When it comes to packing, most travelers would agree: If there are regrets, it’s usually from packing to much, not too little. It stinks to pack, haul, un-pack, and re-pack a bunch of stuff you don’t need. This article shares everything I packed for over 30 days of travel through Cambodia and Vietnam. Lessons learned…
I spent eight days backpacking through Shenandoah National Park on the Appalachian Trail. Click here for my Trip Summary to find articles, maps, and details around trip prep, packing, and lessons learned. This article picks up where “Preparing to Section-Hike the A.T. through Shenandoah National Park” left off. There, I covered long-range planning tasks including…
Originally published November 14, 2012 Like most people (adults?) going to Philmont, Julie and I spent a lot of time exploring strategies and tactics for equipment. Much of our equipment was close to twenty years old (pre-kids backpacking days) so we knew a major refresh was in order. We leaned towards the ultra-light approach and…
I've written a surprising number of articles about packing for our 6-week Ireland trip, including how I choose clothes and pack lightly, how I choose and pack toiletries, my initial packing list, and my final packing list. In this post I give you our line-by-line list complete with weights and notes. I'm sorry the "tables" are…
Chris and I have been traveling for over 4 months now and our crazy adventure is drawing to a close. When we pull into our driveway in just 8 short days, we will have traveled over 7,000 miles by car, backpacked 140 miles, passed through 20 states, and explored bits of 3 countries. I’ve learned…
I previously posted articles detailing the clothes, toiletries, and backpacking equipment I planned to take to Ireland. The items listed would suffice for a normal trip, but I’ll be backpacking for 4 weeks and my pack was too heavy. After carefully rethinking and then discarding or replacing items, I got my pack down to 19.5 pounds carried weight. This…
Sometimes it can be challenging to write an article, but this time I couldn’t even decide what to title it! We will be in Ireland for a total of 6 weeks and the final 2 weeks will be familiar, traveling by car and sightseeing. During the first 4 weeks, though, are we backpacking, hiking, trekking,…
I wasn’t planning to write this article, but a recent email from a friend revealed I’m not the only one who broods over lotion and shampoo and travel containers. While I haven’t asked Chris specifically, I’d bet dollars to donuts he devotes a tiny fraction of the time I do to this subject. What can…
I used to be a disaster at packing. I’d start out with good intentions, but then the “what-ifs” set in and I’d throw in clothes and shoes for every possible weather/activity combination. Chris is a seasoned traveler though, and started working on me and the kids 15 years ago. Rule #1: No checked bags, period.…