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4Laffs, 8backpacks…

1 day until liftoff.  It has been awesome to visit with family and friends for the past month, and now it’s time to truly break away.  The journey begins tomorrow and we think (hope, pray, doubt) that we are ready.  We start in Europe in the fall, transition to Southeast Asia in the (always) hot season, trek the Himalayas in January, and wind up in the Mediterranean in early spring.  Through it all we wanted our baggage to cover a few critical concepts:

• Able to carry-on – Small enough footprint to carry on as hand baggage, keeping our stuff within reach and saving $ by not paying for bags.
• Lightweight – Able to meet carry-on weight limits (~20 lbs) and able to manage easily on travel days.  This also meant no suitcases, since we wanted to be able to haul it all on every type of terrain and transport.
• Quick-dry – We are thinking that the best/cheapest way to ensure clean clothes is to wash them daily and hang them dry.  Of course, this means they are lightweight as well.
• Layers – Because of the different seasons, we want flexible pairings so we are ready for most of the expected weather.

OK, so, here we go.  This is my list and it includes the clothes worn on the first day.  The others basically mimic the theme.

BACKPACKS:

• 2 packs each – 1 45 liter and 1 daypack.  Both have hydration pouch areas that we plan to use on the daypacks.

CLOTHES IN THE 45L:

• 5 pair socks
• 5 underwear
• 3 thin thermal bottoms
• 3 long outer pants
• 2 pair shorts – 1 sport, 1 nicer
• 3 T-shirts – printed, so could be single layer outers
• 3 thin thermal tops – 2 printed, so could be single layer outers
• 3 long-sleeve outer shirts

All of this fit nicely into 2 medium packing cubes…

All of K’s clothes. Packing cubes rock!

stacked pack

…which fit into the large section of our packs.  No unloading of everything to get to that last clean pair of socks on the bottom. 🙂

On top, outside, and in the other pockets of the 45L, we packed

45L=32weeks!

• 1 fleece
• 1 rain shell
• 2-3 hats – 1 visor, 1 sun hat, 1 sock hat
• 1 pair walking shoes – broken-in Merrell’s
• 1 pair Tevas
• Alpaca wool blanket, sewn into a sleeping pouch

OTHER/SPECIAL GEAR IN THE DAYPACKS:

• Sawyer Mini each and squeeze pouch
• Camelbak pouch each
• Steripen (1/family)
• Cameras – 1 Point-and-Shoot, and the kids got generous Christmas & Birthday gifts early from their grandparents… a GoPro Hero 3 each (on sale at Costco for $250 each).  Thanks Gigi, Pappy, Grammy & Pa!
• 1 handheld electronic item each – K and I have Kindle Fires, the kids have an iPod each
• 1 unlocked smartphone
• 2 PC’s – If we were not road-schooling the kids, these would have been left behind.
• 1,001 wires and chargers
• Toiletries and meds for 7 months including Antimalarials, Z-packs, Allegra, Benadryl, Dramamine, and – of course – Pepto.

In the end, I suppose you can take a few things away from this post.

1. We might overthink things.
2. We will have to rent/buy clothing to handle Annapurna.
3. Most of our photos will look like we never change clothes.
4. We are probably overly concerned with prevention and treatment of the runs.
5. Oh yeah, did I mention we leave tomorrow!!!

-ALaff 8/30/15