*Disclaimer – I have not actually gone on the World Race yet. I’ve been to Training Camp and I am a week away from launch.*
First, I fully understand that a lot of people don’t process things like I do. This blog is mainly written for my fellow over-analyzing “ultra-planners”, those people who will have much greater peace of mind after carefully considering each item being packed. These are my tips for navigating the packing process.
I’m also writing this to remember and probably laugh at myself in the future about how much I couldn’t have possibly predicted or prepared for.
#1 Have a gear shower
This was one of the best decisions I made! I read about it in another Racer’s blog, told my friend Ashleigh, and she made it happen! Instead of a baby or wedding shower, ask your friends to come to your gear shower and bless you with the gear you’ll need for the Race. As the weeks went on leading up to my shower, I received a ton of my gear through the mail from friends and family all over the States! It was like Christmas every day haha. Although only a handful of my friends could come to my shower, I was provided with over $1400 worth of gear from people ordering from my registries at REI and Target! It was an incredible blessing and I am so grateful for each person and their gift. Another tip – ask for what you really want! I think you’ll find that people WANT to bless you in this way. Also, keep ALL the gift receipts!! Later on you might realize that the item you asked for doesn’t work as well as it did in your mind, but with the receipt you’re able to exchange it.
#2 Don’t procrastinate
I can’t emphasize this enough! The first time I packed was the day I left for training camp. Not a good idea!! I had received my gear already but it was all sitting in a corner in my room. I took a red-eye flight to training camp and I didn’t start taking a good look at my pack and gear until probably 3 PM that day. I realized I was missing some things, had to go to REI and Wal-mart, come back, have dinner, and then from 7-9 PMish tried to figure out how all my new gear worked and also how to make it all fit in my pack. It was awful. I was stressed out and I was packing until the very last minute until my friend came to pick me up for the airport. Lesson learned… don’t procrastinate! I mean, I was fine at training camp with my last minute packing, but I realized I needed to put a lot more thought into packing for the actual trip.
#3 Approach it like a well-written English essay (rough draft, first revision, second revision, final draft)
Treat packing as a process. I suggest giving yourself 1-2 weeks. First step, the rough draft. I threw everything I thought I wanted to bring on the Race into boxes. I knew it wouldn’t all fit, but it helped to see everything.
All the contenders…
I did try to fit most of that in my pack but it was probably 3X what would actually fit. I stepped away from it for a day or so. Then I started on revision #1…. I took away over half of the stuff and tried to re-pack. For me, this time everything fit, but dear Lord it was SO HEAVY! I’m guessing it was probably 60 pounds. I mean I could barely lift that thing. Yea everything fit, but I knew this was NOT going to work. I left it alone for another day or so.
When I came back to it with fresh eyes for revision #2, I saw SO many things that I really didn’t need and I took that stuff away. Also, during this revising process, another tip is to keep a list of things that pop into your head… “I should get some new AAA batteries for the good ol’ headlamp… oh and I need some chapstick” etc… by the end, I had a HUGE list of tiny things that I may have never thought of otherwise. This is where the extra time is really helpful. I was able to go casually shopping for the remaining items over the course of a few weeks. My second revision was alright enough to travel around with these last few weeks before launch, but I knew more had to go.
Final draft – this by FAR has been the hardest. Oh my lanta! Honestly some of the things I just had to grab them, close my eyes, and throw them in a bag to pack away before I had a chance to look at them again (talking non-essentials of course… don’t just randomly reach in your bag lol). At this point, I’m trying to get my pack under 40 pounds. (On my route they told us shoot for 35). I’m still not there, but I figure this is about the best I can do for now and honestly I’ve given up. I know it’s still heavy, but I’ve got my final draft and if I need to drop stuff later, I’m sure I will when I realize how terrible it is to lug around.
But overall, this process has worked much better for me than the last minute packing for training camp. I have considered everything and I have peace of mind about living out of it for a year, which for me is invaluable.
#4 Rubber bands, ziplock bags, and packing cubes are your friends
Have several different sizes and shapes of ziplocks and packing cubes available to use as you begin packing. As I packed I figured out which shapes worked best, and I exchanged the ones I didn’t use for some other stuff. Use ziplocks and rubber bands!! They seriously help organize and make stuff more compact. And make your pack a bag of bags… put everything into some kind of ziplock or packing cube… when you want a shirt you just pull out your bag of shirts instead of dumping out your whole pack to get to some wrinkly balled up shirt.
#5 Don’t get consumed – In these last few weeks, I’ve been evaluating my pack and finishing up a bunch of things to kind of wrap up my life here before I go on the World Race. I have felt a bit stressed thinking that I don’t have time to do it all AND hang out with my family and friends. But I’ve chosen to step away from it all and I’ve had so many amazing conversations and awesome quality time these past few weeks. If I had been completely laser-focused on my tasks, I wouldn’t have enjoyed these moments. Don’t let packing, training, and preparation consume you… be present! The here-and-now moments are a gift from God to be fully enjoyed.
Those are my thoughts for my fellow over-analyzers/ultra-planners…I’m hoping it helps some of you who might Google “World Race packing tips” lol. Happy packing!
