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First, a few words... These first few posts are about travel gear. They're not about hiking gear, safari gear, camping gear, or moving equipment. You're free to ask about those in this thread, but please realize that those are different pursuits and somewhat different gear is suggested for them. You should also probably know that most of the advice here is for at least somewhat extended trips -- if you're just visiting the other coast for five days then you probably don't need any of this stuff. Even when you're planning a longer trip and it comes time to consider what else you're going to buy specifically for the trip it's good to keep in mind that people buy way too much ridiculous poo poo to "prepare" for their vacation. If you give any experienced traveler twenty minutes to pack and five thousand bucks he or she could be out the door and traveling until the money ran out (maybe a year) using what was in their bedroom and an old Jansport bookbag. When you decide to bring stuff with you when you travel you do it not because you "need" anything, as, aside from medications, there's probably nothing that fits in that category. You bring stuff with you because it improves your traveling experience so much that it's worth humping it through airports and up cheap rear end hotel steps just to have it with you. George Carlin said "What about these people who tell you, 'My needs aren't been met.' You know what I tell these people? Drop some of your needs!" I couldn't think of a better overall travel maxim. I'm going to be stressing this because the next post in this thread is going to make it look like I'm telling you to buy a ton of poo poo. I'm loving not. The stuff I've listed (and that other goons will list) is pretty much only to be purchased if you decide that it's the best loving thing to have with you in the entire world and you wouldn't live without it. Anything not like that is going to drag you down -- being able just grab one very manageable sack and go is a serious game changer for travel. The smaller the better. Then an example to get things going...  Reason v. Insanity The gentleman on the left is wearing what's called a Travel Pack. It's carry on size and it holds absolutely everything you could ever need to go traveling long term -- and by long term I mean years. There's no such thing as "oh I'm going to need more space than that!" unless you think you're a professional photographer and are bringing two cases and five lenses with you. No human being needs more space than one single carry on bag. That's 22" x 14" x 9". Or, if you live in an actual first world country, 55cm x 35cm x 22cm (max of about 45L). There are further advantages to the travel pack. The biggest one is that you don't have to check it meaning you no longer spend hours waiting for your checked luggage upon arrival. Now, sometimes waiting for your luggage isn't bad ("It was right there when I got to the conveyor Mr. Goats you're being ridiculous!") but eventually in your traveling life either your checked luggage will go to an entirely different city than you did or else you will be waiting, like I did, at Seattle's international airport for three hours, after spending 24 hours in airplanes and airports coming back from across the Pacific, before my bag came around the carousel. And then I had to go wait in line at customs. Of course, the permanently furious people they hire to deal with your checked luggage may not have been so kind to it, either, plus sometimes making a connection requires getting your luggage and going through customs a second time (like when you fly back into the US from abroad but don't live in the first city you fly in to) and in that case carry-on-only could easily save you a missed connection. There's one other option that I won't talk about much and that's the wheelie bag. It's a travel pack but it has wheels on the bottom and usually no backpack straps. The missing backpack straps aren't a big issue but the space taken by the wheels is space that stuff can't go in, the wheels break off a lot, and wheelie bags are a real burden if you're going somewhere with less than optimal sidewalks (which can include some nice locals -- the whole world isn't set up to be Rascal scooter friendly believe it or not). Wheelie bags are easy to find, just search for "carry-on" on Amazon or something. In my personal opinion they're mostly for the chronically lazy, old or infirm, but then maybe I'm just Dwight Schrute. You won't spend much time actually carrying your bag either way you go and the travel pack is, in the end, much more flexible, and flexibility is paramount in what you bring with you when you travel. The last longer trip I took was a month in Thailand. I brought a bag that's slightly smaller than the one pictured above on the left. In it fit four shirts, one extra pair of pants (I wore the others), my underwear and socks, one pair of shorts, one swimsuit, all of my bathroom poo poo, documentation, and my electronics plus a sarong I used for a towel when necessary. And it was less than half full, so if I was going somewhere cold there would have been plenty of room for a stocking cap, gloves, a few undershirts and maybe a pair of longjohns (and I would have worn my jacket). If you need more than that, drop some of your needs. And some general advice on what to bring vs. what not to bring. It's a lot easier to pack a fifty dollar bill than it is a fleece jacket. I'll get into the specifics of how to bring your money with you in the next post -- what I'm talking about here is that you don't need to plan ahead that much unless you're literally going into the jungles of Borneo or the middle of Mongolian steppes. Even in those locations you would mostly be able to find more suitable (and much cooler!) equipment locally and cheaper than you ever could at home and while Anglo-Saxon folk are larger than most you'll almost always be able to either find something that will work or pay for a tailor to fix something that almost works. This means you concentrate on what's hardest to get. Here's a little quiz to help you out. Of the next three pairs of items, which of each pair should you buy at home vs. waiting to get when abroad? Long sleeved shirts / T-shirts. Underwear / hats. Deodorant / toothpaste. Got your answers? Hope you picked the first one of each pair. It's a piece of pie to find T-shirts, hats that will fit any head (and which sometimes double as a great souvenir) are available anywhere you'd need a hat, and of the deodorant / toothpaste pair the first one is definitely something that exists in abundance in the US/UK compared to elsewhere, whereas everywhere has toothpaste. In fact, if you go back to the previous section where I listed what I fit in my pack, you might be interested to know that I didn't bring all of that with me. I only brought one extra shirt, no shorts or swimsuit, and almost no bathroom items. I just bought all of that poo poo after I checked in to the hotel in Bangkok, apart from the clothes which I went and got the next day or picked up along the way. This isn't Demon's Souls -- you don't have to warp in strapped for battle. In fact, the shirt I brought was my current least favorite shirt -- I wore it when I bought my clothes on the second day and that night it went from my back into the trash. After a week there I realized that I was staying at nicer places than I had the last time I was in Thailand, the kind of places that supply towels, and that therefore my sarong/towel would be unnecessary. So I dropped some of my needs and placed it into a strange looking trashcan on a ferryboat on my way to a tropical island. Never needed it again, haven't even thought about it until now. raton fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Logistics: Money, Documentation, Medication, Comfort, Guides/maps/prasebooks Clothes and Gear: Pack, Bathroom bag, Shoes, Socks and underwear, Swimwear, Towels / Sarongs, Shirts, Pants and shorts, Jackets and rainwear, Cold weather equipment Electronics and Entertainment: Camera, Phones and computers, Adapters and charging, Entertainment and interaction aids Miscellaneous: The right packing method All example items are the exact ones I'd order if I had decided I needed that particular item. I've tried to select reasonably priced high quality items available easily online. You can, of course, go to your local travel store and spend 75% to 100% more instead. =================================================================== Logistics Money - Traveler's checks blow no one buys those goddamn things any more. Outside of the US no store will take them at all and even most banks will look at them like you're trying to pass Monopoly money. What people do is bring their ATM card plus about 500 in actual paper US dollars and call it good. If you have the wherewithal to plan ahead, open a joint account with mom or something before you leave -- then she can put money in your account if it comes to that and just as importantly she can mail you her card if you lose yours if you're sure it doesn't need to be cancelled. US dollars are by far the preferred currency for travel. Despite the rumors you hear in the news about the decay of the dollar as the international standard even pound sterling and euro is going to get you worse rates and be harder to change. In many very poor countries (Cambodia is a good example) vendors actually prefer to be paid in US dollars despite there being a local currency. The US is also just about the only country in the world where you can use a credit card in every store you walk in to. In a lot of countries when you go to buy a car you bring a shoebox with money in it still -- even first world countries like Japan are strongly cash oriented places. Additionally, the US is also the only place where you can whip out a hundred dollar bill in a corner store and the guy won't look at you like you're an rear end in a top hat -- you need to carry lots of small bills when abroad because many vendors carry startling small amounts of change, so when you get money from the ATM don't get 4000 Baht get 3900, foreign ATMs also frequently carry more than one bill denomination. If your ATM card has a MasterCard or Visa logo on the front (or Cirrus on the back) you're good to go, but do check with your bank as to what their fee is for using your card overseas, sometimes it's ludicrous, although gouging is less common than it used to be. You should carry your cash separately from your ATM card, and you should carry your backup 500 in bills split into two locations among your person and your pack. The goal is to never lose all of your money at once should you get robbed / get your pack stolen / whatever.
