FUNDRAISING UPDATES
ALBANIA: STOP THE DONATIONS! Thanks to the generosity of my supporters on the Race, my funds to Albania are almost completely taken care of! Adventures has been able to locate extra funds from last year and transfer them to this trip, for which I am incredibly thankful! In addition, I’ve received several generous gifts from friends. That all means that in a few days, I should be fully funded!
GUATEMALA: I have $500 of the $900 I need for the mission trip to Guatemala (about 56%). Thank you, supporters, for your enthusiasm and encouragement! I only need $400 more, which is astounding after so little time. If you would like to give to this trip, email me at [email protected] to get my address for mailing a check.
When I was first learning about the World Race, I loved reading packing blogs. Other Racers’ packing lists, recommendations, and warnings gave me great insight into how to do the Race. Like, how to do the Race in the day-to-day, practical sense, and what it would look like.
I’ve always found packing to be a delightful chore because it means I’m going on an adventure: choosing clothes, picking what books I’ll read, squeezing shampoo into tiny bottles… it all means something different and exciting is about to happen.
Packing for the Race was exciting because I got a feel for the atmosphere I would be heading into: I was going into a world of dirty, dirty shoes and duct tape around water bottles, of swapping books and strong backs to carry heavy packs.
I leave tomorrow night on a red eye flight to Atlanta for Ambassador training camp. On June 28, we will fly via Rome to Tirana, Albania, and I know the way from there: an hour and a half on a bus through the countryside. Today, it is sunny and warm, and I am packing, and feeling that excitement again as I take out my big well-traveled red backpack with the torn name tag and ribbons from the boys at Kedesh in Mozambique.
This is what I’ll bring to Albania: work clothes, good books, scarves, and Prickly Heat, the Thai equivalent of Gold Bond Powder. Luckily, we’ll be sleeping inside, which means no tent, sleeping bag, or sleeping pad to take up extra space!
All this makes me want to write a packing blog of my own. Sometimes, people list every item they have with them, but you and I don’t have time or interest for that. Instead, I want share some my top eleven pieces of general advice I’ve picked up about packing, from what you should bring (or not bring), to the attitude I’ve found the healthiest while packing. Future Racers, Passporters, and Ambassadors, this one is for you.
If you have any questions, please comment below!
11. Bring a sarong, or chitenge, or scarf. I have been teased for years about my sarong obsession. I wear them as scarves at home, and on the Race, my sarong became a head covering, skirt, towel, curtain, yoga mat, blanket, and pillow. If you have one lying around from some tropical vacation, bring it. If you’re going to Africa, you can buy chitenges, the wraps women wear over their skirts, and use them for all sorts of things! Versatility is key in your packing. And nothing is more versatile than a big colorful piece of fabric that doesn’t match anything.
10. A word on Chacos. Chaos are big, clunky, ugly, rubber Jesus sandals that are highly fashionable, especially with camp counselors and missionaries. But beware. The people on our squad who bought them and had never worn them before the Race for the most part ditched them. If you want to bring them, try them out for a few months before leaving because they are not for everyone. They don’t break in and they will give your feet funny calluses over time.
I personally love my Chacos. They are sturdy, comfortable, stay on well, are waterproof, and have no toe strap so I can wear them with socks (you can take the girl out of the Pacific Northwest…). I will be bringing them on all my trips this summer, but I am very used to them and that funny little callus. Find what works for you when you’re looking for a good everyday shoe.
9. Bring makeup. Or hair gel. Or a nice dress. Or whatever makes you feel nice and fancy. If you wear makeup at home, you’ll want to wear it on the Race. It was nice, even when I was mosquito-bitten and wearing the same thing the fourth day in a row, to be able to put on mascara and feel a little more ladylike. There are also plenty of formal-ish dinners and parties, and it’s nice to be able to dress up for those.
8. Share. Like it or not, you will share a lot on the Race. Get started before you go. Portable speakers, power strips, headphone splitters, and hard drives are wonderful things to have when you live in community. Talk to your team ahead of time, decide what you want and what can be shared, and choose who will bring what.
Sharing things like shampoo and detergent is also a great idea. Wait till you’re in country to buy things like that, so you have less to carry and spill!
7. Women all over the world get periods. I packed a year’s worth of feminine products, but you don’t have to. Pads at least are easy to find pretty much anywhere. Turns out, menstruation is something everyone deals with so you’ll have options anywhere you go.
If you are picky about what kind of products you like and are stocking up, stuff them into the hydration pouch area on your big pack so they don’t take up space inside. This is also a good place to hide documents, emergency cash, etc… because who wants to sift through a bunch of tampons?
