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Gear Review – Two Months In

by Keith on December 3, 2009 · 7 comments

Two months into the trip, we now have enough experience with our gear to provide some insight on what we packed, what mistakes we made and what has turned out to be very useful last minute additions.

Below are pictures of the gear we packed up as we left Philadelphia for the last time in September. Rather than list everything I thought a more interesting way to share our lessons learned is to look at a couple of categories. If you have specific questions on any gear pictured, or want a detailed list please email us and we will be happy to get you all the very exciting details.

Keith's Gear

Amy's Gear

Things We’ve Lost

Sink stopper (Istanbul): We had this to help with doing laundry by hand in sinks. We managed to leave it in our first hotel. I blame the fact that it was white and was tough to see, but that is really just a lame excuse.

Things We’ve Ditched

Coffee Travel Mug (Turkey): Despite hearing from a couple of other travelers that this would be useless I still brought it. It was such an important part of my daily routine back home. I even used it to bring tea when I biked to work. Turns out all of the travelers were right. Unlike America, the rest of the world, or at least the Middle East, seems to not want to drink while traveling.

Things That Have Broken Or Been Damaged

Amy’s sunglass lanyard (Israel): the rubber ripped, and it turns out to be a design issue as the rubber on mine is already halfway ripped.
My Keen hiking shoes (Israel): As you can see, the stitching in the toe of my right shoe ripped out. The timing on this one was really unfortunate as it happened as soon as we got to sandy desert, which results in my right toe filling up with sand as we hike. I emailed Keen and I am in discussions with the warranty department to get a replacement pair. Let’s hope they do the right thing and replace them as they were pretty expensive.
Amy’s Eagle Creek money belt (Turkey): The clasp that holds the two straps together does not seem strong enough to hold, annoying but not a complete failure. But the money belt is nine years old, so we can’t really complain.
Amy’s camera and iPod (Egypt): Both of these are 4-5 years old, so as electronics go not a bad run but it is unfortunate timing as the next place for cheap electronics is not until China, maybe Thailand. If anyone has any suggestions in Southeast Asia let us know.
Converter cube (Istanbul): This was a piece of junk we bought from Amazon.com. It broke within a week of use because it is cheap plastic. But we realized it was overkill. All of our electronic chargers have built in voltage adaptors so all we need is cheap plug adaptors which you can get for less than $5.

Most innovative re-use

Using the dry bag for laundry: After we lost the sink stopper we discovered that using the dry bag as a washing machine works much better and makes much less of a mess than the sink because a dry bag keeps water in as well as it keeps it out. Simply load with dirty clothes, laundry soap and hot water, seal and shake for 15 minutes, rinse and hang clothes to dry. Pretty simple and effective.

Best last minute packing additions

PacSafe: We were not sure that this would be worth the weight. Turns out it is indispensable. If you are traveling with a laptop or camera gear it is critical so that you can lock up the electronics and other valuables in your room while you are out. While not impossible to break into, it provides a deterrent and peace of mind.
Neti Pot: This one is for my SUDAFED® friends. A neti pot is great for dealing with sinus congestion. It is also helpful in the desert where the dryness can irritate your sinuses. If you suffer from sinus congestion, as Amy and I do, and have not yet tried a neti pot, you should. Get over the water up your nose thing, the result is true relief.

Most indispensable items

Packing Cubes: While these seem boring they really do help make packing and unpacking much easier.
Pocket Notebooks: Amy brought these to keep in her purse for quick notes. They are excellent for doing our daily budget and for jotting down information like names and emails of new friends.

Things we forgot

Winter hat for Amy: The Jordanian desert is cold in late November, and sleeping in a Bedouin tent can be chilly. A winter hat would have made Amy more comfortable at night.
A sewing kit: We meant to bring this but somehow forgot. We got a spool of white thread and a large, somewhat rusty needle in Dahab for 1LE ($0.20), so no big deal.

