Even tough we thought our backpacks were packed quite elaborated we are of cause little wiser after a year coping with them on a daily basis. I still think, that my backpack was far to heavy and would have wanted it a lot lighter most of the time. Next time I would even begin with taking a lighter backpack than my 3 kg have grandpa. And than there are all the things that went into it.

All the things that we should have brought:

1. A travel guide for Russia. It’s just not working out to rely on tourist information and Hostels. In Tomsk nobody spoke English and we just couldn’t find the tourist information. After Russia we had a Lonelyplanet for each country.
2. Our camping stuff. Already at lake Baikal we regretted not having our tent. The rest of the world is just not as well appointed with hiking huts as the Europe and NewZealand. So we bought a tent, mattresses, a cooker, camping gas, a cooking pot and a water filter.
3. We went hiking on the Annapurna trek in Nepal. There you hike over a pass at
   5500 m altitude and tea houses have no radiator. They don’t even make fire due to the lack of wood up there. So we bought down jackets that kept us warm. There are really great, pack small and don’t weigh anything. We sent them home from NewZealand, because we thought we wouldn’t need them while hunting the summer in America. We regretted our decision in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and USA.
4. When you run on a regular basis since 12 years it’s pretty hard to abstain from it for many months and to be honest when you sit more than 24h in trains our busses you really need some motion. So after half a year we got running shoes in Christchurch in NewZealand.
5. With Toms preference for dangerous activities and my vanishing anxiety and sanity we started doing many things that you don’t want to bring a 2 kg heavy and very expensive camera. Though we never got one we would really have liked to have a GoPro like camera to take pictures and movies while swimming with seals, jumping out of planes, climbing fragile sandstone spikes or iSUPing down a river.

And the few things that you don’t really need in your backpack

1. Doing push ups in very short sport trousers in Mongolia on a playground provokes some weird looks. Their are not good for running either. So better bring running tights instead of a shorts. Running tights are also good for hiking or just as an alternative for the hiking trousers.
2. If you don’t plan to hike the Te Araroa trail in NewZealand you don’t really need rain trousers. We were more carrying that wearing them.
3. Talking light weight. An electronic toothbrush is really convenient but these things are really heavy. After they gad been left behind for weeks twice we sent them home from NewZealand.
4. I had a lot of trouble getting my international drivers licence as you might remember, but didn’t used it once. In Vietnam never asked for any kind of drivers licence and in NewZealand and USA our german one was quite sufficient.
5. We both brought a notebook to code or write blogs while traveling. Though it was convenient I still think a notebook is an overkill. On the other hand I havent worked out, how to backup your pictures without one. But nowadays you definitely need a Wifi device (Phone etc.), because there is Wifi everywhere, but no computers.
6. Things to keep you busy like a „raspberrypie“ (this funny mini computer) or knitting stuff stayed in the backpacks kind of all the time. Travel planning, chatting with people, looking out of the window, writing blogs, drinking beer etc. kept our days busy.
7. Paper note books. Even plural. Traveling with Smartphones and sockets nearly everywhere makes them absolutely unnecessary.
8. The Mongolians really looked puzzeled when they tried liquorice candy and spite it out the second we looked away. But they and the danish coins which we brought for our travel mates in the transib are just too heavy to carry them around for two months.
9. And than our two kg travel pharmacy. Honestly (luckily) we only used very few things of it tough I would bring stuff like bandages and malaria pills any way. You know just for safety reasons. But there are quite some things we could have left at home: a) when you really get a bad bac no probiotics can help you, b) creme against fungi I didn’t know what to use for in the first place, c) you must be really far away in the outback to take broadband antibiotics without consulting a doctor. The same counts for antibiotic eye drops or drops against inflamed ears.

