Finding the Perfect Backpack

Wow did this hunt take some time for me! Looking for the right backpack was overwhelming, because there are just SO many options out there. But in the end I landed on the one that seems the best for me. I will first go through what your steps need to be to find the right pack *for you* and then I will discuss the pack I landed on and why in my next post.

1. What Kind Of Trip Are You Taking?
Before anything else you need to know what kind of trip you are taking. Knowing what kind of trip you are taking is essential, but obviously since you are reading this article you have already decided you are taking a backpack instead of a suitcase - so I won't get into that particular debate here. If you are camping out then you will need a bigger pack to be able to take camping gear, food, and water in addition to everything else. If you are going to be staying in hostels or hotels then you can get away with a much smaller pack since you wont need to provide your own bedding and shelter. The length of your trip can determine how much you take with you as well, or perhaps the climates you are expecting on your trip will require you to have heavier, bulkier clothes.

So really the size of your pack is completely dependent on you, your lifestyle, the length of your trip, and the kind of trip you intend on having. Only you can determine something of that nature. If you are not sure as of now what size of backpack you should take with you, go check out bloggers who take the kind of trips you intend on taking so as to get the best idea of what size of packs you should be looking at.


2. Determine What Kind Of Luggage You Want
Are you flying to your destination? If so then you need to determine for yourself whether or not you want to have it as carry on luggage or if you want to check it.

Checking it certainly has it's pros and cons. Here are a couple examples:

Pros

• You don't have to worry as much about the size of your pack and how much you can take with you. 

• Once it's checked you don't have to lug it around the airport with you.  

Cons

• You generally have to pay for checked baggage. 

• It is out of your sight and thus could get lost by the airline. 

• Straps can get caught in the conveyor belts.

My point of bringing this up at all is because if you want to have it be carry on only then there are a lot of airline dimensions and weight restrictions for carry on baggage. Be 1000% sure of what your airline's restrictions are, as they vary from one airline to the next. This information will greatly affect what packs will work best for you.


3. Try On Several Packs
I'm telling you, this is by far the best step you can take. Don't look online, don't read the blogs about specific packs. Go get physical with them. I personally went to REI and they measured my torso to tell me what size I am (this is necessary for you to find the best fitting pack), I then picked out several packs that seemed the most ideal to me, weighed them down with the sandbags they had in the store, and then walked around for awhile. This gave me a great sense of the weight distribution - holy shit most of the weight really IS on my hips instead of my shoulders!! Also physically seeing where all the pockets and zippers are will help give you an idea of what kind of organization you can have. Of course, most importantly, it will let you see just how big 30L, 55L, 75L is and how much you will be able to hold in there.


4. Look Online
Now that you know if you have any dimension limitations, what size (S/M/L) you are, the range of sizes of packs you are looking at (40L-50L, 65L-75L, etc.), and what kind of particular features are important to you, you can now go online to see all the different packs available. Knowing these things will significantly help your search and make it go by so much more quickly. No doubt the more packs you see the more features you will discover that you want, and you will be able to narrow your search accordingly.

*Side note, if you are determined to buy in a store, take a tape measure with you and measure when it is packed with sandbags so you can be sure of the dimensions if you are wanting to carry it onto a plane instead of checking it.


5. Buy Several Packs
I know this is a strange thing to tell you to do, but hear me out. There are way more packs available online than there are in stores. If you DO find your perfect pack in a store then lucky you! You can head to the next step. But for the rest of us, please keep reading.

I took to Amazon, as I do with all things, and found so many great packs. The beautiful thing about Amazon is for most of the packs they have FREE RETURNS, meaning that if you want to return that item you can print out your shipping label and drop it off at a UPS store at no cost to you. I cannot even tell you how many times I have done this with them and it has been a flawless experience every time. So go buy two or three of your top picks and compare them side by side. Put your things in there, see how they feel. How's the organization? Does this pack hold up to what you're looking for? Is it good quality? Is this pack realistic for you and your needs?

Obviously once you land on a singular pack, return the others. If none of them are quite right keep looking! You get all your money back so it's really no loss to you, and you're able to see how it will be with YOUR stuff in there instead of just sandbags for weight.


6. Pack It
Once you have found your perfect pack, your steps are not over my friend. The next step is to load that sucker up! All the things you plan on taking, go ahead and pack it. Put things where they belong, make it as realistic to you as if you are leaving the next day. This will not only give you a great idea of the amount of organization it offers, but will show you how easily accessible things are. This part of the process may take some getting used to, and I recommend continuing to play with packing it in different ways until you leave.


