As the Race is drawing to an end, I remember this time last year when I was just getting back from training camp and scouring the World Race Blog List for any blog I could find about packing. I found quite a few, some helpful, some not so much, some repeats. Looking back over the past year, I am very content with what I brought with me and what I left behind. In this blog, I want to lend a few tips about traveling the world as well as give you a glimpse of what was in my pack, all my material possessions for a year of living.
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First, the tips:
- Do not go for a larger pack. I was told to get a 60-75L pack. I opted for a smaller one and honestly, the more room you have, the more you will carry and the heavier your pack will be. If you are a girl, do your guys a favor and keep it light. Our guys did all the loading and unloading several times a month.
- You can find toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, etc.) all around the world, so only bring small travel size bottles for travel days. My team bought shampoo and conditioner as soon as we entered a country and then we filled our travel bottles at the end of the month to use until we got to our next ministry site.
- Sarongs work so much better than Quick-Dry towels. And they can be used for so many things: towel, blanket, scarf, skirt… your only limit is your imagination!
- Only use your airporter when you are actually going to an airport. When you are taking a bus or other land transportation, it is a lot easier to maneuver with the backpack straps than the one strap on the airporter. But if you have things hanging off your bag, disregard this. The airporter keeps it all together.
- If you don’t use it at home, you won’t use it on the Race.
- There are stores overseas. You can buy almost anything (with some exceptions below). You aren’t leaving the face of the Earth. 😉
- T-shirts make great pillow cases.
- In regards to personal things, once on the Race, if you haven’t used it in a month, get rid of it.
- Don’t skimp on your Bible. It is your sword and bread of Life. If you have a Study Bible with a concordance, or even just a Bible with a concordance, bring it!! There will be months that you have to come up with a sermon in 30 seconds or months that you are doing house visits and are expected to have a word of encouragement for the family.
- Don’t bring anything you wouldn’t be ok with getting ruined or stolen. You are venturing out into the world and these things happen. We do everything we can to prevent robberies, but they happen.
- Get a Schwab card. There are no ATM fees anywhere in the world! You will be so thankful for it later. Why pay for something when you can get the same thing for free?
- Bring some stuff just for fun that you enjoy to do in normal life. You may not use it very often, but it will bring a lot of joy when you do get to use it. (i.e. I brought a piping bag and tips to decorate cakes)
- When packing, try to keep your sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and toiletries near the top so that they are easily accessible. This way, when travel day is really more than one day, you can get everything you need without unpacking your bag every day.
- If you really wanted to, you could probably do the Race without bringing anything. Anyone wanna take the challenge?
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And now for what's in my pack… I have a Gregory Sage 55L pack. For the duration of the year, I was able to keep everything except my tent inside my pack. This is also good for travel days. It’s a bit cumbersome to have a million and one things hanging off a pack when you are trying to load and unload quickly.
Key:
Started with and still have at the beginning of Month 11
Started with and dropped
Added
Replaced
CLOTHES
T-shirts (I started with 4 dry-fit shirts. I highly recommended dry-fit shirts because they dry super quickly. At the beginning of Month 11, I have 5 dry-fit and 1 cotton shirt I picked up along the way)
2 pairs of athletic shorts
1 pair of Under Armor Spandex shorts
1 pair of light khaki pants
1 short-sleeved button down shirt
Dress shirt (I made it out of two handkerchiefs Month 4)
Skirts (I started with 2, now only have 1)
1 pair of gauchos
Socks (started with 3 pairs, now I only have 2)
1 long-sleeved T-shirt
10 pairs of underwear (I only used 5 for the first 6 months and then got rid of them and used the 5 I had saved for the second half of the Race)
5 (now 4) sports bras, 1 normal bra (As an athlete, I prefer sports bras normally)
1 hoodie
Northface Jacket (picked up Month 7 from my mom at PVT in preparation for winter)
Tank tops (started with 2, now down to 1)
Tankini swim suit (spandex shorts and a tank top work just as well)
Rain jacket (I sent it home half way through – but I don’t usually wear a rain jacket at home either…)
1 mid-length skirt
2 pairs of knee-length shorts (my athletic shorts were long enough to wear to ministry when it allowed)
2 beanie hats (picked up Month 10 when we hit winter)
1 pair of leggings (picked up Month 4 to wear under shorts when they weren't considered modest)
Thai pants (the most comfortable, lightweight, and not so attractive pants ever)
Soccer warm ups (Picked up Month 7 from my mom at PVT. Really glad I had them once we hit winter)
Jeans (picked up Month 7 from my mom at PVT)
SHOES
1 Pair of Croc flats
1 Pair of flip flops (I started with Old Navy flip flops and then replaced them every couple of months for only a couple bucks a pair)
1 Pair of Merrell Pace Glove Running Shoes
1 Pair of Vibram Five Fingers (great for those adventures on your days off, but I didn't use them for much else)
TECHNOLOGY
Laptop computer (replaced it in Malaysia after it was shocking me every time I used it)
Portable speakers (I brought battery operated ones from Radio Shack. They are pretty old, but are great on battery life and no need to have an outlet to recharge!)
