A year ago right now I was in
crazy preparation mode. I had so many things still left to buy and pack, and
the thought of fitting my entire life into a hiking backpack and a bookbag for
daily items was overwhelming. I don’t have the best spacial reasoning skills,
so there were times when I literally thought packing for the World Race was
going to be impossible. I couldn’t imagine simplifying my life enough to carry
it on my back for a year. I couldn’t imagine rewearing dirty clothes and not
bathing everyday. But, just like everyone else who has ever done this, I
eventually fit everything I would need into my bag and made my way around the
world. Now, I’m back in my bedroom where I have a closet full of clothes at
arm’s reach, and I keep wearing the same few outfits. Go figure.
This blog is my Christmas gift to
all of the future racers out there who just need a little bit of encouragement
that it really is possible and a few tips to make it easier. There are lots of
packing blogs on this website, and like they all say at the beginning, this is
only my experience. I’m not going to try to tell you every item that you should
pack, because most of it really is personal preference. I’m just going to share
with you a few things that I learned this year about what I brought that I
loved, what I wish I had brought but didn’t, and what to be aware of as you’re
traveling with your belongings. I started keeping a list of packing successes,
failures, and tips in my journal the first week of the race that I updated all
year in preparation for this blog. I’m including links to some of the options I’m
suggesting. There are alternative places to buy all the things on this list,
but keep in mind that REI has an ironclad return policy. If anything breaks for
any reason, or if you simply don’t want it anymore, just return it. So become a
member and stock up! If you’re from the Atlanta area, go by the Mall of Georgia REI and ask for Chuck Moore…they know all about the World Race there and he’ll hook you up! And if you’re Canadian and don’t have REI, my condolences!
Also, this is my route, so you know what I was packing for:
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Laos, Cambodia
My Packing Successes
- Thermarest pillow: I LOVED my
pillow. I got it from REI, and I got the big one because it’s a year and a good
pillow matters. It compresses to be about a third of its size for travel day,
so don’t worry about size. Suggestion: although this pillow is great, it gets
very dirty from dragging it around, so I would invest in a small drawstring
bag to put over it when you’re moving around. You can carabiner it to your
daypack for travel day so it’s always with you for sleeping on planes, trains,
buses, airports, etc. - Exped SynMat 7 Airpad with Pump:
the best sleeping pad ever. Several of us had this and LOVED it. It has a
built-in pump that you just press down on to blow it up, and it feels like
you’re sleeping on a pool raft, but it compresses down to be pretty small (much
smaller than, say, the REI Camp Bed). For a description of what not to bring,
see the packing fails section of this blog…I brought a horribly thin sleeping
pad and had to get another one sent to me when we connected through Miami
because I wasn’t sleeping well at all, but for most routes that’s not an
option, so take me seriously when I say that you’re going to want a good
sleeping pad! - Keens: I know there is the forever
debate between Keens and Chacos, but I go with Keens because they’re closer to
an athletic shoe and I like not having to worry about hurting my toes when
hiking because they’re covered. I have a lot of pretty serious foot problems,
and I wore mine literally everyday of the race and they lasted pretty much the
whole time. - Eagle River packing cubes: Best
things in my pack for organization! I tried to use compressible vacuum bags
from WalMart and ended up asking my mom to send me packing cubes in Miami after
month one as well. They’re double-sided so you can pack clothes in both sides,
they’re made of mesh so your clothes can get air and not mold easily, and they
keep your pack so organized. Trust me, you’re going to pack and repack that bag
more times that you will care to remember, so finding a quick way to know
exactly where to put everything is going to be key. I used two large
double-sided ones for all my clothes, sarong, etc., one medium double sided one
for underwear and other small fabric items, and one small rectangular one-sided
one for medicines and other small items that would get lost in my pack
otherwise. - REI MultiTowel Lite XL: this is
REI’s camping towel and it works well. I got the XL one because it folds up to
be just as small as all the other sizes, but when you’re going around the world
