Before I left the USA last year after a 10 year vacation, I sold, threw out, and (mostly) gave away nearly all of my possessions, keeping only those that I could fit into one standard-sized airplane carry-on bag. (However, unlike Christopher McCandless, I didn’t burn my remaining money and hitchhike to Alaska to live in the wilderness).
Over the next few years I intend to travel around the rest of the world, living out of this one bag. I created this website to keep track of my progress, and to keep a personal checklist of the gear with which I will be travelling. I will be testing the gear as I go and writing about it on here so that others may benefit from my experiences.
I have always travelled from a very young age, mostly in Europe and America. Family camping trips in England gave way to weekend breaks in various cities around Europe with an ultra-light day sack, and weeks of mountaineering in the Europeans Alps with an 80 pound pack full of climbing gear (as well as the occasional skiing trip).
Later came numerous two to three month tours of Europe by train, staying in hostels and camping, and a few years of driving around America, staying in tents and hotels.
This time I am about to embark on a longer journey. I don’t have a real plan, just time and some money I saved over the last few years.
Travel Gear
I have taken all kinds of gear on my travels and have found that less is generally better, both in terms of weight, amount and complexity of equipment.
I am constantly surprised at how little equipment is needed when travelling. Most of what I take outside of sensible clothing and shelter are luxuries.
Also, I am almost always refining the list of gear I take on each trip to enable me to try out new technologies / materials / equipment. I also love gadgets (who doesn’t!?) and will try to take new ones with me each time I travel.
Inspiration
A long time ago, some time after leaving university, I was sitting at a desk in an office in London, wishing I was somewhere else. I started reading books (then), and websites (later), about around-the-world and long-term (over about 3 months) travel, wondering how people did it.
Was it easy to just leave your job, home, country and wander the world for extended periods of time? Didn’t it cost loads of money? How can you survive without working from 9 to 5, 40 hours a week? Well, I decided to find out.
I actually quite liked my job, but I liked the time off when I wasn’t working, and travelling even better. So, in a nutshell, I worked for a little while longer, saved some travel money, rented out my apartment, and headed for the train station.
Life on the Road
There are numerous differences between daily life in a big city (like London) and being on the road. When travelling you never have to do a big, weekly grocery shop (just buy a few necessities here and there), you don’t have to clean the house, do the dishes, clean the cooker or bathroom, nor worry about bills or answering the phone, you don’t have to dress up to go out, or even worry about where to go out in the evenings and at weekends.
All you need do is to find food and lodging for the night, wash your clothes occasionally and sometimes mend them, and try to avoid getting cheated, robbed or ill.
In return you get an education about the world and it varied cultures, about yourself and your limitations, plus an opportunity to see places and meet people from all over the world (and not just seeing them on TV). It can be a challenge but overall, it is great fun.
Who is this site for?
This site is primarily for me to document my travels and to keep a record of the gear I use. I also keep a list of links to travel-related websites for reference purposes.
But if you are someone who is planning a backpacking tour of Europe, America or even the rest of the world then you may find reading about some of my experiences useful.
Bear in mind that I am not a business traveller, neither do I travel to one destination for a week or so to stay in a hotel, so if this is you then you may find some things here that are useful but not everything.
I usually travel light, carrying everything I need in one carry-on sized bag if I can, or a larger (mountaineering/climbing) backpack for climbing equipment, including camping and sleeping gear which I also use when not sleeping in a hostel or on someone’s sofa. So all the advice on this site is for this kind of travel.
Lastly, this website is a place where I get to practise my HTML coding skills. It will inevitably change over time in style and content, so keep checking back if you are interested in my progress!
Disclaimer
I don’t make any money from this site and I don’t work for any of the companies or websites listed on it either. However, it does cost money to run. There are various ways in which I recoup some of these costs. If you are thinking of setting up your own website (travel related or not) then here are some of the companies I use.
Webhosting
My webhosting company (IX Webhosting) charges me a monthly fee to keep the site active.
This is very reasonable, however, and I thoroughly recommend them if you are looking for a webhosting company (and I should know, I have tried out quite a few before I found my them!)
Click on the ad to check them out.
There are also some Google ads in various places.
I have no control over the wording or content of these ads and therefore I am not responsible for any products advertised there and neither do I recommend (or not) any of them.
I do, however, receive a small payment if anyone clicks on the ads.
Amazon
Scattered throughout the site you will find links to other websites such as Amazon.com (or Amazon.co.uk), which give more information on a book or product I mention. If you click on any of these links and subsequently buy the product I receive a small commission (not much, but it helps!)