Ipod in a plastic case (Only half the case has survived, so thankful I brought a case!)
Headphones (I started with 4 pairs, bought a few along the way and now only have 1)
Kindle (I have a really old, original Kindle that has WhisperNet [read: it’s own internet] which worked in a lot of the countries on my route. It was great for checking email and facebook when internet wasn’t nearby.)
Camera
1TB External Hard Drive
4GB Flash Drive (I brought one, lost it, replaced it, and then lost the new one)
4-in-1 Plug adapter (Replaced in Malaysia after I blew the fuse)
Power strip
5-way headphone splitter
Watch, with stopwatch, day, date, and alarm (lost mine Month 1 and replaced it a few months later. Now, I only have the face of it)
Extra batteries, 1 pack each of AA and AAA (batteries are easy to find everywhere, I wouldn't recommend bringing them)
Alarm clock (broke halfway through, so now I use my watch)
SUPPLIES
Sleeping Pad
Sleeping Bag
Sleeping Bag Liner
Airporter
Tent
Mosquito Net
Head Lamp (replaced mine in Month 10)
Nalgene Bottle
Pillow (I started with a travel-size one and ended up buying a normal sized pillow half way through. I definitely recommend bringing a good pillow)
Fleece blanket
Sarong
Packing cubes and stuff sacks (best invention ever!! Highly recommend these!)
Eye Mask and ear plugs (I can usually sleep through anything, but ear plugs were so necessary in a majority of countries with the dogs, donkeys, roosters, and clubs that are right outside your window. And I only used my eye mask on buses)
2 pairs of glasses
1 pair of sunglasses (I went through 5 pairs on the Race, but they are cheap and easy to find)
Bug Spray (I didn’t use it too much. I brought one bottle and still have most of it left. It was more trouble than it was worth. My teammates found that lavender oil worked better than pure DEET in most countries)
Clothesline
Pocket Knife
Pepper Spray
Journal
Bible
4 pens
Plasticware; fork, knife, spoon (I lost the knife Month 2)
Laundry bag (Lost mine early on, didn’t miss it much)
Small purse (one with a buckle to deter pickpockets)
2 Quik-Dry towels (dropped one early, kept a small one for my hair, but like I said, sarongs work so much better)
Permethrin bug spray for clothes (waste of space and weight – all it ever did was leak all over my bag)
Bandanna (multi-functional, you never know when you’ll need one)
1 small dry bag (picked it up during our layover in the US. So glad I did. Very useful for those adventures that involve water)
Lock and key (for days you are staying at a hostel and need to lock up your valuables)
TOILETRIES
Deodorant (I brought a year’s supply, since I only know of one brand that I can use, but if that's not the case, you can buy it anywhere)
Tampons (I brought a year’s supply. Since I had all I needed, I wasn’t looking much, but you can’t find tampons everywhere, so if you use ‘em, bring ‘em.)