7. Walk With It
Once you have it packed up go take a walk - and I don't mean around the neighborhood either, go walk in the park or on a trail, for at least an hour or two. If you happen to have weather similar to your destination all the better - be sure to wear shoes and clothes that you will be wearing while there. Take your water bottle full. Take every ounce of all the things you are taking with you as if you are already there. Play with the straps throughout your walk to get the right weight distribution that is most comfortable for you. This will give you the best experience in getting more familiar with your pack, what straps adjustments feel best for you, how sweaty you get, and how it feels.

If your experience was anything like mine, I was so ready for my walk to be over by the end of it, because MAN that 24 pounds got heavy as hell after awhile. So be sure to do the walk as often as possible before your trip, that way your body will grow more accustom to it.

Also, from your walks, change up how you pack your backpack too, the way the weight is distributed throughout the pack itself can change how it feels on you.


8. You're Ready!
BAM! You are good to go! Once you go through all these steps and are perfectly happy with your backpack you are all set. Generally by the time you complete step 5 you will probably have the pack you're taking already, but steps 6 and 7 are imperative to being absolutely sure this is the right pack for you in every capacity.


I'm sure everyone likes to do things like this a bit differently, but this is the process that worked best for me and I so so wish I had been able to find an article out there with it all laid out simply like this. Hopefully this will help make your search for the right backpack a little bit more manageable and less terrifying than my experience was!

Have any questions? Just give me a holler, I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Southeast Asia Just Sprang Up

I just came across this crazy insane deal that I can go to up to TEN Southeast Asian countries in 30 days for 160 bucks!! So...that's happening. How insane is that?! I suppose with trips like this you just have to go with the flow. Can't hold on too rigidly with particular plans unless you want to pay for it.

This deal includes Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Holy wow that is a lot of incredible countries to fit into 30 days. No way will I be able to go to all of them and fully appreciate them all so I figure I'll go to four or five of those places.

After looking further into all of those I found out that Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore do not require a visa - whereas the others do from $100-170 each. So that pretty much helped determine which countries I'm going to. Now I have ALL of the research and planning to do!

I just bought my ticket from LA to Bangkok for $414 for May 18th.

I kinda cant even believe it. This is really happening. And I can feel the freaking out phase coming on. I have two and a half months left in Atlanta before I start on a life changing adventure with no end in sight.

If anyone else is interested in this deal here is the link. I am not sure how long it will be going on for so get it while you can!

My Sauntering Mayhem

The hazards of being Miss Mayhem is you never know what sharp turn I will take next! I have planned this Australia trip two times now and I am convinced the third time is the charm. Before, I decided love was far more important and put off the trip to see where that went, turns out my love for travel and Australia was enough to keep me in forever longing, even while spending all my time with someone I am completely in love with.

So. Here I am, planning this trip again. And this time there is no looking back. I have been approved for my Work and Travel visa for 12 months already - it took less than 24 hours to hear back from them after submitting my application, and now I am currently in the process of buying clothes, a backpack, new laptop (that's smaller and lightweight), and misc. items that will be handy to have.

The plan as of now is to start in Cairns in May sometimes, and work my way down the east coast, taking a diversion to Uluru at some point as well I imagine. And that's it! I will work when I feel I want to work, camp under the stars, stay in hostels, go drink with the locals, and explore everything there is to see. I may even decide to buy a camper to be able to drive down the east coast myself (bonus! I wont have to pay for hostels/hotels/apartment...or bus/train/plane!).

I have been an information hoarder lately, just soaking in every ounce of information I can from the internet, books, and people about backpacking and Australia. I'm starting to finally slow down a little from that stage now that I have a firm grip of what steps I know I need to take and am now taking them one at a time. I feel absolutely elated that it feels more real than ever before and I feel confident knowing what steps I need to take between now and then to get there.

Thoreau

All good things are wild & free

-Henry David Thoreau

Resources To Create Your Own Freedom Business

As you may or may not know, I am currently reading and researching on how to make my own "freedom business" (as Colin Wright phrases it). It is essentially exactly what you think it is. A business that allows for more freedom, depending on your individual goals. Personally I'm planning on starting my own business to make money while being location independent. I plan on being able to fund my travels without having to sit in any one location for extended periods of time (or worse, have to hop from waitress job to waitress job).

