Archana’s Packing List
Backpack: Farpoint 55L small/medium (40L + 15L daypack attached)
Clothes (in 3 Eagle Creek packing cubes – ahh, the wonders of rolling!)
- 4 cotton T-shirts and 1 cotton tank purchased in Colombia (2 of my H&M shirts ripped, so I replaced them with the below tees from The Gap)
- 1 Under Armour T-shirt
- 1 dressy tank top
- 1 cardigan
- 1 zip-up hoodie
- 1 thin rain jacket (not pictured) Gave my mom this to take home in February since it collected dust in my backpack for 6 months
- 2 3 dresses (one more bought in Argentina, seen here)
- 1 skirt
- 2 pairs of jeans, one of which — the more stylish of the two — I will ditch post-Hong Kong (I really should’ve brought a pair of jeans to South America, especially for the cold areas)
- 1 pair of leggings
- 1 pair of cargo shorts Replaced after some wear and tear with a pair from Wal-Mart
- 1 pair of gym shorts
- 1 pair of loose gym-type pants
- 2 sleeping shirts
- 1 sleeping shorts (can also be used in daytime)
- 1 sleeping scrub pants
- 1 scarf Lost in Argentina
- 2 swimsuits – 1 bikini, 1 one-piece Plus 1 extra bikini bottom
- 6 pairs of underwear, including 2 1 pair of ExOfficio Lost one ExOfficio on the road
- 5 socks – 2 hiking, 3 dry-fit
- 2 bras
- 1 sports bra
- 1 baseball hat
Shoes (with handmade shoe bags — a gift from a friend)
- 1 pair of Sanuk flip-flops They’re comfy for long walks but get water-logged in the shower
- 1 pair of Puma flats Ditched these because the fabric began to smell as far back as October; replaced with leather TOMS flats that have been a major pain to break in
- 1 pair of Merrell Siren Sport Gore-Tex hiking shoes
- 1 pair of heels purchased in Buenos Aires that I will probably toss after Hong Kong
Accessories
- 1 crossbody purse
- 1 small cotton tote (Came with a purchase of Eaman’s T-shirt in Buenos Aires)
- 1 pair of sunglasses with case Gave the case back to my mom and bought a new pair of sunglasses to replace the original ones I lost
- Jewelry
- World travel journal (c/o Graphic Image)
Toiletries (in old tri-fold case and Eagle Creek carry on-size clear bag)
- Skincare products including sunscreen, SPF moisturizer, regular moisturizer, face wash and SPF lip balm
- Makeup – eyeliner, concealer, mascara and lipstick
- Deodorant
- Razor
- Facial towelettes
- Hair accessories
- Shower cap
- Lady products
- Toothbrush, toothpaste and floss
- Comb
Gear
- PackTowl travel towel
- Money belt Useless
- Sea to Summit silk sleep sheet Super useful
- REI backpack cover (to prevent rain damage)
- Water bottle Lost the below bottle in Bogota; replaced with a Nalgene from home
- Eye mask Worth its weight in gold
- Passport cover
- 1 snorkel mask and tube
- 1 sarong
- 1 rain poncho purchased in Peru
Eaman’s Packing List
Backpack: Farpoint 55L medium/large (40L + 15L daypack attached)
Clothes (in 1 Eagle Creek packing cube and 2 vacuum bags)
- 6 T-shirts (for daytime and sleeping)
- 1 dry-fit shirt
- 1 2 linen button-down, long-sleeve shirts
- 1 cargo short
- 1 pair of jeans
- 1 pants that can zip down into shorts
- 1 swimming trunks
- 1 belt
- 7 5 underwear – 2 ExOfficio and 5 3 cotton
- 7 socks – 4 SmartWool hiking, 2 DryMax, 1 regular cotton
Shoes
- 1 Merrell Moab Ventilator hiking shoes
- 1 Keen waterproof hiking hybrid shoe Replaced with Sanuk slip-on loafers
- 1 Old Navy flip-flops Replaced with American Eagle flip-flops
Toiletries (in Eagle Creek carry on-size clear bag)
- Toothbrush, toothpaste and floss
- Sunscreen and SPF moisturizer
- Lotion
- Mouthwash
- Contacts and solution
Gear
- Packtowl travel towel
- Sea to Summit silk sleep sheet
- REI backpack rain cover
- Velcro wallet Replaced with leather wallet from Buenos Aires
- Passport cover
- 1 snorkel mask and tube
- 1 rain poncho purchased in Peru
Miscellaneous
- Eyeglasses
- Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses
- Digital watch
- Journal I stole this from him
SHARED ITEMS
Medicine (all neatly stored in two small toiletry bags!)
