Pack Your Bag

From Steal This Wiki

Un-Packing for a life on the road

If you make the commitment to forsake a regular roof and bed for the freedom of the world, you have to use your head when deciding what to pack. If you carry every mentioned item in this book, you will feel like a pack mule. A common rule of thumb is to separate you gear into three piles: things you absolutely need, things that would be useful, and things you don't need; don't bring the second two piles. Tailor your gear to what you plan to do and for how long you will be on the move. Many of the items discussed here may not make sense for your travel style or may only be useful to you for a week or a season before you give them away. Stay light and be prepared to improvise with local resources. Keep your bag loaded with your basic gear and have it ready to go at all times; only take out what you need and return it when you are done. Even if you are staying or squatting with friends, keep your pack within easy reach, unless you have a safe legal locker to stash it in. This advice will prove useful if the pigs come to clear out where you are staying. If you carry expensive stuff, you will be afraid to lose it, and thusly have less fun and take less chances while traveling.

Contents 1 Clothes 1.1 Shoes 2 Pack 2.1 Stash a Pack 2.2 Pack Lockup 2.3 Wheels 2.4 Electronics 2.4.1 Batteries 2.4.2 Splashed Electronics 2.4.3 PDA 2.4.4 USB Key/Disc 2.4.5 Mobile Phone 2.4.6 E-book reader 2.4.7 Wake Up 2.4.8 Camera 2.4.9 Music 2.5 Wilderness Gear, and Urban Crash Gear 2.6 Washing and Drying Clothes 2.7 Washing Up 2.7.1 Towel 2.7.2 Soap 2.7.3 Nail Clipper 2.7.4 Warm Water 2.8 Sleeping 2.9 Sewing Kit 2.10 Toilet Paper 2.11 Light 2.12 Hair Dryer 2.13 Food 2.13.1 Immersion Boiler 2.13.2 Cheese/Vegetable Grater 2.14 Marking 2.15 Umbrella 2.16 Fun and Games 3 Quick Packing List 4 Not Overpacking 5 Money 6 Tools 7 Gifts 8 Luxury Item 9 Drugs 10 Phone Cards 11 Weapons 12 Pets 13 Bicycle 14 General Delivery 15 ...In conclusion

Clothes

Don't pack too much clothing. One or two sets of lightweight, versatile walking clothes and possibly one set of upscale clothes in a big Ziploc to stay clean will get you by in almost all situations. Be aware of the culture of the area and try to fit in. Even sub-culture dress may vary; be sure of the local cop situation and what they look for before letting your freak flag fly too loudly.

Your upscale clothes will be like an access card to many locations and situations that standard punk or travel clothing might disallow.

Look for clothes that pack small, dry quickly, and don't take stains. Cotton, wool, and, sadly, hemp are often bulky, and cotton dries slowly. Petrochem synthetics, even more sadly, fit these requirements nicely if you can stand them on your body. On the other hand, natural fibers tend to retain odors less, and so will require washing less often.

Quality socks in quantity are just as important as good shoes. Only wear them for one day before putting them in the wash bag, and be sure to wash your feet every morning. You can usually borrow a tie if you need one for a more formal outing, but one is small and light. A sarong works as a scarf, towel, skirt and shawl. You never know when you might need one, so bring one or two light ones. Boonie style hats are available both in cotton and synthetic, they protect your eyes and neck better than a baseball cap and the chin string keeps it from blowing away. Hospital scrubs and a tee-shirt make good pajamas, and they can also be worn on the street or if you need to look at home in a hospital.

You are headed someplace warm like Florida, Mexico, or Fiji, no need for anything warm right? WRONG! We suggest at least a light jacket since there are always some cool or rainy weather days, if you will be in desert area you should even have some heavier clothing to wear during the cold night. A packable jacket and fleece vest is also a very good idea even in summer, a stuffable goose down jacket is lightweight and warm as long as you keep it dry. Conclusion, maybe an extra set of easy to wash clothes and what you need to stay warm.

Shoes

Your shoes, above all, must be comfortable to walk in over long distances. Never take brand new shoes on the road, as broken-in shoes will put less stress on your feet and toes. Sandals are great if you are not on the move, except at demonstrations where a jackboot or horse-hoof will make mush of your toes. Doc Martens used to be an affordable comfortable shoe/boot, but fashion trends have caused prices to rise and quality has dropped. Mail carrier shoes are made to look dressy but survive daily hours of outdoor walking. Cheap army boots will last for a few months but are heavy and might slow you down. Discount stores sometimes have surprising quality light hiking boots, work boots, trail runners, or walking shoes. Conclusion, comfortable and durable but not too heavy.

