Category Archive for ‘How-To’

One of the more overlooked aspects of travel is the personal travel inventory. It doesn’t matter if you’re going to the Great Pyramids or only to a local museum, your travel inventory always has the potential to make or break your mood during a given trip. For instance, if you plan a hiking trip and neglect to bring any rain gear, you’re not going to be a happy camper when a thunderstorm comes looming over your head. But you also wouldn’t want to be hauling around 60 lb (or if you’re cool, 30 kilos) worth of stuff all day if you knew you probably weren’t going to use half of it. The solution becomes obvious: Balance. Just as you are balancing between too challenging and not challenging when you work in the flow or balancing between a huge file size and low video quality when encoding video for a podcast, balance is also key when creating your travel inventory.

Your Optimal Travel Inventory

Striking a balance between too much and too little is what I call your Optimal Travel Inventory. You may have heard of “travelling light”, but that implies that you’re leaving behind some things you may actually want to bring. If you travel light, you may also be leaving behind things that are more expensive if you need to buy them at your destination. Optimal Travel Inventory is finding the happy medium between bringing too much and too little.

Over the course of the past few trips I’ve made, firsthand experience has helped me refine my own Optimal Travel Inventory. To come to the list I have today, I first did some research on the what other travellers have brought on their journeys. Research is a part of my learning process again and again because I see no reason to reinvent the wheel. I am reminded of what Douglas Adams mentioned in his book, Last Chance to See:

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
~ Douglas Adams

As funny as this quotation may be, it’s really only funny because of how true it is, but I didn’t want it to be true of me.

Wheel’s Already Invented

Research is how I avoid reinventing the wheel, and through my research I found it very helpful to contrast other’s inventories. A good place to get inventory lists, as well as a cornucopia of other info, is DigiHitch.com, an extremely helpful resource for travellers, and specifically hitchhikers. Using ToboBear’s packing list as a starting point and incorporating some other lists I came across, plus my own common sense, I came up with my current travel inventory.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the following inventory was written for summer. Travel inventories are very seasonal and your needs will change depending on the season. I’ve put a strikethrough line through items in this list that I didn’t bring, but you may want to think about bringing those items depending on the size of your pack. And by buying smart you can save money as you assemble your travel inventory. For instance, under the Hygene category below, I’ve listed Dr. Bronner’s Soap, which is functions as a general soap, dishwashing soap, and shampoo – and amazingly it does all these jobs well. Believe me, I’ve tried all three.

Here’s my Inventory List from my last trip:

Carry That Weight

Pack that is Waterproof or has a cover.
(I use an Osprey Kestrel pack.)

~~Outside strap of a place to carry sleeping bag~~ For the short time I had a sleeping bag, I was able to fit it inside my Osprey pack.

Sleeping bag suitable to your climate
• in the summer this isn’t much of an issue and I actually used a silk travel sheet
• in the winter months, do your own research to see how cold it will get. use common sense.

Wear
Wide-brimmed Hat
4 t-shirts
2 shorts
1 pair pants

Sustenance
Water bottle
~~Spoon/ fork/ cup/ bowl/ plate~~
Spork-type thing
Dry food such as:
• Nuts
• Granola Bars
• Apples
• Raisins

Tech
Camera
Notebook
Lip balm
Laptop
Map
First Aid Kit
Flashlight on AA batteries
plastic bags
Marker
Duct tape
Road Journal & pencil
~~Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman~~
~~lighter~~
~~watch~~ (Used iPod.)

Entertain
~~playing cards~~ (Takes up space. Only needed if you’re going to a boring place, right?)

