!
5. Combination luggage locks approved by Federal Flight Administration. You can find these in the travel section at Walmart. You will want one for each lock on both your main bag and your daypack along with a couple extras. These seem to get lost and are essential. We have run into many travelers who have had stuff stolen, but neither of us had a single thing stolen all year! We may have been lucky, but we were also cautious and aware.
6. A combination bike lock (remembering combos is easier than not loosing keys, but don't forget your combo!). This is useful for overnight train rides somewhere like India so you can chain your luggage under your bed to the bed frame in order to not get hit by a quick thief doing a grab and dash. We also always kept our stuff locked in all hostels and even private rooms in sketchy countries. Not one thing turned up missing . . .

Clothing:

1. Clothing gets especially bulky, so we only took the following: 2 zip-off pants, 2 short sleeved shirts (one t-shirt, one collared), 2 long-sleeved shirts (one lightweight with a collar for sun protection and one warm like a thermal), 1 swim suit, 1 swim shorts that can also be used for jogging, 1 sports bra (women), 2 short non-cotton socks, 1 warm non-cotton socks, one rain jacket, one winter hat and gloves. Kelsi also took a fleece jacket to layer with her thermal shirt and rain jacket for the colder areas and that was almost adequate except in the Himalayas where we rented down coats. In all of your clothing, it is best to avoid cotton and take fast drying materials.
2. Underwear takes up too much room, so we opted for only two pairs of underclothes, in polyester or mesh so that we can wash and dry one pair while wearing the other.
3. For footwear, we use crocs as sandals/shower shoes and we each took one pair of gortex trail runner shoes. The gortex gives you a waterproof option that is essential! Also, trail runners allow you to use them for both jogging and hiking, which are essentials as well! I know some of you are Croc adverse, but nothing works better for travel! They are really comfortable and light weight and fast drying. Get a sturdy plastic bag for the pair of shoes you aren't wearing to avoid smearing your clothes! (Once again, Eagle Creek has a great shoe bag - forgot to picture below).

Toiletries

1. Don't take too much! We took about one large zip lock bag worth (plane carry-on size). . . shampoo, conditioner, face wash, bar of soap, sunblock, sunblock chapstick and toothpaste are about it. Always replacing these items, but keeping our original travel size containers. Along with q-tips, toothbrush, floss (sometimes hard to replace). No hair gels, lotions, etc. You may notice by our pics :) . . .
2. Shaving: Take an electric shaver... cream doesn't travel well, and good lathering soaps are hard to find abroad once you run out.
3. Feminine products are hard to find, so take a lot. We found a few places we could buy more, but there were also a lot of places where you couldn't.
4. Makeup: take a bare minimum! Not sure I took the least necessary. . . Also take a few boby pins and a head band that secures your hair during windy rides and snorkling, etc. A couple safety pins also come in handy along with a handful of ponytail holders.
5. Nail clippers and a flat tipped nail file.
6. Make sure to take a few band aides, balm, and wet wipes just in case.
7. Tylenol and IB Profein is also a good idea.

Essential Comfort Items:

1. Be sure to take good sunglasses (with a hard case to protect them) and a hat... even if you tan nicely! Best hat is a soft full brim hat. Also take chums for your sunglasses or you will certainly break/lose them.
2. Take a bandana to cover your mouth from dust, and eyes from light while sleeping in a dorm room or overnight bus. For women, the headband can also double for these purposes.
3. Take at least 3 pairs of foam EARPLUGS! Very important if you want to preserve your hearing and get sleep in those same dorm rooms and overnight busses!
4. Packable Bedsheets: The silk ones that stuff into a pouch the size of a potato will protect you nicely.
5. Mini-sized fast-drying towel in a packable mesh bag. You can find this at any outdoor store.
6. Sarong (cloth wrap-around). Good for EVERYTHING. We found it to be as versatile as duct tape! You can use it for laying at the beach (since you should not bring a full-size towel . . . sarong packs up much smaller). You can use it as a scarf for the extra cold moments. You can use it as a light blanket on super-airconditioned buses. You can use it for a skirt to enter particular temples and mosques. You can use it as a pillow case to accompany your travel sheets. The list is endless.
7. Head flashlight (like what you use in a cave, etc.).
8. Water resistant watch with alarm and calculator if you can stomach the nerd factor.
9. Water bottle tether: manufactured by EK accessories. This way you can keep it on the outside of your bag rather than drip all over your stuff as it sweats in your bag.
10. Mesh bags: For keeping your drying laundry in when it isn't quite ready to pack up, but you are moving on.
11. A small whistle (good to keep on your neck or in your pocket if you are out late at night or on overnight trains in India, if you are in a super crowded area with a buddy, if you go caving, or your ship sinks like in Titanic :), etc.). We actually used this one night in Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, as you can read about in our blog last year, to deter a mugger.
12. A waterproof cover for your backpack that folds up into a small bag.