Check out Sandals for some tips on DIY footwear.

Pack

Like your bicycle, your pack is one of the most personal things you will own. You really don't have to go crazy on a hyper-expensive German pack, but if you skimp out too much on quality, you could end up uncomfortable or face it wearing out quickly. A frame pack will help distribute your load. An external frame is cheaper, but internal frame packs are now the more popular choice and move well with you. A roll of nylon fiber tape like is used to secure packages will make a break-in or break-open of your pack less likely if you have to check, stow, or throw the bag. It also helps to identify your bag in a luggage collection area. You might also want to carry a second comfortable day pack for short excursions when you can lock up your main pack. See more about packs and wilderness specific gear in Backpacking and Camping Conclusion, don't skimp, shop around, try them out.

Stash a Pack

You will have many times that you want to stash your pack but have no idea where to safely hide it. Wearing a backpack pegs you as different and possibly a traveler or drifter, many places will assume you are using your pack to steal, many stores won't even let you enter. Try to get the store to hold it in the office or up front while you shop, little luggage locks should keep prying employees out of your stuff. Of course the safest place for your pack is on you.

If you carry a piece of tubular webbing tied into a circle, a carabiener or pulley and some cord or rope you can use the tree stash. Carefully climb a tree and hang your loop and carabiener, don't forget to stick a bit of cord into the carabiener. Hoist your pack and tie off to a branch. Discretion is of course the rule unless you want your pack stolen, do a walk-around and look for people watching first don't do this in the commons, be in the brush a bit. Tree caching works best with a dull colored pack and cord. Don't talk about using this technique except with your true affinity group lest your new "friends" follow you and clean out your pack. This setup could be made with cheaper hardware so you could abandon it in the tree if you had to move fast, a half inch eye bolt with a wood screw tip would hold tight in most trees but can potentially damage them. If you have another twelve foot piece of tubular webbing with you tied in a loop you can throw this around the lowest branch to give you that first step into the tree.

Pack Lockup

There is an expensive product called pack-safe which is really just stainless steel cable crimper joined every 3-4 inches so it looks like tube of cyclone fence mesh and gathered at the bottom and lockable at the top. If you had the time and parts you could make your own, but this will not stop a determined thief who can still slice and grab what they can, additionally the mesh is heavy to carry around.

You could try to cable lock your pack with a cheap bike lock slowing down the grab and run thief. Wrap your pack in ratty blue tarp and lock it next to your bike or near the entrance to the store you are in and it might frighten off the less bold or squeamish thief.

Wheels

We have seen many packs equipped with wheels and a T-handle and zip panels to cover over the straps. Other people carry a folding luggage dolly for their standard packs or luggage. In well paved areas it might just make sense to go the wheels route if your feet are the way you get around, letting the wheels do the heavy lifting. The downside is weight, comfort when worn on your back, and often higher price. We have never seen a true back country pack which also had attached wheels.

Electronics

If you like to support the underground economy with stolen electronics, then join the millions of dumb western "flash-packers" who can't live without their Power Book, Ipod, and Iphone while on the road. A better plan is to limit what you can keep in your pockets. Sparkly gadgets are the bait that can get your whole pack stolen by street thieves or corrupt cops who want more toys for themselves. CD's or DVD's are fragile and heavy in large numbers, digitize the content and save on portable hard disk or even better avoid the CorpGov programming from their media entirely. If you look hard most items, even guitars, keyboards, and amps can be found, either in a lightweight form or can be borrowed. Conclusion, electronics are neat but an invitation to theft or breakage

Batteries

Rechargeable batteries and a small charger are great ideas for your gear, we like Nickel-Metal-Hydride for power and environmental reasons, look for a 110/220 charger or one with USB power option for low voltage flexibility including solar, hand, and bicycle generators. If you stick a ribbon in between the contacts and battery you will have an extra safety to keep the gadget from switching on in your pack and draining the batteries, plus with a yank the ribbon comes out quickly on most gadgets without even opening them up. A package of real alkaline batteries will store much better than rechargeables and are good for emergencies, don't leave any battery in a gadget during storage, old batteries often leak especially if the device is left switched on.

Splashed Electronics

You are poor and on the move, expect your valuable electronics to go into the water at some point. All is not lost,

• snatch your gadget from the water
• get the batteries out now!!
• open every door and opening
• shake the water out

If you dropped in salt water you are probably out of luck, but still as quickly as possibly

• rinse off with bottled water or fresh water to get the salt out
• take the gadget apart as far as you safely can
• get your gadget somewhere warm and breezy if possible. The top of a radiator with a fan blowing is great, behind a refrigerator where the warm air blows is good too.

