I see London, I see France

As my trip creeps ever closer, the reality of it is starting to permeate my thinking about everyday stuff.

Over the next two years, I’ll be living out of a bag. The amount of “stuff” I’ll have at my disposal is going to shrink dramatically. I’d guess that 90% of the “stuff” I’ll be carrying around will be things that I don’t yet own. 99% of the “stuff” I do own will be put into storage.

The stuff I bring with I have to select carefully and give to thought to things I normally don’t have to think about. Take, for example, underwear.

I currently wear Hanes ComfortSoft boxer briefs. (a fact I’m sure you were all dying to know). As underwear go, they are great. They are comfortable and durable. However, I’m not bringing them with me. The problem is, they are made out of cotton, and cotton is a bitch to dry when they get wet. While in Hawaii this year, I jumped in the water wearing shorts and my underwear underneath. It was a bad move for obvious reasons. Even with my body heat, they still took forever to dry and were wet long after my quick dry shorts dried.

Impromptu swimming sessions aren’t my primary concern so much as impromptu laundry sessions. I plan on bringing no more than 4-5 pair of underwear with me. That means I’ll have to do frequent laundry, sometimes in a sink or a shower. Cotton just isn’t going to cut it. I’m currently thinking about getting underwear from Ex-Officio. (yeah, I’ve spent time researching my underwear…) They are expensive, but should be much easier to clean and dry than regular cotton undies…..they also claim to be odor resistant, which I’m sure will come in handy when I’m in the middle of nowhere.

This nitpicking has extended to all sorts of items I’ll have to bring: towels, toothbrushes, shirts, pants, shoes, etc.

I’ll eventually publish a complete list of everything I’m taking with me. Until then, if you have any suggestions for stuff that will travel well, I’m all ears.

2 thoughts on “I see London, I see France”

  1. Hey man, good luck, looking forward to following this, just heard about it on your talkshoe chat with scott. Bookmarking the site now

  2. Good luck on the trip Gary. The site is looking good and I’ll look forward to seeing all of your multimedia. I think it’s cool you’re writing about how you’ll be selecting what gear to bring.

    It’s not 100% clear at first how to view / add comments (though perfectly easy once I clicked the “open comments” button).

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