and using a wide variety of bathing methods, you’re going to want to know that
if you need to you can wrap your entire body in your towel. A few people
brought extremely small super towels of some sort that absorbed all the water
and were the size of a washcloth, but in the event of needing to cover up they
were out of luck. Get the big one. That said, I should mention that you need to
make sure you give this towel time to dry completely before packing it up
because if you don’t, it will mold quickly and smell bad forever. If you don’t
want to bring one of these, consider a sarong. It’s multifunctional,
lightweight, and you can replace it all over the world if you lose it. I lost
my camp towel halfway through the race, and I just used a sarong the rest of
the time. - Neoprene camera and laptop cases:
I already had a Neoprene cover for my MacBook Pro, which I loved so I brought
that, but I also invested in a Neoprene cover for my camera. The camera bag
that came with my camera was huge and would have had to be a carry-on item by
itself, so I decided to get a bag for my zoom lens and a Neoprene cover for my
DLSR camera, and just carry my camera in my daypack on travel days. It made it
easy to access, and the lack of a visible huge camera back made it harder to
notice that I was toting around an expensive camera. I definitely recommend
these, and I’m sure they come in sizes to fit smaller point and shoot cameras
too. - Don’t lose your lens cap! If you’re bringing a camera that has lens caps, go ahead and invest the $1.99 and get the lens cap keepers. That way you don’t have to constantly wonder if you dropped your lens cap or if that kid over there ate it. Eleven months is a long time to keep track of a small piece of plastic!
- External hard drive and flash drive:
If you don’t bring at least one of these, probably both, you’re going to end up
buying an overpriced one somewhere in the world. World Racers share everything,
and that extends to pictures, movies, TV shows, workout videos, etc. I brought
a terabyte hard drive with a USB cable for my computer, and I almost filled it
up. Granted, I take a lot of photos and videos, but you would rather be safe
than sorry. My teammates and I also backed each other’s stuff up on our hard
drives for travel days. The key when searching for an external hard drive is to find something small, but with lots of storage, and preferably one that has a protective case because they do break if you drop them, and then you lose all your files. Having a small flash drive is also a good idea just to
help with transferring things, sharing pictures with contacts you meet along
the way, etc. - Waterproof shower flip flops: Just
go to Old Navy and pick up a $2.50 pair of flip flops that weigh almost nothing
and throw them in your pack. You’re going to be showering/bathing/bucket
showering in some not so nice conditions in some places where you’re not going
to want to step, so these are a must. You’ll probably wear them out as the year
goes on, but you can find replacements in most warm places in the world, unless
you have extremely large feet. - Extra carabiners: You can almost
never have too many of these! Seriously. I brought lots, and I used them for
everything. They’re perfect for attaching things to your pack on travel day,
and if you have extras you’ll be popular with your teammates. Also, consider
bringing at least one or two of the locking kind so that you’ll be sure they’re really going to
hold whatever you attached to your bag on there in the travel process. - Gregory bags: Everyone has their
opinion about what brand of pack to buy, but the most important thing really is
the fit! This one is sort of a success and a fail, because I loved my Gregory
bag that I brought, but it never really fit me right. I’m pretty tall for a
girl (5’8″), so they gave me a smaller men’s bag. That wasn’t the best idea
because the torso was always too long for me, so the weight of the bag wasn’t
properly distributed onto my hips like it should have been. But, if you try it
on in the store and fill it with as much weight as you can to walk around in
it, you should be able to get the right size. Just make sure that the straps
are actually touching your shoulders and not suspended above them. A backpack is not the kind of thing you buy online! The great
part about the Gregory bags is that they have a separate sleeping bag compartment that I used to store my sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, and lots
of other smaller things that I didn’t want just floating around in my pack.
They also have an opening on the side of the bag so you can lay it on its side
to pack and unpack it instead of having to stuff everything in through the top.
