usa, 13 Aug 2006 --

With the beginning of our trip only two days away, I took two steps today that made it abundantly clear that the beginning of the adventure is finally upon us:

First, I made the first two days of reservations at The Atlanta hotel in Bangkok.  Cara and I don’t intend to do much advance accomidation planning on this trip, and the majority of the places we’re hoping to stay don’t even take reservations (or take credit cards, or probably have telephones for that matter).  Still, we figured rolling into town at midnight after an 18 hour flight and under the influence of an 11 hour time change wouldn’t leave us in the greatest shape to go searching for a place to stay.

The Atlanta is awesome.  I saw it last time I was in Bangkok, and wishing I was on the kind of trip where I could stay there was one of my first inklings that maybe work travel isn’t the best way to go.  Their lobby is like something straight out of a 40s black and white film, and every where you look there are signs posted on the wall basically telling you that the customer is not, in fact, always right.  Quirky doesn’t even begin to describe the place.  They generally only take reservations by fax, but I talked to the heavily british accented owner on the phone, and he was kind enough to make an exception for us.  On its website, the Atlanta claims to be popular with:

“cultured occidentals, with writers, academics, artists, cinema & theatre and other professional people, with dreamers and innocuous eccentrics.”

I’m not sure which (if any) of those groups Cara and I fall into, but our 600 baht (about $16 US) will be getting us a third floor “you get what you pay for” room with air conditioning.  We would have gone for the unairconditioned room for $2 less, but that would also have meant a shower with no hot water and we figured we’d splurge on our first night in town.

The second thing I did today that made me realize that this trip is going to be a reality was to pack.  What does one take on a several month backpacking trip around asia?  I’ll tell you:

  • (1) Backpack, 3500 cubic inches
  • (1) Small day pack
  • (3) Short sleeved shirts
  • (1) Long sleeved shirt
  • (1) Pair shorts
  • (1) Pair zip off pants
  • (3) Pairs underwear (I was thinking about just going commando, but thought I’d want the option)
  • (1) Light fleece
  • (1) Rain Jacket
  • (1) Pair of Chacos
  • (1) Pair hiking shoes (damnit, couldn’t force myself to go with Chacos alone)
  • (1) Pair long underwear
  • (1) Warm hat
  • (1) Baseball cap
  • (1) Pair socks (Cara loves it when I wear socks with my Chacos)
  • (1) Nikon D70 SLR with 17-55mm f/2.8 lens (I hope I don’t hate my camera after lugging it around Asia)
  • (1) CF Card to DVD burner
  • (1) Travel sheet
  • (1) Spoon
  • (1) Bandanna
  • (20 ft) Clothes line
  • (1) Mosquito headnet (This may still get the axe)
  • (1) First aid kit
  • (1) Small towel (Ford Prefect would be proud)
  • (1) Drybag (for the camera when it pours)
  • (1) Pair sunglasses
  • (1) Small toiletry kit
  • (1) Roll of toilet paper (Everyone says this can be key)
  • (1) Pocket knife
  • (1) Bottle of doxycycline (Malaria pills)
  • (1) Headlamp
  • (1) Notepad and pen
  • (1) Book (The Amber Spyglass)
  • (1) Watch
  • (1) Passport
  • (2) Credit Cards
  • (1) Debit Card
  • (1) Copy of Lonely Planet - Southeast Asia on a Shoestring

I plan to take the pack as carry-on luggage (yes United, length + width + height is less than 45″, thank you very much) but sadly thanks to our friends with the exploding toothpaste in the UK, we’ll have to check a small box of toiletries and the knife.

So there you have it, 30 lbs of stuff that will hopefully be all I need to get by in Asia for 6+ months.  Actually I’m sure it’s more than enough.  Since I started traveling so much, one of my favorite sanity-saving mantras during packing for trips has always been “As long as you’ve got the tickets, the money, and the passport…anything else you forget doesn’t really matter.”

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