  Generic money belt, Rick Steves' neck pouch Documentation - You need a passport. You need a photocopy of the ID page of your passport that you fold into your wallet and use for ID purposes at hotels and bars and stuff (they usually don't care about seeing the original or not). On the back of that photocopy you also need to write whatever info from your visa or landing card that hotels keep asking for, just write it on there after you check in for the first time. The only people who ever "hold" your passport are foreign embassies while you're applying for a visa. Don't hand it over to rent a bike, don't hand it over to get a hotel room, if you're working overseas don't let your boss hold it. You also need to get a piece of paper and on it write "In case of emergency please contact: BILLY MAYS HAYS, my father. He lives in the US. 1-888-555-1234. billm@shouting.com" and then make a copy of it and put that under your shoe bed and then make another copy of it and put it in your pack. If you have allergies or medical problems (diabetes, etc) you should also mention them on the card -- if your native language is not English this card should still be in English. On a third sheet of paper you write down your ATM card number and the 800 number on the back of your card so you know who to call if it gets stolen. Don't buy a loving passport holder / wallet. It already has a cover, just keep it in your pack / pocket as appropriate. If you're planning to find a job overseas or move overseas you need to bring a lot more in this department and should check another thread for advice about that. How do you get a passport? You Google for "How do I get MY COUNTRY passport." How do you know how long it takes? You Google for "How long does it take to get a MY COUNTRY passport." Dumbass. I'd also suggest tucking a pen and a small notepad into your pack somewhere as well. By the way you get a cheap ticket by going to kayak.com and doing a search -- buy it about two or so months in advance for optimal fares. Medication and health - If there are meds you need to live then you better loving bring them. Most countries have pharmacies but you'll be surprised how hard it can be to find the meds you need even if you bring the script and know the generic name. Don't bring vitamins, you'll be okay for the duration of your trip without them. I bring my over the counter meds in a pill sorter these days as detailed below. For help on whether you should bring prophylactic meds (like for malaria) or not or which vaccinations to get you should post in this thread or find another relevant thread for that area on this subforum. I just buy condoms locally (except for a few I toss in my pack) but if you need a monster condom for your magnum dong then you should bring lots of those, or, I suppose, if you're going to some backwards wastewater place that doesn't have them. You should also bring condoms if you're a girl -- those dusky Spaniards and pasty French you're so excited to jump on will probably be less than excited to put a jacket on lil' Pepe. A handful of bandaids and a small tube of antibacterial cream isn't a horrible idea either.
    Generic pill sorter, Dr. Scholl's moleskin, Select Wisely's allergy cards, a generic toothbrush cap Comfort - There are five items I travel with in a sort of jump kit (cheap plastic bag) that I slide out of my main pack before stowing it. These five items are a book, earplugs, an inflatable travel pillow, an eye shield, and a travel pack of baby wipes. I think they're worth it. If you're one of those gargantuan sweaty people that falls asleep automatically upon sitting down and leans up against me then you might not need any of them. Except the earplugs -- you never know if your hotel is going to be across the street from a ridiculous religious festival involving fireworks or a Tijuana Donkey Show with an amplifier when you just want to sleep. You really need something to wipe your rear end with in here too -- a packet of kleenex, a roll of tissue, a small package of baby wipes, whatever. They often don't have toilet paper in public restrooms in third world countries. Seriously. There's none. There ain't even a holder where it's supposed to go.
   Hearos brand earplugs with travel case, a generic sleep mask, a generic inflatable travel pillow Guides, maps, and phrasebooks - People used to get really worked up about this kind of stuff, having a map, having a guidebook, having a phrasebook, etc. Now they just have their phone or netbook and go look for a wifi spot. If you're out somewhere where there's no wifi though this stuff again becomes more important. Guidebooks are only marginally helpful as the info is always at least a few years out of date and what information is still accurate will be beset upon by hordes of other people carrying the same guidebook. If you bring one you should probably destroy it as you go, tearing out the page with a map and some recommendations and stuffing it in your pocket before you go, reading ahead for what to do while in transport -- that is when you don't have access to wiki travel, of course. Maps are usually available locally although it's sometimes hard to find ones that are in dual English/local language -- maps also make good lightweight packable souvenirs. Phrasebooks aren't useful when people try to use them like you see on TV, instead treat them as bound flashcards and try to learn a bit of what you need to say while on the airplane or whatever. If you're going to be in one place for a long time you should buy a dictionary locally, and if you're in a place with a non Roman alphabet you want one that has English to Phonetic Local, Phonetic Local to English, and most importantly Local Script to English all in one book if possible. This way you can hand it to someone who lives there and he can use it too.
  Lonely Planet's Europe on a Shoestring, Lonely Planet's SE Asia phrasebook =================================================================== Clothes and Gear Pack - As mentioned above, you want what's called a travel pack. They're carry on size (max of 22" x 14" x 9", many packs are also sized by how many liters they can contain and the absolute maximum you'd want there is 50L), more than enough space for all of your needs, and very convenient. Most outdoor type companies and backpacking companies offer a travel pack or two. In my opinion the most important features are a rectilinear design (it's rectangular wherever possible rather than round) and a zipper that goes around three of the four edges of the front of the pack. The camping style backpacks that are round and have a drawstring at the top are terrible for travel because that makes using the pack a nightmare -- every time you want something you're going to have to take everything out. I also like to have at least two decently sized external pockets so I have a place to put a book or my tickets or point and shoot camera or whatever. I often get a couple of decent sized carabiners to clip onto the outside of the pack so I can add a plastic bag on or clip my flip flops onto the bag if so desired. It's also really important to me that the pack has at least one handle, either on the top or the side, so I can carry it around like a suitcase easily. It doesn't need to be waterproof at all (throw a garbage bag in the bottom if you're that worried about it) and it doesn't need a waist belt -- in fact I've cut some of the bulkier hip belts off of otherwise good travel packs because they do get in the way a lot (some travelers swear hip belts are super important for long trips but you shouldn't hiking with a travel pack so a travel pack shouldn't have a waist belt). I've listed some popular packs in no particular order below, however I got my last pack by going to REI's website (a big outdoor supplier in the US) and clicking on the Clearance section and just picking a travel pack out of the two or three that were on clearance there, so don't feel like this is a major decision where you have to think hard and spend money. It's just a goddamn bag. Locks, by the way, are worthless (a knife or even a pen will open most bags) and those chain nets are ridiculous, anything you don't want stolen stays with you or in your room. Don't get a pack with one of those ridiculous zip off day packs, for my solution to you needing a man purse everywhere you go please see the next post under "the right packing method." Try to get a pack that's a muted color so you don't stick out like a sore thumb in places that are filled to the gills with scammers and pickpockets. Lastly, if you put a Canadian flag on your backpack I hope you get six different kinds of loving Japanese Encephalitis, I don't care if you're Canadian or not.