And you can attach your tent to the bottom straps so it’s not filling up your
whole pack. - Airporter: This is a zip-up cover
for your big pack that you can put over it for travel days so that the straps
on your bag don’t get stuck in airport conveyer belts. It’s also a secret
weight insurance policy. The loophole of international travel that most people
fail tell you about is this: on almost every international flight in the world
you’re allowed to check two bags for free, as long as they come in under the
weight limit. The airporter is your safety because you can take the bigger,
heavier items, such as running shoes, tent, sleeping pad, etc. out of your bag
and just stick them in your airporter around your pack once it’s inside the
airporter. Worst case scenario: your bag weighs in over the limit…just remove
the airporter, place the heavy items back inside of it, and check it as your
second bag. You’ll never pay overweight bag fees! But, since all airporters are
either black or dark grey, and you’ll be traveling with 50 other people with
identical bags, make sure you put your identification on the outside, as well
as some sort of identifying feature such as a colorful bandana or paint so
you’ll know it’s yours as it comes off the conveyer belt. It saves you that
moment of panic thinking that your bag got lost. - Sleeping bag liner: This was one
of the best things I brought, especially because my route was to all warm
countries near the Equator. This is a cotton sheet-like piece of fabric that
has a draw string at the top, just like a sleeping bag, but is lightweight. For
cold places, it can be used like a sheet inside your sleeping bag for extra
warmth, and in warm places you can just use it alone in place of a sleeping bag
that would have left you sweating to death all night. You have a choice between
cotton and silk. Cotton will keep you cooler, but mosquitoes can’t bite through
silk, so it’s your choice. I went with the cotton and loved it. It’s also a
good thing to make sure you have in your day pack for travel days because you
never know how cold it’s going to get at 35,000 feet or how long you’ll be
stranded in that bus station. You may need a nap. - Exoficio underwear: Yes, I’m going
there. These are kind of on the expensive side for underwear, but they’re a
huge space and weight saver in your bag. You can literally get away with
bringing three pairs of underwear on the World Race…just ask Brent Frederick!
These are breathable and quick drying, so you can hand wash them at night, hang
them up, and unless you’re in Southeast Asia, they should be dry by morning.
Having three instead of two ensures that you can always have a pair ready to
wear. - REI Half Dome Tent: Although we barely used
our tents, you never know what your route will bring. This tent was great. It’s
easy to set up, and if I, who had camped exactly one night in my life before
the World Race, can say that, it’s true. It also has lots of handy pockets on
the inside that help you turn it into your home for the month. - Mosquito net: I know they tell you
that you can find these anywhere around the world, but for my team that wasn’t
true. We used ours for their intended purpose, as well as for curtains to give
us more privacy. I would just go ahead and bring one. They’re lightweight, and
you would rather have one than not have one, especially in Africa and Ecuador.
They sell the kind that are treated with bug repellent too, so that’s always an
added bonus. - Extra headphones/ear buds:
Murphy’s Law…if you bring four extra pairs like I did, you’ll be the only one
on your team to go the whole race with the same pair of ear buds, but if you
don’t bring any extra pairs, you’ll break yours and end up using my extra
pairs. But seriously, these break for a ridiculous number of dumb reasons, and
no one wants to be without their ear buds. They’re also surprisingly expensive
overseas, especially if you want good ones, so just bring them. - A set of mesh drawstring bags from
REI: They’re good for almost anything and they help keep you organized for
travel day. I used one for all my liquids and one for all my cords and chargers
so that I was never left wondering where my phone charger or spare camera
battery was. - A waterproof watch: Even if you
don’t wear one right now, like I didn’t before the race, everyone in your life
