18 months: 1 backpack

I'm leaving May 29th for a world wide adventure. After leaving Chicago I'll be heading to South Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and maybe even Mexico for a wedding.

That's 3 continents over 18 months my loves! Over 20 countries! And now the all important question becomes:

WHAT CLOTHES DO I PACK?

Well, actually that question is kind of easy: not a whole lot. I learned tremendous amounts while backpacking in Europe.

**CAUTION CAUTION** If you are the type who gets grossed out when thinking about wearing the same shirt for two days in a row or going a few days without taking a shower then you should leave this post THIS VERY INSTANT! Even if you need to blow-dry every day this not the place for you my friend.

Let me take you on a guided tour of my backpack in a whirlwind of a budget travel packing list!

I am in the school of thought that when packing for a worldwide backpacking trip less is more. You have to carry that load on your back every time you go to a new city. You will have to trek up stairs, wind through large crowds, and face some monster hills each travel day. When you have been struggling up a hill for 20 minutes you really start to hate that extra pair of shoes in your pack.

This is my backpack. It's a woman's pack from Mountain Hardware. I schlepted it across Europe so I have undoubtedly broken it in. In backpack talk it's 50 liters. This isn't a huge pack for such a long trip; I met some people in Europe who were traveling for 3 months with 90 liter backpacks that weighed 75 pounds! That's just ridiculous to me. I would much rather do without a hair dryer and straightening iron!

I really like my pack: it's comfortable, it expands easily, and it is very durable. The only downside to my pack is that it only opens from the top or a zipper on the side. If I had my choice I would have gotten a pack that zips open all around the front. But those packs didn't fit my body and so here I am with this pack! Finding a woman's pack with all of your wants that also fits can be tough. I can't urge someone strongly enough to choose the pack that feels the best!

That's my pack from behind (and my behind!). I hope that it doesn't look too ridiculous on my body. I think of it as my snail shell-- my little home while traveling!

Now on to my clothes. This is the part where all of your mouths drop and you say "but that's NOTHING." I am bringing shockingly few pieces of clothing:

2 pairs of pants

1 long sleeve shirt

1 short sleeve shirt

1 pair of leggings/long johns

5 pairs of socks

4 pairs of underwear

1 pair of shorts

1 t-shirt for sleeping

1 pair of hiking boots

1 pair of flip flops

1 jacket

and that's it my loves. I've found that I can live with the bare essentials and if need be I can always buy a simple dress or skirt along the way. When Chris and I get to conservative countries in the Middle East I will be making some adjustments and adding head scarves and floor length skirts to my wardrobe.

The key to packing so little is to focus on comfort, durability, and washability. You want to be able to wear the same clothes several times without them stretching, becoming wrinkled or getting nubbly after a million wears. Without a doubt on a low cost backpacking trip you will be washing your clothes in sinks and showers around the world. The pants that I will bring can be adjusted to multiple lengths and are super comfortable. They also both have draw-string waists. I found out a draw string was really important while I was in Europe because over 3 months I lost almost 20 pounds and 2 sizes!

This post has already gotten kind of long so next week I will let you know about the toiletries, medical supplies, and random other items I will be packing!

I'm sure I haven't told you everything so If you have any questions let me know!

xoxo,

Mer

Oh and just an out-take that made me laugh:

A picture-packed post

Hello from a VERY snowy Chicago. It has been snowing for at least 9 hours here! I know it's not the snowpocalypse (I actually like snowmaggedon more) that DC is experiencing right now; but it's still a lot of snow!

(That's the lake in the background! What lake you ask? Lake Michigan!)

(And I couldn't resist taking a picture of these puppies playing in the snowy park)

Last night Chris and I took a little adventure to a Vietnamese neighborhood in Chicago (Argyle Street for those of you who live in Chicago) and had DEEEELICIOUS food!

Chris and I both ordered pho (pronounced fuh). Pho is beef soup with rice noodles, onions, and maybe some other magical tasty stuff; you can mix in lime, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and culantro (like cilantro but the leaves are longer). Chris ordered the extra large size and it was huge:

We took home a ton of leftovers! Tonight we might head out for dinner again since we don't have any groceries or maybe we will make our way the 6 blocks to the grocery store and cook.

I have exciting news! I now have almost all of the stuff I am taking on our trip. So tomorrow I am going to pack and take pictures of everything that will be going with me around the world to share with you!

And then just one beautiful picture from the weekend:

I hope you are all staying warm and dry!

xoxo,

Meredith

Hair today gone tomorrow

Happy Friday love bugs! I am a desperate need of a change. A hair change. My hair is super long as you can see from this photo I took this morning (ack! no makeup! just woke up!):

Oh, and look! You can see some of my room!

I've gone though all sorts of hair stages between a short bob to my chin all the way to this super long to my boobs look. I've also had all sorts of variations of brown dye jobs.

Chocolate brown:

(October 2008)

Sightly red:

(Spring 2007)

And now it's just this yucky boring brown, blah:

(January 2010)

So, it's time for a change. I'm not going to cut it short right now but I am going to get a new color! But what color is the big choice...

Blond like Lady Gaga?

Red like Debra Messing?

Streaked like Kate Gosslin?

Dark brown like Salma Hayak?

Swedish-inspired?

So many choices.... I do think that Lady Gaga hair looks good on me and I know how much all of us love Kate Gosslin's hair; but maybe I'll just stick my with favorite chocolate brown?

All of these pictures were from InStyle's Hollywood Makeover. Be careful! It's addictive!

