There are still 8️⃣ days until our departure! To fuel a little anticipation until then, here's something to read about our travel plans every day. Today:
Packing list
Today it's Leah's favourite topic: packing. While Sönke is the kind of person who prefers to throw everything into his suitcase only an hour before departure, Leah is usually trial-packing several times even for smaller trips and everything has been carefully laid out for this longterm travel. So it's clear who's in charge when it comes to packing and packing lists...
We both have a classic backpack, plus a foldable daypack for city walks and hikes. Sönke also has a camera bag for his equipment. In terms of clothing, we are equipped differently: While Leah's backpack is practically a complete wardrobe, Sönke is perhaps content with a few T-shirts and sports trousers. We don't have thick jackets with us. Two pairs of shoes and flip-flops. Sönke likes a hat when camping, Leah swears by her second bikini.
It is probably unusual that we carry our own accommodation with us. The tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat definitely take up a lot of space, even if only one of us (I wonder who...) has the 3kg tent strapped to the backpack. Nevertheless, this decision will save us hundreds of euros and is a very important psychological factor, especially when hitchhiking, because you know that you can set up camp at the side of the road if necessary.
Then toiletry bag, first-aid kit (we'll go into this in more detail), e-book. Laptop, power banks, travel documents and a few bits and bobs. We don't have a gas cooker with us, but two large lunch boxes that we like to have filled (we'll go into this in more detail later). Padlock, water bottle with filter tablets and a small frisbee.
Overall, we realised that you will always have far too much with you. It really does seem to be the strategy to remove everything you don't absolutely need on a weekly basis or within two weeks from your packing list - except for the first-aid kit, which Leah would have preferred to save on, quote "When was the last time you had a sinus infection?"
📖 Book recommendation: „Magic Cleaning“ by Marie Kondo. Nothing to do with packing, but with minimalism - which is not entirely unimportant when backpacking. If Leah had read it more carefully, she would have packed differently. It's also supposed to be available as a Netflix series.