Create Our World.

 

Gear, Gear, Gear.

“Castles were built a stone at a time.”  - Irish Proverb

Yesterday’s post was about the Hitchhiking Gear that you should upgrade, while today’s deals with what you should save your money on.  This is for the thrifty hitchhiker, which you probably are.  In my experience hitchhiking around the USA for the past 8 months, here is what I didn’t need.

5 Pieces of Hitchhiking Gear you can save money on:

1.  Expensive Hiking Pants:  When I was researching what gear to buy, I was looking into getting a pair of lightweight hiking pants.  They cost at least 60$ and can go up  to over 100$.  I waited and haven’t needed them.  I have used a couple pairs of jeans and a pair of Banana Republic dress pants, all of which I purchased at a thrift store.  They work and you fit in, which is key at times while hitchhiking.  I paid less than 20$ for all of them.

2.  Capilene T-shirt:  Capilene is a very lightweight and breathable fiber.  I had a gift certificate to an outdoor clothing store and purchased a Patagonia t-shirt that would have cost about 40$.  I brought it on my trip with 2 cotton t-shirts.  Go cotton!  Although they will hold sweat, so you have to be careful about wearing them too much.  I would just rotate my shirts from day to day, and was more comfortable in the cotton tees than my expensive shirt.  If they get dirty, pick up a new one at another thrift store.

3.  A nice raincoat:  I just don’t hitchhike when it is seriously raining.  I started with a poncho that I bought for a nickel at a thrift store.  It ripped and then was given a used one in Texas.  It smells like gas but does the trick.  

Check out yesterday’s Gear upgrade post, for tips on what to splurge on for a long term hitchhiking adventure.

Any tips from your travels for deals on Gear?? Please share.

Create Our World.

Ben

“You taught me to be nice, so nice that now I am so full of niceness, I have no sense of right and wrong, no outrage, no passion.” – Garrison Keillor

If you don't have a tent and are traveling for awhile, get one now!

“There are no foreign lands.  It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

When you are traveling, especially hitchhiking long term, you should consider what gear you carry very, very carefully.  I am a cheap skate.  I like eating well and having fun with friends.  Any dollar I can save I will.  But I learned the hard way, that it is vital to spend money for good gear when you are traveling for a long time.  Your sanity depends on it! 

Here are the 5 pieces of Travel Gear that you should upgrade, to have a more fun trip (in order of importance):

Get a good set of boots.

1.  Get rid of your shoes and buy Waterproof Hiking Boots:  

 Shoes change how you feel.  Get a pair of waterproof boots, that have support for your ankles and a sturdy sole.  I started my trip with an old pair of Nike running shoes that were falling apart.  Any time I walked in the morning, my feet would get wet, which meant I was either spending a lot of time drying my feet or I was getting blisters.  After a few weeks, I bought a pair of Scarpa Hiking Boots with a Vibram sole that were on sale for 85$.  It changed how I felt instantly.  My feet stay dry, are protected from glass, when walking in ditches, and just plain feel good on my feet.

2.  Give Away Your Tarp and Buy a Nice Tent:  

Get a tent now!  I hitchhiked for 6 months using a tarp and would not go back.  Three reasons why a tent beats up on a tarp anyday.

A.  Keeps you dryer.  

B.  Offers more options for where you sleep.

C.  Is more of a psychological ‘home’ than a tarp.

My parents got me a nice 2-man tent for Christmas from REI.  The biggest difference was the barrier between myself and the world.  I could zip up with the rain fly on and have my own little nook in the world.  People cannot see in and animals have a tougher time cozying up to me.  Plus, I can put my tent up almost anywhere.  Right now, it is up in an attic I am sleeping in, so that mice have a harder time getting at my peanut butter.  But I have put it up in fields or behind buildings.  It has also withstood some serious rains for days in California.  It is my home in the world.

