1 September 2017. How do you prepare for eight weeks on the road with temperatures ranging from 43F to 73F (06C-23C) with the added caveat that your heaviest bag cannot exceed 22 pounds/10 kilos? We will be in cities, hiking in mountains, and visiting the seaside as well, so we need to be able to adapt to hot-and-sweaty as well as possible cold-and-rainy.
Over the past 9 years I have been developing my packing-light-and-right skills. I had two bags go astray in 2008 and although I did eventually receive my luggage, the inconvenience was horrible. That taught me that carry on is the way to go.
As far as luggage, the winning combo is a 21-inch roll-a-board coupled with a day pack. We chose Eagle Creek Osprey bags to replace our aging luggage as their 21-inch case weighs only 4.5 pounds. My last roll-a-board, which I used for seven years, weighed 7.5 lbs. Shaving 3 pounds off the bag is huge.
Almost everything on the bed goes in the 21-inch suitcase, upper left.
What exactly am I taking for two months?
Toiletries. I love the red bag because I can just hang it from a towel bar and not have to unpack everything. My 3-1-1 bag is at the upper right. We will buy body wash, toothpaste, lotion along the way to replenish.
“Medical” supplies: bandages, Moleskin, Neosporin, Tylenol, Calagel, Immodium, etc. And a couple of dozen Wet Ones, an essential in so many ways.
My wardrobe is about layering: 2 blouses, 2 long sleeved tees, 2 short sleeved tees, 2 jeans, one pullover sweater, khaki jacket, jammies & undies. Wear on the plane: black stretchy pants, tee, & lightweight jacket.
Bottom of the bag: Extra shoes and collapsible trekking sticks.
All of the clothes except my anorak are in cubes. The anorak goes in my day pack.
Clothes packs in! Ready to zip up. I do tuck dry laundry-soap sheets, Ziplocs, and a few tea bags inside as well.
I also squeezed in a foldable travel duffle bag in case we make any acquisitions along the way.
My day pack will contain my anorak, a tiny umbrella, iPad, laptop (Surface Pro 4), cords and an adaptor, tickets and printed confirmations along with maps organized by country. Because of the carrier and class we are flying, we can also carry on a personal item each, i.e., a purse with the usual assortment of personal gear.
All of our travel guide books are Kindle, sparing us at least 6 pounds of paper.
Ironically, now that we are so efficiently packed with everything ready to carry on, we have to check our roll-a-boards because the trekking sticks are not allowed by TSA. So now the day pack also contains a change of underwear in case the bag is delayed.
Counting the hours to departure.
Girovaga 