    Red Ox Skytrain, Patagonia MLC, MEI Voyageur, Tom Bihn Aeronaut Bathroom bag - I like to have a small bag that contains all of my toiletries and I think most travelers are the same. The shape of this bag doesn't matter much, I currently have a shaving kit style one I got at a "44 baht" store in Thailand that has two compartments, but really all you need is something about the size of a thick book with zipper down one side and maybe another zipper across the face for condoms. I segment my to-the-shower toiletries (soap, shaving cream, toothpaste and toothbrush, etc) from dry use things (mosquito repellent, meds) by putting a cheap disposable plastic bag inside of my bathroom bag with the shower stuff in there, and I just drag that whole shower bag out and take it with me to the shower. Girls might want a third bag or a ziplock for makeup, and please, ladies, don't go nuts with the loving makeup -- the only guys who like seeing a girl with a ton of makeup on her are gay guys. Soap is the major issue here. These days I just have a small three ounce screw top (don't get those ones you press on to open, they'll open themselves up in your bag sometimes...) plastic bottle that I fill with body wash and use that as body wash and shampoo/conditioner. However, when I get to where I'm going I often just buy a bar of soap or a small container of body wash type stuff at whatever corner store is nearby and use that while I'm in city A and toss it when I go, leaving my 3oz thing as backup for when I'm too lazy to go to the store. It currently has a mix of about four different bodywashes in it as I just top it up before throwing out a new tube and give no poo poo about the cloudy greyish mess in there now so long as it's functional. If you plan to be washing your own clothes (this is mostly a Europe thing, elsewhere laundry ladies are usually plentiful and cheap) throw a clothesline in here too -- I would just use a piece of old lovely cord because I know how to tie a few knots, but if you don't just search on Amazon for "travel clothes line" and I'm sure you'll find something.
   Generic transparent toiletry kit, Dakine Men's Groomer, La Poche Toiletries Kit Shoes - I really, really want to stress how nice it is to have to worry about only one single pair of shoes. A second pair of shoes is a nightmare -- they're huge items to lug around, if they're used they're dirty as poo poo and therefore hard to pack, and they obviously can stink up your pack. Traveling with two pairs of shoes isn't as bad as traveling with more than one bag, but I'd put it at a firm second. Now with an appreciation for how important a choice your shoes are, let's talk about what your shoes need to do. They absolutely need to be chameleon like -- they need to be okay to wear in airports, look passable in a nightclub (so if you get brown leather shoes get slightly dressier ones), and be comfortable enough for walking around in cities. It's nice if they also can handle like a day hike in rougher terrain (which means they need a decent sole basically) and if they're slip ons for airport checkpoints (and for general use if you're going to Asia). Now, with that being said, if you're going to be traveling in hostels you also need to bring one pair of cheap thin flip flops with you that act as a barrier to foot fungus in shared showers -- what counts as a virtue for your flip flops is that they're thin, cheap, and packable -- it's a bonus if you can also handle wearing them on the beach. You will meet some travelers who tell you "oh you're going to SE Asia just wear sandals all the timmeeeee maaaannnnn" but you shouldn't listen to them -- you can't wear sandals into real nightclubs in the city even in SE Asia, mosquitoes will feast on your goddamn feet if you're not in shoes (tropical mosquitoes rarely fly more than a foot off the ground), and hiking sandals are an absolute moronic idea anyway in places where your hiking trails are going to have hundreds of mud leeches waiting for a chance and because when your feet get rubbed raw by them you're going to put on socks and then you'll become THAT GUY. If you're freaking out about hiking shoes it's important to keep in mind that they have shoe stores there. I went on one longer (four day / three night) jungle trek in Thailand and before I went I just popped off to the store and bought hiking shoes for like 25 bucks and tossed them out after I was done. Absolutely do not ever, and I mean loving ever, bring hiking boots with you traveling unless you're literally going to a frozen tundra and will be outside of cities more than 90% of the time. Similarly, tennis shoes or jogging shoes or other athletic shoes are generally not acceptable for not-in-the-gym usage outside of North America, this is a particular issue in Europe -- do not bring running shoes thinking they'll be okay, your shoes don't have to be formal blacks but they can't be white and they can't be athletic shoes either. Leather, on the dressier end, that's what you need. One last word for the ladies: You should probably bring a reasonable pair of dressy flats or tolerable heels in addition to your general use shoes -- please pick something that's easy to pack, so if you insist on heels go with something mild, not your favorite four inch hooker heels. Your clothes are smaller than ours but this extra pair of shoes (and a few bits of makeup) you'll likely bring will mean you'll end up with about the same size overall pack.
    Shoes for Crews' Lotus, Clark's Norse Tip, some generic plastic flip flops, American Eagle flip flops Socks and underwear - This is the clothing area that usually gets the least consideration by causal travelers but it's also one that more experienced travelers get fairly picky about. Like everything else in this thread, if you're going somewhere for two weeks it's often better to make due with what you have than get loaded to the gills with new special stuff. However, I initially made changes in this department for travel and now will not go back to the socks and underwear I wore before -- they make a much bigger difference than you'd expect, especially the socks. Now is also a good time to briefly discuss clothing materials. The first thing to know along those lines is that cotton loving sucks -- it's an absorbent non insulating material. The absorbent part isn't bad (that means its comfortable) but the big problem is that it dries really slowly. Wet cotton socks stay wet forever and feel like bunched up bullshit on your feet. Wool, on the other hand, oh let me sing the praises of wool. Wool is naturally antimicrobial (doesn't stink), naturally wicks moisture away from your feet, and retains its shape and feel and even insulative properties well when wet. But, I hear you cry out, WOOL IS SO HOT!!! This is absolutely false, you think wool is hot because the wool you find at home is half a centimeter thick. Thin wool is as cool as thin cotton but has all the other benefits I listed before, yet when you layer it it does a great job of insulating (not true for cotton) making it serve two purposes. Wool is the best. Wool is also, however, somewhat scratchy (how much so varies by the type / finish of the wool) so often times your best cotton substitute is a synthetic. Synthetics aren't as absorbent (they feel plasticky to varying degrees) but offer even better durability and moisture wicking than wool.
