Packing

Considering what to pack has consumed most of the time I've devoted to preparing for my trip. The difficulty is adopting a lifestyle for an environment I have yet to experience. I've never been to Europe, and I have only a vague idea of what I'm going to do once I get there (travel, take a lot of pictures, and party my ass off). So how can I can prepare for all the eventualities that could occur? How much stuff should I take? What stuff should I take? Fortunately, the path to all wisdom that is Google provided a number of websites (links on the right) about backpacking through Europe with pages and forums devoted to this very topic. With the keen insight of those experienced "professionals", I am boiling down my belonging to the bare essentials. Oh is it sweet... The Backpack. The one thing that every backpacker needs to be called a "backpacker" is of course a backpack. I searched the bags from Eastern Mountain Sports, Eagle Creek, Gregor, and The North Face before finally settling on this monster: Columbia Sportwear: Europacker I figured the 5200 cubic inches would be more than enough to contain my societal existence for two months. The detachable day pack was a definite selling point for me, figuring it would be nice to have a bag to carry a subset of things I would just need while walking around for the day. I purchased it from ebags.com without being able to strap it on first. I was planning on returning it if I didn't like it, but it fit pretty well (I think). I've tested it out on a few weekend excursions and have been pleased thusfar. I do have a couple of suggestions for the bag makers, though. They should have figured a way to put the water bottle holder on the day pack. Also, a few pockets conveniently accessible while the bag is strapped to someone's back would be nice. Lastly, some way to securely lock ALL of the zippers would probably be advantagous (It seems the rope zipper handles could easily be cut if they're strung through a lock). Clothing. My philosophy on how much clothing to pack is that every other needed item should be packed first and then stuff clothes into the remaining space. With that in mind I'm taking the following:

• 3 tee shirts
• 1 polo shirt
• 1 button down dress shirt (Thank you wrinkle free fabric)
• 1 pair jeans
• 2 pairs kahkis
• 2 pairs shorts
• 1 pair of mesh shorts
• 5 pairs of underwear
• 5 pairs of socks
• 1 light jacket
• 1 thin PVC rain suit
• 1 swim suit

Footwear.

Shoes take up an enormous amount of backpack space, but having a good pair of shoes on my feet is probably a good thing given all the walking I'm probably going to do. That means I'm going to need a good pair of sneakers. Also, from what I've been reading, a lot of clubs and bars have dress codes, which would require a decent pair of dress shoes. Lastly, I plan on visiting a few beaches during my trip, for which sandals would probably be good. I've conveniently purchased sandals that will double as shower shoes (who knows what's on the floors over there). So I've got a pair of sneakers, a pair of comfortable dress shoes, and a pair of sandals. That seems like too much....

Sleeping. According to the websites I've frequented, a lot of hostels require(or will sell) a sleep sheet, which is a flat sheet folded in half and sown into a sleeping bag type of thing. I've made my own.

Toiletries/misc. I group toiletries into two groups. First, you have your daily personal hygiene/grooming toiletries and, second, you have your less frequently used need-based toiletries. My goal is to determine how much of both I am going to need to just barely get me through two months. Packing less than that requires me to buy more over there, and packing more wastes space (But, when in doubt, pack less).

For me, the former group consists of the following, which, for convenience, I'm packing into what I hope is a water tight toiletry bag from Eagle Creek:

• Shampoo
• Body Wash
• Face Wash
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Dental Floss
• Listerine
• Deoderant
• Razor
• Shave Gel

The later group includes:

• Travel microfiber towel
• Sunscreen
• Wet Ones
• Zip Ties
• Elastic tubing clothes line
• Sink stopper
• Laundry Soap
• Laundry Bag (came with Laundry Kit... might be useful)
• Travel sewing kit
• Pepto Bismal tablets
• Band Aids
• Aspirin
• Travel toilet paper roll

Entertainment. I'm willing to bet that I'm going to have a lot of free time travelling between destinations. Hopefully, I'll spent some of that time updating my blog here, but the rest of the time is definitely going to require some form of entertainment. While I far and away prefer female conversation, I am nonetheless packing in case I don't find a good conversationalist. Rather than pack separate books, an mp3 player, and since I enjoy movies, I got what will soon be my trusty 3lb, 10in by 8in, Sony Vaio T250/L (or something like that), on which I will store soft copies of books, music, and movies I'd like to enjoy while travelling (Don't worry Apple, I still have some extra computers on which to store iTunes downloads that you let me borrow... yes borrow... grr). Hopefully, it will take up less space and weight than the alternative.

Security. A lot of the stories that get around fast are the bad ones, involving gypsies, pick pockets, and late night gassings on trains. Unfortunately, having identification and money on me at all times is probably going to be a necessity, and the backpack could possibly favor the attention of Europe's more unsavory population. Thus, I have the traveler's money belt to house my passport, emergency credit card, HI card, ISIC, eurrail pass, and airline ticket (if that's not all digital now). I also might do the whole hundred dollar bill hidden in my shoe.

Packed. Putting it all together looks something like this. Everything fit easily in the Europacker with tons of room to spare. Now, from what I've read, I'm supposed to get rid of half of this stuff, but really that's just getting rid of clothing, isn't it? I welcome suggestions....

The only thing I have to put in the day pack at the moment is my guidebook and my digital camera (which eats batteries like no one's business). It will also be the future container of my laptop once I pick it up from the post office. There's probably a load of papers and infomation I'm going to have to take in the pack too, but I'm hoping to have as much of it as possible contained in the laptop.