One interesting thing about going on a long trip is that it forces you to think a lot about stuff. Stuff you own, stuff you want to take with you, stuff you leave behind. And maybe, the role of stuff in your life.
We own a lot of stuff. I knew this already, in the abstract. But the reality of having to clear out our house for tenants made the abstract real. Since moving in almost 15 years ago, we've accumulated so much (along with two kids). So many clothes, shoes, toys, books, electronic devices, kitchen items, etc. Even after filling many bags with trash and donations, I was surprised with how much we had to bring down to store in the basement. I won't go on about the details, but I'll share one photo - a huge bag filled with plugs and power cords for our electronic devices. And this was just the stuff that still seemed essential after throwing away all the ones from ancient cell phones and long-forgotten toys.
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| Our big bag of cords |
We didn't take a lot of stuff with us. Influenced by reading the blogs of full-time travellers who circle the globe for years with only carry-ons, I insisted that we travel as light as possible. We knew that we will be in climates ranging from tropical (coast of Ecuador) to freezing (Bolivian Altiplano), but also that we will be able to do laundry and buy additional necessary items along the way. And given that we are still New Yorkers, we knew that we each have at least one or two respectable outfits -- we won't be going out to hot new restaurants in Lima or Buenos Aires in hiking boots and fleece. We didn't get it down to carry-ons only, but we each have one big internal frame backpack plus a daypack carry-on (plus Ruby's violin in a super-light travel case). And probably only about two-thirds of our stuff is clothes, because we had to leave room for things like a 9 month supply of daily wear contact lenses.
So why the hell do I own eight pairs of jeans?
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| All my clothes for 8 months (iPhone shown for scale) |
