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If you travel on a packaged tour where most things are taken care of for you, then you will not require the same reliability from your equipment as a back packer. My trips are not hard-core backpacker trips involving sleeping on floors or in ditches, at least on the nights I manage to crawl back to my hotel. But they are not package tours either, with accommodations being better than the local ditch or youth hostel, but nowhere near that of a 5-star hotel. In the following sections I will cover only the gear that I purchased specifically for these series of trips. I'll leave the advice about what you should and should not take on a trip to other websites and books.
Luggage: Be Mobile, be Very Mobile!
My philosophy for travel is to be self-mobile. This means that I should be able to carry all my belongings myself without relying on door-to-door taxi service, or porters (if they exist) to help me with my luggage to the train platform. I believe in the flexibility to be able to pack up all my belongings, check out of a motel, and take public transit to another motel, city, or country, while carrying all my personal belongings and still have my hands free to pay drivers, buy tickets, swat mosquitoes on my forehead, give the finger, you get my point. There is only one solution: Acquire a good-quality backpack. In fact, two backpacks; a day pack and a full-size COMFORTABLE expedition backpack.
The expedition backpack I chose was the Arc'Teryx Bora 80 litre, purchased from
Mountain Equipment Co-op., costing about
$300 USD. Money was no object when it came to comfort. I spent hours
at two separate stores trying on different backpacks and giving the sales
associates a workout by having them load and unload each one with 25kg worth of
sandbags. Everyone's back is different in size, shape, and curvature, so
one must try many packs in order to find the best fit, similar to buying shoes.
My decision to purchase this model was based solely on comfort of fit for my
particular physiology . In addition,
I bought a rain cover, some spare plastic harness buckles, and a stainless
steel protective mesh that can be used to secure the backpack to a seat-post on
a train or used while the backpack is worn, preventing someone from coming up
behind and cutting the pack open.
The day pack I chose was Mountain Equipment Co-op's Socrates Backpack. It is lightweight and small enough to be used as my carry-on luggage while flying. It has an un-padded back, so it can be folded up and stowed in a small space. The idea is that once I arrive somewhere, I can transfer my carry-on luggage to my large backpack and also stow the carry-on backpack. This way everything is in one pack on my back, and my hands are completely free.
GPS Navigation: Always Find that Favourite Watering Hole A backpacker with a GPS receiver may be an oxymoron. For me, my Garmin eTrex is simply a luxury, not a necessity. I plan to use it to mark certain points of interest that I want to return to whilein the cities. When the street signs and maps are not in roman characters, such as in most Asian countries, a GPS receiver can come in very handy. Besides being a frivolous luxury, a GPS receiver can save you money! If you are in a taxi and don't want to be taken for a costly, un-solicited sight-seeing tour while en route to your destination, the mere sight of a GPS receiver will put any taxi-driver back on track of what is the closest to a great-circle bearing to your destination. It's the "Art of War" at its best; winning without fighting. I chose the Garmin eTrex for the reasons that it was inexpensive, (about $130 USD) so I won't cry if it gets ripped off. It's also very small and light, and will operate for the longest time on two AA batteries when compared to similar models. In addition, it looks very much like a mobile phone, thereby prompting less attention to having it snatched. Just a word of warning, never trust your GPS for all of your navigation needs. Always have a map and compass as a backup if your life depends on navigation, such as in the jungle, desert, or on the water. As for myself, I won't die if I can't get back to that great restaurant or bar, and in the city, I will always find a taxi that will take me back to my motel. Then again, there's the ditch with a rock for a pillow as a last option...
Camera Equipment: Memories Forever Another oxymoron: a backpacker carrying over $2000 USD in camera gear. I know I'm taking my risks with this one. Photography has always been a passion of mine. I also like video, since there are some things that still pictures just can't capture, which video can. My old 35mm Canon FT SLR which weighs two kilos has been getting rather heavy lately. And I do not own a camcorder. So out I went and bought a camcorder and still camera just for these trips. I had two criteria for both: They must be better than average consumer quality, yet still be compact. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to buy a Panasonic PV-GS200 camcorder, and the Canon S1 IS digital camera. The Camcorder: I chose the Panasonic PV-GS200 over the more expensive and better PV-GS400 simply because it is almost half the size as the former. It is light to carry and can be hidden in a small bag that will not attract attention. This camcorder belongs to the new 3CCD models, resulting in a vastly superior image when compared to single CCD models. It records to Mini-DV magnetic tape, not an optical DVD disc. I am leery of camcorders that burn directly to DVD since I know how easy it is to spoil burning a CD in the comfort of your living room. I just can't see myself burning a usable DVD filming as my butt gets hammered to pieces on a hard seat on some bus without springs. To top it all off, I purchased three additional high-capacity lithium ion cells in order to minimize my reliance on a battery charger. The Still Camera: I chose the Canon S1 IS 3.2 mega pixel camera at $450 USD because it has more serious features than a point-and-shoot, yet is still about half the size of a digital SLR. The 10X optical zoom will satisfy the needs for most travel photo situations. The other nice feature is that it is one of only a few cameras in it's class that will take AA batteries. Most cameras in this price range accept only expensive proprietary battery packs. Granted, I am taking a mini-charger and two sets of 2300 mAh NiMH cells, but if I do run out of juice in the middle of the day, I still have a better chance of finding some AA alkaline batteries than a "public" power outlet to recharge some over-priced proprietary power pack.
The Custom-modified Multi-Camera/Camcorder Bag: Having some nice camera equipment but not wanting to take it out with you because the bags are too big or too heavy is like owning a Lamborghini in the winter in Ottawa. You would not want to take it for a drive because the bottom will not clear the snow drifts. For this trip my philosophy was that money shall be no object when choosing the perfect bag. The bag would have to be small, durable, and accommodate both the camera and the camcorder. It need not have room for chargers and accessory cables since those are staying in the motel or in my daypack. After having taken my cameras to various stores and trying out at least 40 different bag styles, a fanny-pack made by Eagle Creek came the closest match to my criteria. It was the right size, sat close to my body instead of sticking out like many camera bags do, and as an added bonus, is does not even look like a camera bag. Like I said earlier, the less attention I get, the better. The only problem was that it had no padding to protect the cameras and both cameras would constantly be rubbing and knocking against each other while in transit. To solve this problem, I had a friend who happens to be an excellent seamstress make two padded compartments to protect the camera and camcorder. Thank you Lourdes for an awesome modification to my bag.
In the picture above the original unmodified Eagle Creek fanny pack is shown at the top of the photo. Below the pack is the padding Lourdes made using material and a piece of foam like the grey piece on the right.
Here is the finished multi-camera bag in action! In the photo above you can see how compact it is, and in the photo below it you can see the efficient use of real-estate inside the bag. Both the camera and camcorder fit snugly as to not slide around, but the fit is loose enough to allow me to quickly pull out either one for a quick picture. What good is a holster if you cannot draw your revolver in time?
As you can see in the photo above, the multi-camera bag doesn't stick out too far considering it contains a camera, camcorder, and even some spare batteries and Mini-DV cassettes. Also worth mentioning is that the waist strap stows away in the back of the bag, and a shoulder strap can be clipped on within seconds, converting it to a shoulder bag. |
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