Things are beginning to finally sink in about our world trip. Like we’re, err, actually going on a, err, world trip. You know, with real airplanes and everything. Until the last week or two it all seemed a bit vague, but as we run through the “To Do” list of doom – rent apartment, get shots, become American (have British teeth done) – we’re beginning to realize that soon our worldly possessions will be distilled down to a handful of bags containing some fearsomely stinky backpacker stuff.
[ Warning: NERD ALERT ]
I cannot deny that I love this phase. Miniature, shrinky, gadgetty things. Drool! Geek Snort!
Above is a picture of our packagery. I am roguishly sporting an REI “Mars” 80L pack (the big one), which is a great little number, and cheap at $200. It’s big enough to hold my stuff and my guitalele (mini guitar thingie, inside the pack in this photo). My hand luggage is a Pacsafe camera backpack (black on the right). It has a nifty camera section in the bottom half, which is lined with wire mesh so that it cannot be slashed open. I’ll be taking some camera gear – you don’t think I actually want to LOOK at things do you? – so made a bit of an effort with security. I have no illusions though, I’ll most likely have everything pinched on the way to the airport and have to check-in wearing only underpants (again).
My lovely wife will be using her super comfortable Deuter day-pack. Which is admittedly more of a several-days-pack on her (petite lovely that she is).
Then – and here’s the scandalous part – her main pack ….. will be a rolling case!
DOM DOM ….. DOMMMMMMMM!
That’s right, I said it. Not a backpack, A CASE. Backpacker glitterati will snub this in “huff’s” and “pffft’s”, but you know what? It actually makes a lot of sense. We are trekking in the Himalayas, but other than that we don’t really need packs. Even as we fend of rabid yaks (curse their smiling faces), we’ll have enough packery for what we need to do. Other than that her rugged REI roller-case will do the trick nicely. Boom.
Ok. Maybe I’m taking luggage a bit too seriously. I’m a sad case.
Pacsafe is awesome! We had one in Costa Rica…just make sure you lock the zippers everytime (that’s how we lost Tara’s laptop.) Awesome packs! Nothing wrong with a rolling case though… 🙂
The pacsafe camera pack is nice, but I was a bit miffed to find the wire stuff doesn’t include the back of the backpack (bit next to sweaty Welsh person), so it can’t really be used as a ‘safe’. I ordered a 12L pacsafe for this, bit more low-profile than the full pacsafe (which says ‘Rob me!’).
As mentioned above, I’m fully expecting to be separated from the goodies pretty early on. Perhaps I should wear a suit of armor and ride one of these ….
http://gallery.burrowowl.net/index.php?q=/post/view/26926
Hello, your neighbor here stalking you on the internet 🙂 I love your photos! You and Yang could totally nerd out on camera equipment, if only you weren’t leaving so soon. Good luck with the rest of your packing!