jectaspecta: the (lady) vagabonds kit list

It’s coming to my second year on the road. It has been one hell of an adventure and I’m just doing the proverbial exhale after some seriously deep inhalations.

Suffice to say I’ve learned a lot and had the time of my life. It isn’t always easy but I feel very much alive and on purpose.

The story of stuff.

In my second month in India, I left my big rucksack with my favourite travel gear in Pushkar (with the intention of returning to collect it in a week) and headed off to the mountains with a simple backpack of warm clothes.

I suppose The Universe didn’t want me to get too attached to the stuff, before I knew it, I was running a clean up campaign in the Himalayas and extending my visa so I could continue the good work while realising that I’d rather give away the contents of the abandoned stuff in order to continue the work I was doing. I had purpose!

In Japan I paid for my snowboard to be shipped to Tokyo, went on a mission to collect it but instead of hitting the mountains, I ended up volunteering at the post-tsunami wastelands and giving my snowboard to Natsumi one of the first soul sisters I met couch surfing.

In order to get my hands on some gear for volunteering I used the couchsurfing message board and put a call out to anyone who could lend me wellies and waterproofs - remarkably I got a response. Couchsurfing is a great place for clothes swapping / lending / purging etc.

Of course leaving stuff anywhere takes a degree of commitment and responsibility but my biggest lesson with stuff is to allow yourself to give away the things you no longer need and travel light.

The things that have continually travelled with me are:

Laptop/iPad
I did a lot of reading on my iPad and it was awesome being able to download pdfs from the net to read when being in remote places and not wanting the weight of books. Its also a great sales tool when trying to convince local councils to consider recycling and introducing Angry Birds to kids in Nepal. Now I am taking a much needed exhale so I am using a laptop to edit footage, write stories and work on some creative ‘business’ projects and have lent iPad to a mate.

Camera/GoPro

JC is my wonderful camera that I have had for 3 years now. He’s been up mountains, in colour fights, on beaches and on racing boats. He’s also died and been reborn a couple of times. We have a symbiotic relationship and he really gives me purpose. I black taped the Canon branding on him and carry him in a cool shoulder bag to make him more approachable and less like a “tourist”. I recently decided to up my game and now travel with a GoPro as people find my adventures interesting and I get a buzz out of making videos (despite my amateur efforts).
Also consider:

SD Cards from eBay
Portable hard drive (great for swapping movies & music)

Journal/diary

Keeping a journal has been incredible. My mum has a bookshelf of them now as I have done a wealth of writing. Poetry. Lovely messages from friends. Experiences. Studies. Inspirations and importantly flight and visa expiry dates (beware: they can creep up on you).

Don’t expect anyone else to be responsible for reminding you to get your flight. They may secretly want you to stay ;)

iPod shuffle & mini speakers

I love having a simple little music kit. I rotate the music on my shuffle so it's a glorious little mash up of differing cultures. My current playlist includes Janis Joplin, Mumford & Son, Caravan Palace & Eckhard Tolle’s Power of Now (nice to have a reminder every now and then). The shuffle is also great for running to when I’m in need of exercise.

Stainless steel water bottle

As is pretty clear I care about the environment. This is a no brainer and really wonderful when in cold places because you can pop a tea bag in, get some hot water and give yourself some yummy coziness.

Mooncup (!)

This is so important. I cannot stress this enough lady. It’s genius. It’s the future. It is a no brainer. Men: you're lucky this does not apply to you.

Additional stuff that is useful.

My bag is getting lighter and lighter and so I am washing my clothes more and more. I’ve learned to enjoy this and make it my zen-like meditation. Even washing my clothes in the shower army style is somewhat amusing.

These are some additional bits & bobs that I like to carry:

A bar of natural soup
Tiny compact of eye make up – really not necessary especially in Asia/South America but I am doing ‘business stuff’ now.
Small compact mirror
A couple of crystals/incense/essential oil for The Shanti Space work
Shades with string attached to them
Baby key ring torch - preferably a wind up one
Head torch – I like the amazing fader-red-light-disco-strobe ones
Unblocked mobile phone – Big thanks to my mate Zoe for giving me her old phone, my parents sleep more soundly
A sarong for sleeping on buses / warm places
Lightweight sleeping bag
International adapter
Comfy sports crop top. I am so over bras. Choose breathing.

You may meet people who need your stuff more than you do. Just give it to them. There are humble communities in the world who are living in much more challenging and uncomfortable conditions and the comforts of the westerner can be life changing for them. Sharing is also wonderful while taking full responsibility for your stuff, whether it gets broken in the hands of a child, is accidentally given away (a nicer way of looking at theft) or does a disappearing act. Surrender. That’s life folks. Thankfully it’s not your everlasting soul.

Personally I’ve found trusting that the Universe will always give me what I need, not always what I want, but what I need to be a really powerful mantra as is having a good sense of humour.

The travel community is beautiful and caring. Even when I've been sick there's always been an angel there.

Go with your eyes wide open and as my friend said to me before I started "let it all wash over you".

n.b. Do not treat people how you treat your stuff. Stuff can be seemingly like a toy you can pick up and throw away when it's served its purpose. I've seen how people brought up in a material world liken people to toys and perhaps is symbolic of the times we live in. Tread carefully with people's hearts; we're family.