Of luggage and packing
We’d like to think we’re a bit seasoned, by now. Over forty countries under my belt, twenty for the girls. Two epic trips (the longest, ten months). I think we have this packing thing covered.
And, we’ve gotten better at it.
Thailand, 2002
This was my kit for my first international trip, July 2002. Three and half weeks all in one little carry-on bag, Beige (we name our bags, as you will see soon – you’ll see a pic of Beige soon. I still have her.)
I had started, right from the beginning, being a minimalist in packing. Three pairs of underwear (wash one every night, wear one, one in reserve), two shirts, one shorts, etc..). The single weightiest category then, as now, was photo gear. Back then, I carried a Hi8 video camera.
Spain/Morocco, 2003
My next trip was a bit longer, so I felt I needed to bring a bit more. Not much more – all of this was still carry-on. There’s Beige from the last trip, and Ugly Green. Both MEC bags, and both of which I still own. I snuck Green in as a “personal Bag”; there really wasn’t much in it. It got filled with a Tagine pot and (I am not kidding here) a Moroccan Rug.
Still lots of camera gear, and a portable hard drive (memory cards were EXPENSIVE back then!). Also, I never finished Lord of the Rings. And obviously, expandable.
So fast-forward, now, to July 2014. Big trip, ten months to a dozen countries. Not so compact anymore.
We way over packed for this one. Three 80 litre behemoths (Eagle One and Two, and Big Blue) and three carry ons (Beige, Baby Eagle, and a little drag along for Ellie that we negligently failed to name). Checking on a past blog post, I see that we maxed out the weights for both the checked luggage (3 x 23kg) AND the cabin bags (3 x 12kg).
That’s over a hundred kilos for ten months. And that, my friends, was a lot.
By the time we’d gotten to Thailand, we had downsized a bit, sending Elliotte’s hand dragger home in a box from Athens. We were still pretty much loaded for bear, though.
Le Petit Voyage (LPV)
Le Petit Voyage was just this summer, and we were meant to be light and nimble and compact. Two large, 80 litre bags (Big Blue, again, and a new addition, MecPurple) and one drag-along cabing bag for Elliotte, lovingly dubbed Osprey. All three of these bad boys have zip-off day bags, which we used for carry-on. All told, about 60 kg for seven weeks, 50 days of EuroTrekking. Well, that and another 20 kilos of carry-on, so 80 kg in total.
We were pretty happy with ourselves here; things were easily manageable.
Le Grand Voyage II (LGV2)
Which brings us to today, the beginnings of Le Grand Voyage, Partie Deux.
Still Epic at five months, and significantly longer than our LPV. Still three main bags: Big Blue (with Baby Blue attached and unused), MecPurple, and Osprey. Carry on are Baby Eagle (not shown, but seen earlier), Baby Purple, and Baby Osprey.
On paper, one extra carry on bag, which ain’t bad for 2.5 times the lenght of stay), but I’m really impressed by the weight: 69.55 kilos.
I dare anyone travelling with two girls to back lighter!