Category: How

Packing Part 1

Lots of people asked what and how much Dave and I would pack, likely because it is such a long trip. Before I go into detail on what I brought I have to first say that normally we pack VERY light even for somewhat longer trips. And although Dave generally kept to our super light packing rule, I packed way more than I normally ever would. This was mostly because of the length of our trip, the varying climates, and the variety of activities I knew we would be aiming to do. I’m only going to focus on what I actually packed, though I may occasionally reference something Dave packed, because honestly I don’t know what all he packed- I just know it wasn’t much.

This is a photo of our Lowepro bag. We got this back in 2010 and it has been a great little backpack to carry camera equipment, laptop and other stuff. I used this as my carry on. It has a lot of adjustable compartments inside to customize the fit around your equipment and is very durable. It also has extra snaps outside to reinforce each compartment. AND though we’ve had it for 6 years, we just now found an attached rain cover in a compartment in the bottom! What?! I know, we’re a little slow, HA!, but we can use it now that we know.

I ordered the pictured blue neck pillow specifically for this trip as the total flight time was approximately 20 hours and I needed a good quality supportive pillow for my problematic neck. I liked this pillow because it actually snaps together in front and stays put. It did great on the plane and now it is doubling as my pillow while we camp. It’s cover is a thick super soft velour. I love soft material.

I debated about what camera equipment to bring. Initially I did not want to bother with bringing any of the heavy bulk of large cameras, then I thought, ‘hold up, I’m going to New Zealand and Australia!’ and changed my mind. We have a Canon 50D, but I decided to bring the smaller lighter weight Canon T1i which is simple to use and gets the job done. Also, it is capable of recording videos. The camera is not pictured as I used it to take these photos. I brought two lenses: a 50mm f/1.4 and a 28-135mm zoom lens. The latter is more versatile though heavier, and the first is just incredible for clarity and for low light situations. So far, I’ve only used the zoom lens, however I anticipate we will have ample opportunity to use the other as well.

A lens cleaning kit that my dear friend Christy Day happened to gift me just before the trip which has already been used several times. The kit case is a waterproof case that I’m sure will come in handy in other situations as well since we are doing a lot of water activities.

Howard Leight headphones because they 1. are comfortable 2. Have great sound quality and 3. are great at blocking out noise since made for firearm use. They were great on the plane especially when I did not want to hear the annoying frequently repeated safety warnings.

You can’t see it, but I also packed this awesome HP Envy laptop I’m typing on now. There is a convenient compartment in the Lowepro specifically to hold your laptop. Dave is not happy with my laptop though because it does not have a cd/dvd drive, but I love it. He bought a super lightweight external drive so he could watch hunting movies while we flew.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, extra sd memory cards (which we’ve had some issue with, but more on that in another post), extra batteries (you can’t check lithium batteries or they would have been in checked luggage), ibuprofen, chapstick, passports, tissues, ear plugs, eye cover (I love mine because it has little pockets to block out light beside your nose), wetwipes antibacterial wipes (can’t say enough about these), small bottle of eye drops and allergy pills.

I would also recommend a small container of Vaseline, which I forgot to pack. I read a travel tip a long time ago that putting a little around the edge of your nostrils can help prevent getting sick while flying. I also recommend the airborne pills when flying which help prevent sickness as well. I’ve gotten sick more times than I’d like to admit from flying so I like to be prepared.

How do we decide where to go and what to see?

I think we were asked this several times because we booked the trip so quickly and did very little planning before arriving. Even though we’ve known for years that this is a trip we wanted to take we had not spent much time researching what all there is to see and do. And honestly, we were not too worried about how it would play out. Some of the best trips we’ve been on were when we had a starting and end point in mind with no specific itinerary. Also, I think trips we’ve been on prior to this helped us prepare for going on this longer one.

When we arrived we stocked up on the free travel magazines from the airport and car rental place. We knew we were heading north first in NZ so we figured out what we wanted to see there and hit the road. Sometimes we’ll be driving along and see a sign for something and then check that out. And truly God has been so great about crossing our paths with people who have said something to confirm our next move or to give us completely new ideas.

