Packing
In the last month, Victoria, from It’s a small world after all, and Michelle from Wandermom have posted packing lists. We’ve got our own list (in google docs, naturally, as befits our tech travel) which is looking bigger than theirs. We’ve decided to go with backpacks for everyone (no rolling suitcases, as they only work on nice smooth surfaces) and daypacks which will be both for technology and handluggage on planes. Here are some pictures of our packed backpacks from our trial pack last weekend.
Compared with those two, it feels as if we are taking more. The main difference is the shoes (and the electronics, which are a whole other post). We’re taking an average of three pairs of shoes each – sandals, trainers and waterproof walking boots. Aptenodyte isn’t bothering with the trainers, and I’ve added an extra pair of comfortable girly city shoes (I think we’re keeping Ecco in business, at least the adult part of the company).
Like wondermom, we’ve largely packed four days of clothes each. For the boys, that’s two long sleeved tshirts, and two short sleeved, plus two pairs of thermals (top and bottom), two pairs of shorts, and two trousers, and three pairs of socks and five pairs of undies each. For me, at the moment (I may change my mind on the final pack, but it fitted into the pack above) that’s two trousers, a dress, a skirt and a pair of shorts, three long sleeve shirts (the merino technical kind), three tshirts, and three pairs of socks. Evan is, as usual, packing lighter than me.
The boys are carrying all their clothes (except shoes), which fitted into the pack above, and weighed 5 kilos, which seems manageable for them both. They’ll also carry their pencil cases, and odd bits and pieces like headtorches, hats, sunglasses, scarves etc. We’ll carry their shoes and schoolbooks (which will be fairly minimal – we’re mostly using technology here) and anything else that doesn’t fit for them.
The tricky thing is managing the seasons. As I posted before, we’re spending the first few months in winter (except for the very first week in Singapore), but winter in Egypt and winter in Beijing are quite different experiences. I think once it starts to get warm in May/June we’ll be doing some fairly wholesale sorting and throwing out/posting on. By then I’m sure we’ll all be sick of the clothes we’ve brought with us, as well.
We’ve only been on the road a couple of weeks, but so far our clothes (three outfits each for adults, and four for children) have been more than enough. We’ve done a wash every day pretty much and mostly just worn the same outfit over and over. The weather’s been hot, which helps! Our trainers have proper, heavy duty, walking soles, so they’re basically doing the same job as two pairs of shoes. What we have discovered, is that packing neatly at home is very different to packing hurridly on the road. We’re finding it harder to fit stuff in, partly because the children keep accumulating stuff!
Rereading my post, I think our problem is the summer winter thing. We’ve really only got 2-3 outfits per season (which are somewhat mixable). That and the fact I want do keep doing some running, particularly with Chatterboy, so that we can explore new places together. But I’m leaving myself open to the idea of getting rid of stuff as we go. And not looking forward to having to pack well each time, either!