If you can find electronic cleaning 'air in a can' blast the inside of the gadget to blow the water out your gadget, it will help a lot, be careful using a regular air hose these sometimes have water or oil in them. Let dry for 24 to 48 hours inspecting for dampness blowing or dabbing what you can get at, if there is none evident after that time period try powering up the gadget, good luck.

You can also clean electronics with distilled water or rubbing alcohol -- just be aware that alcohol might ruin some LCD screens smf plastics. Keyboards with sticky keys from juice or soda can be taken apart and left to soak in distilled water. Make sure everything is 100% dry before reassembly and use.

We hesitate to mention the oven dry method because too many people freaked out over ruining their gadget get excited and mess it up, they end up with plastic slag dripping in the oven, we have inserted an oven temperature verification to help you boneheads out.

• Remove battery and open all other covers
• shake out as much liquid as possible
• Rinse gadget with bottled water if necessary to wash out liquids other than fresh water
• Preheat the oven or toaster oven and a plate to 120 F or 55C for 15 minutes - if the inside metal is too hot to touch then its too hot.
• Remove all knobs so nobody can adjust the heat
• Put a big sign on the oven explaining what you are doing, and what you will do to anyone who melts your gadget
• After 15 minutes carefully feel the plate, does it burn or just feel hot
• Let opened up gadget dry in the oven for an hour or more
• If you melt the gadget don't call us!

PDA

A nice electronic convergence device is an old used PDA that has a WiFi card for web browsing, and can act as a MP3 player. These two uses are the main uses of electronics for travelers. A large capacity SD/MMC or Compact Flash card will give you room for lots of tunes. We like the SD-to-CF card adapters for using a SD/USB combo card for large file storage and a small USB drive. Sticker and tape the PDA up so nobody will want to steal it. Many free programs are out like ebook readers or translators for travelers. Some PDA's have a battery booster available which charge from four AA cells. Conclusion, an old PDA might be useful if you can't find a net cafe but can grab WiFi.

USB Key/Disc

A traveler often still wants his or her programs, or even his or her whole OS. We describe in Computers#USB Key how to load and use a USB key for booting a M$ Windows machine to Linux as well as bringing your favorite apps along.

The basic USB key is a low cost and low theft way to have your data available when you have a chance to get on line. There are several ways to maximize the potential of a USB stick. A SD/USB card that interfaces with both your SD card camera or PDA and turned around plugs into a USB port. Many hard disc music players work as a storage device, as do some PDA's when the USB cable is attached. Smaller MP3 players are sometimes also a USB memory stick. Internet Communications lists some nifty web-browsing programs that can run directly off of your USB Flash drive.

Since USB Keys are ripe for seizure by a pissed-off pig, make sure you use something such as TrueCrypt to ensure that your data is not compromised if the key is lost/stolen. Conclusion, small and cheap, why not carry one.

Mobile Phone

A mobile phone may be a "flashpacker's" voice, text, and Internet connection, but it is also the leash that constantly updates CorpGov to your exact location within a few meters and takes money from you at the same time. Even a phone without GPS can be tracked by most wireless carriers, and many phones will continue "pinging" the network even when you think they're turned off or the SIM card is out. Even the paranoid can safely charge a turned off phone when it is wrapped in aluminum foil (a mylar snack bag may not be enough) with the charger plugged in, remove the foil for emergency calls. A prepaid SIM card gives minimal anonymity for a few days but this is really a false sense of security. Maybe you should dump the phone on the counter on the way out into the real world.

If you still need to carry a leash around your neck look for a phone that you can connect to your computer or PDA with a cable or something wireless like infrared or Bluetooth.

You still may have a desire to communicate after you ditch the phone, see Communication for some alternatives. Conclusion, find a junker phone for emergencies, keep the batteries charged but disconnected. No power means no network pings.

E-book reader

We love real books! In addition to being something real to read, in an emergency you can wipe or start a fire with one. If e-paper is the miracle it is promised we will soon have a cheap way to schlep many e-books on a single sheet of flexible plastic with a little controller/battery pack somewhere that lasts months on a charge. This might save a few trees and let us carry a whole bookshelf in our pack rolled up in a small protective tube. Nearly all PDAs and some newer music/video players already allow you to view books.

Wake Up

A digital countdown timer from a kitchen store will let you grab both quick naps or a full night of sleep without worry of oversleeping; set it according to your watch. Your cell phone alarm clock can now be turned off for privacy, to save batteries, or allow you to leave it at home. Conclusion, cheap and small, why not pack one.