As we were leaving the northern section of NZ above Auckland our plan was to head to Coromandel Peninsula next and check out Hot Water Beach. On the way we stopped to see a giant tree and then again to grab some lunch a bit later on. Both times, without either of us bringing it up, someone at both locations asked if we were going to Coromandel and highly recommended it. That was pretty cool. I wish we could have spent a bit more time exploring that area.

When we went to the South Island we were originally planning to make our way from the NW section down the west side and up the east side to fly out of Christchurch which is what many people do, but when we arrived in Murchison we looked at the weather forecast and it said solid rain for the next 7-10 days on the west side, but clear on the east. We decided to head to the east coast and do the opposite loop. We overheard someone in the hangout room of the hostel say the same thing so we felt good since we were not the only ones. It turned out to be a great idea since I left my nice down North Face jacket in Murchison and we were able to loop back and pick it up from the hostel a couple of weeks later. Also, we hit incredibly gorgeous clear weather by changing our route. Thank you Jesus!

We never planned on going to Kaikoura, but it turned out we had a few days to kill at the end of our time in NZ. Kaikoura is where the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit just a week after we arrived in New Zealand. That tempted us to want to go there and the roads literally reopened just days before we were to fly out of Christchurch so we spent Christmas there. It was amazing and we’re both glad we went. You can read more about that here.

The second leg of our trip was supposed to be 3.5 months in Australia driving the east coast from Cairns to Melbourne. Well, I met this lady in Hobbiton who was in the middle of doing a round-the-world trip who encouraged me to check out western Australia and said the flights were pretty cheap. Then I met an Austrian girl who poured my wine tastings in Marlborough, NZ who said she had done the same east coast trip we were planning to do in Australia. She talked about how long and boring the driving is and suggested we take some cheap flights to southeast Asia. Then Dave and I encountered a Canadian couple in Abel Tasman who said the same thing. So by the time we arrived in Murchison, NZ we were convinced to totally change our travel plans!

So we booked a one way flight to Perth. Then we booked a one way flight to Bali. Then once we arrived in Cairns and went on our live aboard dive trip we met two couples, one from Ireland and the other from San Diego who strongly recommended Thailand. So then we booked a one way flight from Bali to Thailand. Yeah, I know. Crazy stuff, but we’re excited. We’re not sure where to after that, but looks like most of February will be somewhere other than Australia. It is just so much cheaper to fly there from here than from home and since we have so much time planned here, why not? So stayed tuned! Who knows where we may be next. 🙂

Australia so far…

I LOVE it. Dave hates it. Hahaha!

I was so excited to get to hot weather and to go swimming that I welcomed the 90+ degree heat and humidity. I felt like my body was thawing out the first few days here.

Where New Zealand felt like more work than vacation, Australia has felt like pure relaxation! Since it is so very hot, Dave is adamant that we will not sleep in a tent at night because he is certain we won’t be able to sleep. I don’t 100% agree with that, but hey, who am I to argue? We have been in A/C every night which means we have slept in a bed every night. No breaking down or setting up our tent home for the last week and a half. Yes, it has been a nice break and I welcome it.

Two days after arriving we went on a 3 day 2 night liveaboard dive boat which catered food and beverages after each dive. We have stayed in hostels the other nights, but they all have swimming pools so it feels more like a nicer hotel.  We have had a kitchen to cook in. Some of the rooms we’ve stayed in have even had tvs and one felt more like a quaint B&B. I loved it.

Our well organized efficient car in NZ has become a place we throw our stuff in any random spot here in AU. Initially we thought we might camp and started to organize our car like we had it in NZ, but realized quickly this would not happen. We actually bought a large 5 liter water container and have yet to use it! We would have used that in a couple of days in NZ!

However, as much as I welcome the comfort of staying in a room each night, the extra cost concerned me a bit. Thankfully, gas is half the price here than NZ and food is good bit cheaper. That helps, but may not fully compensate. We think it will be cool enough in Perth to camp at night so we’ll probably be back into our NZ nomad routine when we arrive there- which Dave is soooo looking forward to! 😉

Let’s see, here are some observations on Australia, some good and some definitely very terrible things.

