Step 2: Complete Planning the Trip & Packing

Several people have asked us what we are taking on the trip – well, we are not taking much! To keep us from lugging around lots of weight (and minimize baggage fees!), we are only bringing a backpack and carry on. Our goal was to take no more than 15 total kgs each (~33 lbs). Even this small amount of luggage will require some carry on fees along the way! To keep overall weight down we picked these two bags – let’s hope they hold up 🙂

Our main luggage bag is a Rick Steves bag that is one of the lightest on the market (he is the guy on PBS that goes all over Europe). The bag is a little under three pounds and can be carried, put over the shoulder, or even worn as a backpack. Reducing the weight of the bag itself really helps us stay under 15 kg.

For our backpack we picked a Pacsafe bag we found at REI’s annual sale. The bag has several security features like slash resistance and zippers that latch into loops to slow down pick pockets!

Here is a pict of our entire luggage set – this is it for 87 days!

To further reduce weight we both bought lots of light weight, breathable clothing items. Ryan found some nice Lacoste and Nike shirts that can be washed and air dry in about 2 hours. I found some great Patagonia clothing that converts between form (skirts can become dresses, etc.) that are also washable. We will have to do laundry along the way for sure! We also found that compression bags were critical to compacting our clothes into small areas.

Step 3: Finish Work

We both had very nice last days of work. Several members of Ryan’s team got him a giant card and my group took me out to lunch today. Ryan’s work group had its annual offsite and volunteered at Matthew 25 ministries in Blue Ash sorting products that are sent all over the US/world. It was a fitting way to end as Matthew 25’s work helps some of the same people we will be working with during our Bolivia mission trip in October.

My workgroup made my last day very special as well! My manager got salty carmel cupcakes from The Bon Bonerie that I love, and we had a great lunch out. They also gave me a signed caricature and frame which was really nice. Wow – I work with the best group!!

To finalize our last work day for three months, both of us closed out our remaining projects and got the email inboxes both to 0. Woohoo! 🙂

Time to Go!

We ate all the food (literally!) in our refrigerator for dinner so it is time to go!

Our flight leaves around noon on Saturday!! We hope to update the blog every few days with info and pictures from our stops.

Feel free to leave comments and questions along the way!