Oh ha ha wait I do more embarrassing stuff

So... last night I think I had my first embarrassing moment on the internet. I had been randomly poking around the internet and after clicking link to link to link I showed up at a random blog. I honestly couldn't have told you how I got there but there I was nonetheless (is this suppose to be 1 word?). So, I ended up leaving a comment and adding the blog to my reader. Then I read this post later:

"two new blogs on the side.

goodbye dallas, hello world is a girl named meredith who must know marisa since they both live in chicago? i dunno. but she's taking an around the world trip with her boyfriend in may and you knooow how much i love travel books/blogs."

Then I had to confess:

"Meredith Travels said...

ohhh totally called out. So *sigh* here is where I fully announce myself as a stalker. So... I don't know Marisa but I saw a comment she wrote on another blog and then I saw your blogs and here I am!

I'm not really as creepy as that sounds!

And I am indeed taking a world-wide trip. Starting in Southern Africa, moving to the Middle East, then South East Asia and then finally India and Nepal. In May Chris, my boyfriend, and I will be taking our backpacks and heading to Johannesburg!

Now I must go email real people I know about this so I can confirm that I have real life friends too. haha

FEBRUARY 3, 2010 10:35 PM "

Sigh, now the whole internet knows that I am creepy stalking them.

A Few of My Embarrassing Things...

... I cry when I watch Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. every.single.time.

... I love coloring. Seriously, when I taught preschool I used to color with the kids all the time.

... I am a TERRIBLE clapper. My sorority sisters can verify the fact that finding the beat is just impossible for me.

... On a semi-regular basis I blast the soundtrack from The Sound Of Music and sing and dance along.

... When I cook alone I like to pretend that I am the host of a cooking show and day dream about writing a cookbook.

... I really want to have a birthday party with a bounce house and inflatable giant sock-um-bobbers.

... I could (okay fine, have) just eaten chips and guacamole for dinner.

... I have a total old-man nerd crush* on Rick Steves. Yes, Rick Steves the prolific guidebook writer and NPR host. (I can't believe I just admitted this one!)

... I love blowing bubbles in milk with a straw.

... My favorite N*SYNC member was Joey Fatone.

* Old man crushes are a special breed of crushes. He is obviously WAY too old for you but you would totally try to set your mom up with him**. For example: Stabler from Law and Order SVU, Craig Ferguson, and a certain unnamed friend of mine once said she thought Al Gore was hot (she actually said a young Al Gore was hot but she's never going to live it down).

** But only if your mom is single and goes for slightly younger men.

Busy day!

I had a great but very busy day today in Chicago. I don't have a car here and am way too broke to take cabs everywhere so I use public transportation. Chicago actually has a great public transportation system. I was a busy little bee running all over the city getting things done and rode 5 different busses and went on the L (that's what the subway is called here because it is ELevated) 3 times!

By far and away my favorite thing I did today was "developing" some of my digital photos in the lab portion of my weekly photography class at the Chicago Photography Center. I take a class one night a week for 3 hours where we talk about the theory behind taking great photographs. In the lab portion of our class we get 3 hours with a trained instructor who teaches us how to manipulate our photos in Adobe Lightroom. So far, Lightroom seems leaps and bounds better than Photoshop (which I have used an itsy bisty bit before) if all you want to do is edit pictures. If you want to airbrush out a possible double chin or some speckling that suspiciously looks like cellulite then Photoshop is the way to go; but since I am gorgeous and perfect looking in every photo I think I will stick with Lightroom.

After finishing my work on my class assignments I had some extra time so I worked on a few pictures from Italy. I love love love they way they turned out and want to now work on ALL of my Europe photos on Lightshop!

Here is today's work!

** ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I can't find them on my memory card. Seriously? I spent like 3 hours on these guys. So annoyed. Maybe it's just a PC to Mac problem? I can find some but not the beautiful ones I was so proud of. Instead, here are some pictures from France. I'll track those photos down and WILL post them!

My absolute favorite hostel sign EVER. It was definitely a worrisome moment In Paris when I saw that before checking in.

I have a special love for church candles. I'm not Catholic but I still love them. I think it's the idea that each of the candles represents the wishes and hopes of individuals. The warmth and the light coming off of them are amazing in person.

And who can resist a Parisian merry go round?

I hope your all having great and productive days without lost photos!

xoxo,

M

I just don't get it

I'll admit it, my personal style is pretty plain. In the winter you are most likely to find me in jeans, a nice t-shirt, a sweater, and sneaker or flats. And in the summer I almost always am wearing a simple sundress and Jack Rogers or Bernardos. I have my share of fancy dresses and high heels but I seem to wear them only on special occasions. 4 inch heels don't really match my lifestyle. For example, Chris and I walked around Chicago for 3 or 4 hours on Saturday exploring and doing some shopping for our trip (woo! fancy! hiking socks!).

While my own fashion is a little basic I definitely do appreciate both high fashion and trend items. If I was living in NYC doing fashion PR I would totally rock high heels. BUT there are some trends that I just don't understand right now. Maybe one of my bffs from college Stephanie at Le Sigh of a Fashionista can help me out?

WTF? Yes, I do have to admit this is from American Apparel who seems to be known for basic t-shirts and some weird random crap. But really.... who would wear this and what do you wear it to? The only possible option I see for the lace onesie is for hooking (I'm just calling it how I see it.).

(Photo from Samantha Treacy's Fall 07 Line)

I really just don't understand this trend at all. I've seen bloggers all over the place trying this out and it just doesn't work for me. Am I miss something? Is this a new Ugg-esk trend where no one really thinks it's attractive but everyone is going wear them?

I know I could be opening myself up for all kinds of internet ridicule here. But, really... someone please explain!