for the next year will kindly appreciate if you purchase one. Being late is not
acceptable anywhere, even when you’re in Africa and you know your contact won’t
be there for another two hours…you’re still expected to be on time. Not having
a watch is a bad excuse for not showing up. - Dramamine: Because sometimes
seasickness, carsickness, and bus sickness happens, especially on ferry rides
from Zanzibar or curvy mountain roads in Laos. Make sure it’s the non-drowsy
kind so you can wake up enough to make it through border control when your bus
stops. - Sunglasses: I never wore them
before the race, but if you go to the countries near the Equator the sun will
be stronger than you’re used to, and you’ll need them. But don’t bring
expensive ones, because you’ll go through several pairs. There are always
obliging street vendors to help you replace the ones you sat on, dropped down a
squatty potty, or left in the seat back pocket on your last plane ride. - Higher SPF sunscreen than you use
now: Like I said…Equator. I brought 70 SPF and still fried like a tomato
everyday in Ecuador, but that name should have warned me. If you’re not Casper
like me, you can probably get away with 30 SPF, but don’t bother with 15…the
Equator looks at 15 and laughs as your skin blisters and peels. - Universal plug adapter: Get a
lightweight one at REI, but make sure you bring one. Also, make sure that if
anything you’ll be charging is 3 pronged, all 3 prongs will fit into your
adapter. It’s a good idea to throw in a couple of small adapters that just take
a US 3 pronged plug and make it into a US 2 pronged plug, which you can then
plug into the wall or another converter to change the shape, because even if
they use the same kind of plugs that we do, they almost never use 3 prongs
overseas. To make sure that you’re getting the right kind of plugs for the countries on your route, look online for an international plug adapter guide or pick up a brochure from Mori Luggage. - Ziploc bags: They weigh nothing, they’re
surprisingly hard to find, and you can use them for almost anything. - Plastic bowl and plastic utensils:
Don’t bring a heavy mess kit…we literally never used one. But do bring a
flexible, durable plastic bowl that won’t break, a plastic mug/cup if you want
anything besides water from your Nalgene, and a set of plastic utensils. REI
makes a kind that all fit inside of each other so it’s great for packing. I
didn’t bring any sort of pocket knife or Gerber knife, but my teammates did, so
we always had someone who could pry things open. - Extra pens: You will lose more
pens this year than you ever thought possible. No matter how many you bring,
you’ll end up having to buy more, but at least start out with several. - Plastic toothbrush cover: Because
dirty toothbrushes are a hygiene problem that you don’t have to have on the
World Race…one of the few. - A small solar powered calculator:
If you’re the team finance person, this is an absolute must, but even if you’re
not, your brain will explode from eleven different currencies and exchange
rates if you don’t help it out a little bit. - A wallet or change purse that
isn’t see-through: This should be obvious, but don’t buy a clear wallet or
change purse…people will see exactly how worth it their pickpocketing efforts
will be, and you’ll become a target. Just be discreet at ATMs and stash your
cash before walking down the street. - Rope: If a couple people on each
team have some strong rope, you’re good. Many times your contacts will
underestimate the size of Americans and their luggage and will show up with a
car that will barely fit your team, much less your packs. Hence the rope. If
you have a couple long pieces you can tie all your packs onto the roof and save
a trip. It’s also useful for towing purposes during some of your many
breakdowns to come. Rope can also serve as clotheslines to dry your ropa after
washing it, because the developing world does not come equipped with dryers. - Real deodorant: It’s the one
toiletry item that is sometimes hard to replace around the world, especially in
Africa and Asia…all you’re going to find there is the liquid roll on kind,
which never dries in humid places, so stock up on the stick kind before you go. - Dutch Blitz Cards: A World Race
classic. And a sure way to kill time waiting and have fun with your team.