   Smartwool Express socks, ExOfficio Give'n'Go boxer-briefs, Under Armor men's compression shorts Swimwear - There isn't much for me to say here. Some people don't bring swimwear and just swim in their undies or shorts instead. I usually bring (or buy once there) a pair of what's called board shorts. These don't have that stupid nylon net liner in them, usually have a velcro pocket for whatever it is you're bringing into the water (room key), and look okay. Some lady travelers make their swimwear serve double duty as backup underwear, which is fine I guess I don't really give a poo poo. One thing I will say is that when swimming in tropical waters I usually keep a long sleeved shirt on as this drastically cuts down on the amount of sunscreen I need to use -- it doesn't, however, alleviate the need for sunscreen entirely due to my hands, head, and lower legs obviously not being covered. I don't like to get white board shorts because people can see your junk through those. They make board shorts for ladies too but I imagine most of the girls reading this thread will be excited to put their bikinis to use and don't really want to bring something else anyway.
 O'Neill Santa Cruz board short Towels / Sarongs - There's a neverending debate among travel people as to whether you should bring a sarong to use as a towel or one of those special travel towel things, but what we all agree on is that you should never bring a loving normal bath towel from home. They're way too big and despite your hopeful thoughts they won't be useful as a blanket or pillow. Now, as to the debate, I'm firmly on the sarong side of the aisle. The sarong can be used as cover while you walk from your room to the bathrooms if you're staying in a place with separate bathrooms (like many hostels), the travel towels are far too small for this. The travel towels also feel really nasty when you're rubbing them on your skin. The sarong also has a few more ancillary uses than a travel towel, plus they should be cheaper. The biggest secret to traveling and towels, however, is that on the last night you stay anywhere you should bring your bedsheet with you to the shower and use that to dry off rather than your towel -- this keeps you from having to pack a wet towel, which causes mildew to sprout inside your bag and makes all your stuff stink. Another good thing to know is that a lot of hostels actually have towels for you, but will only give you one if you ask!
  A generic printed sarong, a pack towel raton fucked around with this message at 09:05 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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May 30, 2011 00:34
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Shirts - Before I give specific recommendations as to shirts, let's make a list what the ideal travel shirt should do. It needs to be comfortable, it needs to be presentable in a variety of settings from the beach to museums to nightclubs, you have to able to pack it without it wrinkling too much, it should protect against both mosquitoes and sun, it should be good in hot and cold weather, and it'd be nice if it were easily washable and cheap. Now, there's no single shirt that does all of this, but the one that comes closest by far is the classic button up collared "dress" shirt. I'll detail some more casual options in the list below for those that refuse to convert, but when I travel I only have one t-shirt with me (for long plane or bus rides only, it usually sits in the bottom of my bag to be honest) and four dress shirts. If you're American and reading this you might think I wander around horribly over dressed, but one thing you'll notice on your first major trip is that outside of the USA (and Canada's western provinces) it's okay to leave the house looking nice, no one gives you questioning glares because you don't look like you're headed to that Taco Bell inside the Walmart on laundry day. The second thing you'll notice is that often times a reasonable shirt plus a good attitude gives you access -- it wasn't the four screaming beach-ware clad Canuks that my island tour guide offered to smoke up on my last trip around Koh Phangan, it was the quiet guy who spoke some Thai and a few words of Burmese who happened to be wearing a reasonable dress shirt (with the sleeves rolled up). The last thing you realize is that the goddamn things are actually more comfortable than t-shirts most of the time. The whole front can be opened for ventilation, the sleeves roll up or down as the heat, sun or mosquitoes dictate, and the material is usually nicer than what's used for t-shirts. Now, I realize that some of you won't go full retard for dress shirts like I have, but these should be looked at as staple travel items, not night on the town accessories. Whatever shirts you do bring, in my opinion they should all be light colored. This is because the sensical thing to do with your pants is to bring darker colored pants (so they get stained less easily by sitting or kneeling on surfaces you didn't realize were dirty) and therefore you want lighter colored shirts so you can wear every shirt with every pair of pants.
  A reasonable man in a reasonable shirt, Patagonia capilene T-shirt Pants and shorts - Out of all of your travel items pants are the ones that can be reworn the most without washing thanks to your underwear taking the brunt of the assault from your smelly rear end. This means you'll bring fewer pants than anything else (I usually pack four shirts total and only one pair of pants and one pair of shorts, for example) which means you should probably be very conservative with your pants choice as it has to go with everything. One thing that I'm strongly opposed to when traveling is jeans. People in the US think that jeans are the only possible pants option, that you have to wear jeans when you're dressing casually and that when you go out you're supposed to wear fancy jeans -- it's almost absurd how prevalent they are. But those same considerations haven't precluded me from recommending a travel pack for travel. The real reason I suggest you never bring jeans is that they're incredibly bulky and heavy and if they get wet they take forever to dry which makes them almost unwashable on a travel schedule. With that said, many people in this forum travel with jeans despite my howlings and if you want to you can too. But you are going to suffer for it, I guarantee it. The other big no-no in my book as far as travel pants goes is "convertible" pants -- these are pants that have a zipper in them so you can turn them into shorts. They look atrocious and are only suitable for the jungle, don't fool yourself into thinking they're okay to wear around a city because they're not. Shorts are another semi-contentious issue among travelers. Did you know that in a few European countries only children wear shorts and if you wear them as an adult male other local adult males may come up to you and pull your leg hair to point out the absurdity of your dress? Did you know that if you're visiting temples in SE Asia it's frowned upon to wear shorts as they're too informal and that a few temples will not allow you on the grounds in that kind of garb? What I'm getting at is that shorts are seen as basically being beachware in many places and while dress standards are forever becoming more and more casual across the globe there will be some situations when traveling that you probably shouldn't wear shorts despite wanting to because of decorum issues. This leads into the ridiculous debate about what sorts are the right ones to buy -- ones that look dressier or cargo shorts so you have somewhere to keep your point and shoot camera. In my opinion, since shorts are completely informal to begin with, you might as well just go with cargo shorts.
  Generic wool slacks, Obama wearing cargo shorts Jackets and rainwear - The first thing to mention is that if you're going somewhere cold the default travel jacket is a black fleece -- see the next section for how to make it warmer if you're worried about that. The second thing to mention is that this is something people often overpack on. I have never in all my time traveling needed a rain jacket and I've never been anywhere that I couldn't find a good cold weather coat if cold weather was around. What you need to remember is that even if you have a rain jacket if it starts pissing down on you while you're in a city it's almost always going to be smarter to duck into a restaurant or shop and wait it out than to put your jacket on and keep going. That's miserable travel and everything else is going to get wet if you go that route. If you're going to be out of cities a lot doing things where you're going to have to be on the move or in the elements (extended hiking, basically, I don't know what else I can put here other than archeological expeditions or something) then a rain jacket becomes important. As for warm jackets, wool and down are too hard to clean and those puffer coats that black people in Baltimore love so much are way too bulky for travel. If a fleece isn't enough you should probably go with a compressible down for casual cold weather travel.