From October to April is what is known here as “stinger season”. This means that there is a very high risk that if you swim in the ocean you could get stung by a box jellyfish and quite literally die within 3-4 minutes. It is apparently the most lethal sea creature. The sting is supposed to be excruciating pain. Or you could get stung by a smaller type which causes paralysis. AND you can’t see them because they are clear. So there are certain beaches which have a netted area where you can swim during that time of year. When we went diving we had to wear stinger suits which is basically a thin layer of lycra. Apparently the stingers are so tiny that they can’t penetrate even thin material. The dive master noted that it is unlikely the jelly fish were out by the reef since they prefer to be closer to shore, but we had to wear them as a safety precaution anyway. No arguments there buddy.

Since stinger season is such a big deal, most major coastal cities have built very large saltwater swimming pools near the sea so it’s the next best thing to swimming in the ocean. Me personally, give me some sunshine and some water to get in and I’m happy. Dave hates that we can’t get in the ocean, but we’ll be able to once we get out of Queensland.

We are in the beautiful tropical state of Queensland and crocodiles are very prevalent here. Dave will not fish any of the rivers (thank you God) whereas in NZ I probably saw every river in the country because he fished every one of them he could get to! We went on a nature treetop walk thing and watched a video on croc migration and that pretty much sealed the deal that we would not be getting near any rivers here. We haven’t seen one yet, but we’re perfectly okay with that. They also have warnings out for Mosquitoes (or “mozzies”) which spread Dengue Fever— great. I have lots of bites, but no fever yet, thank God.

Some things they say here that are different:

They say:                                    We say:

It’s alright                                   You’re welcome or no problem

Lagoon                                        swimming pool

Eskie                                           Cooler

AirCon                                         A/C

 

I think if you were to flip USA over so that Texas and Florida were pointing north and then moved it to the southern hemisphere it would be Australia. And likewise if you did the same to the UK, it would be  New Zealand. The United States and UK of the southern hemisphere. NZ seemed to have a strong British influence to me, and AU seems very much like the states. And Queensland feels very much like hot humid southern Florida, except they get cyclones here instead of hurricanes, and crocs instead of gators- nearly 100,000 of them. Yikes!

Update:

We attempted to camp last night. That lasted approximately 30 minutes before we broke camp and drove back to the Orchid Guest House for the night. Too muggy. We are headed to Perth in two days!

How do we travel so much?

How do we travel so much and afford to travel? These are two questions I have heard often so I am going to give kind of a personal history and some tips throughout this post.

I have always had a passion for travel, so much so it has taken precedence over other priorities in my life. I used to wait tables long enough to save up money to travel somewhere. The great thing about waiting tables is that you can pretty easily come and go from the job because there are plenty other servers to take your place during your leave. And since you are already trained at a restaurant they usually welcome you back to work there as long as you were a good employee and did not burn any bridges, which I’ve always been careful about with any job. There always seems to be a need for servers so it was a great position to support my travelling bug. It is hard work though and not advisable to do in the long run as your back will pay for it for years to come– at least in my experience.

Since that time, I have intentionally taken jobs that are more flexible so that I can incorporate my love of travel. I worked at a group home for several years with a schedule of every other week off. It was awesome! However, again, very hard work and not necessarily something everyone can do or for a long time.  I could generally go on a 3-5 day trip once or twice a month. And then when taking time off we were normally expected to take off the entire shift so I would get three weeks off in a row! I went to Europe one time doing that. Another option is to work a couple of part time jobs. Part time work is usually pretty flexible and it isn’t a huge loss if you have to quit a job because it does not cooperate with your travel plans.

All of that was in my young and reckless 20s, but in my 30s, as career life developed, I just had to be willing to take time off unpaid to get more travel time in- which for me was not even a question in my mind! Instead of “If?” I wondered, “how much time off can I get?” whether paid or unpaid. Often if you prove yourself a valuable employee, your employer is more willing to work with you since they don’t want to lose you. This has proven true in almost every job I have had, and I have had several! Honestly, if I did not think a job was flexible with time off then I would not even consider applying for or taking it, unless I absolutely needed the job. So, my advice, be bold! – You might be surprised at your employer’s flexibility with you. It helps if you already have a plan to provide your supervisor for how your work responsibilities can be covered while you’re away.

