Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and are not a hard and fast rule on what you should do, every race and route is different, this is meant to be a tool to make packing less stressful but keep in mind you, and where you are going when packing.
If you don’t get anything else out of this list, the REI Campbed 2.5 is amazing and incredible, and the Osprey Celeste day pack is baller and I highly recommend both.
GOLDEN RULE OF RACE PACKING:
If you don’t use it or wear it at home
DON’T BRING IT ON THE RACE
Gear:
Pack- I have an Osprey Aura 65 AG, which has been perfect for me 65 liters has been plenty of space. Honestly don’t worry about getting a super nice “hiking” pack, you really just need something that is durable and can hold all of your stuff, it doesn’t need to be perfect for scaling a mountain.
Day Pack- I have the Osprey Celeste, I think it is like 25-30 liters or something like that. It has been awesome. It can fit a ton of crap or it can compact pretty flat too. It has been super durable and I pretty much use it every day and it’s a little dirty but in really good shape after 9 months of use.
Airporter- This is a necessity, I just bought the REI brand, and it has held up super-duper well. You for sure want this for when you fly.
Sleeping Bag- I have the REI Helio-Sack (long), and it was perfect for the climate of the countries I went to (Guatemala, South Africa, Lesotho, Cambodia) its lightweight and compacts pretty small.
Sleeping Pad- *VERY IMPORTANT* Do yourself a favor and get the REI Campbed 2.5, okay I know it is kind of heavier than some other sleeping pads but it was the best decision I made gear wise. It is so stinking comfortable, there are three of us on my squad with this sleeping pad and everyone else is jealous. SO GET THIS ONE
Sleeping Bag Liner- I honestly don’t know which one I have, I personally have never really used my liner but I know a lot of people have so it’s something good to have but don’t overthink it.
Pillow- I bought a blow up pillow originally and I have not used it once on the race, I have been lucky to have a pillow provided everywhere I went, but I did pick up a pillow from a teammate who went home, and it isn’t too hard to carry around, so I would say just bring a regular pillow and carry it on the plane with you.
Mosquito Net- I bought one, but have not really used it, it is something that I think really just depends and everyone’s race is different so it’s hard to say yes or no definitively, but it would be safe to bring one, they don’t take up that much space.
Tent- I have the REI Quarter Dome 2 Plus, I only had to use my tent during PVT and it poured every single night so I was glad I had a nicer tent, but other than that I didn’t have to use it. This is another one of those things that is different for everyone as every race is different. Another thing to not overthink just go with what works for you, it doesn’t have to be the highest end hiking tent, but just something light and compact and two person preferably. (I bought a stuff sack for my tent and it fit in there all nice and tight and small) Oh, also make sure to buy a footprint for your tent as well.
Rainfly- waste of 30$, never had to use the thing, your airporter can function as a rain fly if need be and if you are super worried about the rain just get a rain fly for your daypack
Eno- I had one before the race and brought it, I didn’t end up using it very much but if you have one and have the space go for it and bring it, because it was nice to have when I did use it (or when my teammates used it)
Organizational Things:
Packing Cubes- I have two double sided eagle creek packing cubes (I think they are called clean/dirty) and one medium size I believe. It was plenty of space for me and honestly the brand doesn’t really matter, you just need something to pack and organize your clothes. I had one packing cube for tops, one for bottoms and the smaller one was for delicates
Ditty Sacks- I bought a set of three from REI and they have been super helpful, they don’t really save space, and they are kind of low quality but they have been great for the sake of organization.
Toiletry Bag- I bought one from REI and it was kind of expensive and I kind of regret it. For your toiletries you generally don’t need anything super fancy, just something that will hold all your stuff. That being said my overpriced toiletry bag held all my stuff just fine.
Other- Something else I bought that has been a lifesaver was a little expandable packing cube that was REI brand and has been fantastic as a medicine bag, was better than the small ditty sack because it was a little more organized.
Toiletries:
- Shampoo & Conditioner: as far as shamp and condish go just bring one bottle of each and you can buy more in each country. It probably won’t be the brands you are used to but it will work I promise
- Deodorant: Bring like 4 or 5, you will be hot, you will be sweaty and you will not want to use the weird roll on kind they sell where you are
- Body Spray: I use a bath and body spray pretty much every day in the states so I brought two bottles and it was the perfect amount for 9 months. It was super nice to have on those days in between showers.
