Travel Gear

Last night we packed up everything to get us through six months of travel. It was a little scary. It's no small feat finding and packing the right clothes for temperature and travel extremes, as our trip takes us from late summer in Egypt to winter in the Himalayas--and then onward still, to summer in Australia.

Our first task (and a popular discussion topic on other RTW blogs): "the backpack". Do we get backpacks with a frame, or without? What about wheels? I don't at all consider myself a "backpacker" type of person, though I may inevitably have to become one during the course of our adventure.

After a long day at REI, and an afternoon at the North Face on Union Square, we picked out what we think is a great solution, a combination backpack/roller luggage. This Eagle Creek bag is is a wheeled carry-on, but you can hide the telescoping handle away, unzip the back panel, and pull out all those backpack/waist strap/chest strap things and run from the police if you need to (OK, maybe just run for a train). It's only 22", so it's allowed as carry-on for most airlines. We compared it with other brands-- it's the lightest, most durable model with the most cubic inches of packing space: a whopping 3900!

Here are some pictures of our travel companions. We nicknamed them Ike & Tina because we know they're going to get the crap beat out of them during the trip!