Small, lightweight games are a good idea because you will spend more time
waiting in the next year than you ever thought possible. - Kindle: I brought one and loved
it. They’re down to $79, which is way less than an iPad, so you won’t worry as
much about it getting stolen. Plus, you can download books fast and read
without the strain of a backlight hurting your eyes, and they have a long
battery life. I read a lot on the race as a result of not having to eliminate
books for weight. I would invest in a cover with a built in reading light so
that you can read in the dark without burning out the batteries in your
headlamp. The built in light uses the Kindle’s battery so it’s rechargeable. - A reliable headlamp: Actually,
having an extra wouldn’t even be a bad thing. The power in Africa goes out
almost every night, and it gets darker than you can currently imagine unless
you are from rural Kansas. If the bathroom is a few hundred feet from the
house, you’re really going to be glad you have a good headlamp. I literally
used mine every single day of the race. - Earplugs and an eye cover: Ok, I
literally can’t stress this enough. Even if you absolutely hate using these
now, BRING LOTS OF THEM!! Make sure the eye mask that you choose is comfortable
and can form to your face. Target sells a kind that has little beads in it that
fit nicely in your eye sockets to block out light a lot better than the cheap
airplane kind. You won’t always have nice dark rooms to sleep in. And you
definitely won’t have peace and quiet! Your sleep soundtrack for the next year
will include children’s voices, pots and pans banging around, nocturnal
roosters crowing at confusing and infuriating hours of the night, rats
rummaging through your belongings searching for food, your contact’s wife
rummaging in your room looking for eggs to cook, fireworks from the local
religious festivals, your teammates’ voices, random people singing at strange
hours, large rodents running on your tin roof all night, church services that
start very early, church doorbells strategically placed right outside your
room, city traffic, cows mooing, dogs barking, cats meowing because they’re
stuck in the speaker box mysteriously present in the corner of your room, DVDs
of the same Swahili worship song on repeat at the highest volume, children’s
alphabet games, car horns, late night viewings of telenovelas, and possibly
even the voices of drunk guests at your hostel, just to name a few. Also, you
will lose many, many pairs of earplugs, so bring more that you can imagine
using…they weigh practically nothing! And bring a small case of some sort to
keep them in so that you can always find them when it’s naptime.
My Packing Fails
- Thermarest light sleeping pad:
Worst thing I brought for sure. I woke up every twenty minutes for the first
month because I could feel my hipbones pressing against the tile floor of our
house. My kind teammates eventually found me a spare mattress to use, and I
replaced the sleeping pad with the Exped, but it was a miserable few weeks.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that they’re lightweight and self-inflating. It’s
really not going to kill you to have an extra pound of weight and a five-minute
delay from blowing up your sleeping pad. But not sleeping…that will kill you. I
would say this is the most important thing to get right when you’re packing. - Plastic compression vacuum bags:
Some people love them, but I definitely didn’t. They aren’t space efficient in
your pack and they’re a pain because if you just want one item out of them you
have to go through the entire process of resealing them and pressing all the
air out. Just get packing cubes like I mentioned above and save yourself the
trouble because you’re going to pack them a hundred times. Also, they’re prone
to popping or developing holes and then you’re out of luck. - Mesh laundry bag: I didn’t bring
one, and I wish I had. I eventually acquired one, but save yourself the trouble
of trying to tote all your laundry through the rainforest to the house where
you’re going to wash it without dropping anything in the mud along the way, and
just bring a lightweight mesh drawstring bag to put it all in. It also keeps
you from having piles of dirty laundry on the floor. And in some places there
are drop off Laundromats where they will wash and dry your clothes and you can
pick them up the next day. A bag is great for keeping all your clothes together
if you decide to leave them at a place like that. - Don’t bring a hairdryer. Just
don’t. I did, and I used it a grand total of twice before ditching it at month
5 debrief. You’re on the World Race and your hair will dry naturally. After the
first week you won’t even notice the extra time it takes, and it will actually
help keep you cool in hot climates. - Don’t bring a Duck’s Back. A Duck’s Back is a waterproof cover for your big pack, but honestly I never even took the tags off of the one I brought. Even though we went to places where it rained, it’s rare that you’ll actually have to walk for long distances in the pouring rain with all your stuff with you. If you were hiking the Appalachian Trail this would be a good thing to have, but on the race you really only carry your big pack one or two days a month, and you’re usually inside. The only time I could see it being good is if someone straps all your packs to the top of a truck and drives through the rain, but in that situation it’s a pretty good guarantee that everything you own is going to get soaked anyway.
