I have successfully burned all my bridges behind me and people tell me it’s really going to happen: I am going to travel around Asia. I’m just a day away, all thought, aside from not being to sleep anymore, it doesn’t actually feel as if anything particularly exciting is going to happen. Moreover, I have no job, no house, no permanent residence. I am buried under a neverending load of personal admin and I feel like a homeless citizen of nowhere. It’s so confusing that when searching for travel insurance, I sent a few awkward emails to insurance companies asking them what my country of residence is.
Nevertheless, I have proudly remained focused on one thing in particular and these past six months I poured myself into hours and hours of research on the essential travelling gear. The best, the smallest, and the lightest options of everything I need. Amazon and Cotswold must love me. Now that I am on the verge of leaving I may not be overly thrilled, or even able to imagine myself out there just yet, but I am most certainly disproportionately excited about my gear.
This is my home for the coming months (or years, who knows?)
Despite some people trying to convince me to get a hiking backpack with all sorts of pockets and straps that would annoying the living shit out of me, I opted for the Osprey Farpoint 40, which is perfection. It’s actually 38 litres, not 40, since I got the S/M size and it’s therefore pretty foolproof in not allowing you to overpack. Another benefit is that I won’t look too much like a typical, ahum, traveller. Best thing is that everything I need to bring fits. And just to make the point: I will never, ever do that turtle thing. Ever. Mark my words.
Let’s delve inside.
Clothes.
All fit neatly in these two Eagle Creek packing cubes.
The large one has two sides, a clean and dirty one to keep everything separated but still in the one place. The small sack has underwear and socks.
• Two short / mid- length dresses and one long dress
• One bikini and a one-piece
• Underwear x 5
• Socks x 6
• Some hot pants as nightwear or as extra layer under dresses
• One long sleeved shirt
• One pair of leggings and a pair of tights
• Thin trousers x 2 (was supposed to be just one, but I couldn’t help myself when I stumbled upon a Massimo Dutti sale, after I hadn’t been shopping for about a year)
• Grey t shirt to sleep in
• A top for comfort wear in hotel or hostel
• One pair of shorts
Clearly I am missing at least one summery top, but I’ll pick on up on the way.
Shoes.
• Three pairs: one summer trekking pair, one white (not for long) pair of Keds, one pair of flip-flops. All very light. The ones in my backpack will stay in the dry bag.
Toiletries.
• Orange Eagle Creek cube with medical kit: sterile kit, first aid, diarrhoea medication.
• Microfibre towel
• Nod Pod satin bag liner
• Female products like a MoonCup and LadyShave
• General small sized toiletries, including solid Lush shampoo and solid sunscreen
Electronics.
• Selfie stick (shame on me)
• Head torch
• Moleskin journal and pen
• Lenovo tablet
• Kindle
• MP3 player
• Watch with alarm
• TSA approved zipper lock
• GoPro Hero4 Silver
• Universal power adaptor for USB leads
• Anker power bank
• Case to hold leads, SD cards and additional accessories
Other.
• Exped dry bag as before
• Platypus water bottle
• Osprey backpack rain cover
• Wallet / document holder
• Exped lightweight daypack that also functions as a dry bag
The happy bag and myself as the perfect companions.