Camera

Flashpacker alert!! Nothing screams rich tourist so much as a fancy camera. If you are in love with photography or are a radical photojournalist taking away your camera would be like stripping your bike or slashing your pack. Give consideration to protection of the camera from both notice and physical damage. If you are less of a pro think about a more "toy" type camera or something a few years old from an auction. Be sure you have spare batteries, charger, and card reader, and extra storage media. It is useful to burn and mail CD's with your pics every few weeks or when you capture a major story. Disposable cameras are still available in 2008 if you don't need to take too many photos. Conclusion, if you break it you will be sorry, go cheap unless you have a real need.

Music

If you can't live without music, follow these tips. However, the more you open yourself up to the local culture on your travels, the more enjoyable and rewarding your trip will become. Remember that MP3 players take batteries— an expensive and hard-to-recycle commodity, but we hear the maker of the wind-up radio is coming out with a wind up MP3/video player soon.

One way to go is to carry a small instrument and make your own music to share (see Making Music) as opposed to being antisocial and listen to MP3's or the radio all of the time.

If you like to stay informed, a small hand-crank or solar powered radio can be useful for not only weather reports and news breaks, but also for listening to NPR. NPR is a great radio resource that offers good, eclectic music, international news, and comedy shows. Even though some say it is white liberal biased, it at least treats you, the listener, as an intelligent person They also offer live broadcasts of the BBC World News on a near-nightly basis. Most foreign countries have state-run radio stations which offer something similar. You will also be able to use your radio to pick up pirate stations and college channels. See Radio.

A small, cheap MP3 player is a good choice if your choose the MP3 route. Use rechargeable batteries if possible and try the recharging ideas in Low Impact Crashing or carry a small recharger.

An external speaker can either share your tunes or pollute the room with constant noise, so be nice and think of your mates before playing your music out loud. Conclusion, don't zone out on tunes, experience life, go cheap or get a used PDA, batteries can be a problem.

Wilderness Gear, and Urban Crash Gear

see also Low_Impact_Crashing and Backpacking and Camping.

Washing and Drying Clothes

No bucket? Throw soap, clothes, and water into a plastic sack and swish around. Remember to rinse completely or you'll have soap residue on everything. Even better than a bucket is if you have access to a sink or bathtub, carry a universal flat drain plug, it is good for almost all drains. Find a good concentrated soap good for clothing and human use. Plain bar soap fits the bill, as does castile soap (like Dr. Bronner's).

An excellent dry line is a long narrow bungee-type cord; the hooks work on door and window frames, curtain rods, and hooks you place into the wall, some purpose made dry lines even have wire clothespins made around the bungee cord. Conclusion: Save money on laundry, most of this can be found in a hardware or grocery store for cheap.

Washing Up

Towel

In the cleaning section of grocery and hardware stores you will likely see synthetic or microfiber cleanup towels. The larger ones make great cheap towels which pack light and dry quickly, this is the same thing as expensive backpacker pack towels. Conclusion, go cheap and light.

Soap

One packing trick we have found useful came from a fancy soap liberated in a German hotel. The soap bar was first inserted into a soft cotton bag with a small hanging loop, it dried out quickly when we put our wet soap into it. When we had to travel there was a second tough vinyl bag big enough the soap in the cotton sack and a folding over to seal it. This kept our pack contents from getting gooped up even if the soap bar had not yet dried out. We found this or something homemade from a small sock and plastic bag works better than a leaky soap box.

Nail Clipper

We who move on our feet more often than drive or ride need our transportation in top shape. Clipping your toe nails regularly prevents infection from ingrown nails as well as lengthening the life of your socks and shoes. Always clip straight across with scissors or clippers and leave the corners of the toe nail sticking out, trimming off these corners lets the skin around the nails grow in and when the nail grows it will cut or rub this flesh leaving you open to infection. Conclusion: take care of your feet. Happy feet make happy rebels.

Warm Water

Warm up your bath water with your stinger in a bucket or tough plastic bag inside a nylon stuff sack, for small volumes be careful not to overheat the water. Alternativly you can also use your camp stove to boil water to add into a bucket of cold water warming it up.

Wash up with your damp washcloth or sponge to save water. If rinsing is not an option because of limited water or drainage rub on a few drops of baby shampoo in your armpits and groin then wash away as you wash the rest of your body with your washcloth.

If you are really cold, soaking your feet in warm water is a delight, pull out and dry off before the water gets cold or spills.

Sleeping

A twin sheet folded and sewn on the bottom makes a cheap hostel sheet, this is good if you must crash on a gross couch or mattress in summer or if you are staying at a hostel that charges for sheets, if you are cold use your sleeping bag as your blanket. Your hostel sheet is much easier to wash and dry than your sleeping bag so use it as a liner to keep your bag clean. Of course your wilderness sleeping bag is what you will spend the night in the most, often with your camping pad underneath if there is not an extra bed. Regularly check for bedbugs in your sleeping bag and sheet especially if you stay at hostels or cheap hotels. Stuff some clothes into a pants leg or stuff sack for a pillow. Conclusion, easy to make, why spend big bucks for a "real" hostel sack?