- Bring a folding fan if you can
find one. Like the kind you expect to find everywhere in Asia but can’t always
actually find when you’re sweating to death. When you’re sitting in extremely
long church services without fans you’ll thank me. In fact, bring a few because
they’re made of paper so they tear easily, and your teammates will love you for
having extra ones. - Portable speakers: I didn’t bring
any, eventually got some, and wished I had brought them all along. They sell
small, lightweight, battery operated speakers that you can plug into your
computer so the whole team can enjoy a movie together. Try to have a couple
sets on your team so that when you get separated in team changes you’ll still
have one. - Multiple person headphone
splitter: I brought a two person splitter and wished I had brought one of
these. You can plug four of five pairs of ear buds into one of these so lots of
people can watch a movie together, even when you’re in a place where you have
to be quiet. They’re also great for travel days. You’ll be very popular if you
have one of these. - A lightweight pair of work gloves
would have been a good idea and would have saved me many blisters from paint
rollers, sandpaper, and other tools. You’ll most likely end up doing some form
of construction project that your hands are just not used to. If you don’t end
up needing them you can give them to someone as a useful and thoughtful gift. - Don’t bring a tiny travel
hairbrush. You’re leaving for a year…bring a normal hairbrush. I stupidly
decided that was the place I was going to save space and weight and brought one
of those tiny travel brushes that you get for $1.00 at Target in the mini
travel section…and it promptly broke on the second day of the race, forcing me
to search through San Juan de la Maguana, DR for a suitable replacement. - Don’t bring heavy bottles of
multivitamins. You’re not going to die of malnutrition on the World Race. On
the off chance that you feel a bout of scurvy coming on, just go out to the
tree behind the house you’re living in, pick a mango, and enjoy. But don’t
touch the sap, because as some of my teammates can tell you, you might be
allergic to it, have your face swell up, get misdiagnosed as having herpes, and
have a panic attack. But seriously, you’ll throw away the bottles of vitamins
before the end of the first month, and you can find them everywhere in the
world. - Don’t bother with things like
waterless shampoo. Everyone is going to look dirty, and if I can do it, so can
you. Just ask my teammates…hygiene is something I value highly, but stuff like
this will just end up leaking in your bag or weighing you down, and you’ll
eventually ditch it. - One girl on our squad brought a small
hanging scale to weigh bags with. She was in high demand the night before every
travel day. If a couple people on each squad bring one of these you’ll be good
to go. You can hang your pack on the hook, lift the scale, wait for the beep,
and see if you’re going to make it through check in under the weight limit. It
will save you a lot of headaches in the airport lines. - I wish I had brought family
pictures and pictures from my life back home. People around the world LOVE
seeing pictures of where you’re from, what your real life in America is like,
and who you love from home. It’s an instant bonding activity. It’s also nice in
case your computer is stolen so that you always have a few pictures to point
out the people who are in all the stories you’re telling from home. I meant to
get some printed before the race and ran out of time. - A plug-extending strip: If one or
two people per team bring one, you’ll be good. Outlets are a rare and cherished
commodity in a lot of countries. We spent one month in a house that had exactly
one outlet. Thankfully, one of my teammates had a plug strip so we turned that
one outlet into five. Just make sure it’s surge protected so the frequent power
surges don’t short out your electronics.
Helpful Hints
- Make sure your bank knows all the
places you’ll be going so they don’t turn off your debit and credit cards
because they suspect fraud. And make sure you have an active power of attorney
who can make important calls like updating your bank of route changes along the
way, because most of the time you won’t have a strong enough Skype connection
to make calls that depend on hearing every number clearly. - Consider buying Skype’s $2.99 per
month subscription to call all US phone lines unlimited. I made calls to my
family’s cell phones from Skype for practically free all year, and it doesn’t
require the strong connection that video chatting does. Definitely worth it. - If you’re bringing a cell phone,
make sure it’s internationally enabled. Go ahead and put in the numbers to the
international hotlines for the State Department, your bank, your insurance
company, your credit card information, etc., so that if you ever have an emergency you don’t have to think
much or search for them. Because chances are that if you’re calling all these
people, your purse or wallet was just stolen and you’re cancelling the cards
where you would have looked to find those numbers. Writing those phone numbers
in a few places is a good idea. - Theft happens. If it happens to
you, you will be ok. Trust me. I had all of my electronics stolen in month
three. I’m talking my laptop, my DSLR camera, my external hard drive with all
the backups of my pictures, files, and videos, my iPod, and my flash drive. It
was hard, but I ended up learning some valuable lessons about my priorities and
not holding my things too closely. The World Race really is about letting go of
all your expectations and all your safety blankets. Having said that, be wise.