That is about it. We will report on gear again after we have been in Southeast Asia and a tropical climate.

December 16, 2009 update:
I am attaching this picture per David’s comment below on the PacSafe we use to secure our computer and camera in our hotel rooms.

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Visual Icebreaker

by Keith on October 14, 2009 · 5 comments

We are choosing to stay in hostels for most of our trip for two reasons. The first is our budget. Hostels are more affordable than hotels in many of the places we are traveling. And the only differences I have found between a hotel and hostel room is that there is no TV or phone, two things we are not using often on this trip. The other reason is that staying in hostels increases our chances of meeting and interacting with other travelers. Whether they are on vacation for a week or on an extended trip like us, they often have interesting stories to share. So far I have found it hard to simply strike up a conversation with other people in our hostels. I am not sure why there is this hesitation on my part but I will be working on getting over it.

In the meantime, I have discovered a crutch to help me out: wearing clothing with the logos of sports teams on it. It seems that when you wear a sports team’s logo on your clothing it is a way for someone to ask you a question about it. An excellent example of this happened while I was wearing my SpringBoks rugby jersey. I picked this up in Cape Town, South Africa when Amy and I were there a couple of years ago and the SpringBoks happened to win the World Rugby Cup while we were there. It was an amazing experience to be a part of and the jersey was really cool so I bought one.

At dinner a couple of nights ago in Istanbul we were seated next to a couple from Cork, Ireland. The husband asked me if we were from South Africa, because of my rugby jersey. That initial icebreaking question led to a wonderful conversation and ultimately an offer to sleep on their couch if we ever found ourselves in Cork.

It is because of this experience as well as multiple encounters in the US while wearing Ohio State gear that I believe that sports team wear can be a great visual icebreaker and allow people to connect over something in common. I hope to pick up a few additions for my sport team collection as we travel. Any suggestions for sports teams that will make for good icebreakers? Any other ideas on how to break the ice and strike up conversations with our fellow travelers?

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End of an era

by Keith on September 3, 2009 · 11 comments

One of the things I was most looking forward to during this year of travel to mostly warm places was the ability to wear my super comfortable Rainbow Sandals nearly everyday. I bought them at a surf shop in California in 2002 and they are by far the most comfortable sandals I have ever owned. In fact when I finally wore through the rubber soles in 2007 Amy had them resoled for me. Every year I regret when these finally go into the closet for the winter.

These sandals are so well made and last so long that Rainbow markets them as sustainable. Proving, as Tide Cold Water does in a new TV spot, that value and sustainability can often be found in the use and longevity of a product. As a note I feel that the $10 savings per bottle for Tide Cold Water is a pretty compelling claim.

As you can see my sandals were very well used but unfortunately the leather had finally started to fall apart. However any shoes you can get 7+ years of use out of I consider a success. So with my original sandals retired, what was I going to do for sandals on the trip?

Never fear, after a quick stop into the local City Sports and $26 later (thanks to a 40% end of summer discount) I walked out with a new pair of Rainbows to break in before we leave. This time I went with the black leather, since Amy has a brown pair I felt the need to be at least a little different. No one likes matchy-matchy traveling couples.

So now that you know my story what are your favorite shoes? Have you had shoes or another piece of clothing that was super comfortable and seemed to last forever? Lets hear about it in the comments below. At the risk of getting some odd pictures, send me a picture of your favorite long lasting clothing to me at keith-at-greenaroundtheglobe.com. If I get some good submissions I will post them here in a follow-up post.

*As a note I did not receive any compensation or free goods from Rainbow for the above endorsement. I hope in the future to have enough readers to receive free gear to review. If that does happen I will be sure to disclose it fully.

[Oct 14th Addendum]
Casey Miller, per his comment to this post sent in two pictures of his favorite t-shirt. The second shot is a close up of the collar to highlight the multiple holes in it. Good work in getting your money’s worth from that one Case.