   A Columbia fleece, Marmot Precip rain jacket, a generic emergency poncho Cold weather equipment - Your first instinct when it starts getting cold at home is to throw a coat on. This is a problem when you're traveling as a coat is, by definition, a huge bulky item with but a single purpose. When you travel in colder areas you need to think from the outside in instead of the inside out and you need to think about coverage. A stocking cap for your head and some woolen gloves will do more to keep you warm than anything else will. If that in addition to your fleece isn't enough then your first instinct should be to go for long underwear, a top at first, and bottoms if you're going somewhere truly cold. If you need more than that I honestly think we're starting to get into expedition territory.
   Generic wool beanie, generic wool liner gloves, generic polypro long underwear =================================================================== Electronics and Entertainment Camera - Models come and go and most of the cameras out there now are pretty good for travel. The real decision to make here is whether to just use the camera on your phone, bring a point and shoot, or go all out and bring a DSLR. Like a lot of stuff in the electronics section what you bring here depends a lot on what else you plan to bring, but let me offer a few guidelines. First, don't bring a DSLR unless you've already used one enough at home to really know how to get the most out of it. If you're reading this and don't know what a DSLR is you flat out shouldn't buy one for your trip and should bring a small point and shoot camera instead. Second, if you bring a point and shoot the one you have at home now is probably fine, but if you're going to buy a new camera for the trip (maybe it's time?) make sure you get one that has both a good optical zoom (3x is the bare minimum -- if you can find something with 5x or 7x that'd be great but it can be hard to find as bigger zooms necessitate bigger cases) and functions well at night (you have to look through camera nerd reviews on Google to figure this out, this mostly has to do with how good/large an image sensor is in the guttyworks of the camera) -- these two things aren't nearly as hard to find together as they used to be. If you're just going to roll with your phone camera then okay, however it not having a flash will make night photography almost impossible, even of neon lights and scantily clad Australian chicks. No matter what camera you bring you should buy a humongous memory card (or two) for it and if you're going to a photo heavy destination (some ancient temple city, some place you always wanted to photograph, some vast national park or other natural wonder, whatever) an extra battery is a good idea as well. I'm a fairly spare photographer when I travel, taking maybe 20 pictures or so a week, but when I went to Angkor Wat I took about 150 pictures a day and had to find a spot to recharge my battery (literally) in the middle of some days. Your memory card filling up can also be an issue no matter how big it is (it doesn't help that you'll probably also shoot some video), but most locations will have internet cafes which you can go into and have your pictures burned to DVD. I'd suggest doing this occasionally anyway, even if you brought a portable hard drive or have a netbook with you that you're backing your pictures up on to -- camera gear is a huge theft magnet and while losing your camera sucks losing all the pictures you've taken is even loving worse. If you travel mostly for photos you may even wish to look for some cloud based online backup service.
Phones and computers - This stuff changes so fast that I don't even want to list any models or anything here. There are a few basic questions I want to address, first about phones, then about bringing a computer. For a phone the first thing you'll probably want to know is whether or not your phone will work in country X -- I suggest Googling for that information, but the answer is probably no. The US uses a different frequency range for cell phones than most other countries and the only phones that really work globally are "quad band" phones. Another concern is that CDMA phones are rare outside of the US and CDMA phones therefore won't work abroad. Most other countries use SIM cards and if you have a quad band phone that can accept a SIM what you can do is just buy a SIM card with prepaid service upon arriving locally and get good local rates for your phone usage. Many US carriers (Sprint, Verizon) only carry CDMA phones because it helps them keep you on their plans. If you don't know what a SIM card is it's a thumbnail sized piece of plastic that slips into a slot (usually under the battery) in your phone that has the phones number on it and a very small amount of memory for storing contacts. Having a local cell number makes a HUGE difference in your social life when overseas and if you're going to be staying anywhere for more than two weeks I'd heavily suggest buying a burner locally if your phone won't work there -- phones are cheaper overseas and you'll probably be able to get a prepaid 20 dollar Nokia without much hassle that you can top up at local convenience stores (the store clerks will usually show you how if you're nice). The last thing I need to say about phones is that even if you won't get service on it you may still want to bring your smartphone just for wifi access to Google (and the SA app of course hurrr) and dictionary apps. For computers the question of whether or not to bring one hinges largely on how big it is and whether or not you'll be typing very much or need it for photo storage. I would never bring any computer on a two week or less trip, but more than that I would almost certainly bring a netbook (if I had one...) with me. I would not bring anything larger than a netbook even if I was traveling for extended periods of time -- internet cafes exist in most places and if not then oh well, buy a loving notebook and type when you get home (or back to a major city or whatever). I don't see why anyone would bring a tablet, it's just a big smartphone.
Adapters and charging - This is a bigger issue than goons make it out to be. First of all, the stuff you might bring with you that needs a charger probably doesn't need a voltage adapter. If you look on your laptop's power supply thingie or on the charger for your phone you'll find something that says "100-240V, 50/60Hz" which means that you can plug it in to any outlet in the world and it will be able to still pump out the power your device expects. Now, if you're trying to bring a hairdryer or something and it only says "100v, 50Hz" or nothing at all on the plug then it's probably going to burst into flames if you plug it into the wall in China. The best solution there is to get a short haircut before you leave, but if that's not an option the second best thing to do is to get a hairdryer once there. Really the only problem with traveling around and trying to charge your equipment is that sometimes the plugs over there won't physically accept the prongs on your charger. Of course, sometimes there are multiplug wall sockets built to accept most any imported plug no matter it's flatness or roundness or wrong-number-of-prongsness. In any case, if you're worried about it you can almost always get an adapter once you're there and if you want to prepare in advance just search on Amazon for a travel adapter -- be sure to get one that has a USB plug-in place on it. If you feel like I'm being a little lax on the power adapter front you can look this site over. Entertainment and interaction aids - What you bring here is really up to you. I suggest only one book for entertainment's sake, or, of course, your Kindle or whatever. If you want suggestions for books IMO the best two travel books ever written are William Vollmann's The Atlas and Robert Bryon's well known Road to Oxiana. In the old days I used to bring a small photo album with some pictures of where I was from and a few of each place I'd been once I'd had a chance to print some off which I could show to people sitting next to me on the train whether they spoke English or not -- these days of course you'll probably just do something similar with your phone. On my last trip I really wish I'd brought a headphone splitter and an extra pair of cheap earbuds so I could share my music with whoever was around if I felt like it. If you're going into the boonies an old fashioned Polariod instant camera can charm an African village like nothing else but they're pricy (unless you get a used one!) and the film for them is a bit expensive too. And, of course, if you can play the harmonica or a recorder or an ocarina or some other tiny portable non-breakable instrument that can be a crowd pleaser too -- however a guitar is hilariously too big to travel with and even a violin is a bit much, so you really have to think small here. Magic tricks are fun too, if you know your way around a deck of cards or whatever. =================================================================== Miscellaneous The right packing method - Orient your packing mind around about a week of goods -- for me that means planning four days between laundry stop offs (so every fifth day or so). That gives you more than enough time to be a little lazy with washing or to waste a couple days before finding a laundry lady. For clothes I bring four shirts, two pants (or one pant and one short), four pairs of socks, four pairs of underwear, and I also generally wear whatever cold weather clothing I've also decided to bring plus I have one day's set of clothes on my back. If you're going to go to a cold region you will also have to pack some extra long underwear, how much I'm not sure as I've never taken a trip like that, but I'm sure you can figure it out. When packing, a fold is a crease waiting to happen, but there are two good ways to pack your clothes for traveling that avoid the whole folding error.