- Contacts: I wear dailies and I brought 9 months’ worth, it took up a lot of space in my bag but I was glad I brought them
- Glasses: a pair and a spare
- Toothbrush: I brought 4 toothbrushes on the race and you can pretty much buy them anywhere but it was nice not to have to buy them, so bring one or bring 15 it’s up to you
- Toothpaste: This is also something that I would just bring one of because you can buy more everywhere
- Loofah: this is probably an essential, you may not need to use a loofah in the state but on the race you will NEED something to scrub away the nasty
- Nail Clippers
- Extra Hair Ties
- Hairbrush
- Essential Oils: I brought tea tree, lavender, and peppermint, I have never used them ever but some people use them. {insert here the golden rule of packing for the race}
- Razor: I brought a few disposable razors, same as toothbrushes you can find them errywhere
- Period Stuff: bring what you like because odds are they don’t really have exactly what you want overseas
- Towel: As much as it sucks a quick dry is probably your best option, a lot of my squadmates ended up using sarongs. Quick drys are small and compact and work decently even though they end up smelling pretty bad
Technology:
- Laptop: I brought mine, it was supes helpful and nice to have. If you really don’t want it to get ruined just don’t bring it, mine got stepped on (ahem Kayla) during month 5 so the screen is cracked now
- Headphones: extras, extras, extras, I would bring 3 pairs, that seems to be a good number
- Phone: oh ya bring that baby
- Charger: I brought 3 iPhone chargers, which may have been overkill but you best believe I never had to bum a charge off someone else
- Camera: unless you are a super good photographer I would leave the camera at home, people that brought nice cameras on my squad only used them on occasion and it was just another bulky valuable to tote around
- Hard Drive: yaassssss (by the end of your race everyone will have the exact same movies and tv shows on their hard drives)
- Speaker: Not everyone needs to bring one but make sure at least a few people do, I have a JBL Flip 3 and it has been so nice to have, it’s not too big and has good quality sound and is soooo nice to have for workouts, team movie nights, dance parties and general background music
Medicines:
- Melatonin
- Ibuprofen
- Azithromycin (I’m pretty sure this is like a z-pack for travelers’ diarrhea)
- Aquaphor, I brought a little tub and it has been nice to have, you can use it as chap-stick or for healing tattoos
- Allergy Meds, just like Zyrtec or whatever
- Cold and Sinus Meds, LIFESAVER
- Tums
- Imodium, I had a teammate who ate Imodium like candy, I wish that was a joke
*As far as meds go I just kind of brought the bare minimum and for malaria pills if you aren’t going to a place where you need them first just buy them there, it is infinitely cheaper
*Also I brought sun screen and bug spray and never used them once
Extras:
- Bible (duh)
- Journals, I brought two three subject notebooks, it totally worked for me but was not as cute as some of the other journals on the squad
- Pens, pens, pens, pens
- Deck of cards
- Some sort of thing to hold your passport and important documents and keep them all in one place
- A plug extension thing, honestly I have no idea what it’s called
- Plastic bags, just like sandwich sized, super nice to have
- Wallet/pursey thing, you may not always want to have your daypack with you so some sort of small bag to carry stuff with you, if you don’t bring one you can probs easily find one in the country you’re in
- Spotify subscription, or apple music but I am biased towards spotify, basically you just need some way to have music and spotify is much cheaper than buying all 300 of your favorite albums
- Nalgene, I had one that I used the whole race and I’m pretty sure I never washed it and I was just fine
Clothes:
- Shirts
- 2 t-shirts, I had one to workout/manual labor in, and one to sleep in
- 6 plain colored or simple patterned shirts (think Old Navy)
- 2-3 tanks, they are small and nice to have when it’s hot
- Pants
- Jeans, the countries I went to had a pretty mild climate so it was super nice to have a pair of jeans
- 1-2 running shorts, yes I know they aren’t dress code but they are comfy and nice for bedtime wear or lounging
- 1-2 “long” shorts, for manual labor, running in the community and general wear
- 3 capris type pants, I had one pair of black capris from Old Navy and I kid you not I wore them 5/7 days of the week
- Dress/Skirt
- 1 knee length dress
- 1 long skirt
- Honestly with this stuff remember the golden rule of packing, if you wear lots of skirts and dresses at home go for more but if not one of each is really all you need
- Swimwear
- 1 dress code appropriate suit
- Undergarments
- Honest to God I brought like 25 pairs of underwear and I’m super glad I did, don’t buy ex-officio or special underwear for the race {see golden rule of packing}
- 3 sports bras
- 2 real bras, okay I brought like 4 real bras and that’s total overkill
- 4-5 pair socks
- Shoes
- Chacos, I love my chacs and I probably wore them every day of the race just about, but if you don’t wear them at home you won’t wear them on the race
- Tennis Shoes
- Birkenstocks
- Outerwear
- Light rain jacket/windbreaker type thing
- Sweater, I didn’t bring this but it would have been nice to make things a little dressier
- Sweatshirt, this is totes up to you and your route, it got cool at night in Guatemala and in Lesotho there was a week where it was genuinely cold so I was glad to have it but it’s up to you
*when it comes to clothes they will be trashed, something about the race just destroys your clothes so don’t bring your absolute favorite stuff
**Also when it comes to packing this is where the golden rule of packing is especially important, so important in fact that I am taking the time to type it again {If you don’t use it or wear it at home, DON’T PACK IT}
***With clothes it’s hard to make a list that will work for everyone, just remember that when you are packing you will be wearing the same things over and over and over again and you need appropriate durable clothes
****One more thing, when it comes to clothes you will most likely finish the race with a whole different set of clothes than you started with (unless you’re Anna Redd), you can and will buy clothes on the race. Some of my teammates have whole packing cubes full of stuff they bought just to wear at home