Sewing Kit

You can start out with the little travel sewing kit found at hotels or the grocery store which has several color threads buttons and a needle in a little box. If there is room on the thread card add several meters of heavy carpet thread in your favorite color or carry dental floss for thread. A few extra buttons and perhaps some sew down snaps to replace a destroyed zipper. A tiny scissors is handy but you probably have on on your multitool or pocket knife. Consider some extra needles including one large one and if you might be sewing heavy pack cloth or leather an awl, nail, or stitch ripper to punch thread holes. Most kits include a threading tool which really helps you get the needle threaded in low light conditions. Several safety pins of the tiny gold, small silver, and large diaper pin size are the quickest way to make a temporary fix until you can change and sew up the damage.

Toilet Paper

Don't forget to pack toilet paper (or if you prefer the expensive stuff, "bathroom tissue") or plan for cleaning yourself after using the bathroom.

Light

A small LED headlight covers almost everything a person needs light for out to about 4 meters. A good idea is to wear the headband around your neck until needed and leave your light easy to get to in the top of your pack. Since LED gadgets are cheap, light, and run forever on a battery, why not pack a few?

If the room you are in has no electrical or natural light many camping and mart stores sell a cheap four cell AA powered fluorescent and incandescent combo pocket flashlight. The light bulb can be replaced with a LED making a long lasting night light with the fluorescent tube for when you need general coverage.

When the power goes out you can never have too many light sources, glow tape or tritium markers will help you find your lights or gear in the dark.

Conclusion: LED's are the future!

Hair Dryer

A hair dryer can be your best friend in cold, rainy, and/or unheated locations. Go for a travel dryer designed to switch from 110V to 220V, and choose something high quality, portable, quiet, and maybe foldable, a built in circuit breaker is a good safety precaution. Just be sure it is small, or else you would be better carrying a small heater, which is usually much quieter, although both often put out the same amount of heat. Remember that if you are renting a room the manager or your neighbors might object to the noise, this will also tip off the existance of a squat. Use your dryer to:

• Dry clothes, socks, and shoes (be careful not to melt the glue holding shoes together)
• Warm up your sleeping bag, or dry it out
• Heat up a small room (find a dryer that can stay on for around half hour)
• Removing adhesive stickers and signs
• Thaw a car window or preheat the interior without wasting fuel
• Make cars slow down (pretend it's a radar gun)
• Thaw frozen pipes
• Shrink window seal (anti-draft) plastic sheet

If no small room is available and you are in a warehouse or outside but with access to electricity, pop your tent, tarp tepee, or cardboard box up right there and you have a much smaller space to heat, be careful that you don't damage tent fabric from the heat.

Clean the lint and dust out of the screen on the back so your dryer won't overheat. Never run the hair dryer if you are very sleepy or going out; these things can lock up and overheat even though there is supposed to be a thermostat safety shutoff circuit, you must be on guard for fire. Like with all electrical stuff, water or wet concrete is big danger. Conclusion, decide if you just need a real space heater, hairdryers are loud and seasonal for the space taken up.

Food

For packable food, see Backpacking and Camping#Food and Cheap Chow for some easy on the road improvised recipes. It is really important to have enough filling ready to eat food and a liter or two of drinking water in the bag since you never know how long you might be stuck out somewhere when hitching, riding, or waiting. It might be smart to keep a seperate soft lunch bag so the smell of food stays out of your pack as this might attract pests and rodents. Conclusion, Always have some ready snacks and water or you will be sorry.

Immersion Boiler

A stinger or immersion boiler is useful for boiling water for cooking, are cheap, and are super light to carry. see Cheap Chow for stinger specific recipes. Once you have lived in a place without electricity for a few months you will understand the pure magic of finding a working power plug and using such a small cooker where you dont have to buy or gather fuel to heat your food. You can also heat larger containers of water to warm for bathing, washing, or thawing frozen stuff. A commercial 200-500 watt coil stinger is usually so cheap and light that getting and carrying a spare or two only makes sense, especially considering that they burn out after a while, travel stores sell 110/220 volt models with a adaptor tip. Be careful that a curious friend doesn't remove your plugged in stinger from the water and let it burn out while you are cooking. We generally don't lend out our stingers since we have rarely had one returned in working condition, give a new one as an inexpensive gift with instructions if a friend needs one. In Europe we have seen small immersion heaters that are up to 2000 watts, this would boil a whole bucket of water, normaly overkill these should work safely on 110 volt with a plug adaptor but at a bit less than a quarter the heating power (about 500w).

