Gear Collection

our pack-safe
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We have started the gathering of the gear. There are a few websites out there to give advice, including this one of course. Most people say to bring as little as possible which seems like sound advice to me. I've only done one long backpacking trip, around Europe (where Magda and I met actually) and I did find that I was over-packed, over-prepared, and over-wieghted. And that was just for two months. And included only one hemisphere. Not even. For this much longer trip it will be extremely tempting to bring the kitchen sink just so we know we have it.

A few essentials. Maybe.
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This Christmas we asked our relatives to give us stuff from REI for the trip and received all kinds of goodies. My dad gave us these gadgets called "pac-safe" security nets, which look like what you might use to catch a live boar. I've included a picture of the pac-safe in action, securing the back-pack I'll be using. Don't worry, I'm not packed yet, it's just full of sweaters. We were pleased with ourselves and my dad, until I managed to reach through the netting, open the pack and pull out a sweater. We also read a packing guide online that specifically warned against bringing these devices, but honestly I'm still leaning towards them. I think while they might not stop sweater thieves, they might prevent the theft of our kitchen sink.

In which we describe preparations to catch wild boar.

I will give a better breakdown of the gear that we end up bringing before we go. Some time down the road. Meanwhile we were telling some people about our trip at a party last night and as they asked the perfectly reasonable question, "how are you going to do it?" I realized I still have absolutely no idea. I would ask me the exact same question and probably think my stammering answer sounded a little pathetic for someone attempting to live on the road for a year.

This other picture is of the few essential items we have, Our tickets (The STA package) our passports, my ghetto cell phone (seems to work just about anywhere), and a padlock for the pac-safe.