Backpacker Pack List continued

On Rain protection
   If you are going to take a rain coat, then get a good one. It should be some breathable waterproof material, and will probably cost you a couple of hundred dollars (in Australia). I say 'if' because I wish, in hindsight I had travelled with a durable poncho instead of my raincoat.... such a poncho would be longer, could cover my pack/packs as well, and would keep me drier if I had to sit in the rain (like when I had to sit unprotected on a little boat on a lake in Argentina). You can get ponchos of reasonable quality. Check the length before you go, as a petite person like myself probably would need to get one shortened.
   A good poncho could also be used to sit on or as a make shift fly (tent). Disposable Ponchos aren't good for anything other than an emergency.

   If you are a city traveller an umbrella might be suitable, but they aren't good for hiking, so an umbrella is not on my packing list.

On socks

   Really, there is no point buying an expensive pair of hiking boots, if you are going to put regular cheap socks under them. Good socks will keep your feet drier, and this will help stop you from getting blisters. They will also help keep your feet at a better temperature.

On shoes
   Now that I have discovered my Croc sandals I could successfully travel with just 2 pairs of shoes.... My hiking boots and my Croc sandals.
   Good hiking boots are a must if you intend to go hiking and they will help you carry  your pack without damaging your body as much as you will by carry a pack whilst wearing thongs (this being Australian English for Flip-flops, not skimpy underwear!). I recommend waterproof breathable ones, but try for something not too heavy as then you will feel better about wearing them for everyday use.
   I love hiking sandals too, but since dislocating my toe I recommend you look seriously at the ones with covered toes.
   My Crocs! (pictured) I can wear these in the shower to protect my feet from foot fungus in travellers showers, then wipe them dry and wear them sightseeing or to a bar (yep, I think they look good enough). And if I want to dance in them (serious salsa I mean) I put some silver shiny tape on the bottom of them (to give me less traction and more spin), and tie them on with cute ribbon across the top.

On taking a sleep sheet and/or sleeping bag

   Lots of people ask whether they should take a sleeping bag, and that depends on the type of trip you'll be doing. But, in a year of backpacking (10.5 months South America, 1.5 months USA), I only actually needed it on one 2 night tour, and I could have hired one on that occasion, so it is the one item that I carried for the whole year but should have left at home.

   On the other hand, I do recommend that, if you are travelling in cheap hotels/hostels/homestays, you take a sleep sheet. Sleep sheets are special sack style sheets, they are generally available in cotton or silk. Silk takes up less space but is hotter, cotton takes up more space but is cooler. I found years ago that the single silk sleep sheet is too cramped for me (and I am petite), so this time I travelled with a double silk sleep sheet, and found it worked well for me. I have also met people who had bought a length of interesting fabric somewhere and were using it as a sheet. Later it would be sewn into something and larger people were able to use theirs as a wrap/sarong.

On Toiletries

   Oh, there is so much more to write! I'll cover this one later, and more...

Backpackers Pack list

   Lots of people ask me for handy hints on what to take or not to take on a large trip. I travel fairly lightly (it could be lighter), I have travelled a lot, and I have worked in a travel goods shop selling all those expensive travel items (see below) that may or may not be worth buying... so I might be a good person to ask.

   As a general rule, you can travel with 2 sets of clothes, one for today while the other is being washed. I admit I travel with about 3.5 sets. If you get efficient with your laundering* and you'll get one set washed and dried each time you settle in for the night.
   For a woman, I would say that a set of clothes, to keep you versatile in a variety of climates, is:- a tank top, a T-shirt, a long sleeved shirt, bra, shorts, and long trousers. You will need twice as many (4 sets) of socks, and panties. Real panties (Briefs), obviously, will take up more space than G-Strings (thongs), but they'll also keep your trousers fresher longer. Also in clothing you will need a sweater and jacket, and a hat.
   Men could probably pack a similar bunch of stuff, but without any bras!

On expensive travel goods stuff
   Expensive travel items usually take up less space and will wash and dry really well overnight. The synthetic fabric of them also usually gets smelly faster. If I'm not doing anything too strenuous then I can usually wear a cotton shirt for 2 days before laundering it. But a synthetic travel shirt will only last me a day.
   So, for me, I would actually take a mix of speciality travel clothes and normal clothes.... for hiking I like an old** worn long sleeved cotton work-shirt, but I like to team it with some speciality travel trousers. Not all travel clothing is the same. If you buy cheap you might find yourself hotter when the weather is hot and colder when the weather is cold. You might also find yourself smellier! I love the superfine merino wool products, but the ones made in China aren't as good. Find Australian or New Zealand made brands and I think you will smell less and be more comfortable. Be warned! Check the label! Although a brand was once manufactured in NZ, it might now be manufactured in China, and the quality hasn't remained the same. In travel trousers I will give a special mention to New Zealand brand Earth Sea Sky, their travel trousers are fantastic, and I admit I haven't tried much else of theirs.

I haven't finished writing about what to take, so I will continue with another post soon. If you have any questions, please use my comments field to ask them.