Insure your expensive electronics before you go. All of my stuff was insured
and I was able to get new things sent to me by the end of the next month, but
that wasn’t true for everyone who had things stolen, lost, or broken. Just go
into the race knowing that you do not have the right, or even the expectation,
to come home with everything that you take with you. Because of what happened
to my things, a lot of people ask me if I’m glad that I brought an expensive
camera on the race or if I wish I had just brought a small point and shoot.
It’s a personal opinion, but I would bring the big camera again. I love the
pictures I got from it, I love the video quality even more, and I know I would
have regretted leaving it at home. I bought it to use it, so it was worth the
risk. One good tip that can help you avoid losing all your pictures and files is to backup everything on your external hard drive and then switch external hard drives with a teammate for travel day. That way, if your day pack is stolen you lose your computer and your friend’s external hard drive, and they still have their computer with your external hard drive. Everyone’s pictures are safe. - Don’t bring things that are about
to break. If it wouldn’t survive eleven months of your normal life, it’s
certainly not going to survive the World Race. Invest in new or gently used
items that will last you the whole time so you’re not trying to find
replacements for necessary things that broke. - Having said that, you will come
home with almost none of the clothing that you left with. I think most of us
brought home a couple of our original items just to have them and see what kind
of shape they were in, but we all bought or randomly acquired clothes all over
the world. Southeast Asia has tons of incredible markets, and there are little
shops everywhere you go. Plus, some of the ministries you work with will either
give you or sell you T-shirts, so you’ll probably end up with several of those.
So bring some practical things that you actually enjoy wearing, but nothing
that you can’t say goodbye to, because if you’re like me, someone might try to
do you a favor by washing your clothes for you and then accidentally dye them
all blue. Life on the race. - Unless you’re planning to serve as
your team’s translator and therefore need a large bilingual Bible, bring a
small travel sized one that fastens shut because you will literally carry it
everywhere you go for a year. You will need to bring it to almost everyday of
ministry, and lugging around a heavy Bible will get tiresome. Once we left
Latin America and I no longer needed my big bilingual Bible for translation, I
switched it up for a small one and never looked back. - Consider getting some sort of
colored cover or case for your passport and travel documents, such as plane
tickets, baggage claim stickers, and your vaccination card. You’re going to
need to keep track of these things throughout travel days that sometimes last
more than 72 hours. You’ll also constantly be handing in and collecting 50
passports, so having one that stands out is nice for quickly finding yours.
Also, make sure you memorize your passport number early on so that you’re not
having to dig around to find it every time you have to fill out papers. Lots of
times you’ll be standing outside in the heat carrying all your bags trying to
fill out paperwork…it’s just easier to know it. - Register for the frequent flyer
mile programs for the three major airline alliances: Star Alliance, SkyTeam,
and Oneworld. Air Canada and United Airlines are part of Star Alliance, Delta
is with SkyTeam, and American and Canadian Airlines are both with Oneworld. If
you’re part of all of these you can tag each of your flights at check-in with
your corresponding frequent flyer number and receive sky miles that will be redeemable
on all of the major North American Airlines, as well as with many of their
global partners. The easiest way to sign up for the frequent flyer programs is through United Airlines, Delta Airlines, and American Airlines‘ websites. You can use the links I provided, and your frequent flyer mile numbers will work with all of the partners in their respective alliances. It’s important to write your frequent flyer numbers for each
of the alliances inside of your passport, as well as in whatever case or wallet
that you store your travel documents in so that you don’t get to the front of
the line and realize that you can’t get the miles for the thirteen hour flight
you’re about to take because the number is inside of the bag you just checked. - Bringing a small change purse or
zip pouch that’s on a string and can go around your neck is a good idea for
travel days or just trips into crowded cities when you don’t want to have to be
watching your back to protect a backpack. - For girls, bring a purse that has
a long strap that can fit you over one shoulder, across your body, to the other
hip. This kind of purse is harder to steal because it can’t just be pulled off
of one shoulder. Also, make sure the strap is wide and comfortable so it
doesn’t cut into your shoulder, because you’ll be carrying it a lot. To avert
pickpocketing even further, bring a few spare key chains (just the round silver
parts). You can use those to hook through the hole in the zipper and around the
strap. It makes your purse hard for you to open, but it makes it impossible to
steal from you short of cutting the strap and taking the whole bag. It’s a good
trick for crowded marketplaces where tons of pickpockets like to lurk. - Develop a systematic way of
packing and stick with it. You won’t figure it out on the first try, but as the
first couple travel days come and go you’ll establish a method to the madness.