Aside from choosing flexible careers, Dave and I also live much differently than society as a whole. Here are some rules we live by:

  • No debt. If we can’t pay cash for it, we can’t afford it. We do use a credit card for the rewards, but pay it off each month.
  • Dispense income in following order>
    1. Give                           \  \
    2. Retirement                 50-60%
    3. Save, save, save      /  /
    4. Spend (bills, entertainment, food, etc.) – 40-50%
  • When I went back to school we learned to live on one income, and when I returned to work we continued to live that way.
  • We don’t like t.v. so we never have had cable or satellite. (Fun fact: this was actually true for each of us early in our adult lives and one of the things that attracted us to each other. Awww ☺) We believe we would rather be living than watching others live. Okay, I must admit that we got a Netflix account a couple of years ago because I do love movies, but it is only approximately $10/month. And I discovered a few months back that an antennae picked up several channels, which I was super excited about at the time but then hardly ever used it.
  • We don’t value having brand new expensive cars so we buy used reliable ones that we pay for in full. When you don’t have a car payment, your insurance is a lot less expensive- thus you can put that extra cash (car payment and insurance cost)  in your savings. When your car does need maintenance, you have the cash. We have had great experiences with this and aside from oil changes and general maintenance, we have had little to no problems with our vehicles. Just be willing to do a little research.
  • We live in a small mobile home, and yes we hope and plan to purchase or build a home eventually, but we honestly don’t need more than what we have and are not in a rush to ‘upgrade’. And even when we do buy or build, it will likely not be a huge house.  Living in a small, simple, and paid for home allows us lots of freedom and flexibility to travel. We were  ahead of the tiny house movement! Ha! But, really, it is the same appeal that has driven the tiny house movement. I think people are tired of what they own owning them, so they are starting to simplify so they can actually live more. Anyway, I digress.
  • We don’t pay for insanely expensive health insurance. Instead, we have Medi-Share which has been great for us. And since we are big on saving, we can pay out of pocket if needed for an appointment.
  • We almost always bargain shop and try to avoid impulse buys. One thing I read somewhere before which I have found helpful is instead of going shopping, go through your closet and clean out some of the clutter and donate a bag to charity or sell through consignment. You’ll feel great, may make a little cash, and not have extra junk or debt!
  • Along with bargain shopping is bargain travelling. Over the last 15 years I have researched many ways to travel as inexpensively as possible and to get the most bang for my buck. I’ll try to do a post on this at some point to elaborate.
  • Buy food in bulk and cook at home 90% of the time. Don’t waste food. Pack lunch.
  • Keep power bill low by turning off lights, adjusting the thermostat when we’re away, etc.
  • We don’t care about having the latest gadgets such as iphones or whatever. If an older model works, why get a newer one?
  • We not only talk about travel a lot, we talk about it as a reality such as where we want to go, for how long, and when we can realistically make it happen. We have a list of destinations on the fridge. We subscribe to a couple of travel magazines, and we go on day trips or weekend getaways regularly to keep travel fresh on the mind. There are endless places to go and see on this planet and we want to visit as many as possible.

Now, obviously, everyone has different circumstances and may not be able to apply all of these things in their lives, but this list is just examples of changes one can make to save more money. For more info on how to more effectively manage money check out Dave Ramsey and The Money Saving Mom.

The reality is whatever is most important to you is where you will spend your time and money. So, my advice to you is to write down a list of what your top 5-10 priorities are in order of importance, and then do a self-check on how much time and money you put into each one on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. You can also check to see where you are wasting valuable time and money (i.e. social media, junk food, video games, etc.) and then intentionally redirect your attention to what really matters to you. This is always a work in progress for us.

What ‘sacrifices’ are you willing to make in order to do what is more important to you?

Does what you own, own you? Or do you have the freedom you prefer?

Are you willing to go against the grain to live the life you really desire, not a life trying to impress your peers or a life you think you’re ‘supposed’ to be living because society said so?

Bottom line: If travel is important to you, you will find a way to make it happen.