The immersion heater you buy in stores will burn out if the water boils away or it falls out, this is a safety feature so it won't start a fire, if you make a prison stinger from a power cord with tips stripped of insulation and dipped in salted or hard water, don't let the ends touch or you will blow the breakers, oh and if you knock the prison stinger and soup over it can electrocute you!!. Conclusion, so cheap and light, saves you from buying expensive hot food and drink, we pack several in our bag.

Cheese/Vegetable Grater

A very small grater, about two by six inches, will add very little weight but can be very useful: shredding food, which greatly reduces cooking time in soups, shredding and grinding soft and hard cheeses, and to turn bar soap into washing soap, shred soap and into a bucket of warm water to wash your clothes instead of detergent. Conclusion, small enough, pack one if you find it useful

Marking

It is a good idea to carry big sturdy permanent marker or paint pen with a good cap for hitchhiking or panhandling signs, marking food in group pantries or refrigerators, hobo marks Wall Painting, and tagging with intelligent quotes or philosophical quandaries in appropriate places. Store pens and markers in a plastic bag wrapped in toilet paper near the top of your pack in case of leakage, especially in hot weather or during air or mountain travel. Street chalk can also be useful for the above purposes and less permanent especially if you are concerned about ink leaks, a clipboard with the back painted in special chalkboard paint is great for hitchhiking or temporary signs.

Umbrella

If you spend lots of time walking down lonely roads you might find use in a decent umbrella both for rain and sun protection. If you are buying find something really tough like a gust-buster these have two layers that open up to dissipate hard wind gusts and don't easily turn inside out. For sun protection in the desert you are looking for a larger canopy so two can take a break under it as well as using it while walking in the middle of the day.

Fun and Games

Fun things that pack well and spend downtime without wasting your brain or batteries include:

• Playing cards or card based games (games like Magic that can collect huge decks might end up too heavy)
• Magnetic wallet board games (chess, checkers, backgammon, etc.)
• Question cards from Trivial Pursuit
• Dice for D&D type role-playing games or other dice games (like Yahtzee)
• CD's or small discs (vinyl singles, etc.) to use for Frisbee (those free AOL CD's work well)
• Hacky Sack/Footbag
• Small musical Instruments Making Music
• Journal for composition or sketches
• Kite
• Paperback of short stories, better than novel for when you are waiting, just finish the short story you are on and go
• A knife for whittling
• Paper-back, digital scanned, or photo-copied text books or printed-off school resource pages and/or texts on a portable disk drive to keep up on your education
• Foreign language dictionary to study up on learning a new language
• Book of Sudoku or crosswords
• Seeds to plant in public places
• Those Chinese Juggling sticks are pretty fun. You can also get really good at them and perform for tips.

Conclusion, don't overdo the weight for toys, but have fun

Quick Packing List

We trust you to choose what you need or don't need from this list everything would be quite a load and some is inappropriate at times. It is merely a quick idea list:

• Food prep- camp stove or pocket immersion boiler and large cup, bowl, or small pot, eating utensils, chopsticks, coffee or tea stuff, strainer
• Wash- flat drain stopper, outdoor faucet knob, bungee cord line, small scrub brush, stain treatment, and wash soap/detergent
• Shower- pack towel, wash cloth or sponge, liquid soap with neck strap, flip-flop sandals with add-on heel straps, universal faucet shower kit, bucket and cup/dipper
• Clothes- packable jacket, lightweight clothes, walking/outdoor shoes, swimsuit
• Repair kit- quality multi-tool, heavy nylon carpet thread, needles, buttons, hot glue stick, lighter, sport or duct tape on a pencil, zip-ties
• Sleep- sleeping mask, earplugs, neck pillow, countdown timer or alarm clock, hostel sheet, shorts or scrub bottoms and t-shirt, ground pad, sleeping bag
• Contact- phone cards, change for pay phones in rolls, a pad of paper including numbers to call collect, USB memory stick with portable software, list or map of Library/Coffee shop Internet, WiFi PDA, small shortwave or ham radio set, walkie-talkie, prepaid mobile phone or SIM card, laptop, modem card, WiFi detector
• Personal Hygiene- fingernail clippers, first aid kit, baking soda, vinegar, Hair removal/trimming tools, baby wipes, toothbrush, toilet paper, love lube, safe sex stuff, period stuff (tampons, pads, moon cup, or re-washable pad)
• Wilderness Gear- Hammock, tarp or tent, sleeping bag, bivvy sack, ground pad, water treatment and storage, pack, walking sticks, toilet hole spade, pocket "chainsaw", navigation gear. see Backpacking and Camping and Skiing and Boarding
• First Aid- moleskin foot dressings, plasters(bandages), temp tooth fix kit, gauze pads, roller gauze, triple antibiotic ointment, tape, scissors, tweezers, (also pain, motion sickness, allergy, indigestion, and diarrhea treatments)
• Protection- handgun, knife, walking staff, pepper spray, baton. See Weapons for Street Fighting
• Other- Lightweight flashlight/torch or headlamp, emergency hidden cash, music(radio, MP3, harmonica, etc), batteries and charger, journal, pocket paperback or electronic foreign dictionaries or a printout of International_Communications, small gifts, seat pad, folding stool, LED book light, hair dryer
• Entertainment- Cards, paperback book, hacky-sack, games, notebook/journal
• Special- bicycle spares (pump, combination allen-chain-spoke-screw tool, patches and levers, tubes), repair and craft tools, ski or board gear, etc.

