One Year Away. One backpack each.

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything.” - Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

With this idea in mind we’re both really looking forward to minimizing our lives and carrying the only things we truly need on our backs.  For starters – we’re packing as lightly as possible. The bulk of our packs will probably be filled with gear rather than clothes.  We also maintain a gear review section so feel free to check it out and we can tell you what works for us and what doesn’t. That way you can tell if something might be a good fit for you or not before you go spending tons of loot.

Here’s our current packing list:

Clothes & Gear:

1 pair fast dry pants & 1 pair of jeans         1 Mac & 1 External Hard Drive
2 short sleeved shirts, 1 tank top                  1 IPod Touch, 1 IPod Nano
1 long sleeved shirt &  silk undershirt         1 SLR Nikon D90 w/wide zoom lens (2 batteries, 2 memory cards)
5 pair of underwear, 3 pairs of socks           1 point & shoot digital camera
1 Fleece hoodie and 1 small hat each           1 Nikon SB 900 Flash
1 pair of hiking shoes & sandals each           1 Voice recorder
1 pair of shower flip flops (to share)             Camera equipt. (tripod, filters, etc)
1 pair of city walking shoes                               Small notebook, bus. cards
1 skirt or sundress for Beth                               1 guidebook (trade as we go)
2 Bandanas                                                              1 small knife/bottle opener/corkscrew
1 Bathing suit each                                               1 outlet converter &  a solar charger for the small stuff
1 windbreaker each                                             2 sleeping bags, 2 silk sleep sheets, 2 quick drying towels
Vaccination records
2 toothbrushes, toothpaste
Face wash &  moisturizer
Diva cup, mini first aid kit, asp. & meds
2 razors, small shampoo & conditioner

We’re skipping out on the traditional money belt since we’ll pre-sew interior pockets into our pants before we leave. We did this in Guatemala and it worked great. We are also bringing our Camelbak to use as a day pack which holds all our electronic equipment, including the computer. This thing is bad ass and we will be doing a post about it because we LOVE it. It’s a gear bag without looking like a gear bag, plus it has room for everything else you need. Beth will also carry a small shoulder bag for so she can have her camera available at all times.