- Prescriptions, including anti-malaria
- Emergen-C
- Pepto-Bismol, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, sinus congestion pills, Zyrtec, probiotics and other OTC meds
- Band-Aids and Neosporin
Toiletries
- Antibacterial wipes
- Lush shampoo and conditioner solid bars Annoying; would much rather use small liquids
- Shave oil Annoying as well; replaced with travel-size shaving cream
- Sink plug (to wash clothes in hostels) So useful!
- Ear plugs Ditto!
- Six in-sink laundry detergent packets We sadly ran out and couldn’t find similar packs in Hawaii, which is a drag because these things were great
- Bug spray
- Small Kleenex packs for bathroom needs outside our hostels
- Body wash
Tech
- 6″ Kindle with LED light-equipped case Light never really wants to cooperate
- iPad with stand-up case and another Built case for extra protection
- 2 1 iPod nanos (3rd generation not pictured) Eaman so rarely used his that he sent his nano home
- 2 international phones (will get a new SIM card in each country)
- 1 HTC Incredible smartphone, which my parents brought to Hawaii in February and I’ll keep for Internet purposes
- Chargers and adapters (in spare makeup bag)
- Canon Powershot S95 point-and-shoot camera with case
- Canon Rebel T2i with Canon 15-85mm lens with case Canon 50mm telephoto lens
- Extra SD cards—(1) 16GB, (1) 2GB
- Few jump drives (1-2GBs) for quick photo storage (plan to pick up a larger GB drive on the road)
Miscellaneous
- Food: Luna and granola bars, walnuts, Jolly Ranchers
- Footprints’ South American Handbook 2011 (unfortunately not available in e-reader format but supposed to be the best guide on SA) Rough Guides Vietnam and Lonely Planet’s Vietnamese phrasebook
- 2 folders for important documents
- Playing cards
- Farsi notebook to study on the road
My laundry list of to-do’s for the less than two weeks I have at home ranges from the fun (Target shopping: yay!) to the tiring (laborious Rosetta Stone Spanish lessons) to the downright frustrating, including getting our iPad RTW travel-ready.
We had debated between getting a netbook and an iPad, but ultimately went with the iPad because Eaman had enough American Express points to get it virtually for free. Plus, with my hen-peck typing tendencies, the lack of a real keyboard wasn’t really an issue. Plus, iPads are so pretty! There are, however, some downsides, like the lack of a proper backup method.
See, with this trip, we’re going to have roughly 302,292,988,287,651,002 photos and the thought of keeping them all only on each of our 16GB SD cards is more frightening than contracting Dengue fever…almost.
As some of you may know, the iPad doesn’t have a USB port or an SD card slot, so in order to get your photos straight from your camera to your iPad, you have to buy Apple’s Camera Connector Kit. (It’s an Apple world, and we’re just living in it.) With the kit comes two different connectors: One lets you transfer photos via SD card, the other via the camera’s USB connector cable.
Oh, but surely you can connect an external hard drive or, at least, some empty USBs to that USB connector to back up, right? Unfortunately, no. The iPad may recognizes an audio USB here and there, but, in general, most non-camera USBs don’t work. No USB port, no CD drive, no proper Facebook app…I’m beginning to think the iPad is good for just one thing.
I ventured to my local Apple store yesterday to confirm the USB glitch, and ’tis true. As for other options? They’re phasing out MobileMe, so we’re left with Flickr, Picasa or an online storage tool like Dropbox. Since the Apple “Genius” was less than helpful, I did my own Google search and this article seemed to be the best in breaking down the facts. But it’s still not crystal clear.
Does anyone in the blogosphere have any recs? Clueless girl would love to know.
–Archana