Loose of Limits

A few weeks ago, I was riding a bicycle in Bagan, Burma, and holding our trusty Canon G10 camera (which we've had for over 4 years). A tourist man in a horse buggy was coming the opposite direction and his cane fell through the carriage to the street. He was panicked about it and, as the driver struggled to get the horses stopped, I noticed cars coming towards his cane in the street. So, I jumped off my bike to retrieve his cane. That was nice of me, right? But then I tripped over my bike and landed face down in the street, tangled in the bars and wheels of the bicycle. As I crashed down, so did our camera and the LCD screen shattered. Oops. Back in Bangkok, we took it to a Canon store and they said it could be fixed, but that it would take FOUR WEEKS! We don't have that kind of time so, because we had been thinking about upgrading our photography equipment for quite some time, we pulled the trigger and started looking for a new toy. Don't worry - we'll get the G1...

I keep thinking of that commercial that asked, "What's in  your  wallet?" I'm pretty sure it was a bank card ad, but it's got me thinking about what Tom and I carry in our bags each day. We're pretty proud of how we've packed - we have less stuff than most long-term backpackers we come across and, when we aren't loaded down with things we've bought, we can fit all of our things into our 2 large packs without even needing to carry a day pack. These days, we're traveling pretty light. The below list is just our essentials, though we do have a lot of other stuff with us. These are the things we use every day and recommend to other travelers. If you're using this list as a packing guide, please note, this list is what we've been carrying in India - in the south in October and November and in the north in December and January. (For a full list of what we brought with us, visit  this page , but note that it needs a little updating.) Th...

Last week, I shared the contents of my pack , and I expressed how incredibly over  packing our bags I am. This is doubly true because I made most of the decisions regarding Tom's pack, too. This is good for both of us because, if Tom did the packing/planning, the inside of his bag would resemble a junk yard. Soon after we met and started living together, I had to relinquish the top drawer of our dresser and designate it as "Tom's Drawer." It's not for clothes or accessories. It's for crap. Reaching into that drawer could introduce you to a chewed piece of gum, a lost $50 bill, or a sharp poke in the finger from a safety pin. It's not safe. It's not sanitary. It's....Tom's Drawer. (The last few sentences, by the way, were verbalized in my head in Robin Leach's voice and would serve as the introduction to a segment on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous about Tom's eccentric habits of collecting used dental floss.) I'm not a super tidy...

There have been a zillion things we've been doing to prepare for this trip - boring things that don't deserve their own post. But I thought maybe you'd like to know a few of them anyway. Actually, that's probably not true. You probably don't want to know. But I need to tell you anyway. Some of this stuff is from the To Do List , and some of it's just extra crap that I thought up to make life more complicated. Somewhere on the Web, I read that it's a good idea to make contact cards for the road. (Once again, the Internet introduces me to brilliance.) I am highly susceptible to influences regarding cuteness and unnecessary crap, so I ordered some, obviously. I have secretly wanted a reason to purchase Moo Cards for a few years now, and this was the perfect excuse.  I had also read that it's a good idea to put your pic on the cards instead of just your info because, after you give your info to some random person you meet on the road, they're going t...

I can't even tell you how much research I've done on what to pack for this trip. I've scoured the internet, Thorn Tree , and the packing lists of dozens of other backpackers. I've read reviews on Amazon, and Tom and I each tried on 20+ pairs of travel/outdoor pants to compare. We each ordered 4 different pairs of shoes to try out before settling on our final choices. Never in a million years did I think I would hear myself comparing the virtues of various (gasp!) convertible and roll-up waterproof cargos. Only a fanny pack and a set of matching t-shirts separates Tom and I from this: God Bless America

Remember back in this post when we listed all the electronics and gadgets we were taking on The Trip ? We posted this great picture of Inspector Gadget and called him the ancestor of the modern-day San Franciscan? Go ahead...go back and read it. I'll wait. Need the link again? It's here . Done yet? I'll spare you from reading the explanations or rationalization for each product. Instead, I'll just show you some pics of the electronics and tell you what's in the pic. (Sorry for the poor picture quality - taking a picture of your camera means you have to use your phone to take the pic.)

We're a short 33 days away from leaving San Francisco and I can't tell you how insane that is. I'm finishing up my vaccines, I'm starting to clean out closets and think about packing. We decided to sublet our apartment, furnished, and we're finalizing those plans. We've purchased everything we need for the trip. And I'm obsessing over details late night until I go crazy. Last night, I woke Tom up at 2am and frantically asked/said/yelled... "Do our sleep sacks have pillow holders?!?! ThePillowsAtThePlacesWe'llBeStayingWillBeGrossAndWeMUSTCoverThem!  Maybe we need to bring pillowcases! We can use the pillowcases to store dirty clothes!" I really thought this was a completely important conversation that needed to be discussed at 2am. He disagreed. The conclusion? We still haven't spoken about it. Stay tuned. This is basically what I look like at night, thinking about the trip

First - new here? Get acquainted with our blog: Our first post (explains The Trip) The Route-ish (because we really don't have a plan) The Blog Name , explained Pics So...where were we?

