This was great to read with some very good gear tips (the Montbell jacket, for example, looks amazing).
OTOH - I mostly travel with a 30L backpack just for my camera gear ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Indefinite Backpack Travel
201–210 of 429 posts
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
The replacement for synthetic underwear is wool, not cotton. For weeklong wilderness backpacking trips, I used to vacillate between a fresh pair of synthetic boxer briefs every every day, which took a lot of space, and one for every other day, which was gross. Now I wear a single pair of wool boxer briefs all week, and it feels and smells better at the end of the week than synthetic underwear does after two days. Sam…
Is there anyone making full wool underwear? Everything is a blend, which is good for durability.
Mine are SmartWool brand. According to their web site, they use an 88% wool, 12% nylon blend, but I haven't experienced any odor issues.
I have an older pair that is 100% wool (I don't recall the brand; they might be a very very old SmartWool product) but the lack of stretch makes them less comfortable.
Editing here since my original comment is too old: in a pinch, I've also had much better results washing wool underwear in a hotel bathroom than synthetic underwear. Contrary to their reputation, neither wool nor synthetic underwear dry quickly, even with a hair dryer, but wool dries faster, feels cleaner after washing, and in the worst case scenario is much more comfortable wet than synthetic underwear.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#203In real life one needs at least 5 pairs of shoes.
Hmm... One pair of dress (business causual) shoes, one pair of sneakers, one pair of slippers. A pair of hiking boots I haven't worn for five years. Even at the extremes I'm getting by with fewer than five pairs.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#204are we allowed to have any colours, though? but really, every person i've seen who "activates" a lifestyle like this one only ever seems to wear black. i suppose it's the choice of any committed rationalist, but i think it's dull also, fine so long as you don't need to go any where that requires a different type of shoe
I'm wrapping a trip through Europe and I only packed black tshirts and a flannel button-up "for color".
Black is timeless, hides stains and sweat, easily layers of you want to buy something to add to it, matches multiple colors of trouser/jean/shoe.
I vow on my next trip to pack fewer jeans (2 pair vs. 4), more socks (4-6 thin pair vs 3), fewer overshirts (1 vs 3, maybe a second that is "classy").
I value having boots along with running shoes.
I'm a 2 bag traveller. Even with my bloated clothing budget, shoes and toiletries volume, I was able to fit it all in a 46L carry-on backpack + a normal backpack, with a satchel rolled up for use on daily walks.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#205I lived out of a backpack for two months on a Pacific Crest Trail hike. I got comfortable with it and told myself that I had overcome my materialism, and could henceforth live happily without a lot of stuff and conveniences. Not so much. Now a couple of decades later, I've got a house and garage crammed with stuff. Yesterday I had a plumber here working on a leak, and this morning I have no running water, and here I…
I used to do the one bag thing while travelling until I had more disposable income and could afford taxi rides, baggage fees and all of that.
I used to own only things that I could move on my own and fit in a normal car, until I had more disposable income and hiring movers became a non-issue.
I still try to maintain non-attachment to material things but I now welcome enjoying material things in a functional way. For example, I own a ton of kitchen gadgets and that allows me to make interesting food, but I'm not married sentimentally to any particular gadget.
Things change, I guess.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#206In real life one needs at least 5 pairs of shoes.
Over the course of the year, perhaps. Stylish running shoes can get you just about anywhere. Flipflops if you're going through hostels or beaches. Ankle-high boots can be stylish and functional for short hikes.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#207I find myself wondering how this person pays for their nomadic lifestyle. Presumably they have some sort of remote job; it would be interesting to know how much they have to earn to offset their expenses.
I am not the OP, but traveling in a nomadic way is often significantly cheaper than you would expect. When I was doing this, I had roughly $4000/mo in expenses, and more than half of that is because I kept a house in the US while I was on the move, so I had to still pay mortgage, insurance, utilities, property taxes, etc. All-in, it's fairly easy to get by on less than $2k/mo as a single person in /most/ of the world, that's only about $37k/yr before taxes. Myself and most of the other digital nomads I met in my travel mostly worked location-independent remote tech jobs, often as one-person consultancies or as subcontractors to a prime contract agency, most of us made more than $100k/yr.
My observation when I'm talked to people about my experiences is that they imagine travel is a lot more expensive than it actually is. The most expensive thing I ever had to pay for was my plane ticket to get out of the US. Once I was abroad, even flights were significantly cheaper.
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#208Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what it's worth, at least in cold weather, roominess isn't really desirable. You should have a pack that can handle inclement weather and a really tiny tent in a perfect world.
On one hand, you're right and I do have a smaller tent. On the other hand, on a motorcycle you have a lot of bulky clothes and you need to put them somewhere. So it's always a bit of a balance.
Very fair; I forgot about that weird dichotomy!
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#209I am surprised one bag crowd seem to pack so many computing devices with them. Some have phone, laptop, ipad and kindle and pride themselves on being minimalists.
You could make a decent case for an iPad with cellular being the "correct" device for this for an Apple user, since you should be able to just treat it as "your phone" with some kind of VoIP workaround, but also as "your computer."
Re: Indefinite Backpack Travel
#210"Indefinite backpack travel." We used to call this being a hobo. The only difference here is that this person is well-funded, so uses the latest high-end gear to do it, instead of a bindle. Yes, hobos do still exist. My recently deceased cousin-in-law was one, and proudly called himself a "hobo." Yes, they have smartphones.
Hobo to me suggests lack of access to transit and housing on demand.