Not Overpacking

It is completely reasonable to walk out the door with wearing sturdy clothes and shoes while packing some socks, a toothbrush, and extra underwear. If crashing in homes you possibly don't need a sleeping bag, although this is one load we usually take with us. If you know how to scrounge in the right places and how to improvise you might not need any other gear. Let the world and your skills provide for you and you are a pioneer, if you must self supply out of a pack you are a finite expedition that will eventually run out. Our ideas of what we need is fed by well meaning backpacking and travel magazines who make money selling ads to the gear manufacturers. Some of our best adventures started with almost no gear or money and required us to use our hands and brains, this is where real life adventure is made.

A LED headlight, stinger immersion water heater, and multi-tool might round out your minimalist list but that is up to you. Maybe you can find room for a small printed copy of this book too, unless you are planning to pack it inside your mind. You will only know what you need once you step out and experience freedom, don't be afraid of having to use substitutes or borrowing not-the-best gear on your travels.

For ultralight gear in situations when you have to carry more equipment look at the ultralight section of Backpacking and Camping. For improvising gear from available junk start with Low Impact Crashing but you will find ideas peppered through the book.

Money

Some cash hidden in your stuff is not a bad idea for emergencies.

Credit cards provide a perfect police trace of where you have been at every point of use. However, they do provide the best exchange rates during international travel.

One guy we know sews a gold coin hidden into his trousers. Once, in Africa, he got dumped in the wrong town without his bags across a border. His pocket money was no good there, but he ordered a taxi out, some meals, and several nights stay by selling the emergency coin.

Don't be afraid to offer your services in exchange for cash or trade, just like the old Hoe-Boy hobos. Just don't get taken as a chump, and never ever sell sex, demand a decent wage for your mental or physical labor. A better plan is to use the underground economy! Just barter, bum, and/or buddy your way along. Once people realize that you are living the dream on no budget, they will support you just to imagine themselves as part of your story. You will build your resourcefulness and wit by freeing your mind from the CorpGov Spend! Spend! Dollars!! program. Conclusion, use your street smarts but have a hidden reserve

Tools

A pliers, multi-tool, and folding bicycle multi-tool are standard stuff in our packs, but if you want to take up recycling junk into tradeable objects you might need some of the following.

• reamer
• a few drill bits in useful sizes (extras in small diameters)
• T-handle chuck for reamer, taps, and even drill bits
• medium and small files
• several standard size thread taps and dies to mach your drill bits
• propane torch head
• aluminum low temp solder
• narrow gauge steel welding rods
• adjustable wrench
• universal socket and mini ratchet
• assorted screws bolts and washers to fit your taps
• micrometer
• electrical multi-tester
• chisels
• small milling burrs
• rechargeable drill or hand drill
• butane soldering iron and solder sucker
• hack saw

These tools and more like them would be good for earning your keep on extended couch crashes. We bet you could get creative using tips from Means of Production and these universal tools even do some small scale machine shop type work, all you needed is some junk pile recycling skills. Most of this kit will be a bit heavy for a strict backpacker but it should work well for those who use a bicycle trailer. Conclusion, anything besides the cycle and multitools get heavy and not needed unless for your hobby/income.

Gifts

Depending on the nature of your walkabout, like if you are couch surfing, it might be a good idea to bring along cheap lightweight gifts, like pictures of (yourself near) an interesting place near your home with your e-mail address on back. Chachkies from a tourist stop near your home, local sport team cards, stamps, state quarters, and whatever else can work, too. Just don't go overboard on price, as it is supposed to be a token gift for them to remember you, not an endowment. You can sell these to more official tourists if you are still in your home state, or to well off foreigners who dig whatever country you're from. Conclusion, good idea if you stay cheap and light.