Efficient Laundering
*Efficient laundering means washing your clothes as best you can, wringing them out really, really well, and then wrapping them in your towel and wringing them inside your towel before hanging them out to dry
**The old ones seem to dry faster and be more comfy.

Another disaster hits Queensland

   This hit of cyclone Yasi in North Queensland is shocking! We haven't had time to recover from the flooding yet, and now this has hit us. The state's resources are really being stretched.
   I am actually still in Queensland, in Brisbane. I came down a few weeks ago to push the mud out of a commercial shed that my mother owns (it is due to be tenanted as soon as it is operational), but have ended up staying to continue with the work that needs to be done.
   Being that tradespeople are in short supply at the moment and that I have the experience of having painted a few houses, I am now painting the office part of these sheds. It's a rather big job, but I am pleased with the progress.
   What I will do after this I still don't know, but I think I will stay around for a while. I'll tell you all why one day soon.

How could I travel so much?

   One of my most asked questions, after quite a bit of travel talk, is “What do you do?” and when asked this I have reached the point of asking “Do you really mean to ask me how I could afford to travel so much?”- “Yeah, I guess”.

   Honestly, it's easy... I am stingy, really stingy, well, stingy when I am in Australia. And I made some good investments, and had great help (most importantly the advice) when I needed it. And travel is cheap (when you do it like I do).

   Let's start with stingy. 

   When I think that I know people who spend one hundred dollars every week on booze (alcohol), then I think, really, if you take that $5200 a year and invest it wisely, then a lot more people could afford to travel. Other people spend a few thousand on cigarettes a year.... you see my point here. I don't drink much, and I never smoked because I couldn't bare to spend the money on it... that might make me stingy.

   I also don't spend much on clothes, makeup, shoes, home entertainment, sports or clubs or the myriad of other things people spend their money on. They just aren't things that interest me much. Big screen tv's being sold for thousands of dollars equate to me thinking how long I could travel for on that much money. I rarely buy gifts for friends or family, I don't think the planet needs more consumerism and I would rather they reciprocated and didn't buy me anything (.... although frequent flyer points are always welcome!).

   What I do like to spend money on is experiences. I splurged in South America and did what many Backpackers wouldn't do – the Galapagos Islands.

   I don't want the world to have more people like me, but I dislike it when people imply that I shouldn't be having all this travel, when they clearly have other things they spend their money on. It is your choice, for the most part, how you spend your money.

Investing:

   I was probably 16 when I read a highlighted newspaper text that said that something like 90% of the world's millionaires became so through real estate. That text planted a seed, I didn't want to be a millionaire, but I would be wanting enough money to travel. I even went and discussed the investment idea (though it was only a seed) with an old local guy who had also invested in Real Estate (Jack Gosden was his name). Jack advised me to buy industrial property. At 18 I failed to take Jacks advice and bought a cheap 4 bedroom house instead.

   To buy a house at 18, it was really cheap ($55,000), and I got a Building Society Home Loan because the deposit needed was less. Whilst renting out the unused rooms, I painted it and did some minor fix ups, mostly with the help of family and friends, and then moved out and rented it out to a family (about a year later)... with my outgoings needed to keep it just 10c a week more than what I received in rent. Imagine! Ten cents per week, and your house is being paid off! I paid extra every week, and later redrew some to buy another house.

   I have since sold the houses – perhaps a silly move financially speaking – but I had the money to travel, and that's what I wanted.

The first house I bought.

   I have just mentioned the help I got from family and friends in the repairs to my first house, and also the advise I got from Jack. My parents were instrumental in their encouragement to invest, without them I would never have had the confidence. I realise now that it is this confidence that made the difference, it was them saying “go ahead, do it!” that made all the difference.

   Skipping university, although not always the best option, also meant I could work, invest and renovate in a way that I couldn't have afforded the time or money for had I gone to University. I followed my dream, and my dream wasn't for any career, so this suited me.

Travel is Cheap:

   Travel really is cheap, when you travel as a backpacker. Airfares and Insurance are the only real big expenses. Typically in South America I would spend less than $10 a night on accommodation, often with breakfast included. Menu of the day usually would be a big lunch for me at $2-$3, eaten late and then just an evening snack to see me through the night.

   My big expense was sightseeing, but even so, as a backpacker you could often find other backpackers to do the sightseeing with cheaply. Guide book in hand, walking the streets, you can often discover a lot in the city for no additional expense.

   Even in the USA, when I was backpacking alone (prior to meeting up with my mother) I planned my trip to stay with friends and to couchsurf (www.couchsurfing.org) and I would take a packed lunch. Washington DC, with all it's free museums, and me being accommodated in a friends house, was really cheap.

More Travel worthy Blogs

   Hey, just in case you're wondering about the blogs of this traveller, because they have been a little 'home based' of late, well more travel blogs are coming!
   I plan to write a packing list (because I've travelled 49 countries and worked in a travel goods shop, so I think I am entitled to write this). Another article on making the money to travel, and another on quarantine, and more!