And then there are the things we were really happy to have in our backpacks

1. The talismans that were sent with us on the way, protected us through all our adventures, so we came back without major losses or lasting damages.
2. We spent maybe 1 week in two months in our trekking boots but very happy to have them in each case. However, a lighter version would also have worked fine.
3. When you travel in a bus in Mongolia and have to use a public privy or don’t have a enough water to shower while hiking wet wipes come in really handy.
4. With a weight of 200g, backlight and long battery life my ebook reader was perfect for reading in busses, trains, hostel beds or in the tent on hiking trips.
5. If you believe it our not even on 4400 m in the nepalese mountains you find Wifi and it’s a great source for information and so essential travel planning nowadays. So what ever you do bring a device that can use Wifi. Also you can use a smartphone for writing blogs, taking pictures, navigation or playing games.
6. When we booked our tickets to Nepal I was really glad that we packed our cozy and warm sleeping bags. From that timepjoint we used them more and more and didn’t froze a single time.
7. If you want to prepare a sandwich in the backcountry of the US or open a bottle of mongolian wine in a hostel it’s really handy to have a swiss knife in you pocket.
8. And the thing we used most from our travel pharmacy was a tube of betaisadonna for every wound, because hygiene circumstance are questionable nearly everywhere.

And all the rest was basically used as intended from the beginning. Overall I still think our transportable homes were packed quite okay.

Well, I guess that was my last post. We are back home and looking forward to the adventures waiting here for us.

This topic was triggered by some nice choices in NewZealnd and will hopefully continued further on. So lets start with:

NewZealand

Which chocolate producer got inspiered here?

This is one for all the chemists between the readers.

The pure choice of toast made my head spin.

Chile

Supersizeme. The concept of diabetes is denied in Chile.

Wolters Pilsner found in a small liquor shop in Valparaiso, calling for Tom to stay in this place.

Danish Brie? Never saw one in Denmark.

And of course the german bread for all the ancestors of germans that flew to south america after the second world war (know who I mean ;)).

Anyway, I would say this is pushing it a bit.

Argentina

You could get the idea that argentinean are crazy about syrup, but be careful it might be a soapy experience.

They are definitely crazy about sugar. Because even they realise thats not to good for your shape and health supermarkets sell a „light“ version.

Uuh and yes egg liquor. Just hope it’s not made with raw eggs.

Bolivia

There are not many supermarkets in Bolivia and neither do you find many processed foods. But there was one startling thing. 1L of 96% pure alcohol is cheaper than 1L of beer and drunken in nearly the same way.

Peru

You take 1 part lime juice, 1 part sugar syrup, 1 part egg white and 4 parts pisco to make Pisco sour. Or you buy instant Pisco sour and just dilute it with alcohol.

I loved the south american supermarkets. They were always playing salsa or the like as background music.

And now my favourite – USA

Just in case you would like to have ONE glass of wine, as should be healthy.

Well, how says that people with gluten intolerance are less lazy than all other americans.

Maybe Pillsbury should consider exporting them to Sweden.

Prepaid credit cards are quite popular. You might come to the conclusion that the somewhat disturbed relation to money could cause a financial crisis at some point.

Oh and while talking of disturbed relationships … you can get them in pink for your little baby girl.

And that you can buy antibiotic freely in supermarkets doesn’t make things better.

Last but not least. Processed food in it’s shiniest kind.

Try to have a closer look at teddys butt.

With a crowd of chinese men usually comes a game with wooden tokens.

However, gambling seems to be a national sport for young and old.

Grandparents taking care of their little grandson.

A couple posing for the photographer and us :).

A very common sight in China. The only cute thing about is, that little boys of 2 years already adopt their dads behaviour.

An ordinary apartment house in south China. The boxes can’t really be hidden.

What are the bicycles in Copenhagen are the electro scooter in China. There are already a few city that banish them.

And last but not least a few prejudges about China:

1. Yes the food is incredible tasty. Nearly everything we ate was not less than very good and we didn’t suffered one single day from stomach ache.

Tom after four weeks in China ;).

2. Yes they chinese spite where they walk and stand, and no you don’t get used to it.

View from my bed in the train on the trash bowl containing some spit from my neighbour.

3. Yes, Chinese copy everything. But it is surely not the same quality. We sticked to the real snickers.

I leave to you to decide, which is the real one.

4. Yes, these red lamps are hanging everywhere. But it’s beautiful though.

Beer museum Guangzhou is just one tiny example.

5. Ja, i kina spiser de hunde. And of course also the never forgotten chicken legs can be found in the supermarket, as snacks at every corner and also in the famous farmers dish in Tiantou.

It seems quite clear that this one did not died a natural death.

Chicken legs in it’s purest form, usually you eat them fried.