=================================================================== If you find any hosed up links please let me know! Lastly, here's a Goon run travel site with mostly similar opinions about the above: The Savvy Backpacker (sorry about the broken pictures, I'll fix them some day) raton fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Mar 28, 2014 |
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May 30, 2011 00:34
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over if you lose it.
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Arakan posted:Sweet OP. You should put a disclaimer maybe that if you're planning on buying clothes or gear in country when you travel to Southeast Asia you will have to be on the lookout for fakes/knockoffs that will fall apart very quickly. No way man I love those shits. Sure they fall apart in a few months but the fake Diesels look almost exactly like real Diesels and they cost fifteen bucks. A travel pack may be more of an issue, though. But since you're the fourth post in this thread I'll let that serve as a warning to everyone. Any truly important item (which are actually very few and far between, I'm not actually sure the pack is one of them unless you're actually hiking) should be bought in a place you're familiar with. Slo-Tek posted:Not only that, but a Singapore XXL t-shirt, the largest one sold, while reasonably priced, fit rather snugly across my US size M shoulders. You'll have to shop at rapper-clothes stores to cover a typically American-sized rear end in most of Asia. Sizing can be an issue but in my experience (6'3" and 195 lbs) my size is more likely to limit my options than destroy them entirely. This is particularly true in tourist areas where they obviously try to carry some larger sized clothes as tourists are less likely to be savvy customers and therefore offer higher margins.
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May 30, 2011 02:08
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TheLizard posted:Two recommendations for your "random" part: A headlight and a dry bag (depending on where you're going). Thanks, duly noted. I've never had a use for either of those but I could see it. Any particular ones you'd recommend? Oh and also whenever I make a thread with a gargantuan OP like this one what happens is that no one asks questions and it sinks off the forums so if you guys could find petty reasons to bump it occasionally when that's about to happen that'd be great. raton fucked around with this message at 03:55 on May 30, 2011 |
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May 30, 2011 03:40
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Keep the add-ons coming, guys. Some of the stuff (like toilet paper) is was going to get written in anyway, just further down the list than I've managed to make it to so far. Maybe the first posts will be filled in in a week or so.
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May 30, 2011 18:52
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Oh and recommended your travel apps too.
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May 30, 2011 20:58
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For the books section I'd like to have some recommendations as to your best books to read, for fun, while you travel. Often these books are about travel in one way or another. My rep is going to be Vollmann's phenomenal "Atlas." Probably by some time next year the book section will be irrelevant as everyone will just get what they want for free out of some horrible Chinese copyright infringing cloud site, but still, favorites are favorites.
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May 31, 2011 03:04
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Also that's a hiking pack and hiking packs are a pain in the rear end but whatever, you already bought it. I don't use daypacks. When I was first traveling I thought one would be a necessity, but now I just look at it as "I don't need a purse at home so I probably don't need one when I'm traveling either." The pages of the guidebook I need get torn out and put into my wallet, I buy water as needed or just be thirsty until later, and if I'm bringing more than my point and shoot (or the camera on my phone) I just throw it into a doubled plastic sack from 7-11 or wherever and carry it that way. If you do want a day pack I'd suggest just getting something appropriate locally. Anyone else out there that actually bought a day pack in advance? Edit: Also, Macunaima, could you pick one book by Chatwin please I'm looking for specific recommendations. raton fucked around with this message at 16:28 on May 31, 2011 |
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May 31, 2011 16:23
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Fiskenbob posted:It was a gift, actually. But I've used it before, and I'm quite happy with it. Why do you think it's a pain in the rear end? Top only access means you have to unpack and repack constantly to get stuff out of the bag. Round body shape makes packing a question of jamming things into oddly shaped spaces instead of arranging them as you'd like. Hip belt is unnecessary and gets in the way for casual use. No side or top handle makes waiting in line and shuffling your bag along more work than it needs to be. Don't get me wrong, that thing will certainly do the job for you. But what it's designed for is hiking with it on your back all day, then unpacking the whole thing while you camp, then repeating that process. Banging through airports, spending a few days in each city, adding in souvenirs now and then -- that's a somewhat different animal. XXdragonsparkzXX posted:Unfortunately if I switch to a carry-on bag, there are a few things that I can't take (according to the TSA) such as my defense spray. As a solo female traveler this is pretty important to me, is there a way to bring it without getting caught? Or should I just wing it and buy a knife when I land instead? Self defense in South America, huh? I think a wad of money would be more helpful than bear spray, but as a girl I understand how you might have concerns that aren't wallet related. That said, getting a knife or even a pistol probably wouldn't be too hard in Bolivia. Definetly don't try to sneak your pepper spray on the airplane or something like that. You can, of course, check one bag and use a carry on for everything that's vital. Remember to leave space in your carry on for repacking on arrival, having more than one bag to haul around goddamn Bolivia sounds like an unquestionable nightmare. I actually will make some provisions for this kind of stuff when I do the writeup for "the right packing method." The right kind of small secondary bag fixes some of these issues. raton fucked around with this message at 18:01 on May 31, 2011 |
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May 31, 2011 17:44
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Please do not carry a knife unless you are prepared to die. She is already going to Bolivia so maybe death isn't a big concern of hers  I always imagined pulling a knife to be immediately followed by his buddy smashing in the back of your head with a pipe. I suppose I could add a "try not to get into knife fights" clause up there somewhere! (Just kidding, she'll be fine)
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May 31, 2011 19:37
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Fists Up posted:Why don't you like waist straps? The shoulder straps are plenty for the weight, and the waist straps therefore just add bulk and a little wing that gets jn the way every time you put the pack on, bangs into your legs when you carry it by the handle, flaps around stupidly when you're just carrying it by the shoulder straps, gets in peoples faces when you drag it out of the overhead, etc. If we were talking some 90 liter behemoth and a few miles to go then okay, but a hip belt on a travel pack is like snow tires on a golf cart. Many manufacturers add them, but they're totally unnesscary and mostly inconvenient -- two adjectives you don't usually want hanging around your travel gear. raton fucked around with this message at 01:42 on Jun 1, 2011 |
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Jun 1, 2011 01:39