I am in the middle of $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau and Start A Freedom Business by Colin Wright. Both of which have been proven to be packed full of resources, inspiration, and testimonials. I've also come across lots of different articles that discuss ways of making money abroad (either through your own business, or otherwise):

Nomadic Matt discusses primarily teaching english and different placement programs you can sign up for.
Wandering Earl outlines his income and travel since he went abroad indefinitely back in 1999. He made most of his money working cruise ships and even offers a link to purchase his ebook on how to go about landing a cruise ship job.
A Little Adrift covers things such as teaching english, WWOOFing, freelance work, databases, blogging, etc.
Almost Fearless just flat out makes a list of 67 things you could do for money while traveling abroad, some have links and some are just ideas.
Tim Ferriss, author of the critically acclaimed 4 Hour Work Week, had a guest writer write this amazing and clear cut article on making apps.
Sean Ogle has a lot of great articles about SEO writing & ways to start your own business:       
            -Build An Online Asset in 48 Hours       
            -The Easiest Lifestyle Business to Start Right This Second

I will continue to add to this post as I come across more books and articles on discussing different ways to make money while traveling. But as I said before, I am currently brainstorming specifically on building my own business so I can have my own project to work on and enjoy while living around the world.

When I first started telling people that I'm working on starting my own business so I can be location independent and travel freely around the world, one of my friends said, "Ha, well, that's the dream isn't it?". And yeah, it is my dream. But the way that came across I knew exactly what he meant. He meant, yeah that's what everyone wants, what makes you think you're going to get it if everyone is vying for that job?

Well, motherfucker, I'm going to get it because one, it's not as far out of an idea as it may seem on the surface. Through my research thus far I've realized there are TONS of people living the exact lifestyle I have always envisioned for myself. A ridiculous amount of people with freedom businesses. So it really isn't as rare of an idea as one may think. In fact, there is no limited slots notion that goes along with it - there's an infinite amount of slots open, it is completely up to your imagination and dedication.

And two, I'm not the kind of person that if I have a dream, that's all it ever stays: a dream. No, I act on it and make it happen through hard work and perseverance. Because whether you like it or not, that is the only way your dreams will ever come true; they are not some winning lottery ticket that lands in peoples laps once every hundred years. I'm going to make it happen because I'm not going to give myself a choice. So next time you're thinking about your dream, whatever it may be, just remember one thing: I choose.

If This Doesn't Prove I'm Serious About Traveling, Nothing Will

I've been dying my hair an array of colors with crazy haircuts for the last decade of my life. Constantly from one color/design to another, it has simply become a part of who I am. It became my identifier in every way. My hair made it easy for my friends to spot me in a crowd. It drew people to me, and served as a great talking point. I reveled in the stares. Above all else I loved proving the stereotypes that go along with crazy hair wrong. Having a blue and red mohawk, and proving to (especially) the elderly that I am helpful, generous, and kind was incredibly satisfying. Surprise, not everyone with punky hair believes in anarchy and destruction!

Anyway, my point in going into all this is that I made a massive decision to dye my hair back to my natural color. Why you ask? Because dying and bleaching my hair every month is expensive. Even though I'm the one doing it, it adds up. Not only that but moving back to Indiana and then Australia, it will make my job hunt that much easier if I'm not wearing a wig or have a brightly color "do" that makes me look like a parrot trying to find a mate (as much fun as that may be). Plus, do you know how much maintenance having red hair is? Dear lord. Shit is bananas. Not just having to bleach and dye it monthly, but also making sure not to use light colored towels....ever. Must make sure to warn any friends that if I take a shower in their tub it will probably look like I just murdered someone (yes, every time I shampoo it is bright pink/red everywhere which also dyes the tub itself). And getting my hair wet when in I'm in the pool? Forget it. Wearing a white/light shirt if I am bound to dance and sweat? Psh. Pink instantly. So no, I do not want to have to deal with that kind of maintenance and worry while I am abroad.

While it all logically made sense, that didn't stop me from freaking the fuck out leading up to it. So without further ado! I will post the process of what Aveda did to my hair, simply because I found it utterly fascinating. 

What we started off with, gorgeous right? I miss the red already!

So first they did a hair detox, which was pretty interesting. Since my natural hair (which you can see in my roots & eyebrows) has absolutely zero red tones in it, they had to get out as much red as possible so that it wouldn't give the black they put on top red undertones. This was the result! By FAR better than any of expected. They basically used bleach, shampoo, and a touch of developer to strip out my red dye without actually "bleaching" my hair.

Then they put on this heinous filler dye. The point is to even out my hair first before putting on the actual dye, so that when it goes on it doesn't take super differently to different parts of my hair. For example, the dye would take different to my roots (natural hair), compared to the yellow/bleached top of my head or the coppery/orange tips of my hair. So the filler dye filled in. You can't tell in this picture but the dye looked like mud. Not pretty. (For the record this is my I'm-not-sure-if-I'm-doing-the-right-thing-and-trying-not-to-freak-out face.)