It's getting to be that time...it's that time when we start going through our packs and reevaluating everything we've chosen to take - Do we need it? Does it weight too much? Is there a better/lighter version? Tonight, for example, our conversations have included a lengthy debate about flip flops, and walking around the apartment in one of the 3 pairs (each) of walking/hiking/water shoes we purchased to try. Exciting times at the Swain residence. You know what else is exciting? 3-day juice cleanses. We've done the Blueprint Cleanse  before and we tried a more intense version of it this time. We're at the end of our 3rd and final day - I'm not nearly as hungry as I expected to be, but I'm really looking forward to my veggie omelet tomorrow morning and I'm even more excited about dinner with my girlfriends this Friday at Boxing Room  - there's no better way to break a cleanse than with gourmet hush puppies, fried chicken, jambalaya and beignets... Rig...

Have you seen my engagement and wedding rings? They're gorgeous. I love them. After 5 years of dating and countless conversations about getting engaged, we knew we were ready to take the next step back in 2009, and I started showing Tom the ring styles that I liked. While we were browsing, there was one ring  from Yael Designs that stood out among the rest. It was gorgeous. I loved it. I dreamed about it. I secretly hoped he would pick that one. And he did! On September 12, 2009, he proposed in our backyard and I said yes! He presented me with this gorgeous ring and he also had the matching wedding band waiting. When it was time to get his wedding ring, he had very basic rules - it must be white gold (or the like), it must be very lightweight, and it must be very, very simple. No diamonds, no filigree, etc... We found what he wanted and we've worn our rings every day since. Jewelry by Yael Designs , Photo by Choco Studio

Check out our Pics page! It's updated with photos from previous trips. This is where you can find most of our photos while we're on the road. Or, you can skip straight to our Flickr account . I'm sure a handful of our friends think we're nuts for taking the gadgets and electronics that we're taking but, as Tom mentioned in the last post about technology , it's just stuff. It's stuff we'd like to have with us as a nice little luxury (in the midst of our hostel/squatty potty/Delhi Belly/public bus adventures), but we wouldn't be heart-broken (or home-bound) if any of it was lost or stolen. With that said, I'm a safety girl and, while Tom has taken past long-term trips all willy-nilly and carefree, that is not going to fly with this overplanner. Let's talk safety - for ourselves and for our shtuff. (I won't cover it again, but check out our plans for medical safety here .) Do you know about Rick Steves ? Tom and I love him. He has ...

It's been awhile since I've taken a long-term backpacking trip. In 1995, I went to New Zealand and Australia for 6 months and, in 2000, I went through Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia for 4 months. On those trips, the only gadget I took with me was an older camera (film, obviously). Consumer technology has evolved a lot in the last 10 years, and we found ourselves with plenty of options when thinking about what gadgets to take and how we best wanted to document our trip. Since I'm generally as averse to new technology as your grandmother in New Mexico (I still have a BlackBerry because I don't want to learn a new system), deciding what to take was a bit overwhelming.  Lucky for me, Steph is a bit more tapped into the tech world and is a voracious researcher. She's figured out what other people are taking on the road these days and carefully read reviews of each choice in the many tech categories. Because we're taking quite a few gadgets, we'll like...

Imagine every medical decision you'll have to make over the next year - eye doctor appointments, prescriptions, annual check-ups, teeth cleaning, over-the-counter meds, insurance coverage, birth control, etc... And now imagine that you have to make all of those decisions in advance, at around the same time. That's basically what we're doing in preparation for our trip. We know we don't have to have everything we need before we go - you can certainly buy headache medicine and Bandaids nearly anywhere, and we're almost always 100% on-board with any remedies offered by locals. Side note: One time, when I had a bad cold and had lost my voice in Jamaica, I accepted a home brew from a local Rasta Jamaican I had grown to know and respect very much while living in Negril. It didn't look great and appeared to have small twigs and leaves floating in it, so I held my breath, pinched my nose and took it like a shot. It tasted surprisingly good - like a thick fruit juice, l...

We got our backpacks! Tom has an old backpack from his previous trips, but it's well-worn and backpacks have come a long way since then. So we started from the beginning. We did a bit of searching online to get familiar with the details and specs. I had NO idea what to look for in a backpack. Obviously, lightweight seemed important. But what size should I get? Should I get the backcountry kind of pack? Or the travel kind of pack? Should it have lots of zippers and features? Or just be simple? Mostly I just kept saying things like, "I can't believe everything I need for 6-9 months is going to fit in a backpack," and "If I get two backpacks, can you carry my extra one?" And then, on a quiet week night, we decided to go to REI - " definitely  not to buy yet," we said. We agreed we just wanted to check things out and start looking around. Suckers. (Us, not you.)