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I just finished the first draft of the Shoes section, which I expect to be the most controversial one (until I get to Shirts and possibly Pants where I will tell people to not bring goddamn jeans -- internet drama oh boy). Go ahead and read it and weigh in if you would, folks, if someone can post a sensical counterpoint I'll link to it in the shoes paragraph so travel newbies can see the other angles. Optional essay topics: -How to prove you're a hippie by wearing off brand Birkenstocks 100% of the time and pretending it's normal to do so -Theeze kicks neva leav theeze feetz -i am exactly 22 years old and have never worn anything other than converse all stars and plaid and I will continue to do so and if you have a problem with that maybe youre just too big of a conformist and hang out with conformist people and by the way did I see you were listening to a cover of <popular 80s tune> that had neither ukelele or a rapper in it good lord -Anyone who wears something less than Matterhorn Deer Smashers will surely pay for their mistakes when they're not prepared and the insurgents catch up with them Kalix posted:Not exactly a question, but this guy fits in quite a bit into this small 28L bag: In my opinion you, at some point, simply need to get into the mindset that you should travel with a half empty bag. His bag is small, sure, but it's also filled to brim and is going to stick way off the back of his back which makes it feel heavier (you want the weight as close to your body as possible, so a longer, thinner pack would be more ergonomic). As for fitting in, he ain't fitting in with the little bag either. It's going to get left at the place he's staying for the time he's there while he actually goes out exploring with his other pack. I prefer to just not bring another pack. The only time I'm would be carrying something when I'm not in transit is if I'm bringing souvenirs back or if I had a DSLR or something and was planning to take pictures, and in both of those cases I'd just cart that stuff around in a plastic sack like you get from the grocery store. I'm not a point yet in my life where I'm going to die because I had to carry a half pound of goods in a shopping bag for six hours. If I traveled with a DSLR as a part of my normal stuff then I'd probably cave and get a bag for it. raton fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jun 2, 2011 |
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Jun 2, 2011 01:36
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Pro-PRC Laowai posted:slip the sandals on over the vibrams. Oh my loving lord. HeroOfTheRevolution posted:Athlete's foot isn't a tremendous problem. Washing your feet isn't going to protect you from plantar warts, though. And speaking from experience, those are a bitch. Thanks, I was going to post basically this (minus the "from experience" bit). Also that fungus poo poo that gets into your toenails and you have to take a blood test to see if your liver can handle the pills that kill it ain't no joke either. You really should be wearing flop flops into communal showers folks. Or, optionally, wear galoshes over your sandals over your vibram five finger... Sorry, I'm still in shock over that comment. raton fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Jun 2, 2011 |
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Jun 2, 2011 12:12
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I will definetly have some info on phones in the second post sooner or later, but I don't know any useful info now beyond the basics that have already shown up in the two posts above me here. Also things change quickly with phones, especially these days, so I might just end up giving ABC advice and then linking to some cellphone thread in the gadgets forum. For underwear I like the exofficio quick dry boxers, the underwear post is coming soon, but in my opinion the best "secret" weapon in my travel arsenal is smartwool socks. raton fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Jun 2, 2011 |
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Jun 2, 2011 16:17
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Ribsauce posted:Those exofficios are nice, but you should check compression shorts. They take things to the next level. Underarmour even makes some with mesh where your balls/taint are. I haven't seen them but a friend (the same one who got me on the compression bandwagon) was saying they are awesome I really prefer to have my garbage flapping around though, can't stand having it mashed in one spot all day.
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Jun 2, 2011 16:59
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Kalix: is this for travel or for hiking?
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Jun 4, 2011 01:55
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Take a look at the Tom Bihn tri star and tell me what you think.
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Jun 4, 2011 02:39
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Travel pack is ideal for SE Asia. For the trek I mentioned I parked my travel pack at the tour agents place and took a bookbag I'd bought in town on the hike with me. Of course, that isn't an option if you're hiking to get somewhere instead of eventually ending up back at your point of origin. I needed the guide, it was off trail along the Burmese border and the guide even had to modify his route a few times thanks to a fire making his normal path an impassable mess of fallen/burnt bamboo. In a while here I'll get to the "right way to pack" entry in the third post which will tell you how I roll. I don't, however, have much hardcore hiking experience. Can you give us a guess as to what your hiking time will be on the trip (days, week, weeks?) as well as how many cities you plan to visit and stuff like that -- a basic itinerary. raton fucked around with this message at 03:50 on Jun 4, 2011 |
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Jun 4, 2011 03:47
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Underwear and swimwear is up. I'm appalled at how far I still have to go!Kalix posted:So In your experience, you find that most people leave their stuff somewhere and take a cheap-o bag for dayhikes and the like? Yes, but that experience varies by location. Also keep in mind that I'm not really a hardcore hiker guy. It's really hard for me to say whether you should go travel pack or hiking pack, but one thing I will say is that often times your hardest decisions are the ones that matter the least (because there's so little end-difference between them to begin with). I can walk for probably four or five hours with my normal travel pack on before I start to get annoyed at it. Mostly at it making my back sweaty. The weight isn't a big issue for me -- maybe I'm carrying twenty or thirty pounds around, maybe less, I've never really measured it. That on two backpack straps isn't ever going to fatigue me. I am a fairly big guy though, 6'3" and around 200 pounds, so maybe that's why. raton fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Jun 6, 2011 |
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Jun 6, 2011 19:40
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I've been camping twice in my adult life so I'm in no way qualified to write some kind of camping section. If goons make suggestions I'll of course link to them somewhere in the second or third posts, or incorporate them if it isn't too much work to do so. I don't use packing cells myself any more (though I did in the past) as bundle packing eliminates the need for cells. Bundle packing will be described (if you don't know about it already) at the beginning of the third post, or you can just google for "bundle packing" and get good guides for it. Also because I don't do much camping I've never needed a pillow, on the few multi-day hikes I've been on I've just made one out of shirts wound around eachother / my water bottle (I only bring a water bottle if hiking, I never have on one me for normal travel as I've never been anywhere where getting bottled water was an issue). In general I hope this post helps illustrate how poorly equipped I am to answer hiking / camping questions, and it's in those cases where gear is probably at its most important (aside from bona fide expeditions or survivalism or something like that). I'm certainly open to suggestions! raton fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Jun 6, 2011 |
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Jun 6, 2011 21:24
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qirex posted:There's a good hiking/backpacking thread in Watch & Weight. Well hey that solves that!
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Jun 6, 2011 22:03
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Shirts is up -- it's also a lot more wordy than I was expecting it to be. Despite my various wall-o-text posts on SA would you believe the second post was the first time I've ever hit the character limit? Edit: I stuck sarongs / travel towels up too. raton fucked around with this message at 04:09 on Jun 9, 2011 |
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Jun 9, 2011 03:45
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dylar posted:Luggage is way too expensive. Use this pack. It is the exact same design as the ones in the OP. It costs $30. Buy 5 of them to make up for the slightly reduced quality, and use the money you save to buy a sharpie and color in the hideous logo they've inexplicably added since I bought mine. Looks pretty good! The quality isn't appalling, right? Stitching holds up, zippers don't poo poo on themselves?
