Rolf Potts has great packing advice at his Vagabonding blog:
One of his recommendations is to carry a stack of business cards. It really is a good way to pass them out to fellow travelers, or friends at home, rather than scribbling email and blog addresses in my usually indecipherable handwriting. So, I ordered some from VistaPrint.com. They have plenty of decent designs with many customization options. On top of that, they aren’t that expensive;) So, here is my try:
OK, not really, but it is getting closer;) Thirteen days to go… The last two weeks before any of my long-term trips are always full of chaos and heightened sense of last-minute preparations. This time especially, as I will be moving out of my apartment, need to rent a U-HAUL truck and put my stuff in storage. In the last few days I have boxed 80% of my stuff, donated some of my unused clothing, gave away books, or sold things I had laying around my place and rarely used (VCR, TV & some computer parts/equipment).
I’m going over my equipment again and again, making sure I’m only taking the necessities. On a bike every ounce I’ll carry in the rarified air of the Himalayas counts… There is still room to leave out a few things;)
PS: My updates have been lacking in the past week. I guess I’m getting into habit of posting a few posts once a week rather than one post each day. After I’ll leave Shimla behind, my blog updates will follow this pattern. I will try to put up some pics at least once a week, depending on the Internet availability. Not sure if there are any Internet cafes between Shimla and Leh on my route, so it might take longer. But don’t despair. I will be keeping daily (I hope;)) entries on my PocketPC…
World Hum - Travel Dispatches from a Shrinking Planet is a great place for a traveler, even an armchair one;), to ‘loiter’ around and read… Recently, the site has posted the Top 30 Travel Books of All Time. Plenty of familiar authors. So far, I’ve read books by Paul Theroux,
Unfortunately, the list is limited to ‘true’ (whatever that means) travel books and it doesn’t include better known ‘literary’ explorations as Travels with My Aunt
I have been unusually productive today, FIVE posts. Must be my all-time daily high;) BTW, just when I decided to raise my blogging to another level, the Blogger goes down for maintenance due to an ‘unexpected problem’. Everything seems to be working OK now.
The southwest monsoon clouds in India are steadily advancing on New Delhi, slowly enveloping the whole country. According to BBC Weather Center reports, Delhi is still hot and humid: 40-41 C (104-106 F) during most days and around 25 C (77 F) at nights. Here in NYC, the almost daily rains during the past two weeks are giving me a glimpse of what New Delhi will be like when I arrive;)
On another note, with three more weeks to go, I have finally ‘resigned’ myself to start putting all belongings in boxes, crates, bags, whatever I can find. I’ll be moving out of my place, hoping to stuff all of that into a 5×5x10 storage room;)
I’m also sorting out all things I’ll be taking with me. Going over my equipment and trying to foresee what will be necessary and what useless on such a long trip isn’t easy. But I’m trying very rigorously to apply my ‘lightweight’ backpacking practices knowing that the less I carry the more enjoyable the trip will be. It always is!!! One of the bigger changes I made to my equipment is a replacement of my tent. My old 2-person Sierra Design served me well during my trekking and climbing trips but it’s an over-kill for this adventure with its 8.5 lbs weight… Got myself a cheap Eureka Solitaire (2.5lbs). Not as roomy but it serves its purpose. I don’t expect to spend every night in it anyways and where I will camp I might as well just sleep outside;) OK, maybe not in Tibet. Still need to waterproof seams… Additionally, I went to my local bike shop and bought some replacement spokes and Bodyglide chafing stick.
I guess the post by rickmoore from the travel forum mentioned in my previous write-up deserves a separate space. The quotes are from a book by Bruce Chatwin ‘Songlines’
“That is a tough question, one which was well explored in a book I just finished reading. For my last birthday, my daughter gave me a copy of Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. It was well worth the read, as he visits Australian Aborigines and brings up thoughts on the subject from various other writers. What follows are quotations from the book:
- Men need to learn to live without things. Things filled men with fear: the more things they had, the more they had to fear. Things had a way of riveting themselves on to the soul and then telling the soul what to do.- The question of questions: the nature of human restlessness.
- Our nature lies in movement, complete calm is death. Pascal, Pensees
- A study of the Great Malady; horror of home. Baudelaire, Journaux Intimes.
- It is good to collect things, but it is better to go on walks. Anatole France.
- The Wayless Way, where the Sons of God lose themselves and, at the same time, find themselves. Meister Eckhart.
- Life is a bridge. Cross over it, but build no house on it. Indian proverb.
- They became nomads again (they became human again) The supreme value to them lay in the freedom to migrate, not in the circumstances that make it economically viable.”