Souvenirs:

1. Photos are the best souvenirs and don't take up any space! We don't buy very many souvenirs at all! In most places where we travel, if you try to send them home, they will get stolen and\or damaged by the postal workers. Even a small package is usually worth more than the locals make in a whole year, so even a DHL or UPS worker in a place like India might steal your stuff if they get a chance.
2. All the same, be sure that you leave some extra room when packing your big bag so that you can fit a couple things. If you send them home, send them from a place with a reliable postal system like Europe or Australia.

Organization of Documents:

1. Spread out all of your important documents: passport, drivers license, professional credentials, immunizations, social security card, wedding certificate, birth certificate, and credit cards and take digital photos of them (much quicker than scanning). Send that image to yourself and someone back home via email in case one of them gets stolen. Keep one photocopy of your passport in a separate location than your passport.
2. Buy an accordion plastic folder to organize all of those cluttery receipts, brochures, maps, plane tickets, reservations, etc.
3. Take a little notebook and pen in a sturdy plastic bag for taking notes on the go.
4. Take around 20 passport sized photos for visas, certificates, etc. Keep these in a small plastic bag.

Computers and Electronics:

1. Don't take a full-sized computer! Internet is available everywhere, so use the local shop rather than lug around all of that junk! If you insist on taking some computing power, instead, buy an unlocked, sim-card, WIFI enabled, PDA Phone (you might even be able to buy local sim cards for it in some places.)
2. If you take a media player (highly recommended) download songs, movies, games, and other entertainment... you wait a lot when you travel long-term.
3. If you take a Windows or Apple PDA, subscribe to Skype and buy the SKYPE PDA plug-in for your PDA, and you can make free calls home when you get access to wifi. Skype is also available for use in many internet cafes if you don't take a PDA.
4. Buy a universal, all in one plug adapter. Don't worry about getting a power converter... they are a thing of ages gone by and most modern electronic plugs will work anywhere if you can get them to fit into the wall (according to Rusty - Kelsi hasn't done the research to confirm that the power converter is really not essential).

Books:

1. Don't buy hard copy travel guide books. Buy your travel guides in PDF format and use your PDA to read them. If they aren't available in PDF, take digital photos of the pages you need on your digital camera and use that to look at them. SAVE THE WEIGHT and SPACE!!
2. Limit yourself to one pleasure reading book and when you finish it, trade it with fellow travelers or find your local book exchange to get a new one.
3. Download a bunch of good audio books from Audible.com.

Photography:

1. Storage is the main issue. Unless you are a professional, I recommend that you buy a large capacity SD card (16gb) and thumb drive (64gb). Delete the pics you don't like when you get a chance to use a computer. This was enough storage for an entire year for us. For professionals, take a portable hard drive.
2. Buy at least one spare camera battery so that you always have a fresh one. Remember to take it with you when you go out!
3. If you use an DSLR camera, you should consider investing in one, universal 18mm-250mm lens. You will be ready to throw away multiple lenses after lugging them around for a month!
4. Unless you are a professional, don't take a additional camcorder... just use your point and shoot camera to take video clips.

Toys and Special Equipment, Etc.

1. Don't take equipment unless you are certain you need it! You can rent most equipment you might need on the spot, including coats, sleeping bags, climbing gear, etc.
2. We would recommend taking goggles and a nose plug rather than a mask and snorkle. You can rent a mask and snorkle most places, but can at least have goggles as a miniature sized backup.
3. Rusty took a Yo-Yo, but we had no other toys.

Here's our packing in pics:

Our bags had wheels, but could convert into backpacks. Next time (aka if we could Do-Over or what we'd recommend to others), we'd only take a SMALL backpack without wheels and only pack up to 7 kilograms if possible. We think we might be able to get it down to a science.

