It all boils down to 65 litres! The conundrum of what to pack in the end comes down to what you are capable of carrying, not really what you think you need or want to take.

The challenge – to pack for:

• Beach life
• City life
• Jungle
• Desert
• Rainforest
• Mountain
• Both extreme humidity and cold

Essentially, to not go without enough to get us through all these scenarios but also not to take anything we didn’t need and end up suffering for it!

Ged has a lot of experience with rucksacks and how to travel with them, whereas Rach had zero. So she’s had to learn fast! Before we got to our first trial pack though we had a lot of big decisions to make.

1. What size rucksack to buy (thanks goodness I didn’t choose an 80L) and what brand of rucksack. Ged already had his so he spent a lot of time helping me test out various types. He loved lots of weekend afternoons spent carrying 15kg weights into town to various outdoor shops….! After much deliberation (as those who know Rach well would expect!) she settled on an Osprey Kyte 65L.

2. Second big choice was walking boots vs walking shoes. Rach went for boots by Berghaus in the end, great for our big treks up Machu Picchu, in the Andres and in New Zealand being very sturdy and waterproof. Rach persisted in finding the ‘right’ ones (neither size 4 nor 5 worked – she returned those 2 pairs!) by ordering size 4.5 online to get the best fit, unlike Ged who wore the first pair he ordered straight out of the box no bother.

3. The other essentials – we also invested in some new waterproof jackets and walking trousers, and Ged was in charge of the “practicals” – water bottles, caribeeners, iodine tablets, power banks, first aid kit, head torches and the like. Sadly we left the hipflasks at home in the end…. (Ged was especially sad).
We packed properly for the second and final time on the morning of or departure. Rach laid it all out bare (see below) on the kitchen table, and Suzzie played the role of ‘quality assurer’ (“do you really need that second pack of face wipes?!) from a helpful fellow female perspective. You can read at the end what we each ended up packing, but we did it – 65L each for our backpacks and a small day pack with stuff for the plane, all our electrical and a day or two’s worth of clothes in case our rucksacks went missing.

Rach’s packing weight – 17.6kg (rucksack) and 6.5kg (daypack)

Ged’s packing weight – 15.9kg (rucksack) and 8.8kg (daypack)

The shine somewhat wore off our packing glory though when we got off the tube at Action station before Terminal 4, having discovered that this was the closest station to our hotel, and Ged seeing a perfect opportunity to road test the weight by walking the entire 2.2 miles to our hotel. Let’s just say we were hungry when we got there and Rach’s rucksack fit & straps still need some adjustment….

Packing tips/learnings so far (mainly from Rach as a newbie):

1. Buy a smaller backpack than you want to – how glad I am not to have been tempted to fill 80L now!

2. DON’T pack your phone charger in your rucksack before you take an 11hr 30min flight…..’nuff said

3. Invest in some bag sorters like these which my wonderful friend Anna bought me – genius for finding your stuff easily!

4. Put heavy stuff in the centre and close to your back – Rach is still experimenting with this!

5. Caribeeners may be your new best friend

6. Pack ziplock bags (or binbags) – handy for all manner of things to prevent leakages, store dirty clothes to separate them from your clean stuff

7. Think about a packing map – so you can refer quickly to a piece of paper to locate your stuff. Don’t unpack the whole thing every time!

8. We bought rucksack protectors (see pic below) to use just before sending them off to the hold – these wrap up your rucksack so the straps don’t get caught in luggage carousels / broken by bag handlers. I sense we will not regret this!

And so we left for London Heathrow looking as ready as we’ll ever be, to travel by train first to Euston and then tube (plus the never ending walk!) ready to rest up in what might very much have been our last warm bath and comfy mattress in a while. Last day in Blighty for over 4 months! We’ll soon learn if we were packing pros, or will have packing woes….