Protection
Wide-brimmed Hat
Towel (Every traveller should know where their towel is.)
3 pairs socks
3 pairs underwear
Shoes, ~~Boots~~
Pajama pants & ~~Fleece~~ for night time
1 pair Pants
Shorts
Identification
~~Mace~~
~~Tent~~
~~Tarp~~
~~Some pocket money in a Chump Change Wallet~~
A real stash for your real cash

Hygiene
Multipurpose Soap (Dr. Bronner’s Soap is excellent)
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Soap
Dental Floss
Deodorant
Clothes line (some twine works)
Universal sink plug
Sunscreen
Chap Stick
Ear plugs
Bandages
Antiseptic
Scissors
Nail clippers
~~Cough drops~~
~~Breath mints or gum~~
~~Diarrhea tablets~~
~~Needle & thread~~
~~Eye drops~~
~~Hand sanitizer~~

It’s All Up To You

For me, this inventory list was a good balance, and it was within my 48 liter pack’s optimal weight range. Every pack has a optimal range of weight, so within that range the pack will work best. If you go above that range, wearing the pack will probably be dangerous to your health, and if you go below that range, the pack will probably slide around a lot. Of course, this list is only meant to be considered a starting point for you. Your own Optimal Travel Inventory will be different from mine. In any case, the longer you travel and the more trips you take, the more refined your Optimal Travel Inventory will be.

At the end of the day, use common sense, and don’t bring something if you won’t use it. Be really honest with yourself. Above all, get out there and travel! Life’s too short not to.

Last month, I went on a two week trip to Madison and Chicago. I’d been to Madison before, but it was my first time to Chicago. I found it to be a vast yet charming city with a darn good public transportation system. I took over 900 photos. Suffice to say, photography is forthcoming.

During my adventure to Chicago, I began consider this question:

If you’re a traveller, should you blog your adventure as the adventure is happening or should you wait and write about your adventure when things settle down or you return home?

If you decide not to blog and wait until you return home, will this allow you to become more immersed and engaged in the midst of your adventure? Or is it better to take extra time during an adventure to try and blog about your experiences as the adventure is in full swing, perhaps a couple times a week? Does having to write about your adventure, as it occurs, take you out of the element?

Option 1: Wait to Gain Perspective

Each approach has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. Obviously, I chose to wait last month and probably have enough material to last me until the end of this year. Currently, I find it beneficial to wait until after an adventure to write about it. Giving my unconscious mind time to process the adventure and allowing some time to rest helps me get a better perspective on the journey as a whole. However, this clarity does come at a price: no one gets to experience the trip with me as it’s happening.

Option 2: Blog from the Road

The alternative is to take some time every day, or every few days, to reflect on the journey so far. However, creating the typical travel blog entry takes more time and more steps than you may realize. Blog entries need to be roughed out, written, refined, and corrected; and photography needs to be imported, post-processed, and uploaded. All of this takes time, and time is a funny thing. Whenever someone says “Yes” to something they must say “No” to hundreds of other alternatives.

The advantage of this method would be a higher degree of freshness to this blog. In order to pull this off, I would need to be especially careful to remain balanced. Perhaps setting aside one day a week is a good balance. During my next trip, I plan on experimenting to see what travel blogging rhythm works best for me.

Option 3: Balance Blogging and Travelling

Of course, there is always the third option, and this third option is used by many longterm travellers who blog: Do Both!

Releasing multiple updates a week, perhaps just photos, maintains interest for the reader and keeps them coming back for more. These “updates” wouldn’t be full entries, just something to keep the interest alive. Then, perhaps weekly, a travelling blogger can write a spotlight entry on a certain location they’ve been to that week, complete with pictures or a video, the whole shebang.

And there are other ways to provide fresh content, as well. By implementing Twitter into the conversation, a traveller can provide up-to-the-minute news about how their adventure is going and even teasers about what will be coming out next. I plan on using the bytefulcom twitter account in this way next time I travel, and I anticipate this little life experiment will be easy to implement since twittering from my iPod Touch is pretty effortless.

By using both techniques, the traveller can provide both refined content and more spontaneous content, therefore keeping the the site fresh, but not allowing it to digress into a blog without compelling, well thought out content.

Up to You to decide

What about you? Would you wait until after a trip to write about it, try to make time while on a trip, or try to balance spontaneous with refined content?