Luxury Item

In a world that treats us like dirt it might be helpful to carry a small token luxury item to bring out every now and then to feel a little posh when they are down, especially if you feel you were forced out and did not choose this life from the start. We advise against taking priceless heirlooms or mementos which you might be able to stash someplace safe, we loose or break our gear all to often for that. For example a fine china tea cup or a small crystal figurine stuffed between clothing and gear might survive for a long time if you are careful. A small stuffed animal or piece fancy jewelery might also be good ways to make yourself feel good. Save your luxury item for special occasions and treat yourself. Conclusion, easy to get carried away and a theft or breakage risk, but might make you feel better

Drugs

Nothing makes a cop's job easier than a possession rap against a protester or squatter with used resin coated drug paraphernalia like a pipe. These can easily be found in a legal pat-down weapon search. If you must use drugs while traveling or living on the road, make something disposable or borrow instead. If you have a legal prescription for any type of ADD, anti-depressant, or pain medications, keep a photocopy in your bag with the meds. It might help in some states if you have a medical pot card with you if in possession, even one from out of state. However, if you plan on being involved in protests or other risky adventures, it's usually a good idea to keep your mind and body free from any possible chemical hindrances.

Never, EVER try to cross international borders with drugs, especially if you go through a standard border gate. A loner travelling with no contact to family or friends is an easy candidate for retention and confinement for indefinite periods of time. Be sure to hot detergent wash your clothes and hang dry them for a day or two outside before a border crossing or airplane trip to reduce any drug smell which might alert drug dogs. Conclusion, don't be stupid, da-man wants an excuse to bust you

Phone Cards

A story of a guy that gives his daughters phone cards to make long distance and international calls from regular and pay phones: He may not hear from them for weeks but he is able to see everywhere they travel and who they are calling by checking his account on the Internet. Can Big Bro' do the same? Of course. Disposable cards sold in many convenience stores are less traceable but cost more per minute. See Free Telephones where we describe a pocket size modified telephone and calling cards. Conclusion, cheaper than a mobile phone, watch for expiration date.

Weapons

This is a real judgment call, the sexist truth is that cops may give women a bigger pass as far as carrying a weapon or firearm in Amerika but don't count on it. Women realize that you are more likely to be victimized so you have more reason to carry. If The-Man wants you put away, a weapon charge can be an easy way to throw you into the clink for a few years. Use some common sense but remember that it is better to be tried by twelve (jury) than carried by six (in a coffin).

Be mindful that some states recognize other gun carry licenses. An unloaded, trigger locked, or partly disassembled weapon, while useless to you, might keep you out of legal trouble in some places while on the move but don't be surprised if officer friendly keeps the piece. Never pack a weapon if you have illegal substances on you or with your group. Conclusion, very personal decision, good way to get into trouble if you are stupid.

see Gun Laws and Piece Now

Pets

Pets can make getting a ride an finding a place to stay more difficult. On the other hand they are a source of friendship, comfort, and healing, especially to those who have been traumatized. The street kids we know would never let Spike or Cerberus go. Tailor your travels to match your pet, or tailor your pet choices to meet your travel needs. Fido can always carry his own gear, so make him a saddle-bag-type pack for food and water. Again, pets are not the best choice if your goal is traveling light. Few straight motorists are going to pick up a hippie with a huge dog wearing a bandanna. For pets once you've found a place to crash, see Pets. Conclusion, getting furry friend makes getting a ride and room harder

Bicycle

Some of us won't leave home without a bicycle and can be seen all over the world with a big pack and little folding bike or even a recumbent touring cycle. It is possible to hitch while making a bike trip, but it is more difficult to find a ride, since your hitch needs either a pickup truck or have an empty bike rack. Most commercial transportation will either forbid a standard bicycle or charge up to a double fare.

Remember that carrying a bike is a trade off towards self mobility versus the delights of traveling light and hitching. If you are not too personal about your bike, try to call ahead and arrange a bike from friends, a listserve, or craigslist.com. We mention lots of options in Cycling.

Remember the spares and tools that you will need if you bring a bicycle, at a minimum a mini-pump, patch kit with levers, and a folding bicycle multitool, but an extra innertube or two is smart, these tools are useful for more than just bicycle repair.

Conclusion, bikes are great but hard to transport unless you are riding it.

General Delivery

So you won't over pack, you can have seasonal clothes, food, or gear sent to a post office as general delivery, see Postage

...In conclusion

Conclusion, Don't be a bag person, learn to let go of what you dont need, trim your packed gear to what you need.