The water bottle attachment was a nice feature below. These were our daypacks that also attached to our main bags. Next time we'd take a mini daypack that comes in a self contained fold-up pack to fit into our SMALL regular backpack.



Would skip the PJs and the 2nd pair of pants next time and maybe even the 3rd short sleeve shirt. But musts are a pair of shorts for running and to wear at the beach and one pair of zip off quick drying pants as well as a pair of yoga type pants described below. Would also skip the organizer bag.

Money belt. Notice the zipper that's inside. Pretty cool!

We ended up with a pair of tights for layering for warmth, but would skip the tights and the PJs and even the 2nd pair of pants next time and combine all into one pair of silky spandexy lightweight yoga type pants that can do all the functions in one pair. But the hat, gloves and jackets are essential! Would also skip the organizer bag here again.

Would skip the organizer bag here as well.

Our shoe selection was one of the more perfect things we had down. Gortex trailrunners and crocks! Worked perfect for trekking, jogging, showering, beach time, comfort, etc. etc.

We'd probably skip the organizer bag next time and put it all in one small bag to shave a tad bit space and weight.

Forgot to picture sunblock chapstick - another essential.


We took a mask and snorkle, but wouldn't recommend the space - just take goggles and a nose plug for times you can't rent.


Rusty liked his Wal-Mart calculator watch the best! But it finally broke to pieces in our last couple weeks.
Don't forget the rain cover for your backpack:


We took a Magic Jack and phone, but would skip that extra space and use Skype instead. A padded electronics bag is really nice. The black item in the corner is our external hard drive where we had copies of both our computers backed up that made it easy to access things that came up while we were out for a year as well as space to back up all our photos. Also, don't forget your chargers.

We were amused by how worn out some of our clothes got, so we had to share a couple pics below:

We just kept using them anyway! But they landed in the trash when we got home. Rusty's crocks had strings tied to hold on the heel strap, but it took a hole in the bottom to finally make them worth going in the garbage the night before we flew home.

Portugal: We're Coming Home!

It's been a year since we left home, and we're coming home for Rusty's brother, Kevin's wedding on August 7. We decided to cross into Portugal and fly home from the far Western side of mainland Europe. Here is what we did on our last stop in our odyssey..

Our first stop in Portugal was a small village called Sagres. They have great wind, so we decided to try wind surfing lessons. Rusty had tried kite surfing in Morocco, but the two sports are not really at all alike. The boards you ride are quite different, and the power mechanisms are different (kites versus sails). We had a great time with it in any case!


Kelsi got the hang of it pretty quickly, although Rusty was a little too salty from repeatedly falling off of his board to get an action shot of her cruising around!

Sagres had a pretty nice fortification which was built to protect the shipping routes back in the day.


We thought this little old fisherman looked particularly precarious standing on top of the cliffs inside the Sagres fort. We just hope he didnt hook into a big one after we left!


After Sagres, we took a bus ride to the capital of Portugal, Lisbon. Aside from enjoying the fine dinning (loved the relatively inexpensive and delicious fish dishes), we also hiked around town and took time to check out a few overlooks and fortresses. The one behind Kelsi is called Castelo Sao Jorge, and was originally built by Muslim Moors when they were ruling the area. The views of Lisbon were amazing here.


Lisbon is a beautiful city, and we loved it as our last stop in the old world. Portugal and Spain were also a perfect last stop for assisting in getting used to the time back home because the locals here keep strange hours. They are on the late to bed, late to rise schedule. In fact, in Spain they had a big problem with siestas on the job, so the government had to pass a law a few years back officially limiting government employees to a 45 minute lunch. In any case, the advantage for us is that the schedule here put us closer to the actual times we should be sleeping back home. Our Lisbon hostel's quiet hours were Midnight to 8 am, which is like a typical quiet hours around 10 or 11 pm to 7 am where no one actually makes it to bed at the early end of that bracket. We never went to bed before midnight and only got up early a couple of times, which usually ended up being a waste as nothing opens before 9:30 am at the earliest. Breakfast usually starts around 10 am.

It is crazy for us to think that when this blog posts, we will be 30,000 feet in the air flying back home to Utah. It feels as surreal to head home as it felt to leave for our trip, but we both feel ready to be home again for a while. We were thinking a year or two at a desk job is a good way to revive travel enthusiasm:) Thus ends this part of our Odyssey!