While listening to Buddha Bar, Volume IV, Disc 1 CD
“My wanderlust was probably inspired by watching Michael Palin’s 80 Day’s Round the World and Rough Guide to the World as a kid. Then one day everything was just right, no debts, end of a relationship where the other hadn’t wanted to backpack, and a really stressful/dull job that I wouldn’t miss. So I left on my first big trip - haven’t gone back…” Ali”
I travel because unlike anything else I have tried, traveling truly expands my mind. Every time I go somewhere I feel like I come back with a new outlook on life and a better appreciation of all that this world has to offer. Traveling makes me smile.” jamie
“I honestly believe that travel is something one either loves or hates. It either gets under your skin and into your blood or leaves you itching for the comforts of your lounge chair and DirectTV remote. At the risk of oversimplifying, I would say there are 3 main classifications of people: 1) Those who spend their lives in pursuit of material possessions, stability, and living “comfortably” 2) Those who feel uncomfortable with stability, who thrive on change and having their notions and ideas stretched, who believe that life is more than material possessions, and spend their lives in pursuit of what they think does matter in life 3) Those who would like to be in either group, but lack the courage to pursue the path.” Jennie Jen
“To explore the world and escape from the boredom of daily life” MissJ
“A couple of reasons:
- to work out who I was and what I wanted
- to escape from my comfort zone
- to see new and exciting things
Once you do it for the first time, it is addictive. When I travel, I feel free, without a worry or care in the world, which is strange and an uncommon feeling in the normal everyday world we live in. It has a strange liberating affect, which I think is why a lot of people are ‘different’ after they go travelling; it changes your perspective on life (i think so anyway!)” thebazz
“I was introduced to National Geographic Magazine when I was in second grade and I always loved reading about the different places in the world. I always liked the stories of exploration and adventure when I was young and I was constantly mounting my own expeditions into the forests, mountains and swamps near where I lived. I grew to love archaeology and nature and I started planning short trips to places I wanted to see in countries like Mexico, Peru and Nepal when I got out of college. Over the last few years I began realizing that the short trips that Corporate America allowed me to take were insufficient to fulfill my insatiable desire for knowledge and adventure and, since I never really fit in to the rat-race lifestyle that so many people hold dear, I put together a plan to escape.” explorer_keith
“Simple!!its the wanderlust…need not be exotic places all the time..u go to places nearby and u r already tavelling…u need to see the green trees,the cute tea shops,new cuisine…people and different cultures…its a case of itchy feet..on days when u feeling blue,u can flip thru the photographs and the smell of the air…u travel to survive” kancchi
“To understand the world and myself.” whereshegoes
“I decided to travel because I have never left this country and wanted to leave to see what else was out there. I think it was to find something “better”. I feel the urge to travel more now that I have done it because I have been depressed since I’ve been back. When I’m travelling, I am constantly learning, I am always intrigued, challenged, and stimulated. And now that I am back at home doing “home” things, it is very easy to ask “why am I here when I could be out there?” corrijene
“To see what’s round the next corner/over the horizon. An adventure. To learn. To see if the grass is greener. Because the mainstream British model for life of buying stuff and drinking ’til you fall over in the same place every week doesn’t seem that attractive.” Moving edgeways
… and many more quotes…
Another one of those ’seemingly’ unrelated blog-posts;)
Google has just send me an invitation code to join and start using (and learning) their Analytics software. I signed up for it about a month ago and didn’t really expect to be invited this quickly… As the name suggests, it has all to do with website analyzing of traffic, content, ads, and much more. It really is an enterprise-level solution to manage business online, see what customers want and effectively improve content and marketing. Not that I will need it on my blog here but I really like to learn about the software more and start using it on my other websites too. For the time being, it is just a blog tracking software ‘on steroids’;)
Coincidentally, my free trial for Blogbeat, another simple, yet effective traffic tracking solution for blogs, expired just a few days ago. So, this invitation has come in quite handy;) Maybe, I’ll start playing with those Google ads again;)))
Welcome to my blog where I share outdoor adventures, travel experiences and random musings from home and faraway places alike... My current plans:
1. [Summer-Fall 2010] Vagabonding alongside the Silk Route: It’ll be me, my bike and wide-open spaces of Western China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan for 2-3 months...
2. [2011 or 2012] Motorbiking from Alaska to Patagonia: Just started thinking about it. Plan: Find a used thumper and hit back roads exploring this classic route all the way from the Deadhorse in Prudhoe Bay, U.S. to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Plus, practice and improve my Spanish, too...
