Laura’s Closet

Lots and lots of clothes and shoes

I used to cry when I lost a ring, or broke a glass or plate. I use to get upset if I ruined a piece of clothing,expensive or cheap. But over the past five years I have grown away from the materialism of my childhood. Sure, I still like nice things, like pretty dresses, matching shoes, purses and blow driers, but like many good ol’ cliches make reference to,  “They aren’t going to make me truly happy”.

I don’t need pretty dresses, matching pillows or an espresso to survive (well, maybe the espresso). They are just things. Things can be replaced. Things, like money, come and go. Jobs come and go. When I return back home to Canada, there will be jobs to be found. I will not look back and say, “Ah! I wish I didn’t travel to Turkey, India, Greece, Italy, Nepal and move to Thailand. I should have taken that job in Canada.”

So alas, my adventure has begun with my husband. From the day I met him, both of our spirits have always been up for an adventure. A chance to learn and see something new. The past five years we satisfied this urge with weekend to ten day trips, mostly based on weddings we were invited to or seat sales we found.

This time we bought one-way tickets and we are only taking one bag each, a carry-on nonetheless. So even though I like all the pretty things of “What a girl wants”, I had to think about it, do some research and some select shopping to determine just “What a girl needs”.

What a girl needs (Laura’s new closet/new way of life)

I suppose I could do with only one pair of shoes but I have huge feet and from past traveling experience find it difficult to find shoes that fit.

Okay. So here’s the list of things you see in the picture.

1. Rain coat (orange)
2. Hoodie (Blue - fleece)
3. Money belt
4. Hat
5. Camera
6. Two lenses
7. Battery charger for camera
8. CF cards (I’ll bring a few more than shown)
9. Merrell sandles (more supportive than flip-flops, good for showers and hot weather)
10. Hiking shoes (comfy, broken-in and I’m not concerned if I have to ditch them somewhere)
11. Belt (not essential, but don’t you just hate it when peoples butt cracks and underwear show?)
12. Mummy sleeping bag silk liner (to help protect me in hostels)
13. Pillow case — MEC– (I’ll stuff it with my clothes to make a pillow at night)
14. Superstore extra small black shopping bag (I’ll use this as a day-bag, if it is possible for us to lock our bags up in a locker at a hostel of hotel.)
15. ~50 tampons and ~50 liners (Damn girl stuff taking up space, but apparently tampons can be extremely hard to find and expensive in some places we are going.)
16. Mesh blue bag (For putting dirty laundry in — we’ll be washing our laundry in the sink mostly and the occasional laundry mat.)
17. Toiletries (contained in clean, plastic bag)
18. Medicine/1st Aid Kit (contained in clean, plastic bag)
19. Two bras (black & white)
20. Bikini (bottom, top and mesh wrap around)
21. Bike pants (black, MEC, bike pants I will use as long-John’s and PJ’s)
22. Tupperware container (small blue container for left overs from restaurants)
23. Panties (two pairs, on special Tilly brand, quick drying pair)
24. 3 thongs (Synthetic — no cotton — apprently the synthetic fabrics dry faster)
25. Tank top (wicking material, fast drying, with built in bra)
26. Dress shirt (collored, long sleeved black dress shirt)
27. Helly Hanson long sleeved shirt (pink in colour, wicking material, and fast drying)
28. Pants (black MEC, fast drying pants, that zip-off into shorts)
29. Skirt & shirt (my fancy outfit for restaurants, interviews etc.)
30. Shawl (black shawl to act as a scarf and head cover in some countries)
31. Towel (MEC travel towel, fast drying material)
32. CAMEL water bottle (green)
33. Wool socks (1 pair)
34. Bamboo/rayon socks (2 pairs, black)
35. Zip-lock bags (3 large bags for packing clothes)
36. Elastics (~12 to help make clothes smaller)
37. Glasses (extra pair)

There you have it. The complete story from “What a girl wants to what a girl needs”.  Ciao for now. –Laura–

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2. Packing up our life (and our bags)
3. Vancouver Aquarium

As part of this work, I also had my first chance to try to pile everything I plan to bring into my bag. You can see a pic of that below. Click here to see one with notes itemizing everything. Back to the slog...

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Laura’s 35L duffel (hers is actually black).

Don’t get me wrong. These things are well-designed for their purpose. They pack  a lot of stuff in a U.S.-airline-sized carry-on that you can wheel on the well-paved areas between your cab rides. They also hold all the things business travelers like to have on the road: things like laptops, multiple changes of clothes, cameras, iPods, papers, books and the like. But for travelers who are unlikely to be able to rely on things like pavement and cab rides between A and B, these heavy, big bags just don’t cut it for mobility.

On the opposite end of the spectrum , you tend to find the  hippyish backpacker types. Usually no less materialistic than the average business traveler, these people tend to emphasize the freedom of a functional backpack, advocating large packs that hold a lot of stuff relatively comfortably. Unfortunately, this also tends to scream “budget-traveling Westerner.” These people also tend to take up the space of two people on buses and trains, and often deal with the chronic back pains of lugging way too much stuff around on their backs.

My bag is far more stylin’

That has left us with only one real option:  the one-bag movement. Don’t judge this idea by the ‘90s web design–the message is pure. These folks advocate taking a small carry-on bag that is also extremely mobile in other modes of travel. The idea is to pack light enough that you can carry everything you need on your back all day if necessary, while still enjoying yourself. Obviously, this is an approach that involves trade-offs, but it’s the approach we’ve chosen.

For instance, “hand-washed laundry” is going to be a phrase that takes on whole new meaning for us. But the benefit is a degree of freedom that is generally unheard of in travel: we can leave our possessions behind, in a very spiritual sense. That may sound cliched, but anyone who, like me, tends to carry a man-bag or purse around everywhere they go also knows the feeling of freedom you get when you don’t have to babysit your bag or its contents. By traveling ultralight, we’re only responsible for a few core things.

This is the nature of the travel we intend to undertake, and the reason for my puritanical anti-materialist, one-bag fixation. Of course, the biggest contradiction to all of this is my own camera gear. I’m still working on that.

I think we’ll post more detailed info about exactly what and how we are packing (although you can see some pics of our bags above), so please stick it out. Who knows, you may learn something useful for your own travels...

Cheers,
Chris

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