Shampoo/Conditioner (Travel size will do)
Soap (I brought a year’s supply of bar soap, again because I can only use certain kinds. I don’t usually use bar soap at home, but it’s lighter and takes up less space)
Face wash (I brought a bar, and once that was gone, I bought facewash. You can find it everywhere. But don’t count on being loyal to a brand…)
Chapstick
Nailclipper
Tweezers
Eye drops
Eye shadow and eye liner
Hair ties (started with 5, and now have 2)
Hair Comb and Brush
Contacts/Case
Cocoa butter lotion
2 disposable razors (you can pick more up anywhere)
Sewing kit (I did quite a bit of sewing for my team, both mending and creating)
1 bottle of perfume (for those days you just don’t have time to shower or just want to smell normal)
Hand sanitizer (one bottle will suffice, you can pick it up everywhere around the world)
Bobby pins
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Mirror
1 package of Baby wipes
Toilet Paper
Tissues
Loofah
FUN EXTRAS
Small backpack (Daypack)
Soccer ball
Ball pump
Frisbee (Mine ended up on the roof Month 1)
Bubble wand
Playing Cards (brought some, replaced them, and lost them…. they are cheap around the world)
Hammock and carbiners (I picked it up on our way through the US and then sent it home with my mom after PVT since we were heading for winter)
Scissors
String (to make friendship bracelets. You have no idea how entertaining it is for kids to watch you make them and when you give them one, their face is priceless)
Gospel tracks (I only had some in Spanish, so I left them in our last Spanish-speaking country)
Drawing book, pencil and eraser
Coloring book (I ended up giving it away as a Christmas present)
Piping bag and tips (for cake decorating)
Dryer sheets (you probably will NEVER have a dryer on the Race, but I keep them mixed in with all my clothes to help them stay smelling fresh)
First aid kit (AIM provides each team with a first aid kit, but things I appreciated in mine that were not in the AIM first aid kit were liquid bandage, a dose of cold medicine, an ace bandage, thermometer, athletic tape, and any personal medications)
Oatmeal and peanut butter (I keep a bag of oatmeal and jar of peanut butter for travel days. At one point on the Race, I had nearly 10lbs of peanut butter in my pack)
Ukulele
Jump Rope
Bible on DVD
Flavor packets for water (I brought Propel packets. I didn’t bring many and I didn’t use them very often, but it was good when you wanted something other than water or soda)
2 Moleskine pocket journals (get to keep in your bag so you always have something to write on)
2 sharpies, 1 black, 1 color
Colored pencils
Note pad
Cards from my parents to open each month
Stationery (to write notes to people on the squad and home occasionally)
Post-its
Pencil sharpener
Paper clips, safety pins, hole punch, stapler (my ‘mini office,’ came in handy more often than you’d think!)
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The Top 11 Things that I’m glad I brought on the Race:
My Crocs – I got the girls on my team hooked on them. Since they are rubber, they are easily cleaned off in the shower or sink. They are especially great when you have to go trudging through mud for ministry. While sneakers would get ruined and take forever to dry, Crocs aren’t ruined at all!
My Camera – I bought a better point-and-shoot right before I left with 18x zoom. So happy I brought it! It takes great pictures and video and the zoom came in handy on the African Safaris.
My Schwab Card – no ATM fees. ‘nough said.
My Ipod Classic – great for music, sermons, movies… And has 160GB memory, so I have yet to fill it. On those long travel days when your computer dies and you’re not even half way through, you can keep watching movies on your Ipod. The battery last longer than an Ipod touch, too.
Dry-Fit Shirts – lightweight and quick drying, you’re going to do a lot of line drying. It’s great when everyone else’s clothes are still wet, and yours are dry in a matter of hours! [disclaimer: if you prefer cotton, bring it. I am used to Dry-fit material from being an athlete, but if you hate it, don't bring it just because it dries faster. Bring what you're comfortable with]
My Kindle – lots of books, without the weight. And for me, the added benefit of internet.
A really good, full-size pillow – Travel pillows just aren’t as comfortable. You are going to be using it for an entire year, not just a short camping trip. Take care of your body.
String, for friendship bracelets – you may find you have a lot of time to kill. Why not make something you can give away?
Power strip – when you only have 1 plug for a ton of people, you need all the outlets you can get! [and don’t forget the international adapter]
5-Way Headphone Splitter – The “Social” Way to Be Anti-Social
A Musical Instrument – If you are at all musically inclined, this is a must! Even if you don’t know how to play, bring one to learn. You’ve got a lot of time on the Race! I learned some harmonica, some guitar, and ukulele.
Packing cubes/Stuff sacks – helps your bag stay organized and makes it a whole lot easier to live out of your bag! I had a cube for all my clothes, a cube for all my toiletries, and a stuff sack for my warmer clothes
