Packing List & Planning

j_bunting — Wed, 9 Sep 2009 10:30:00 GMT

Although I have, at this point, still over a year before I leave on my trip I've been researching and planning to try to help prevent any bumps in the road further along. I've gone on a few car trips here in the U.S. this year and I've treated them as if I was taking a flight. I limit myself to one backpack, putting all my liquids in a clear baggie. I figure that if I condition myself to travel light now, I'll have all the kinks worked out of my "system" before I actually leave for Egypt.

One of the things I am experimenting with now is the "bundle" method of packing. Supposedly, the technique of bundling your clothes around a core item results in a well packed backpack and clothes with less wrinkles than you get with other methods. I've packed two pairs of pants and four shirts using this method and have left them in my pack. My "core item" is a packing cube with my underwear and socks. I'll take everything back out in a few days and see how the wrinkles look. Of course a few wrinkles never hurt, especially when you're traveling, but I'd like to at least not look like I've slept in my clothes.

Packing List:

Packs:

Rick Steves' Convertible Carry-On

**Some people might think he's a bit on the geeky side but I haven't found a carry-on style bag yet that I've liked more. I also have the Patagonia MLC, but it seems smaller than I'd like.**

Civita Day Pack (Folded up in the bottom of main pack)

Clothes:

2 Pairs of pants
4 Pairs each, socks & underwear
3 Shirts
A few t-shirts

**This doesn't include the shirt, pants, shoes, etc. I'll be wearing so the above count would actually increase by one each.** It'll be a ten day trip, I plan to do some hotel bathroom sink clothes washing.

Other Stuff:

Flashlight (and batteries)
Moleskine Journal
Pens
Bible
Money Belt (I'll be wearing this).
Headphones
Ipod (with power block)
Netbook
Camera (Powershot SX110IS) & Case
Spare batteries for camera
Backup Camera (Powershot A1000IS)
Memory safe w/ spare memory cards
Cell Phone w/charger (Cell phone came with a European adapter I'll use with all my electronics.)
Toiletries Kit
Liquids Bag
Guidebooks
Novel

Seems a bit heavy on the electronics side of thing but everything has a purpose. There are a couple of items that are definitely luxury items and I could live without them but they'll be nice to have. Both cameras use the same type batteries and memory cards. Also, all the electronics are rated for the voltage in Egypt so I'll just need a simple adapter for the plugs.

Below is my "bundle" experiment.

I've added these Monkey Fist zipper pulls by Red Oxx to my bag. Shipping from Red Oxx is kind of ridiculous for such a small item. I got six of these things at $.75 each and they charged me $10.41 for shipping. They could have stuck them in an envelope and sent them USPS but their only option was standard UPS shipping.

Making the leap....

j_bunting — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 13:45:00 GMT

Saint Augustine once said "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page". It is time to open the book. After years of talking about it and years of saying "...someday I'll go..." my trip is booked and I will be in Egypt next year. Too many travel shows and too many books set in far away exotic places have left me with the desire to pretty much go everywhere. I've been very lucky that I've gotten to travel a fair bit in my own country but I've never set foot past it's boundaries.

Although I feel like a bit of a late bloomer (by the time I go I'll be 28), I'm finally making the leap and will be going to Egypt in September 2010. It'll be a ten day trip with a company called Gecko's Adventures covering the highlights that Egypt has to offer. Egypt has fought with a safari in Africa for the top two spots in my "Places to See/Things to Do" list, and what amounts to a mental flip of the coin has led me to pick Egypt as my first destination. Gecko's seems like a good mix of "hand holding" and independent travel so I don't think I'll have a "stuck on the bus" experience but at the same time there'll be someone around to keep me from getting myself into trouble.

Even though the trip is still over a year away, I've started planning and getting things in order. Among those things is getting travel insurance and thanks to the advice of the venerable Lonely Planet people I found World Nomads. They seem like a decent company and a good fit for what I had in mind. On top of my travel insurance they threw in this free travel journal so I thought I'd try to make use of it. I'm kicking things off with this post but there probably won't be much more activity on here until next year when I hit the road. Maybe as the mood hits me I may login and review some travel gadget or the like that I've stumbled across, but hopefully the next serious post you see on here will be from Cairo. Until then, it's late here in Virginia and I'm going to get some sleep and hopefully dream of far away places.

There And Back Again...

Packing List & Planning

Making the leap....