6. You won’t get it right. You won’t know how to pack for the Race till it’s over. Each month is different. Each month brings a strange problem (“no, I don’t have any socks long enough to prevent blisters from these tiny rubber boots you gave me so I can wade in pig poop”). Be patient with yourself. You’ll lose things and buy things everywhere. I came home with a completely different wardrobe. It’s fun. It’s part of the adventure.
5. Carabiners and rubber bands and duct tape. Wrap the tape around your water bottle or a bobby pin to save space. Carabiner your wallet, water bottle, sweatshirt, coffee mug, stray dog, you name it, together. You will use these things for everything.
4. Be picky about electronics. Electronics are expensive, heavy, and temperamental. They are also the first things to be stolen, so it’s imperative to keep a close eye on them. Electronics are also a very easy way to retreat from the Race, so if you know you have a hard time getting off your phone, consider breaking free of that and leaving something at home, or self regulating your use. Since they’re so high maintenance, I suggest bringing as few as possible.
Now, that said, I had quite a few electronics and I was pretty happy with them, though they were quite heavy. I brought my iPhone, which I used daily as an alarm clock, notepad, camera, and FaceTime tool. I brought a real camera, which I sent home with my parents when they came out because I always used my more convenient phone. I brought a laptop because I write so often, I wanted my own machine to do it on. I loved having it for blogging, but I also blogged a lot. Many people do not bring a laptop, which works fine. You can usually borrow a teammate’s.
I brought was a Nook, which was another great move. I love to read, so having 50 different books at my disposal was a life-saver on travel days and sleepless nights. My Nook got stolen through a window in El Salvador, but I got a replacement which served me well the rest of the time.
I also brought an external hard drive to store photos and movies on. This also got stolen through the window in El Salvador but was not replaced. It might have been nice to have……
3. Bring what you will use. I think people think that they will be totally different people on the Race sometimes. This is not true. Very often, life on the Race feels normal, just with a language barrier. You won’t leave the country and suddenly have all these new hobbies. For some reason, I expected to paint every day on the Race. Besides not having the time, I have never been one to dabble in watercolors every day. That was space I didn’t need to take up.
Your habits will stay the same on the Race and that is okay! If you like to straighten your hair every day, bring a straightener. If you love your massive, heavy study Bible with the maps and concordance, bring it. If you will only use a certain kind of deodorant, stock up. Don’t bring only Christian books about missions if you need to get your sci-fi fix after a long day. Other things may have to go from your pack, but remember that you will be gone a long time. Bring what you like. Pack like you.
2. At the same time, glory in having less. Even as you pack in a way that works for you, challenge yourself to let things go. You won’t get to take everything you want, as luggage weight adds up very quickly. It’s is shocking, in fact, to see how little what you think you need will actually make it into the pack. But fear not!
It is very freeing to have so little (compared to what we’re used to). It takes your mind off that tiresome question, “What should I wear today?” (hint: no one cares) and empowers you to be grateful for what you are blessed with. It keeps your eyes open to God’s daily graces instead of depending on your own stuff, which isn’t that interesting anyway.
Also, if you have too much stuff, you’ll get sick of the weight and dump it anyway. I promise.
1. Don’t worry. Here is a secret: what you bring on the Race is actually not a big deal. You’ll agonize over it in the States, but as soon as you touch down in your first country, you won’t be debating over which sleeping pad is the best or if you should have brought another sweatshirt. You’ll be working with what you have, which, I can tell you, will be just fine.
Remember that you can buy almost anything anywhere. Remember that your teammates love you and you will all help each other out, lending medicine, clothes, and tents on a daily basis. Remember that the World Race is a program that embraces the famous Free Pile, when at the end of every month people throw out the clothes and gear they don’t want, and everyone swaps out their stuff! One of my skirts on the Race had belonged to five women by the time I got my paws on it! You won’t finish the Race with the same clothes you started. You won’t care once you’re gone. So don’t worry about it now.
I also have many stories of people providing for us when we were in need. At the end of our time in Albania last year, our host George opened a massive box to reveal dozens and dozens of t-shirts from the 1996 Olympics that had never been worn, and all of C Squad got new clothes after a month of hard, manual labor! In Malawi, a beautiful girl named Rebecca gave me two of her own shirts as a goodbye present. In Zambia, our host family bought me a mattress and mosquito net when they learned I was using my sleeping pad on the floor.
People take care of you. God takes care of you. While you pack for the Race, check out Matthew 6:25-33:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