Sometimes you’ll have to pack, unpack, or search for things in the dark, so
packing everything in the same place every time not only speeds it up
significantly, but it makes stuff easy to find quickly. The more drawstring bags and zipped compartments you have, the better. Random stuff floating around in your bag=unorganized. If possible, compress and zip everything, and you’ll thank yourself later. - You really can find almost
anything you’ll ever need around the world. They say it on every packing blog,
and no one ever believes it, but it’s true. So don’t weigh yourself down
bringing an extra one of all your toiletries. Just realize that you may not be
using Herbal Essences or Diva Curl this year, but your hair and body will
survive. - What you packed or didn’t pack
will not be nearly as big of a deal as you think it’s going to be. You’re about
to leave behind America/Canada and all the creature comforts that go with it.
You’re also about to leave behind the community that expects you to look a
certain way everyday. You’re going to spend the next year surrounded by World
Racers-we are resourceful, practical, and realistic. We know what matters and
what doesn’t, and you’re not going to notice that you’re missing that extra
shirt you debated about for twenty minutes when everyone else around you is
also living out of a backpack. You might not believe me, but no matter what you
bring, it’s going to seem like too much very soon and you’re going to start
seeing how much you can get rid of! - One of the most important things
to remember is where your security and safety truly lie. It’s not an electronic
iron gate that’s protecting you at night as you sleep or the guard standing
outside your compound-it’s God. In our experience, it was the times when we
felt the biggest sense of false security in our surroundings that we had
trouble. When our apartment was broken into in Peru and I was robbed, we were
allegedly protected against anything and everything by a large iron gate that
locked electronically behind us. When my teammate was mugged and dragged down
the street behind a car in Tanzania, we were walking through the nicest area of
the city where we felt safe to relax, spread out, and let down our guard. I’m
not saying that you should be extremely guarded and fearful of incidents all
the time. I’m just saying that external protections like gates, nice
neighborhoods, and even your contacts are not what is keeping you safe. The
times when we felt most vulnerable were the times that we covered ourselves the
most in prayer, and I believe that we were the safest walking into bars late at
night in Thailand, sneaking around Laos, or praying over demon-possessed people near the Haitian border in the Dominican Republic. God is your protection, and
he knows what you’ve signed on for, so trust him not everything else.
If you made it through this,
congratulations! It was long, but these are questions I was asking a year ago,
so I thought I would answer as many as I could think of for you. Keep in mind,
this was just based on my experience, and your route and race will look
different. I’ll keep adding to this as I think of things, and if you’re getting
ready for the race and you have any questions, no matter how trivial, don’t
hesitate to click the Contact Me button in the top left section under my
picture and ask me. If I can go from avoiding camping like the Black Plague to
finishing the World Race in one piece, you can do it too! If you need a little
bit of packing commiseration, inspiration, or just a laugh, check out my
attempt to do what you’re now doing a year ago. You’re setting out on the
journey of a lifetime, and that’s the important thing to remember!