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Jun 9, 2011 16:22
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Well, I can.  What shoe say you?Also how many people even go on hikes when they travel? raton fucked around with this message at 18:34 on Jun 9, 2011 |
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Jun 9, 2011 18:32
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Pants and shorts is up. NO JEANS FUCKERS! /ducks
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Jun 13, 2011 19:20
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qirex posted:You just don't know about Coolmax jeans. I don't know when the last time I got some was. Maybe a year or so ago? I'm really easy on all of my gear though, so I almost never have problems like that and am not a good one to judge. Do you know of any other pants that have that REI style vertical zipper along the thigh seam for the extra pocket? You know what I'm talking about, right? That's really what makes those pants so great. raton fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jun 13, 2011 |
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Jun 13, 2011 19:26
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I agree with most of your points, Mrady, and will modify some of my language in the section to reflect that. However, if you want durable what you want is nylon. Nothing is as tough as nylon, denim doesn't even come close, especially when you're talking about abrasion rather than tears. The most common blend for wool pants is polyester, but you can often find wool/nylon pants as well and those wear really well. The dressier pants I recommend don't look nearly as dressy when worn with a T-shirt or an untucked dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and I feel like I get more range out of that option (dressing down slacks) than I do going at it the other way (dressing up jeans) with the added benefit of not dealing with the bulkiness/irrwashability (unless I get those Coolmax things, I guess) of jeans. My recommendations might have to do with what I usually do when I travel, though, too -- I might go on a hike, but I'll certainly go into a museum or gallery or two, probably attend a show sponsored by some local consulate to try to get a profile of the local expat / traveled locals, that kind of stuff. raton fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Jun 13, 2011 |
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Jun 13, 2011 19:49
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Windmill Hut posted:I think 'for people who take traveling a bit too seriously or are gypsies' should be added onto the thread title. The OP has strong tone of "if you dont travel light and do what i say, YOU'RE WRONG!!"... but then people are talking about taking water filters? and buying specific pairs of pants for traveling? by the time you've bought all this poo poo you wont be able to afford the trip. Thanks for reading the OP!
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Jun 16, 2011 04:12
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Part of the problem with making a thread with a lot if info in it is that if you start analyzing that info for people you can only do it with your own brain. There's a lot of text in the first few posts, way more that I was anticipating, and I don't really have the energy to keep it in a neutral voice, especially since it's not neutral info anyway. I had similar complaints initially when I posted my TEFL thread except they were a lot more vitriolic (the China thread people came out in force...) and eventually just scrapped a whole section of the OP in favor of the community involvement thing you see there now, which the community usually isn't much involved in. I'm sorry if I have a poo poo tone of voice or occasionally odd seeming opinions but its what I have the energy for. Ribsauce, do you have shoe recommendations? You're a pro sandal guy, right? I've modified the OP a little to avoid flustering the weekend in the Keys people in the future. quote:Maybe it is just a type of travel many shorts-wearing Americans don't understand. There's something to this as well. Even here in New York City when I tell people I recently got back from Thailand for a month or whatever I think the picture in their mind is me in a baseball hat with two giant hardsided suitcases checking into a three story treehouse made of bamboo. Very few Americans probably see travel in the same way I do, though, of course, plenty of people in this subforum know exactly what I'm talking about. raton fucked around with this message at 17:39 on Jun 16, 2011 |
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Jun 16, 2011 17:20
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Also the tropical sun isn't the same friendly sun we see at higher latitudes. It wants to hurt you. In Thailand I once walked into a narrow little alley in a seaside town called Trat to find the whole length of it lined with shallow meter wide wicker trays. On these trays were several hundred (few thousand?) butterflied gouramy fish, small ones like you see in fish tanks sometimes. I was expecting to walk back through later to the most unimaginable stench, but instead, on my way back after dinner, I went through a processional of nearly odorless fish jerky. A lady was tossing them into a plastic sack one at a time and stacking up the trays as she went along. All it took was a few hours of afternoon sun -- I understand they do the same thing with conch meat in the carribean.
raton fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Jun 16, 2011 |
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Jun 16, 2011 21:13
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My only jacket suggestion for now is Marmot Precip. It seems like the go to guy in that department. I personally don't use packing cubes but bundle pack instead. I think One Bag has a bundle packing guide. It's a bit less convenient than cubes but fights wrinkles like nothing else. I used to use cubes though, they're fine too. http://www.onebag.com/pack.html That's the bundling guide. I modify it a bit but that's where I learned it from. raton fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 02:46
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I put something up about jackets but I've never really needed / used one so it's all probably pretty specious. If you guys have any great jacket reccos they're of course welcome. I'm filling out applications for paramedic school right now so the OP is going to progress a bit more slowly than it has been for a few weeks. I'll try to do a section occasionally, though. Also I think I found the ugliest jacket on earth: http://www.amazon.com/Southpole-Fleece-Epaulettes-Utility-Details/dp/B003XF2V4W/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&qid=1308622897&sr=8-26 
raton fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jun 21, 2011 |
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Jun 21, 2011 04:26
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If you're a young guy in good shape and traveling for a week or two you can make do with it. You'll definetly feel like you're lugging it around at times but depending on what kind of travel you're doing you might only have to contend with that a handful of times. What do you have planned? One other thing to consider is that if it's a nice bag that you use a lot at home you might not want to expose it to the rigors of travel, too. raton fucked around with this message at 18:35 on Jun 21, 2011 |
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Jun 21, 2011 18:32
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Adding a couple external compression straps is probably the best long term solution and it's not hard to do yourself if you can find some straps at a fabric store. Just pin them onto the bag and stitch them on at the edges of the back panel by hand -- two little squares with Xs in them is enough. I'd probably leave the strap intact all the way around. You could also get a large 22x14 packing cube to keep your stuff more verticle, but maybe that would need to be strapped in anyway. raton fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Jun 21, 2011 |
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Jun 21, 2011 22:07
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Packing cubes are dividers. You could get two 22 by sevens to split the bag in half vertically, three seven by 14s to make three horizontal compartments, on and on like that. They're often labeled s/m/l but the dimensions should always be on the site somewhere. If you mean cubes with further internal subdivisions I don't know, but I don't think I've ever seen that.
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Jun 21, 2011 22:31
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SIF-R2lzek Another reason not to check your luggage I guess. My bet is that he was a huge rear end in a top hat on check in and half had this coming but I don't know maybe he's just not lucky. Edit: LOL youtube quote:**UPDATE** Delta contacted me and i'm waiting for them to make me an offer... follow the info on twitter #DeltaPeeBags raton fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jun 22, 2011 |
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Jun 22, 2011 18:18
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:A white person in SE Asia is never going to be inconspicuous. Inconspicuous maybe not, but there's a difference between a Chang singlet and some knockoff Diesel shorts and wearing something a little more presentable to your average local family. Your dress can either erase the positive attention you get for being different there or it can let it be. This is particularly true in Thailand where even small upcountry towns often have a farang or two living there -- if you look like someone from Leave It To Beaver and smile you have access to a lot there that people who obviously look like travelers don't.
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Jun 27, 2011 16:43
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Jesus Rocket posted:I brought a few polyester t-shirts when I traveled in Central America and after awhile they smelled awful even with repeated washing. I hear nylon is also a good synthetic fabric that dries really quick - does anyone know if it has the same odor problems? How long is a while? Nylon is a good pant material, but I can't imagine it being comfortable enough for shirts. I've had some of those REI adventures pants for years and they don't smell at all, however if the nylon they're made of were finished or woven or whatever in the way that capilene is then maybe it would.
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Jun 28, 2011 04:18
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 19:56 |
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This is are luggage 
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Jul 1, 2011 21:36
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