the pack, and the sleeping bag. Now I’m going to run through some stuff
that you’re probably going to want that you may not think of right
away.
AIRPORTER
Therewill be plenty of times when you want to have some sort of duffel for
your pack. When you fly it’s almost mandatory. When you’re on a bus in
Africa, it’s going to protect
yourstuff from a lot of orange dust. There are a couple different ways to
go on this one. Osprey and REI each make an airporter duffel
specificially for this purpose. They each have a zipper at the
top of the bag so you can slide your pack in. I used a duffel from
Wal-Mart which was quite a bit cheaper than the other airporters. It
also held up better than a couple of the Osprey ones my friends had.
But it just has one big zipper across the middle, as it’s not made
specifically for carrying a backpack. [above left is the Osprey bag; to
the right is the REI bag.]
To me the most important part of the sleeping pad discussion is packability. For that
reason I like sleeping pads like these Big Agnes ones on the left, that end up looking a lotlike a raft. The deflate all the way down and roll up in a little
sleeve. A lot of people like Therm-a-Rest pads. They’ve got a little
more than air for a cushion and don’t puncture as easily, but they don’t
pack as small and aren’t as thick when inflated. This is definitely
the kind of thing you could buy online once you know what you want. But
I would take my pack to a store and see how the pad fits in your pack
when deflated and rolled up, because you’ll usually put this on the
outside (I keep mine in one of the elastic pouches on the side).
it a lot, especially when you need to walk to the bathroom in the
middle of the night or when you want to play cards after dark with no
electricity. For the most part, the smaller the better. And there’s
not a big price difference here.
Besides
your big backpack you’re going to need, or at least want, a smaller
backpack. Some camper-y folks would call it a day pack, because it’s a
backpack small enough to pack for a one-day trip. Keep in mind this
will be the bag you keep with you during travel. When you have travel
days that last anywhere from 15-72 hours or more you won’t want to go
digging in your big pack (and may not have access to it) for books,
small toiletries, a possible change of clothes, your computer, our
iPod. I went for a pack that had the best-reviewed computer sleeve and
got a great Patagonia with lots of different pockets and compartments. I
loved it. I had a spot for everything. Really, though, you could do whatever you’re comfortable with here, from a basic Jansport to the fanciest thing you can find.