Then they put on the actual dye. They purposely made it a half step darker than my natural hair because even though it's permanent hair dye, it will still fade a little bit. So they made it a little darker than my natural hair so that when it fades it will (hopefully) blend in perfectly. After the dye we did a deep conditioning treatment because my hair needed it so freaking bad.

The lady was like, "Well there's no going back to your red even if you wanted to. If you do, it will turn to MUSH." Made me laugh, because it is oh so true.

All in all the damage was $92 plus $20 for tip. It was so cheap because I went to the Aveda school, so it was technically a student working on my hair (since my case was so very very special and involved, the instructor actually did most of it and practically held her hand the whole time). The whole process took five hours. Five. Hours. So I'm looking forward to never doing that again. But even though it cost me a little over a hundred bucks, it was worth it. I would have spent that in the next three months on dye and bleach anyway. 

It's still weird to me. And Im getting used to it slowly. It's a little too dark for my taste, I've never cared for the solid black look, but I'm trusting that it will indeed fade to my natural color, not that I have much of a choice anyway. As you may have noticed I also decided to start parting it on the other side of my head so as to cover the shaved part, which I'm growing out. I find it particularly amusing because even though half my head is shaved it still can look like I have a full head of hair just because I have so much it. 

And just to reiterate:

If this doesn't prove I'm serious about traveling, nothing ever will. 

My Philosophy

I have yet to actually announce my plans to the masses via facebook yet, but most of my close friends and family know already. And, surprisingly, everyone has been very supportive. Granted my dad and his fiance answered me mostly with silence and why it'll be incredibly difficult to get a visa for Australia, but they didn't exactly NOT support me. So, you know, Im looking on the bright side. We will see how it continues to go the closer it gets.

I've been reading a lot of Nomadic Matt's blog recently (fantastic if anyone wants to check it out), and in two different articles he says things that I have thought my whole life and figured I would share.

Everyone Says Im Running Away

"People assume that we are simply running away from our problems; running away from “the real world.” And to all those people who say that, I say to you — you’re right. Completely right. I am running away. I am trying to avoid life — I’m avoiding your life. I’m running away from your idea of the “real” world. Because, really, I am running toward everything — toward the world, exotic places, new people, different cultures, and my own idea of freedom."


The Secret To Long Term Traveling

"I’m a big believer in the idea that we shouldn’t work our life away and that we should take short breaks from it to pursue our passions. Why should I spend my best years in an office, saving money for an age I may not even see or, if I do see, might be too sick to enjoy? Yeah, we long term travelers save a bit for a rainy day, but we don’t worry about the future. We enjoy now. Take care of your present and your future works out. When I stop traveling, I’ll figure out what is next."


I can not even describe how bizarre and uplifting it is to read my own words coming out of someone else's mouth (hands?). For the first time in my life I have come to the realization that my life long dream, the dream I have had since I can remember to travel indefinitely, is something a lot of people already do. They make it work. They make money abroad and live globally instead of confined to the city limits. I know now, more than ever, that my dream is no longer this fantastical idea that I will always fantasize about, it is actually very attainable. I just have to put in the effort to make it happen. I have to not be satisfied with being content. I dont want to be comfortable. Ever.

In Colin Wright's book How To Travel Full Time he says exactly that. Again, my own words coming from someone else is trippy,

"As a general rule, try to avoid comfort at all costs.

There's a big difference between comfort and happiness: being happy means that you are overjoyed about what you're doing, who you are, the people you're meeting and the things that you're doing. Being comfortable means that you're not feeling too bad or too good...you're neutral.

Neutral is what suburbs are for. Comfort is for people who are looking to relax, not to grow and learn and experience new things. you may save yourself from potential lows by keeping yourself comfortable, in an easy-chair, watching reality TV and eating Doritos, but you won't experience any truly happy moments either. You need the bad (or even just the possibility of bad) to truly experience the good, and to fully appreciate the difference between the two."


My apologies for so many quotes in this post, but I really couldn't have said it better myself. These are the things I believe, I have always believed. And if you know me at all, you know it to be true. Now that I can finally see my goal in sight, I can allow myself to research and delve into all the information the internet, books, and people have to offer. It's happening. And knowing there are people out there right now living the life I always dreamt about (and felt it was so strange that no one else around me had the same awe-inspiring dream) is an incredible feeling. It feels more real now than it ever has before. And I can not wait.