Oh my god, the gear. It is incredible how much time one (and me) can spend reading through blogs and reviews, browsing through shops and then end up not buying anything because we just figured out that we are not that sure whether or not we need that object at all. Our regular trips with backpacks or loaded bikes help a lot. The experience of previous trips is extremely valuable and shortens the list(s).
Well, anyway we managed to decide upon a few things we will carry in our well used Ortlieb bags around the world.
Bikes:
We are riding our two rather old second-hand bikes. Simone with her black 1998 Rocky Mountain, Louie on his yellow Velotraum; both 26″.
Cooking & Kitchen:
- Primus burner & Gas/ Wood-burner, self made wood-gas burner stove (also called “Hobbo”)
- two well used Mac Pack pots
- some water tight plastic containers
- 2 sharp Victorinox knifes, 2 sporcs
- thin cutting board
- 2 old Nepalese steel cups
Sleeping & housing:
- Tent: MSR Elexir 2
- Mats: after month long discussions we decided upon some extra comfort here. We swapped our 2.5 cm foam mats for the Therm-A-Rest Apex
- Sleeping bags: both old, down, from MacPac and Deuter, not sure yet if they will keep us warm enough.
- In November we added some self- made mat-connection plus a fleece cover
Electronics:
- two very smart phones; one of them with dual sim
- one cycle-computer BC 14.16 (Sigma)
- old mac book air 11″
- one second hand iPad (revendo- support it!)
- power bank(s); Intenso and ?
- two head torches
- compact camera (Canon)
- one small bluetooth speaker
- two e-readers
Packs
- for each bike two front and two Backrollers sport (Ortlieb) plus a handlebar bag
- one 59l duffle bag (Ortlieb)
- one small, waterproof backpack (Exped)
- one 35l sea to summit bag to strap on Louies bike.
Cycle first aid kit
- extra chains to swap every 1500 km
- pump
- etc.
Human first aid kit
- few painkillers
- some desinfectant
- some plasters
- a bandage
Clothes
- lots of layers for all sort of climate and weather –> Dress like an onion!
- many self made bags (parachute silk) to sort the clothes into “topics”
- one cotton cloth bag to double use as a pillow
Comfort & Luxury:
- see “Electronics”
- some nice merino cloths to keep us warm and make us less smelly for longer