Now we have the packs, it turns to what to pack.
We broke packing down to 3 things. 1. Clothes, 2. Document/ID/Money 3. Other things. Our two big questions for each item are "Do we need it and how much does it weigh"?
1. Clothes
Deciding on the attire to bring was a challenge because we are hitting extreme heat, August in the Sahara Desert, early on our journey and then a few months later we will be in extreme winter in Siberia, Russia in November. We did a lot of research to determine how to layer our clothes for the cold and how to dress for the heat with the same clothes.
We are not fully decided and will change as we actually pack in a couple weeks, but we are looking at:
Pants – 1-2 pair jeans and 1-2 pairs of hiking pants.
Shirts – 6-8 T-Shirts, 1-2 dress shirts, 1 long sleeve and 1 heaver shirt/jacket
Undies – 12-14 pairs.
Shorts – 2-6 pairs of short, variety.
Socks – 6-12 pair
Swimsuit - 1
Shoes – 1 running shoe, 1 sandal, 1 slip on (girls have fit kicks)
1 silk sleeping bag liner, if these work out we will write more about them later.
As we travel through Europe we will begin to pick up warmer clothes. Once we are in Sweden we will go full hats, gloves, and boots. We are lucky enough to have a close friend looking for donations and at thrift stores for our sizes.
Going to inject a funny story here (Elizabeth);
This past December Chris was checking the credit card statement, as he regularly does, and he came across a charge he had seen before. It was from some kids website, and he asked me, "What are you buying from this place again for the girls?" It was December so he thought maybe I was getting some things for Christmas. I had no idea what he was talking about, so he gave me the site and I looked it up and logged in. I remembered that nearly two years ago I had bought some boots and shoes for the girls and I quickly realized I had been signed up for a subscription to this website and had 14 credits to my account. Chris told me to get that canceled. I called customer service and I asked to have the account canceled. I also inquired about the 14 points, asking, "So what do I have $14 dollars for these points?" In response I found out that each point was worth $29.95, equaling about $419. I was then told when I did not use my points within a specified amount of time the points turn into gift cards. So that was a grand total of about $840. The money had to spend on this site, which was for the girls only, so they ended up with a whole new set of clothes for the trip.
2. Documents/ID/Money
Passports – We already had these from traveling to Mexico last summer.
Global Entry – We needed to get a new credit card with not international fees. We decided on one that would pay for one Global Entry. I, Chris, have always wanted to go the pre-check line at the airport, so we decided to all get Global Entry. The process was pretty easy, we had to complete an application, and once it was approved we scheduled an interview. The closest interview location was Atlanta, but we planned to meet some Atlanta’ friends before we left so it worked out.
Visas – After some research we determined we needed visas for three of the countries we planed to visit. Now, how to get a visa? We had never applied for a visa, so a quick search on Google. I searched for a couple minutes, but decided to start back the next day. Low and behold, the next day I received an ad in my Facebook feed, passportsandvisa.com. The offered visas for all the countries we need and they had an office in Atlanta, were there for our Global Entry, so we stopped by. They offered a reasonable deal, I think, to complete all three visas for us, so we started filling out the applications. After over four hours we were finally walking out of their office with 2 of the 3 applications completed, it was a long day! As we were leaving, we were complimented, or I should say, the girls were complimented, on how well behaved they were for the entire time in the office.
Oh, we needed visas for China, Russia, and Vietnam.
Drivers License – We will carry our Tennessee driver’s license, we also applied and received an international drivers license. I am not sure what it will be used for, but it seems like a smart thing to do!
Priority Pass – A benefit from the new credit card, it provides access to airport lounges. I am interested to see if it pays off.
Cash – We will carry some cash for emergencies.
Exchanging money – After researching, we decided to exchange our money in each country to get the best rate.
Birth certificates – In several of the counties we are visiting they require birth certificates, matching the kids passports, to travel. We have decided to travel with two copies of the girls’ birth certificates and their passports.
Travel Plans – we have digitized our entire travel plans and have copies on USB and on our phones. Initially we thought we would take a paper copy, but it got thing and heavy fast.
3. Other things
Medicine – We have created a medicine bag that contains a variety of basic medicines. It includes items like antibiotics, prescription triple antibiotics cream, anti- diarrhea, liquid Benadryl, and the basics like band aids, Tylenol and ibuprofen.
Grooming – We have our basic grooming like toothbrushes, hairbrushes, wipes, hand sanitizer, toothpaste, travel shampoo and conditioner, soap, and q-tips.
Outdoors – We have small bottles of sunscreen and bug spray, but we plan on buying local and only using when we cannot find.
Odds and Ends - We have a couple zip locks of odds and ends such as safety pins, small sewing kit, playing cards, plastics bags, sharpies, pens, rubber bands and tapes.
That is it. We will see how it goes for 10 months. We have heard we will add much more and on the other side we will learn to live minimal and wonder why we have so much “junk” when we get home. It should be interesting!