3.  Trade your Cheap and Light Sleeping Bag in for a Light, Soft, and Warm Sleeping Bag:

A couple years ago, I bought a very light sleeping bag, that was the cheapest bag I could get my hands on.  It was about 80$ and was rated at 40 degrees Farenheit (this means that the sleeping bag will keep you warm at that temperature and above).  Small, light, and in the summer time was a decent bag.  The problem is that it just isn’t that comfortable.  It sticks to me in hot weather and gets really sweaty.  Conversely in cold weather, it is not even close to warm enough.  When I knew I was going to the New England to watch the leaves change, I was looking to upgrade my bag for something warmer.  I was prepared to spend 200$ on a bag and I could have bought a decent bag for that price.  But after trying a host of different bags on the floor of the store, I fell in love with a Marmot sleeping bag.  I paid over 400$ for the bag.  400$!  I had no idea that I could spend, so much on a sleeping bag.  But it is so comfortable, warm, and is lighter than other bags I could have gotten.  It is full of the softest Goose feathers around, they are rated 800 (some people must test how soft goose feathers are and rate them accordingly, with 800 being the highest).  If you have the money, go big on your sleeping bag.

4.  Get rid of Cotton socks or even cheaper synthetic socks and get the best socks you can find:

I have only traveled with two pairs of socks on my trip (I started with three, but lost one).  One is a pair of Smart Wool socks that is good for winter time.  This is a cheaper version that is good and keeps my feet warm, but they get really stinky after one wear.  These socks are my relaxing socks when I am staying somewhere.  The other pair I got is a very light pair of Smart Wool hiking socks.  These are tops!  They set me back about 20$, but were worth every penny.  At first, it would take them about 3 or 4 days, before they would get stinky or become very unenjoyable to wear.  They have holes now, but I got some serious wear out of them for the past 8 months.  I sent the company a message, telling them how much I loved the socks and they told me that they are made from happy, free range sheep in New Zealand.  

5.  Keep your water bottle, but get a Camel Bak too:

If a backpack and a large water bottle were to mate, they would produce a Camel Bak.  You where it on your back and have a hose that you can clip nearby to drink on the go.  A friend I was Couchsurfing with in Richmond (Thanks April!) had a Camel Bak from her tour in the military and gave it to me.  No fiddling with your pack as you walk or having to set your pack down over and over again.  Don’t throw your water bottle away, because it is handy when you are sitting around, but definitely consider splurging on a Camel Bak.

Tomorrow, I will tell you the Travel Gear Upgrades that are not worth the money.

Create Our World.

Ben

“Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty-his excessive freedom. He accepts his boredom, when it comes, not merely philosophically, but almost with pleasure.” – Aldous Huxley 

“Skip something. Feed a child.”

This post details a cause that I learned about at a recent speech I attended and was moved by their message.

What Would You Skip to Feed a Child?

Yesterday, I wrote about How to Be Indispensable.  This posts comes from a speech I attended by Seth Godin in Orange County, California.  But it was not the only interesting speech at the event.  I also learned about Skip 1, an organization that encourages you to skip something and donate that money to help feed a child in another country.

A tall, blonde woman told the crowd about why she started Skip 1.  She had been giving to a charity that gave food and water to a child in Africa for awhile.  One day, she wanted to go visit the child she was sponsoring.  So she dropped a few thousand and flew to Africa, then drove to the village where her child was.  She fell in love and realized how much her money was able to buy this child.  So she came home and started her own project, called Skip 1.  

What is Skip1?

Simple premise:  First, you skip something.  Like skip dessert after dinner once a week or skip getting your nails done once a month or skip double creamy latte once a week.  Then, you donate that money to charity and it goes to helping give food and water to a child in need.

Here is a video of people from the event proclaiming what they will skip, that you can get ideas from (I am one of the first people on here):

If you would like to Donate money and skip something, click here.  Please post what you skip in the comment section here too.  

I am skipping having a beer after a tough day of hitchhiking.  

What would you skip to feed a child?

Create Our World.

Ben

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?” – Rabbi Hillel