Packing & Travel Gadgets – 7 Days to Go

UPDATE: Still no word from the British High Commission in Canberra as to the status of my application for “Tier 5 Youth Mobility Scheme” Visa, so it might be a delayed start to the trip, by anything up to 10 days. Also, if you are around on Sunday, come and bid me farwell, 5pm @ Bar Etiquette, Sydney Road, Brunswick… Details on Facebook now!

Packing and “Packing”

I did a test pack this evening, and had no idea where to begin, so to procrastinate, I went looking on the iPhone App Store for Travel Applications. I stumbled across one called “Packing”. It’s pretty much what it says it is; it allows you to create packing lists for your travels from pre existing templates, and then add items from the pre-existing / customisable database. The application is great, and it gave me a “general trip” template to work off, which made life very easy for me. I added and deleted things as I needed, and changed the title of some things, like “flip flops” to “thongs” and “flashlight” to “torch”. I had figured it out, so now I had no excuse not to begin.

To give you some idea of how I am travelling I have included a photo of the two (and a half) bags below. I have my Mountain Designs 75L Pack that has a little detachable day pack on the front of it (15L). For use during the day, I have the Lowepro Slingshot 350 AW, which has the ability to carry my digital SLR, laptop and other such goodies. See my earlier travel post for more info.

Mountain Designs 75L Pack with Detachable 15L Daypack,
Lowepro Slingshot 350 AW

Travel Gadgets

Now I am going for 9 months, and unlike my last trip (2 1/2 months) I cant be without my tech gadgets. So this time I have brought the lot.

The Innards of my pack, please click on the photo for an annotated version.

Communication
My black MacBook is coming along, so that I can keep you all up to date with the happenings. Also by my side is my iPhone 16GB (with Crumpler belt holster) which will not only provide me with calls and messages, but also music, games, travel podcasts and localised applications. To keep my information safe from theft, I am bringing along a 320GB Hard Drive to use as a Time Machine (Mac OS X Back Up Utility) Backup. That will also be accompanied by a 120GB hard drive that I will use to move my photos around and free up room on my MacBook hard drive. With these comes all the usual USB leads, iPod leads and a computer lock.

Photography
I am taking the plunge and bringing my Nikon D80 Digital SLR Camera, alongside my Olympus compact digital (the one that the dog eats in the advert). I am hoping that alongside the usual barrage of travel photos I can capture some of the locals, their lives and some arty shots. I plan to keep a dedicated section on my Flickr page to these sort of photos. The Lowepro Slingshot backpack (shown above) is designed to house the digital SLR and slings around to your front for easy access. The compact digital has a belt pouch. Due to these cameras taking different memory cards (Nikon takes SD cards, Olympus takes XD cards), I have purchase an 8 in 1 Card Reader. For security, both cameras have removable batteries, so that I can keep the camera safely locked up in my bag whilst the battery recharges.

Kathmandu Packing Cells

Clothes and such
Now I won’t bore you with my complete packing list, but I do need to mention one amazingly useful thing I found at the Kathmandu christmas sale… Packing Cells. They are pretty simple, just little rectangular shaped bags with zipper tops that come in varying sizes. Very simple, but they allow me to be able to pack and unpack my bag in a matter of minutes. From my test pack yesterday, my bag came to 16kg with a bit of room to spare, although I am looking at packing slightly lighter and then buying some clothes in Asia.

Utilities
This is kind of the miscellaneous category. I am bringing an Australian power board, so that I can recharge a number of items using the one plug adapter. I am hoping to get some work in the UK, so my trusty Leatherman, and Maglite are a must. I have my Kathmandu Travel Alarm Clock with built in torch. I brought this purely so I wouldnt have to leave my phone out overnight (worried about theft). When I travel between airports, I generally don’t use my padlocks, instead I use cable ties, and make sure that when I am collecting my bags, the cable ties are intact. This poses one problem, how do you get the cable ties un-done at the other end? Enter the Swiss Card, that lives in the front pocket of my pack (the only pocket I don’t use as it can’t be locked). This business card sized swiss army knife has scissors, problem solved!

Reading and Writing
I plan to take my Lonely Planet Western Europe Guide, and probably a novel, but that’s to be confirmed (I’m not much of a reader). I am hoping to convince the Lonely Planet people to give me the guide I have purchased in digital form so that I can read it on my computer and iPhone, but it’s not looking likely at the moment. I am also taking a small notebook to fill with random thoughts or things that aren’t worthy of being posted on my webpage. A sharpie is a definate, and a pen or two (that will most likely get lost at the first airport I visit).

Security
Now call me a little paranoid, but when you are taking as many expensive items as I am, you want to be sure your pack poses some challenges to get into. I have managed not to loose my three combination locks from my last trip, one of which includes a cable, giving you the ability to tether your pack to some study item (usually a bunk bed). Last time I went overseas, I didn’t take my computer, but did have a phone and a camera, and these locks kept the theives out. This time, I am going for something a little more hardcore. I am employing the services of a group of small ninja that will follow me around and sleep under my bed. No, wait… that was Plan A, Plan B comes in the form of the PacSafe Exomesh 120. It is essentially a large net of wire that wraps around your bag and then tethers to a pole or bed and prevents access to your bag. It is a very full on solution, and I think I will only use it in backpackers where there is a high chance of theft.

Go Design Padlocks and the PacSafe Exomesh 120